VALL Spring Meeting, May 3, 2019

The meeting will be held at Hunton Andrews Kurth, downtown Richmond, VA. The deadline for registering is April, 26, 2019. The registration form is available under VALL Meetings on this blog. Don't miss this opportunity to network with colleagues and witness the installation of new board members.

Bethany J. Ochal Award Recipent

Congratulations to VALL's own recently retired Terry Long for being a recipient of the Bethany J. Ochal Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession!

This award is given to a Government Law Libraries Special Interest Section member who has made a significant contribution to law librarianship and who is nearing the end of his or her library career or who has recently retired. For more information about the award and past recipients click here: Ochal

Terry will receive the award at the 2019 business meeting of the Government Law Libraries SIS at AALL in Washington, DC, July 13 - 17, 2019.

In and Around VALL: Kelsey Cox

submitted by Gail Warren

On February 25, 2019, Kelsey I. Cox joined the Virginia State Law Library as our new librarian.

Kelsey is from Chicago, Illinois, and currently lives downtown in Richmond.  In her free time, she enjoys practicing yoga, painting, playing the piano, and hiking.

Kelsey attended Lake Forest College, graduating in 2015 with a BA in Political Science and minors in Islamic World Studies and Legal Studies.  She earned the distinction of Phi Beta Kappa and was her school’s first participant in its 3+3 BA/JD accelerated law program.  Kelsey graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law in May of 2017 and is licensed to practice law in Illinois.  Kelsey also holds a MLIS degree from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee.

In her role as librarian, Kelsey will be sharing responsibility for staffing the Reference Desk and providing professional legal reference and research assistance to judicial branch staff, attorneys and the broader legal community, as well as members of the public who call or send us email messages.

She arrived on her first day of work with her own copy of A Guide to Legal Research in Virginia (2017) in hand, so she is familiar with the “ins” and “outs” of Virginia primary and secondary sources of legal information.  

Kelsey’s experience working on metadata projects with the Law Library of Congress to make US Treaties and other International Agreements available to the public has already proven to be invaluable as she assumed responsibility for our law library’s participation in the Legal Information Archive.  Kelsey will be identifying, harvesting and ingesting judicial branch publications and other items for the Legal Information Archive, which migrated from OCLC’s digital archive platform to Preservica in 2018.  Later this year, Kelsey also will begin working on content for the Virginia Judicial System Court Self-Help website, which is hosted by our law library on behalf of the Virginia Access to Justice Commission.

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Kelsey and look for her at the VALL meeting in May at Hunton Andrews Kurth!

2019-2020 VALL Executive Board Candidates

Vice President/President-Elect: Jane Harrison, Hunton Andrews Kurth

Jane is a member of the research & information services team in the Richmond office of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, and has spent 21 years with the firm.

She feels honored and privileged to be able to work among many talented and dedicated professionals, at the firm, and, in the community-at-large.

She received her M.S.L.S. and B.A. from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Jane has served as VALL Membership chair and was a member of the VALL 30^th Anniversary Committee.  Most recently, she has served as a member of the VALL Programming Committee.

Treasurer: Alexis Sharp, Hunton Andrews Kurth

Alexis Sharp is a reference librarian at the Richmond office of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. 

Alexis has been active in VALL since moving to Virginia in 2013 to work as a reference & research services librarian at the University of Richmond. She is serving as chair of the Public Relations Committee and is also a director on the executive board.

Alexis earned her Bachelor’s degree (2008), Juris Doctorate (2011), and Master’s in Library & Information Science (2013) from Louisiana State University. During her time as a graduate student at LSU, she served as library fellow at the Paul M. Hebert Law Library.

Alexis lives in Richmond with her husband and five-month-old son Jack.

Director: Anna Price, Alexandria Law Library

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Anna earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY.  After graduating, she returned to Washington state, where she attended the University of Washington School of Law. 

While studying law, Anna valued volunteer experiences outside the classroom. To that end, she volunteered with Seattle’s Immigrant Families Advocacy Project, the Consumer Protection Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office and various judicial election campaigns. Anna also served as a Judicial Extern with the Washington State Court of Appeals.

During her second summer of law school, Anna began interning for Connelly Law Offices, a complex civil litigation firm in Tacoma, Washington. Anna continued working at the firm through her third year of law school and accepted an offer to return to the firm as an attorney after graduation. 

During her legal career, Anna tried multiple cases to verdict and argued before Washington’s Court of Appeals and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was also recognized annually as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, 2011-2015.

After five years of practice, Anna decided to take a sabbatical from trial work. She realized that what she enjoyed most about practicing law was helping clients, doing research and problem-solving. As she thought about what she loved doing, the possibility of librarianship kept coming to mind, and she decided to explore the field further.

Anna has been the law library operations supervisor with the Alexandria Law Library since 2017. Her other library experience has included working in interlibrary lending/borrowing for the Fairfax County Public Library and volunteering with the Library of Congress as a researcher guidance volunteer. She is happy to have the opportunity to blend both her legal knowledge and passion for public service and access to justice in her current role. 

In further pursuit of her career in librarianship, Anna is currently enrolled as an MLIS student at the University of Washington’s iSchool.

Happy Retirement Terry Long!

by Evelyn Campbell

Terry Long with library staff

On February 1, 2019, after almost forty years at the Virginia State Law Library, Terry Long shelved the last law book and answered the last reference question, said “adieu” to law librarianship, and “yes” to retirement.

Terry joined the Virginia State Law Library in July, 1980 … moving from the State Library & Archives. She didn’t have to move far – the two libraries shared the same building on Broad Street. 

The following year the State Law Library moved to its current location on 9^th and Franklin Streets.

That job with the State Law Library gave Terry the “push” to go to library school. “Having an MLS was not a requirement of the job, but one of the best things I ever did was to get that library science degree. It opened up the boarder side of librarianship and it gave me a confidence that I would not have had otherwise.”

It was an exciting time for Terry. She was there in the beginning when informal gatherings of downtown law librarians grew into the Richmond Area Law Libraries Association (RALLA) in 1981. RALLA eventually morphed into the Virginia Association of Law Libraries and became a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries in 1988.

Terry's advice to VALL members, is “Volunteer ... volunteer … volunteer. Stretch your wings and stretch your mind.”

Terry has served VALL tirelessly for decades in its many committees, programs, and as president from 1995 – 1996, and lately as VALL liaison to the Virginia Library Association. Many VALL members who are fortunate to count Terry as a mentor, colleague and friend, will miss her but are happy that she will be moving on to new adventures.

No one who knows Terry will doubt that she will embrace her new life. “I’m going to see the world – at least try to see as much of it as possible!” Terry said as she plans her many travels. In June she will be heading to Italy – to Vinci in Tuscany, home of Leonardo da Vinci. And when she gets home to Richmond she will barely have time to unpack her bags before she will be off to Hilton Head.

When she is not traveling Terry volunteers with the Junior League and also at her church where she wears many hats.

Happy retirement Terry! 

Terry chatting with court staff

Terry's mother, Mildred Long, at the open house

Photos courtesy of Gail Warren.

In and Around VALL: Ashley Vavra

submitted by Gail Warren

On January 25, 2019, Ashley N. Vavra joined the Virginia State Law Library as our new librarian-archivist.

Ashley is from Gloucester, Virginia and now lives in Henrico with her husband, Dylan, who she met as an undergraduate at the University of Richmond. She enjoys indoor rock climbing, hiking, spending time near the James River, seeing new places, baking for friends, and reading novels while snuggling with her two cats.

Ashley attended the University of Richmond, graduating in 2014 with a BA in History and earning the distinction of Phi Beta Kappa.  Later that year, she began working at the University of Richmond Law School Library and, while working in various positions, pursued her Master’s Degree in Information Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  Most recently, Ashley worked as the digital collections and archives associate at the law school library under Molly Lentz-Meyer.

In her role as librarian-archivist, Ashley will continue the good work begun by Catherine OBrion in identifying, documenting and directly the safekeeping of judicial branch archival records and other historically significant items in the Supreme Court of Virginia Archives.  She will coordinate our Oral History Program and other projects, including the creation of court’s “Judicial Learning Center” exhibit, to be opened on the first floor of the Supreme Court Building later this year, and conducting tours of the courtroom and our portrait collection for students, private individuals, and civic and charitable organizations.  Ashley is already busy reviewing our archival records and processes, and preparing her tour script.

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Ashley and look for her at the VALL meeting in May at Hunton Andrews Kurth!

Ashley hiking Old Rag in the Shenandoah National Park

President's Message, Dec 21, 2018

Greetings VALL members,

I hope this message finds you well and looking forward to a festive (or quiet, depending on your preference) holiday season!

It is hard to believe that two months have passed since our fall meeting at the Libbie Mill Library in Richmond.  The meeting was a great success and featured educational sessions focusing on the theme of innovation.  

We heard from Lance Odegard, National Director of Technology at Thomson Reuters, on innovation in the legal industry.  A panel including Alexis Sharp of Hunton Andrews Kurth, Amy Wharton of the University of Virginia Law Library, and Chris Lange, an attorney at LeClairRyan, described innovation stories at their organizations.  Caryn Foster Durham of Durham Strategy + Consulting led a workshop on how to articulate and build a personal brand.  

We also received a tour of Libbie Mill Library, a true 21^st century library with a spacious, daylit interior, individual and interactive areas, and a 3-D printer.

I wanted to update you on a few things.  (If you attended the Fall Meeting, you will have already heard about some of them.)

Spring Meeting:  As you have hopefully seen from Chris Vassey’s “save the date” message, our Spring Meeting will be held on Friday, May 3, 2019, at the offices of Hunton Andrews Kurth in Richmond.  The Programs Committee is developing a slate of educational sessions for the meeting, and based on the Fall Meeting, I expect that it will be “must see” programming—highly relevant, informative, and timely.  Please plan to attend, I am looking forward to seeing you there!

Member Spotlight:  The Communications/Public Relations Committee has published the first of its new quarterly member spotlights on the VALL Talk blog.  The first highlighted member was Suzanne Corriell, circuit librarian of the Fourth Circuit Library.  Anticipated future publication months are January, April, August, and November.  If you have a recommendation for a member to highlight, please reach out to Alexis Sharp, chair of the committee.

Website:  Our expanded website committee, chaired by Stella Naulo, has been researching and evaluating options for creating a new site for VALL.  The committee has done a lot of work on this already and I am looking forward to updating you more about this.

Chapter Leadership Handbook:  Suzanne Corriell has been reviewing the chapter leadership handbook with an eye toward possible revisions to bring the handbook up-to-date and ensure its ongoing value as a resource for the effective operation of VALL, and further updates on this will be forthcoming.

Law Libraries Column in Virginia Lawyer:  The Law Libraries column in Virginia Lawyer magazine is a mainstay of our association and an excellent way to display our expertise to one of our primary patron groups:  attorneys in Virginia.  VALL members have continued to contribute articles to this column, and that is greatly appreciated.  If you have not yet written for the Law Libraries column, I encourage you to consider it.  It is a great way to highlight the value of our profession to Virginia attorneys and to get experience with writing and publishing professionally.  If you are interested in writing for Virginia Lawyer, please contact one of the co-chairs of the Publications Committee, Marie Summerlin Hamm and Greg Stoner.

Grants:  Patricia Petroccione (Walter T. McCarthy Law Library) was awarded a grant to attend the AALL 2018 Annual Meeting.  There is an opportunity for one or more additional members on the Grants Committee; if you are interested in serving, please contact the chair, Joyce Janto.

Membership:  Doris Morgan has taken over as membership chair, replacing Chris Vassey, who is the vice president/president-elect.  Please continue to be on the lookout for potential new members, such as law librarians who are new to Virginia and library students or law students with an interest in the profession.  It would be wonderful to grow our ranks from the next generation of law librarians.

Legislative Awareness:  At the Fall Meeting, David Knight, chair of the Legislative Awareness Committee, reported on several new Virginia and federal statutes of interest to law librarians.  A hard copy summary of that report is available; for a copy, please contact David or me.

If you have an interest in getting involved in one of the initiatives or committees mentioned above, please let me or the appropriate committee chair know.  There are many ways to make a contribution to VALL, and your involvement is what makes VALL a vital professional organization!

Also, as a reminder, the AALL 2019 Annual Meeting will be held July 13-16, 2019 in Washington, D.C.  This will be a rare opportunity to attend an AALL meeting that is relatively close by for many of our members.  Among other things, it will include sessions presented by some of my Law Library of Congress colleagues, and we are planning at least one event at the Law Library, so I hope I will see you there. 

I hope you all have happy holidays and a wonderful year to come.

Andrew Winston