Category: Committee News

UELMA Online Advocacy Training to be Held May 13

The LLNE Government Relations committee encourages us all to participate in the UELMA online training described below.

UELMA Online Advocacy  Training to be Held May 13 

Registration is open for AALL’s next online advocacy training, “Progress  Report: UELMA Advocacy in 2015 and Beyond,”on Wednesday, May 13 at noon EDT. Since it was approved by the Uniform Law Commission in July 2011, the  Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act  ( UELMA ) has been introduced in 20 legislatures and become law in 12 states. In this 30-minute training,  we’ll assess progress made on UELMA , including common advocacy challenges and strategies for success from the AALL members and chapters who have played an instrumental role in advancing the Act. Register  today to learn more about shepherding UELMA through the legislative process and to identify opportunities to help enact UELMA in your state. This training is complimentary for AALL and chapter members.

Service Committee Update

By the Service Committee

The Service Committee has continued to focus its efforts on making connections and building partnerships with public libraries in the New England region.

For the second year in a row, the Service Committee worked with the LLNE Education Committee and the Legal Research Instruction Program (LRIP) to offer two scholarships to New England area public librarians interested in taking the LRIP course. The two librarians who received the scholarships this year were Jeanne Bent of the Hope Public Library in Scituate, RI and Kathleen Clifford of the Boston Public Library in Boston, MA.

The Service Committee is also moving forward with its yet-to-be-named web portal project. The project aims to provide public libraries with one portal for comprehensive information on the legal research and information landscape across New England. Our committee members have started working to compile this resource by reviewing existing tools and projects by law librarians, bar associations, courts and legal aid conglomerates in each of the states. The committee hopes to have some piece of the portal ready and online by the annual meeting. Once complete, the web portal will be hosted on the LLNE website.

In tandem with the web portal project, the Service Committee is interested in creating a network of law librarians throughout New England who are willing to serve as resources to public librarians with legal research questions. The network of librarians will include individuals willing to be “on-call” for questions that may arise in their state of in their area of expertise, but also individuals willing to travel within their local area to provide in-person, basic legal research trainings to public librarians. If you or any of your colleagues are interested in serving as a trainer or on-call librarian for your state or in your area of expertise, please contact Rebecca Martin of the Service Committee.

Your $10 LLNE Membership Has Its Privileges

By the LLNE Membership Development Committee

LLNE is one of the most affordable professional membership for law librarians (or any librarians!). When we are faced with the constant challenge of “doing more with less”and the rising cost of legal publications, it is nice to know that some bills have not gone up. When we are reassessing our memberships and trying to figure out which ones we must have and which ones we cannot afford anymore, let’s remember how the $10 cost of LLNE benefits our members:

  1. Community: Sometimes we just have #lawlibraryproblemz and it’s good to know that there are other people out there who can understand them.
  2. Educational Opportunities: While LLNE membership is not required for attendance at the Spring and Fall meetings, it is the LLNE organization and its members who work to plan and host these meetings to further professional development in our field.
  3. Service: The LLNE Service Committee is busy throughout the year uniting members from throughout New England in service. Volunteers always welcome!
  4. Listserv: The members-only LLNE listserv is a great way to find out about upcoming employment opportunities, educational opportunities and other law library happenings.
  5. Advocacy: The LLNE Government Relations Committee, in partnership with the AALL Government Relations Committee, works to further the profession and the ideals of law librarianship.
  6. Scholarships: Scholarships are available for a variety of professional development opportunities and for tuition for students. However, scholarship opportunities are only available to members.
  7. Networking: You never know when you will discover your next career move. Many directors and hiring managers in New England law libraries are members of LLNE!

Whether you are a library school student interested in law librarianship who is just joining LLNE for the first time or a former LLNE Executive Board member who has been a member for decades, sometimes it it just good to appreciate the value of LLNE membership. Membership: it definitely has its privileges.

New UELMA Bill Filed in MA House

HB43 – An Act relative to the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act has been filed in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

A one page summary of the bill and why we need to pass this legislation is linked to the LLNE webpage and lots of background information, documentation and tips for advocacy can be found on the AALL UELMA Resources page.

Thanks in advance for your support and assistance!

Barbara Morgan, Michelle Pearse, Barbara Schneider, Marnie Warner, Anne McDonald, Joan Shear
LLNE Massachusetts Government Relations Committee
Sub-committee working on the passage of UELMA in Massachusetts

Cooks Reports

By Laurel Davis and Heather Pierce

Cooks' reports_Page_1

Heather found this gem tucked into one of the LLNE archives boxes. The cleverly titled Cooks’ Reports: Being Reports of Recipes is a cookbook filled with recipes contributed by LLNE and SNELLA members. It was compiled by the Education Committees of both of those chapters and published by Cookbook Publishers in 1983.

It’s easy to imagine some of these items being served at parties on Mad Men. They probably don’t have a huge following in the fresh and local food movement of recent years! One eye-catching recipe that hopefully doesn’t get much play these days is reproduced below:

Cooks' reports_shrimp and triscuits_cropped

Rhode Island UELMA Update

By Anne McDonald and Emilie Benoit, Co-Chairs, Government Relations Committee

Several LLNE members have asked why the Rhode Island UELMA bill (H-5415) was withdrawn so early in the session.  Emily Feltren, Director of AALL’s Government Relations Office, informs us that, as with each of the past three introductions (2012, 2013, and 2014), the bill was introduced with Lexis as the official publisher, which is a violation of UELMA as approved by the ULC and ABA.  As in 2013 and 2014, the bill was withdrawn on February 26, 2015, after these concerns were raised.  Emily further informs us that the RI Uniform Law Commissioners have been working with the sponsor to resolve this and also to determine why the bill keeps getting introduced with Lexis as the official publisher.

When/if we learn of any further developments, including plans for reintroduction, we will let you know.

The LLNE Government Relations Committee is providing this information to you to further its Committee charge to keep you apprised of pending legislation which may be of interest to you as an informed law librarian.  We will continue to keep the LLNE membership updated on this bill and any others that impact law libraries and information policy in the New England states.

 

LLNE scholarship news

The LLNE Scholarship Committee is inviting applications for the following awards:

  • LLNE Spring Meeting scholarships are available to support members’ attendance at the fascinating meeting planned for April 24, 2015.  Scholarship forms must be submitted by April 10, 2015.
  •  LLNE is accepting scholarship applications for members seeking financial assistance in attending the 2015 AALL annual meeting in Philadelphia.  Scholarship application forms must be submitted by Friday, May 1, 2015.
  •  LLNE is now offering scholarships to support its members’ continuing education opportunities. Check the LLNE website for more details.

Also, AALL has reached out to LLNE to encourage members to apply for the Koslov Scholarship, the Continuing Education Scholarship, and the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship.

  •  The Marcia J. Koslov Scholarship provides funding for state, court, and county law librarians to attend conferences, seminars, and other live continuing education opportunities beyond the usual law library-related conferences.    The application deadline is April 1, 2015.
  •  AALL also offers a Scholarship for Continuing Education Classes, available for all law librarians (not limited to state, court, and county law librarians) who wish to register for continuing education courses related to their fields. See the application form for details. The application deadline is April 1, 2015.
  •  The George A. Strait Minority Scholarship is offered to degree candidates in law school or library school who belong to minority groups and who intend to have a career in law librarianship.

Rhode Island files UELMA Legislation

By Anne McDonald and Emilie Benoit, Co-Chairs, LLNE Government Relations Committee

H 5415, An Act Relating to State Affairs and Government – Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, was introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly House of Representatives on February 12, 2015 by Representative Joy Hearn (D-Dist. 66, Barrington, East Providence) and Representative Michael Marcello (D-Dist. 41, Scituate, Cranston.)  It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The Act, if passed, would be the first in Rhode Island to regulate the official publication of legal material in an electronic format.  It designates Lexis Nexis as the official publisher of all Rhode Island legal materials (Constitution, Public Laws, Acts and Resolves, the General Laws) except for those published by state administrative agencies.

This bill is similar to the one that was introduced last year and later withdrawn.  Here is a link to the current bill:  http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText15/HouseText15/H5415.htm

The LLNE Government Relations Committee is providing this information to you to further its committee charge to keep you apprised of pending legislation which may be of interest to you as an informed law librarian.  We will continue to keep the LLNE membership updated on this bill and any others filed in the New England states that impact law libraries and information policy.

Public Librarian Scholarships available for Intro to Legal Research Course

The LLNE Service Committee has made two scholarships available to public librarians interested in taking the Intro to Legal Research course.  If you know a public librarian who is interested in learning more about legal research, please direct them to the Service Committee page to apply.