Service Committee Update

By the Service Committee

This year, the LLNE Service Committee was LLNE’s largest committee in terms of number of members. In one year our membership tripled in size! Although this has been an exciting year of growth for our committee, it has not come without some growing pains. Part of what makes working on such a large committee fun and dynamic is the diversity of geography, viewpoint, and skill set. Part of what makes working on such a large committee intimidating and daunting is the diversity of geography, viewpoint, and skill set.

This year the Service Committee tried a new format where we broke down into two smaller subcommittees to tackle year-long projects. This allowed each of the subcommittees to feel ownership over their work, but also led to some floundering. One subcommittee worked on creating and implementing an online platform to provide resources about legal reference to New England non-law public librarians (for more info on the new LLNE Legal Link, see http://llne.org/legal-link/) while the other subcommittee worked on planning outreach to public non-law librarians in person through regional networking and professional development opportunities (for more information on this project, stay tuned for more updates!). The two projects were discrete in focus but aligned in vision.

What we learned from this year was immense. We have identified ways to improve our outreach attempts to regional non-law public librarians and are just now releasing the LLNE Legal Link. We have also learned more about ourselves as a committee. We have learned that we need to try a different structure. We have come up with a plan to define our roles within the committee through the use of position descriptions. This allows all volunteers to be more aware of the extent of the projects they are signing up to work on, as well as the nature of the service commitment.

While we are working on defining the duties of committee members, we are also in the process of developing roles for LLNE members who may want to help work on our projects without signing up for one more committee! We have gotten feedback that some librarians have the heart but not the time to commit to our work, and we are developing opportunities for those among our membership who may not be ready or able to commit to committee membership (and meetings and obligations!) at this time.

Our year has been busy. Please check out our new LLNE Legal Link webpage, our poster session at AALL, and our annual report at the LLNE annual meeting for more details about our on-going projects. Also, please consider giving of your time and talents. We are nothing without our members and invite you to reach out to us to discuss possible opportunities for volunteerism and service in the coming year.

LLNE at AALL 2015: Exhibitors, Presenters, Award Winners, and Leaders

By Raquel Ortiz, Membership Development Committee Chair

Heading to Philly later this month? LLNE will be well represented, so here are some tips on who and what not to miss during the conference.

Starting at Saturday’s Exhibit Hall Ribbon Cutting Ceremony/Opening Reception and throughout the conference, drop by the LLNE table. We will have highlights from 2014-2015, information about the LLNE Legal Link, giveaways, and a prize raffle perfect for Philly! While you’re at the table, sign up as a volunteer to help us plan LLNE’s 70th Anniversary next year. Pat will also be there at times during the conference, when he’s not visiting old friends in the Exhibit Hall or checking out Philly.

Also during the Opening Reception, stop by the AALL booth and congratulate our AALL award-winning members, who will be photographed from 5:30-6:30 that evening.

On Sunday night from 6 to 8pm, please join members of the LLNE Executive Board for our Meet and Greet at Vintage Wine Bar, a short walk from the convention center and the conference hotels. Business optional, casual conversation and fun are a given!

If you have not already done so, please register for the LLNE Annual Business Meeting and Luncheon on Tuesday. While you enjoy a lovely meal, catch up with friends and meet new LLNE colleagues, participate in our business meeting, and vote on our candidates for LLNE office.

Throughout the conference, our members will be busy receiving AALL awards, section awards, presenting programs and poster sessions, and wrapping up or stepping into leadership roles. Congratulations to the following members, who put the Leadership in LLNE!

  • Section Award winners: Blair Kauffman (ALL-SIS), Meg Kribble (CS-SIS)
  • Poster Sessions: Timothy Dannay, Nicole Dyszlewski, Corinne Griffiths, Rebecca Martin, Jessica Panella, Jennifer Robble
  • Programs: Nicole Dyszlewski, Scott Matheson, Sarah Ryan, Michael VanderHeijden, Ron Wheeler
  • Special Interest Sections: Jennifer Allison, Patrick Butler, Melanie Cornell, Steven Alexandre DaCosta-Ellis, Laurel Davis, Nicole Dyszlewski, Stephanie Edwards, Christine Iaconeta, Jordan Jefferson, Susan Karpuk, Catherine Kellett, Jocelyn Kennedy, Liza Rosenof, Sarah Ryan
  • AALL Committees: Patrick Butler, June Casey, Nicole Dyszlewski, Darcy Kirk, Meg Kribble, Jootaek Lee, Anne McDonald, John Nann, Anupama Pal, Ron Wheeler
  • AALL Board: Katherine Coolidge, Ron Wheeler

Did we miss you on our list of LLNE stars? Please email rortiz@rwu.edu so that you can be counted!

 

 

Register for LLNE Business Meeting & Luncheon

Don’t forget to register for the LLNE Business Meeting and Luncheon in Philly!  We’ll be meeting on Tuesday, July 21st from 12:30-2 pm.  You can register here: http://llne.org/meetings/2015-annual-luncheon/

The deadline is Friday, July 10th, so register today!  We’re looking forward to seeing everyone!

Enhance Your AALL Experience in Philly

By the Service Committee

Whether you’ve already mapped out your Annual Meeting schedule, or you plan to pick sessions on the plane, consider blocking off some time to volunteer in Philly. This year’s meeting needs lots of helpers to make sure everything runs smoothly in the following areas:

  • Registration Desk
  • Registration Bag Stuffing
  • Opening Reception
  • Library Tours
  • Hospitality Booth
  • Association Luncheon

Sign up today or ask questions at aallvolunteers2015@gmail.com.

This year’s meeting has an additional volunteer opportunity for Annual Meeting Pros: the First-Time Annual Meeting Host Program. Volunteers will be given the names and contact information for one or more first-time conference attendees. As a host, you would be expected to contact your newbies before travelling to Philly to give them an idea of what to expect, and answer any questions they have. Once you’re at the conference, spend some time with them and introduce them to all of the cool people you know. Want to make a difference in the life of a new law librarian? Email your name, contact information, and the number of first-time attendees you are willing to host (one, two, or three) to annualmeetinghost@aall.org.

LLNE Members Receive AALL Awards!

Congratulations to our LLNE members who received Awards from AALL!

Law Library Publications Award (Print Division):
Laurel Davis and Lily Olson (Boston College) for The Law in Postcards
AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Award (Open Division):

Nicole Dyszlewski (Roger Williams) as co-author of Managing Disruptive Patron Behavior in Law Libraries: A Grey Paper Emerging Leader Award

Nicole Dyszlewski (Roger Williams)
Innovations in Technology Award

The staff of the Maine State Law and Legislative Library for their Law and Legislative Digital Library

The full list of 2015 AALL Award Recipients is available in the April 29, 2015 AALL E-Briefing.

Teaching legal research… with social media?

Early on I went to one of the “Deep Dives” – the longer programs towards the beginning of the conference.  “Inventing the new classroom.”  Now I will admit a certain skepticism going in; at this point I’ve been to about 127 “Flipping the classroom” presentations, and while I try to remain receptive to new ideas, the ideas just don’t seem that new anymore.

I was wrong.

The presenters were fantastic, the way they presented was interactive, fun, and peppered with concrete examples and suggestions (I love going away with material I can implement in upcoming classes).  I’m duty bound at this point to write an article for the ALL-SIS newsletter on this, but I wanted to share a few of the ideas that came out of the program:

One of the speakers talked about using Social Media as a teaching tool – playing into my skepticism.  “Social media” says I, “I cannot imagine such a thing in the class – and frankly, students don’t want you in their social media teaching research.”  But a few folks had some really cool suggestions, that I’m going to try to implement:

  • Take pictures  – or better yet, have students take pictures – of things that you think are (or ought to be) subject to regulation.  Upload them to instagram, and then divvy them up in class, trying to find the relevant regulation(s) or statute(s).   This is a great opportunity to talk about what kinds of things are regulated vs. what kinds of things are subject to statutory control.
  • Again use instagram, but have students upload photos of signs where a controlling statute or regulation is actually noted on the sign.
  • Create a blog, and have students do blog posts, and most importantly: have them create tags for these posts.  Great way to teach about indexing, controlled vocabulary, subject access – you know: headnotes.  I suppose the blog posts could be related to just about anything….
  • Have students create checklists or flowcharts for a legal research process (e.g. “researching something controlled by regulations.”).  Have them give this flowchart to another student to follow to precisely  & see how accurately they’ve described the research process.  This recalls challenges of my youth: “write step-by-step instructions for making a fluffernutter – now give it to someone and have them follow it precisely” (which always ended with fluff and peanut butter covering everything, and no sandwich).  PS: if you’re going to do this, you cannot have shown them the appendix to Amy Sloan’s research books, which include such charts.

OK, so this last one isn’t exactly social media – but it does sound kind of cool, right?  There is more to come on this “Deep Dive,” but I wanted to whet the appetites of our abundant readership.

AALL Annual Meeting: In Praise of Round Tables

At every annual meeting I’ve ever been to, the programs have been a mixed bag.  But reliably, the highlights have always been the roundtables – opportunities to sit with colleagues in a (semi-)formalized setting and discuss issues, learn about innovations others have implemented, and share strategies for solving common problems.

At the Marketing and Outreach RoundTable earlier today I sat with a group discussing specific marketing tools and examples.  We talked about Newsletters as outreach tools, and agreed that in order for these to be read there really had to be a hook: The Georgia Bulldogs, for example, run a “LawDogs” contest, where people submit photos of dogs, and  the “winning” photo  is printed in the newsletter.  At SMU they have “Loo Notes,” which is – you guessed it – library news posted in “the ‘loo.”  These broadsides contain trivia questions, the answer to which are submitted to the circulation desk and make on eligible for a raffle.

Folks also talked about doing programs for faculty and students on using library resources – those recently acquired, or those whose interfaces have recently changed (like THAT ever happens).  Again, we agreed there has to be a hook – usually food – to get folks to attend.

Finally – in terms of faculty – we talked about different ways to be more…present in faculty consciousness – from being present near faculty offices (offering cookies, or just checking printers), to facilitating TWEN access, to showing up at faculty works-in-progress talks, to taking places on faculty committees.

As far as marketing to students, people seemed to be a bit more creative, and successful.  Several folks check out materials other than books and computers – for example, frisbees, hula-hoops, sports equipment or umbrellas.  Others give things out during orientation – USB drives, lunch bags, even reusable library coffee mugs with the promise (eventually fulfilled) of free coffee during finals time.  Someone from Georgia talked about the tremendous success they had with “luncheon learns,” where they would provide pizza for students along with some kind of programming – often, but not always, library related (e.g. “taking care of yourself during finals,” or “what to do BEYOND law school.” )  He reported that they had a startling 60-70 students at these events!

One of the librarians present talked about essentially being the library candy fairy, strolling through the library at various times delivering pieces of candy and good cheer (e.g. “great work – you can do it” or “happy day, from your friends at the desk.”).  She said that students reacted as though she were dolling out gold ingots.

Some of the other “extras” offered to students in the name of marketing:

  • Coffee Breaks during finals (see the aforementioned “Library coffee mugs.”)
  • A “Petting Zoo” in the quad (don’t try this in the city, unless your menagerie is entirely pigeons and squirrels)
  • An oatmeal “breakfast bar” during finals time
  • “Relax in the Stacks” 7-15 minute massage in the library
  • And just because that last one bears repeating: FREE MASSAGE IN THE LIBRARY!

Again, the greatest value of the annual meeting is the opportunity to talk to colleagues doing similar work in different parts of the country.  Librarians tend to be very smart folks doing hard work with great humor.

LLNE Annual Business Meeting & Luncheon at AALL San Antonio

Hello Fellow LLNE Members!

Birdseye view of San Antonio 1873
San Antonio 1873, Texas State Archives, Map 6368

If you will be attending the AALL Annual Meeting in San Antonio, please join us for the LLNE Annual Business Meeting and Luncheon, Monday, July 14, 2014, 11:45-12:45 at the Marriott Rivercenter-Salon C.

Menu and Registration information here: AALL Annual Business Meeting & Luncheon

See you in San Antonio!

 

Scholarships for 2014 AALL Conference Attendance

The LLNE Scholarship Committee is accepting applications for financial assistance to attend the 2014 AALL annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Alamo PostcardThe scholarship form is available on the LLNE website. Please note that LLNE awards scholarships to current LLNE members only.

The deadline for submitting AALL annual conference scholarship applications is Monday, April 28, 2014.  

 

Photo courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries

Register now for the LLNE Annual Business Meeting and Luncheon

The menu and registration details for the LLNE Annual Business Meeting and Luncheon are now available on the LLNE website.

To register for the luncheon, please RSVP by email to llneluncheon@gmail.com no later than Friday, July 5, 2013.

Please also mail a check for $40.00, payable to Law Librarians of New England, to LLNE Treasurer Melanie Cornell.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Seattle!