VALL Spring Meeting 2010

The VALL Spring Meeting 2010 will be held on April 23, 4:15 - 5 pm, in the Garden Room, Cascades Conference Center, Williamsburg.

VALL Nominees 2010-2011

Vice President/President Elect: Michele Gernhardt

Michele has worked as a reference librarian at the Richmond office of Hunton & Williams LLP since November 2005. In addition to her reference duties at Hunton & Williams, Michele is responsible for coordinating cataloging and serials management in the firm's library information system. She also creates and conducts training programs regarding various library resources. Michele has been a VALL member since 2004. Over the past 5 years, she has served on the VALL Membership and Program committees, served as Membership committee chair (2007-2008), and is presently a Director on the VALL Board. She received her JD from the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law in 2002 and her MSLS from the Catholic University of America in 2007. Michele resides in Chesterfield County with her husband (Alan), 2 1/2 year old daughter (Sabrina), two cats and six goldfish.

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Secretary: Amy Wharton

Amy is the Research and Emerging Technologies Librarian at the University of Virginia Law School Library. She recently authored the VALL column in the December 2009 issue of The Virginia Lawyer, "Web 2.0: What's in it for Lawyer 1.0?" and oversees the VALL Wiki (vall.pbworks.com). If elected VALL Secretary, Amy will do her part to ensure the timely publication of meeting minutes and a smooth election process. As an Executive Board member, she pledges to work with the Board and the VALL community to find creative ways to turn our common challenges into shared successes.

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Director candidates:

Patty Petroccione

Patty is director at the Walter T. McCarthy Law Library; the Arlington Public Law Library located in the Arlington County Courthouse. In 1999, she returned to the library and information services profession after practicing law for five years as an Assistant Commonwealth ’s Attorney in Arlington , and one year with a law firm. During her early years in the library profession, she was director of several law firm libraries in Washington , D.C. , including Sidley & Austin and Carr , Jordan , Savits & Lopata.

Patty received her J.D. from George Washington University , her master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Catholic University, and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Albany .

She enjoys travelling with her husband and teenage son and daughter. Yoga and reading are two of her favorite hobbies. Patty’s time out of the library is often spent driving her teenagers to various music lessons, performances and other afterschool activities. She has served as president and vice president of the elementary and high school PTAs.

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Tracie Krumbine

I bring several years of research and customer service experience, having worked in a variety of library settings including special, academic, law firm and public. I currently work as a Solutions Consultant for LexisNexis. The combination of of my past firm experience and my current experience working with firms of all sizes in all areas of the state makes me a good representative of Virginia law libraries. Although I no longer work as a law librarian I am very interested in the professional development of law librarians and plan to remain directly involved in the library profession in any capacity that I can.

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David Knight

I have been nominated for the office of Director of VALL. I have worked at the Norfolk Law Library for almost 3 years. This is my first position in a law library after 7 years in the public library sector, where I was head of reference for a branch of the Newport News Public Library System. I was co-author of an article that appeared in Virginia Libraries, Improving the Health of Seniors: A Partnership Between a Public Library and an Academic Health Sciences Library, vol. 51, no.4. After a couple of years as a paraprofessional in NNPLS, I decided to earn my Master’s degree, finishing in 2004. My favorite classes while in library school were legal and government information sources, so when a position opened in a law library, I jumped at the chance to apply. I have been very happy working at the Norfolk Law Library. Although I have not held an office in VALL before, I have filled in as Secretary for Bill Magee on those occasions when he has been unable to attend a VALL meeting. Taking minutes for VALL business meetings has given me an understanding of the organization and I would like the opportunity to become more involved.

VALL Winter & Spring Meetings

Registration forms for the Winter Meeting on March 5 at Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, and the Joint VALL/SEAALL Meeting April 22 - 24 in Williamsburg, are available at: http://vall.pbworks.com/

Don't let the deadlines creep up on you, register now!

Nominations 2010

It's that time of the year again! VALL is looking for a Vice President/President Elect, Secretary and Director.

Please fill out a nominations form located at: http://vall.pbworks.com/ or email Nominations Chair, Cathy Palombi at ccp7m@virginia.edu with your suggestions.

Deadline is February 5th, 2010.

VALL Survey: Timing & Frequency of Meetings

From Fred Dingledy:

Greetings, VALL members!

At the Fall/Annual Meeting, we discussed the frequency and timing ofVALL's meetings. It's been brought to our attention that the quarterlymeeting format might be a large time and financial commitment for a lot of members, especially in these days of tight budgets. We're also wondering if the Annual Meeting should be changed from a two-day to a one-day event. So, we'd like your input. We've created a six-question survey that you can access at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=p7LTimIAQlSQNUTp4PMdxQ_3d_3d

VALL's meetings can't go anywhere without our members, so your input is very important to us. Note that actually changing the number of meetings per year will require a by laws amendment, so this is something that won't happen overnight, but we'd like to know how our members feel about this before putting things into motion.We'd greatly appreciate it if you could respond to the survey by Thursday, November 19, since one of the questions is about a preferred date for the Winter 2010 meeting. Thanks in advance!

VALL Annual Meeting at South University, Richmond, Nov. 6 - 7, 2009

"Cool" "Modern" and "Immensely attractive" were some of the words used by members of VALL to describe South University's Richmond Campus. VALL held it's annual meeting at the Richmond Campus, Nov. 6 - 7, and it was attended by about 30 members.

The Friday attendees in the Distance Learning Lab

Interim Richmond Campus President Seth Saunders welcoming VALL and sharing SU's history, philosophy and plans with VALLers


Doris Morgan from McGuireWoods won one of Friday's door prizes -- an SU t-shirt. Seth Saunders and SU Head Librarian Evelyn Campbell present it to her.

VALL Program Chair Anthony Ikwueme receives the second door prize from Seth Saunders. The third door prize which was an SU clock was won by Julie Stuckey.

Gail Warren from the Virginia State Law Library and Jean Holcomb presenting their Friday program Got Ideas? Tools and Techniques to Identify, Refine and Communicate Ideas that Stick.

Friday's attendees listening attentively to Gail and Jean.

Saturday's panel for Bridging the Gap Between What Law Schools Teach and What Law Firms Need. L-R: Chris Byrne from the College of William & Mary Law Library, Suzanne Corriell from the University of Richmond Law Library, Barbara Baxter from Liberty University School of Law Library, Billie Jo Brooks from Williams Mullen and Laurie Claywell from Kaufman & Canoles.

Saturday's attendees listening to the panel before participating in a lively discussion.

Donna Bausch, Jean Holcomb, Tracie Krumbine and Doris Morgan during a break in the program.

Jeanne Ullian, Chris Byrne and VALL President Fred Dingledy.

Gail Warren, Barbara Cumming, Billie Jo Brooks and Barbara Baxter.

Guest Speaker Christine Sellers from the Library of Congress sharing her experiences with VALL on how she coped with being laid off and how she created the popular blog Law Librarians of Leisure.

Guest speaker Christine Sellers

More door prizes! Billie Jo Brooks wins one of the door prizes donated by LexisNexis' Leanne Battle. L-R: Fred Dingledy, Tracie Krumbine and Billie Jo Brooks.

Suzanne Corriell wins the second door prize.

David Knight from the Norfolk Law Library won the third door prize.

A Word (or two) from VALL President Fred Dingledy:

"Thanks to everyone for making the VALL Fall/Annual Meeting a success! Kudos to the Program Committee for coming up with a great slate of speakers. Jean Holcomb and Gail Warren provided sage advice on how to come up with ideas that will stick; and just as important, how to get those ideas across to the people who have to implement them. There was a lively panel discussion involving librarians from the academic and law firm worlds on how to best teach law students the research skills they will need as attorneys. Finally, Christine Sellers, the mind behind the Law Librarians of Leisure blog, offered sound advice on dealing with the current job market for law librarians.

I was especially pleased with the high degree of involvement our members displayed. Many questions and comments flew back and forth between presenters and members during the weekend's programs, which I always take as a sign of a good meeting. Once again, thanks to the presenters, organizers, and attendees, and a big thanks to South University as well for agreeing to host the event at their brand-new campus in Richmond. I hope everyone will be there for the Winter Meeting at Liberty!"

Directions to South University

From Charlottesville: Take I-64 east toward Richmond. Take exit 178-A (Route 250 West also known as West Broad Street). As you enter Route 250, you must cross all lanes of traffic and get into the left most lane so that you may turn left at the first full traffic signal (Brookriver Drive). From the left most turn lane, turn left onto Brookriver Drive. Go past the first street (Whole Foods will be on your left) and drive to the stop sign staying in the left lane. At the stop sign, South University is the building across the street to your left (look for the orange awnings). Drive straight across the street and turn left into the parking lot behind the building.


From Williamsburg: Take I-64 west toward Richmond. Take exit 178-A (Route 250 West also known as West Broad Street. As you enter Route 250, you must cross all lanes of traffic and get into the left most lane. Go past the first partial traffic signal that puts people back on I-64, and turn left at the first full traffic signal (Brookriver Drive). From the left most turn lane, turn left onto Brookriver Drive. Go past the first street (Whole Foods will be on your left) and drive to the stop sign staying in the left lane. At the stop sign, South University is the building across the street to your left (look for the orange awnings). Drive straight across the street and turn left into the parking lot behind the building.


For those using Routes 60 or 360 from west of Richmond: Go east on either Route 60 or 360. Get on Route 288 North and go across the James River. Take the Route 250 East (also known as West Broad Street) exit. Stay in the right lane and proceed approximately three miles. You will see Short Pump Town Center mall on your left and several shopping centers on your right. After you pass a very large intersection (Pump Road and Pouncey Track Road), you will see a Walmart on your left followed by a Target, Kroger, Home Depot and Kohl’s (all on your left). On your right, is West Broad Village. Turn right into West Broad Village shopping center at Brookriver Drive. Get into the left lane, go past the first street (Whole Foods will be on your left) and drive to the stop sign staying in the left lane. At the stop sign, South University is the building across the street to your left (look for the orange awnings). Drive straight across the street and turn left into the parking lot behind the building.