There is one week left to register for the LLNE/ABLL Spring Meeting on April 14th! Registration is 70$ will close next Monday, on April 10th. To register visit the Meeting’s LibGuide available here. You can access meeting information, speaker bios, service project information, and session information on the LibGuide as well.
The LLNE Service Committee is raising funds for future bar takers as our latest service project. Please join the LLNE Service Committee to support our future bar takers by donating to one or more of the funds they’ve chosen. You can access information about the three funds by visiting the Service Project tab on the meeting LibGuide.
Our Spring Meeting (co-hosted with ABLL) will be happening on April 14, 2023 at MCLE’s Conference Center in Boston and the last day to reserve a room in the LLNE block is fast approaching!
LLNE has reserved a block of rooms at the Omni Parker House, 60 School Street Boston, for the evening of April 13th at a rate of $249. Visit the Lodging and Travel page to book your room by March 13th.
With the Legal Research Instruction Program (LRIP) approaching we would like to encourage all LLNE members to apply for the Continuing Education Scholarship which will cover the registration cost. The application deadline for the LRIP scholarship is March 10, 2023.
We also encourage you to apply for any (or all) of the scholarships listed below. LLNE Scholarships are available to attend or access the annual AALL or biannual LLNE meetings; for participation in continuing education/training opportunities; and for those seeking a degree in librarianship. Descriptions of our scholarship opportunities are listed below and on the LLNE website.
Basic Scholarship information:
Meeting Scholarship: Help with registration fees or travel expenses, for LLNE members who wish to attend the Spring LLNE Meeting being hosted by New England Law School on April 14 at MCLE, or the AALL meeting being held this July in Boston, MA.
Academic Scholarship: LLNE members who are enrolled in an accredited degree program in Library Science or in an ABA-accredited law school are eligible for one of our academic scholarships.
Continuing Education Scholarship: LLNE members who wish to access continuing education and training opportunities beyond the programming offered at our biannual LLNE meetings and the annual AALL meetings may apply for one of our continuing education scholarships.
The meeting will take place on Friday, April 14, 2023 at the MCLE Conference Center in Boston. The topic will be “A NextGen Curriculum for a NextGen Bar.” As many of you know, the first administration of the new bar exam will be July of 2026. Because the new bar examination will be testing foundational skills along with doctrinal subjects, many of us view the new bar exam as an opportunity for greater attention to fundamental skills, but have concerns about how the exam will test these skills. How can we best prepare students, and what curriculum changes should be made to ensure our students are ready?
We are fortunate to have a number of highly knowledgeable speakers and presenters on the NextGen bar and skills curriculum at this conference. Marilyn Wellington, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer for the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will be the keynote speaker. Marilyn is leading the NCBE’s development of the Next Generation Bar Exam.
Associate Dean Hemanth Gundavaram from Northeastern University School of Law will also be speaking. Associate Dean Gundavaram presented at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego on the NextGen Bar and was on the NCBE Content Scope Committee. Associate Professor Dennis Prieto from Rutgers Law School was a panelist at the conference. Associate Professor Prieto is the one reference librarian on the NCBE Content Scope Committee, and we are interested in his thoughts on testing research skills.
Additionally, Dean Lisa Freudenheim of New England Law | Boston will address meeting attendees from the viewpoint of an administrator guiding the entire educational program for a law school. Dean Freudenheim has a background in academic support, which gives her a unique perspective on teaching and law school pedagogy.
As always, there will be an LLNE Business Meeting at lunch, opportunities to see new products from vendors and, most importantly, a chance to catch up with colleagues and friends.
The MCLE office is conveniently located within walking distance of South Station and the Red Line.
Many law libraries and many law librarians in New England have helped plan and host these semiannual events over the years. We all know the incredible amount of time and effort that goes into planning the meeting. Thank you to Kristin McCarthy and New England Law | Boston for hosting. Thank you to everyone who has hosted and planned a conference in the past. The tradition continues. Have a great spring semester.
Welcome to a new year! As we begin this time of renewal, I’ve been thinking about the direction in which LLNE is headed. The executive board recently held a strategic planning retreat, and many of you participated in a survey about where LLNE currently is and where we should go over the next five years. You identified several strengths we have, like our people, that we’re innovative, and our programming. You also identified some areas of weakness, which the board hopes to address through the goals we set at the retreat. Look for more on those as the strategic plan takes shape.
Speaking of programming, I’m looking forward to the spring meeting on the NextGen bar exam, hosted by New England Law Boston at MCLE on April 14th! I hope to see you there. The NextGen bar exam, with its new focus on legal research, is a real opportunity for LLNE and its membership to work together on what students and new attorneys need to know.
The future of LLNE is bright, and that’s because of all of you, the LLNE membership. As we consider the direction in which we need to move, I am grateful that all of you are part of this strong, innovative organization.
Anna Lawless-Collins, LLNE President
Anna Lawless-Collins Associate Director for Systems & Collection Services Boston University Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries
All LLNE Members are invited to this fun social event! We have partnered with the Dallas Association of Law Libraries (DALL) for an evening of trivia to be held over Zoom. Mark your calendar, and we hope to see you there!
LLNE leadership hopes that everyone’s fall semester is wrapping up nicely and that you’re entering winter and the holiday season healthy. LLNE has had a wonderful fall with lots of things happening that we wanted to update you about.
The new Executive Board had its first meeting at the end of September, right before we held the Fall Conference in New Bedford. The Bylaws Committee finished their work updating our Bylaws and those changes have been sent to AALL for approval. Additionally the Statement of Ethical Principles was approved by the membership by 84.4%. President Anna Lawless-Collins has placed a call for volunteers to join an ad hoc committee to help put those ethical principles into practice. If you are interested in joining that committee please contact Anna to let her know.
On October 7th, LLNE gathered for its fall conference “Chasing the Law of Whaling into the 21st Century” in New Bedford at the Waypoint Event Center, with a trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Attendees had the privilege of hearing from Mark Procknik, the Museum’s Research Librarian; Professor K. Bercaw Edwards from the University of Connecticut; and, Professor Charles H. Norchi from University of Maine Law about the history of whaling in New Bedford, MA and learning about maritime legal research. In the afternoon, attendees has the opportunity to check out the New Bedford Whaling Museum and to hear more from Librarian Mark Procknik. Mark pulled some historical documents for attendees to look over and he gave another short presentation about some of the materials brought out.
Coming up in January, Executive Board members will be gathering for its annual winter retreat where members will be working on strategic planning for LLNE. Additionally, the spring LLNE meeting has been planned for April 14, 2023, hosted by The Law Library at New England Law and The Association of Boston Law Librarians (ABLL) and will focus on “A NextGen Curriculum for a NextGen Bar”. Mark your calendars to join us!
So you’ve been dying to learn all about how we create the forms we use for events and things like that. Or maybe you’re not, but I’m going to tell you anyway. And it would help to have some instructions somewhere.
Say there’s a meeting coming up and we need a form stat! Fortunately, I don’t need to create a whole new form. I can copy a form from an earlier meeting and reuse the content. We use Jotform for our meeting registrations, and that’s pretty easy to use.
Getting started with the form
To make the changes, I’ll need the following info from the event organizers:
Name of meeting
Co-sponsor
Price
Questions for attendees (lunch, dine-arounds, etc.)
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” – Herman Melville
The Service Committee has been busy connecting LLNE/ABLL members with opportunities to help others. For the Fall 2022 Service Project, we solicited monetary support for the Whaling Museum and we sponsored a book drive to support Wash & Read, an initiative of United Way of Greater New Bedford’s Women United, which distributes books to local laundromats. Donations to the Whaling Museum helped the museum provide free programming, such as AHA! NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. We had great participation in the book drive, with members donating 36 books. We received a lovely thank you card from Paula Montgomery, Women United Director.
Our next service opportunity is in conjunction with the upcoming Virtual Trivia Night in January. One reason that we are sponsoring Action For Boston Community Development is because LLNE/ABLL members can choose to support a specific program, such as fuel assistance, food pantries & programs, winter fund, or have their donation applied where it is most needed. More details to follow soon.
Looking ahead to the Spring Service Project, we want to focus on a service activity that members can participate in. John, Stephanie, and I would love to have some company on the Service Committee! If you have some ideas or just love helping others (and what librarian doesn’t?) consider joining our awesome committee.
