Moving on ...

Ben Almoite is leaving the Virginia State Law Library on Sept. 3rd and will take up his new position as librarian of the Henrico Government & Law Library on Sept. 8. Ben is excited to be following in Isabel Paul's footsteps and plans on continuing the great service she provided to the library's patrons for more than 20 years. Good luck, Ben!

Happy Retirement to Joe Wynne!

Systems Librarian Joe Wynne retired on July 24th after 37 years of service to the University of Virginia Law Library. 

Joe joined the law school in 1978 as a cataloger, worked under two library directors (Larry Wenger and Taylor Fitchett), was a reference librarian, budget and technology manager, a leading contributor in moving the library into the digital age, AND the library's softball team coach for many seasons.  

For those fortunate enough to work with Joe, it's an understatement to say that his talent, fairness, easy-going nature, and wit will be missed.  Not to mention his love of Pittsburgh sports teams, a cold Guinness, and anything Italian.  

Congratulations Joe---good for you!

The Power of Connection

by

Suzanne B. Corriell

Associate Circuit Librarian, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit Library

 

This year’s AALL Annual Meeting theme of “The Power of Connection” was exactly what I needed as I transitioned to a new role in a federal court library.  Our library has embarked upon the strategic planning process, and several of the programs that I attended tied in closely with our overall endeavor to raise our visibility and better demonstrate our value to our stakeholders.  

Gail Johnson and Pam Parr from Face to Face Communications and Training led a session on “Take Control of Your Reputation.”  The good news: law librarians don’t have a bad reputation; the bad news: we don’t HAVE a reputation!  Their advice: don’t become obsolete or let others define your reputation for you.  Be adaptable, be positive, be humble, listen, and laugh easily; credibility, believability, and demonstrated expertise will build a positive reputation.

“Economic Value of Law Libraries – Raising Awareness, Raising Value” discussed the insights from the 2015 AALL Economic Value of Law Library study.  Success is dependent upon visibility within the organization – relationships matter, and it’s important to meet with stakeholders often (and hopefully in-person) in order to give reports and updates on what the library is achieving.  Get your stakeholders to consider the “contingent valuation” of the library – what if services weren’t offered?  How much would that cost the organization?  Know your audience and speak their language, while showing your commitment to the organization.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation conducted a return on investment study in 2013 and presented some of their findings and advice in “Proving Your Library’s Value: Tips from a Library That Has Done It.”  This built upon some of the reporting recommendations from the prior session: be persistent with your management to be at their meetings and get on the agenda, and seize any opportunity to talk to your stakeholders or get feedback from users.  When crafting a report, be comprehensive, but be sure to include an executive summary – get their attention.  

In addition to the educational programs, being able to meet with numerous other federal and court librarians was invaluable.  Joining the newly renamed Government Law Libraries SIS was a particularly helpful way to network and connect with new colleagues.  The Third Circuit libraries in downtown Philadelphia held a reception for all of the circuit library personnel attending the conference – this was a wonderful, informal way to chat about our unique circumstances and share ideas.

Thank you to VALL for providing me with a generous grant to attend this year’s annual meeting.  Being able to meet in-person with those that I regularly speak with, in addition to connecting with others in the federal judiciary was a great experience – and maintaining those relationships to share ideas will enable me to better serve my library and its users.

The Law Librarian in the Broader World – Lessons from Legislative Advocacy Training and a Law Firm/Academic Librarian Round Table at the AALL Annual Conference

by

Kat Klepfer

 Reference & Research Services Librarian, University of Richmond

This was my first AALL annual conference as a professional librarian and I was very excited to attend the conference, not as a job-seeker, but as a practicing librarian. I began my full-time job as a reference & research services librarian at the University of Richmond just this January and was encouraged to apply for the VALL grant so that I would have the opportunity to attend AALL. I was able to cover the majority of my expenses with VALL’s generosity and enjoyed a productive conference!

We were able to bring a diverse group to Philadelphia from the University of Richmond: our new director, Roger Skalbeck, was able to attend, along with our deputy director, Joyce Manna Janto, our catalog and systems librarian, Mei Kiu Lo, and our two reference & research services librarians, Alexis Fetzer and myself. Most of us came early to enjoy the pre-conference programs on Saturday and I signed up for the Legislative Advocacy Training seminar. I have an interest in public policy research and will be helping students in our Public Policy Research & Drafting class in the fall, so I thought it would be a good fit.

The training was run by the AALL Government Relations Office Director Emily Feltren and Public Policy Associate Elizabeth Holland. The exercise they started us on seemed simple at first: fill out the name, level of education, birth date, and other basic information about our best friend. Pretty easy, huh? Then we had to do the same for our local representative. I didn’t even know his or her name, let alone what level of education they had or when they were born. I excused this by saying I’d just moved to Virginia, but honestly I don’t know when I’d have thought to look it up. I admit, I hopped on my phone on break and looked it up—and I recommend you do the same at http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/ )! 

The “Attorney Research Skills: Join the Conversation Between Law Firm and Academic Law Librarians” program was by far the most informative program I attended. It was organized as a panel presentation punctuated by round-table discussions and it got all of us talking. My table was a nice mix of firm and academic librarians and we dove into some difficult issues. I truly wish this particular program had been longer. Reporting on the results of the ALL-SIS Task Force on Legal Skills and Knowledge for Practice, the panelists discussed the gaps in legal research skills students are reporting—and law firm librarians are growing frustrated with—when they leave law school.

The firm librarians had three main take-homes for those of us teaching legal research. First, firm librarians can tell when a student has had some form of advanced legal research class. It’s something I fully intend to pass on to my students when they leave their 1L year; truly you cannot stop learning about research after your fist year and expect to succeed in the job market. Second, firm librarians urge us to focus on the method of legal research and not on individual sources. When time is tight, we tend to just try to highlight a number of databases. Priming a student to know how to look for information—as well as where—is necessary when a student may end up in a firm where substantially different resources are available. Last, and perhaps the most challenging, was that students need to be prepared for the time and cost pressures of researching in the real world. It is something that is difficult to simulate when students have such broad access to databases at our schools. The academic librarians at my table pondered as to how we could cut down on time or availability of resources to better prepare our students.

Overall, I was pleased to come home with a head full of ideas and a hand full of business cards. I appreciate VALL’s generosity in helping me to engage in our professional and gather connections. It was lovely meeting so many of my fellow VALL members at our wonderful lunch at McCormick & Schmidt’s and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!