Spotlight: Molly Lentz-Meyer

Name: Molly Lentz-Meyer     

Organization: University of Richmond Law School

Title: Digital and Archival Collections Librarian

What is your favorite moment of your career so far? 

Helping a struggling student who genuinely wanted to succeed at legal research.

What is something you would want people to know about you (hobbies, interests, passions, etc.)? 

I love to cook.

What is a guilty pleasure you cannot live without? 

I don’t believe in guilty pleasures.

If Hollywood made a movie of your life; who would you like to see play the lead role as you?

Kate Winslett (or Saoirse Ronan).

Who would you most like to sit next to on a 10 hour flight and why?

My dad, I miss him.

If you could be an Olympic athlete, in what sport would you compete and why?

Diving or speed skating – they look like the most fun.

Moving On

Congratulations to Ben Almoite who started with McGuireWoods on May 6 as the technical services librarian in the Richmond office. Ben was previously with the Henrico County Public Library.

Congratulations to Anna Price who will begin her new job as a librarian with the Law Library of Congress on May 28! Anna will be leaving the Alexandria Law Library where she is currently library operations supervisor.

April Statistics

There were 787 pageviews of VALLTalk in April! Thank you to all those who have stopped by.

VALL Spring Meeting May 3rd 2019

About thirty-five VALL members gathered at the Riverfront Plaza office of Hunton Andrews Kurth to attend VALL's spring meeting and installation of officers.

Jane Baugh from Woods Rogers checking in at the registration desk.

Doris Morgan and Victoria Levy from McGuireWoods walked across the street to attend.

Douglas Granger, managing partner at Hunton Andrews' Richmond office, welcomed members and observed that while libraries had changed physically, there would always be the need for resources and data, and that libraries would still fulfill those needs.

Programming Chair and Vice President/President Elect, Chris Vassey.

Outgoing President Andrew Winston thanking Jane Harrison and other program committee members for a job well done.

VP/PE Chris Vassey thanking President Andrew Winston for his service to VALL.

The newly installed board members L-R: Anna Price (director), Alexis Sharp (treasurer), Chris Vassey (president), Jane Harrison (vice president/president elect), with Megan Scanlon (secretary) and Andrew Winston (immediate past president). Not in picture; Liz Schiller (director) and Evelyn Campbell (ex officio).

Terry Long who recently retired from the Virginia State Law Library was awarded a lifetime membership to VALL for her decades of service to the association.

VALL members enjoying a continental breakfast while waiting for the programs to start.

State Law Librarian Gail Warren participating in  the program A Leopard Can Change Its Spots which was a group discussion put together by Suzanne Corriell from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Megan Scanlon from Williams Mullen. Participants discussed how to successfully help veteran library users evolve.

Scott Kimpel from Hunton Andrews' Washington DC office, spoke to VALLers about blockchain and distributed-ledger technology in a program called How Blockchain Technology is Revolutionizing Business and the Law.

Sameena Kluck, vice president of business development at Paladin gave attendees useful tips on how to fully utilize their LinkedIn and Twitter accounts in Build Your Brand with Social Media.

VALL members were also given a tour of what used to be the library on the 12th floor of Hunton Andrews but which is now what Mr. Granger referred to as "collaborative work space" of charming sitting areas and mini conference rooms ... nary a book in sight.

A cozy corner in which to strategize.

The iconic staircase is still there! But where is the wig? Alexis assured us that it is safe in storage.

To give folks some perspective ... this is what the area looked like in 2014 (photo submitted by Michele Gernhardt)

Ashley Vavra from the State Law Library taking a closer look at the view and the staircase.

Yes, there is even a coffer bar which may also serve other beverages ... there may or may not have been a tap of sorts ...

New VALL Members

Welcome to the newest VALL members listed below:

Eileen Chandhoke – Odin Feldman Pittleman, PC

Kelsey Cox – Virginia State Law Library

Sarah Drye – Student member

John Holtzclaw – National Center for State Courts

Tiffany Jenkins – Troutman Sanders

Geraldine Kalim – George Mason University Law Library

Audrey Lynn – Regent University Law Library

Eleanor Mullens – Student member

Daniel Turner – University of Richmond School of Law Library

Alex Zhang – Washington & Lee University School of Law

In and Around VALL: Sarah New & Kate Boudoris

This school year, the Arthur J. Morris Law Library at the University of Virginia welcomed two new librarians, Sarah New and Kate Boudouris. 

Sarah New

Sarah joined the library as its web services librarian, bringing extensive experience in digital resources management, web site design and management, and reference services in academic libraries.  

She was previously a web services librarian at the University of Maryland Baltimore County Library.  Sarah holds an M.S. in Library Science from the Catholic University of America and a Masters in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Since beginning work at UVA, Sarah has been busy finding opportunities to improve the usability and accessibility of our website and occasionally assisting faculty members with GIS-related research.  

Kate Boudoris

Kate Boudouris is the library’s new research, instruction and outreach librarian. 

She first joined the library in 2016, with a focus on digitization projects and reference services. Since transitioning to her new role, Kate has continued to provide reference service, while also teaching advanced legal research and spearheading the library’s outreach efforts. 

She previously practiced law with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville and with the law firm of Spiegel & McDiarmid in Washington, D.C.  Kate holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and is working toward her M.S.I.S. at the University of Tennessee.

In and Around VALL: Thomas Walker

Submitted by Anthony Brown Ikwueme

Thomas Walker is the new associate librarian for collection management with the Ehrhorn Law Library at Liberty University School of Law. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music with emphases in Double Bass Performance, Music Composition, and Media Studies; additionally he holds, a Master of Science in Library Science from Clarion University and is completing his doctoral dissertation in Higher Education Administration at Marshall University. 

Prior to joining the world of academia, Thomas was a television news director and worked for NBC. He has also freelanced for MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, and NASA.  

His experience with copyright covers three major areas of user (television news), owner (composer and musician), and lender (librarian).  He has presented on copyright and recorded media, copyright issues with printed scores and copyright and music collections in the modern library. 

Thomas was a member of the Copyright Compliance Team at Marshall University; a member of the Copyright Committee with the Association for Recorded Sound, and the Music Library Association.  In addition to his committee work and presentations, Thomas worked directly with Dr. Júlio Alves on copyright clearance for several of his publications as well as assisted with mechanical rights for several Marshall University recordings.   He also served as an administrator for the Marshall University Institutional Repository, Marshall Digital Scholar, where he worked exclusively with authors and publishers to obtain republishing rights for their scholarly output, which he feels, is paramount for the modern library.