Service – Page 4 – Law Librarians of New England

Fall 2016 Meeting Service Project – Project Smile

Dear LLNE Member,

My name is Bear and I am getting ready to go on an adventure. My first stop will be the LLNE meeting on October 28th at The Westin Portland Harborview. While you all are learning about law library assessment, I am going to meet with other stuffed animals to discuss best practices for making boys and girls smile and how to be extra huggable. We are preparing to go to Project Smile, which will deploy us to children who are going through a traumatic experience.

I am a little nervous about this journey, and hope you will help by sending lots of nice friends to join me. Since it is LLNE’s 70th anniversary, we’re hoping to send at least 70 of us to Project Smile.

How Can I Help?

Bring a new stuffed animal to the meeting.
- Stuffed animal must be under 20 inches in length
- Stuffed animal cannot have a year sewn on it
- Stuffed animal cannot have a battery compartment or make noise (sorry Tickle Me Elmo)
Mail a new stuffed animal to:

Joshua LaPorte

University of Connecticut

School of Law Library

Access Services

39 Elizabeth Street

Hartford, CT 06105

Bring or mail a monetary donation, and the Service Committee will purchase stuffed animals for Project Smile.

Although Project Smile notes that Build-A-Bears are very popular, you don’t have to break the bank to help out. Here are some stuffed animals under $10:

http://mobile.kohls.com/catalog/kohls-cares.jsp?CN=4294731838
- You can get double charitable giving bang for your buck at Kohl’s because the net profits from the Kohl’s Care stuffed animals go to children’s charities. There are also literary classics like Paddington Bear and Madeline for the librarians.
http://www.christmastreeshops.com/product/15%E2%80%9D+stuffed+plush+lobster.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=Search#.V-iUznD3arU
https://www.fivebelow.com/pillow-pets-trade-pee-wees-trade.html

As I mentioned before, I’m a little nervous about this journey, and I would love to connect with some of my soon-to-be friends before the meeting. If you’re bringing a stuffed animal, please take a picture and post to Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

#LLNE70forSmile

Love,

Bear

Service Committee Shares “Legal Link” With SNELLA

By Joshua LaPorte

Mike VanderHeijden and I presented Legal Link, the Service Committee’s online tool-kit for public librarians, to the Southern New England Law Libraries Association (SNELLA) at an event at the UConn School of Law Library on April 19th.

At the program, we discussed the background of the Service Committee’s “outreach to public libraries” initiative, how Legal Link fits into that larger focus, gave a tour of Legal Link, and solicited feedback from SNELLA’s members on topics we should include as we further develop the site. Some ideas floated were including patent searching, lawyer referral resources, and business development topics. We also discussed similar efforts being made here in Connecticut to equip our public library colleagues to help patrons with legal research as a tool to mitigate access to justice issues.

The Service Committee is working on developing content for Legal Link, and the feedback from SNELLA was extremely useful as we determine what should be included on the site.

Generosity: A Message from the LLNE Membership Committee

By Nicole P. Dyszlewski

Because the Service Committee’s Spring project benefits the Rhode Island Department of Corrections Library System and I am a Rhode Island law librarian, I have been receiving the donations here in my office at Roger Williams University Library. I have been so impressed by the generosity of LLNE members. While the book drive, Bringing Books Behind Bars, is being organized by the Service Committee, and I am sure that committee will thank all donors fully, I just wanted to take a moment from behind the wall of donated books in my office to point out what is obvious to me. It is obvious to me that LLNE is a community of thoughtful, generous, and committed members.

Every morning for the last few weeks I have come in to my office to find packages from Amazon. These books have been donated from active librarians and retired librarians from government, academic and private firm libraries from several New England states. Several people have even donated multiple books! It is clear from the response to the Service Committee’s call to action that the members of our organization are engaged and involved in this project.

Many professional organizations (including our own) have lately suffered from a decrease in members. In addition, leaders of these organizations, and LLNE in particular, work hard to assess how actively engaged members appear. LLNE uses data such as number of attendees at meetings and responses to listserv posts on issues to gauge the connectivity and vibrancy of the organization. These conversations and changes made to organizational processes are important. If you have ideas on how LLNE can continue to serve its members, the Membership Committee and all of LLNE leadership would be happy to speak with you. This conversation continues and we invite you to be one of the participants as we move forward.

Bringing Books Behind Bars Book Drive

By the LLNE Service Committee

In association with the 2016 Spring Law Librarians of New England (LLNE) Meeting, the LLNE Service Committee has organized a book drive for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections library system. The Service Committee has met with library staff of the prison system and has worked with volunteers to compile a list of needed acceptable books.

All books donated must be from this list and must be donated in new condition based on the institutional rules.

The list of books can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/registry/giftlist/1R2951TFE7498

We have chosen a wide variety of titles which are both legal and non-legal. We have also chosen titles at a variety of price points.

Donations can be purchased on Amazon and mailed to:

Nicole Dyszlewski

Roger Williams University School of Law Library

10 Metacom Ave

Bristol, RI 02809

In addition to the book drive we will also be engaging in an advocacy effort to ask prison officials to make the rules about acceptable material more lenient and more standardized. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact one of the co-chairs of the Service Committee, Joshua LaPorte (Joshua.laporte@uconn.edu) and Jessica Jones (jjones@socialaw.com).

Service Committee Update

By the LLNE Service Committee

The Service Committee continues to focus its efforts on making connections and building partnerships with public libraries in the New England. This Spring the co-chairs of the service committee will be presenting a session titled Successful Strategies for Managing Law-Related Patron Inquiries at the Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) Annual Conference in Warwick, RI. This will provide an opportunity for the Service Committee members to meet public librarians with an interest in law and to showcase LLNE’s Legal Link project.

For the third 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 April Pascucci, Library Technician at the U.S. Court of Appeals Library for the First Circuit and Jazmin Idakaar, Generalist Librarian I of the Mattapan Branch of the Boston Public Library.

LRIP Public Librarian Scholarships

For the third year in a row the LLNE Service Committee, with the support of the LLNE Executive Board, is administering a scholarship for New England non-law public librarians to attend our chapter’s award-winning Legal Research Instruction Program. ( http://llne.org/legalresearchinstruction/intro_course/)

The LLNE Service Committee wishes to encourage and support access to legal information and education for New England-based librarians working in non-law public libraries. As part of its ongoing service initiative of outreach and service to local non-law public libraries, the Service Committee has elected to offer up to two scholarships for public librarians to attend LLNE’s annual Legal Research Instruction Program (LRIP).

Information about the scholarship can be found on the LLNE website (http://llne.org/committees/service/#publiclibrarianscholarships)

The application is also available online. (http://llne.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/LLNE_Intro_Scholarship_2016.docx)

The deadline for submission is Monday, February 29, 2016.

Completed applications should be sent to Nicole Dyszlewski at ndyszlewski@rwu.edu.

We are advertising this scholarship on various listservs throughout our region. We are asking all members to share this announcement widely and to recommend this scholarship for those public librarians who may be interested in a law-related professional development opportunity.

If you have any questions, please email one of our committee co-chairs, Jessica Jones (jjones@socialaw.com) or Joshua LaPorte (joshua.laporte@uconn.edu)

Law Librarians Learn About and Support Local Innovation

By the LLNE Service Committee

On November 12, 2015, law librarians Nicole Dyszlewski and Raquel Ortiz stopped by the Rochambeau Library’s Girls Who Code club to deliver 10 Raspberry Pi computers that members of the Law Librarians of New England donated to the club. The club is currently made up of six girls ranging in age from twelve to fifteen who have an interest in computer science and coding.

Girls Who Code is a nationwide organization that is working to close the gender gap in technology careers and education. The national organization supports local clubs to help inspire girls to pursue computer science careers by exposing them to instruction in computer programming, web development, web design, and robotics. The one public chapter of the Girls Who Code Club in Rhode Island is held at the Rochambeau Library in Providence. Kendra Saunders from Johnson and Wales University serves as the club’s volunteer instructor.

“Prior to the donation the girls were using Dell desktop computers that were running on Windows XP, which is quite out of date” wrote Rashaa Schoolcraft, the organizer of the Rochambeau Library’s chapter. “We were looking to get a few Raspberry Pi computers but were unsure of how we would purchase them.” So when Law Librarians of New England approached Schoolcraft to ask how they could be of service, the timing could not have been better. Raspberry Pi computers are approximately the size of a credit card, plug into a computer monitor, and use a standard keyboard and mouse. The units donated by LLNE cost about $70 each and are capable of running a variety of operating systems, giving users the ability to experiment with coding and creating their own programs.

Law Librarians of New England (LLNE) is a non-profit organization for professional law librarians throughout New England. Twice a year, LLNE hosts educational meetings for its members on different topics. This year’s fall meeting, titled Successfully Supporting & Igniting Innovation, was hosted by the library at Roger Williams University School of Law and featured local innovators and businesses from Rhode Island on the panels. In conjunction with the event, the LLNE Service Committee sought to support local innovative projects and ultimately chose to raise funds for the local public Girls Who Code club.

Fall Meeting Service Project: Helping Out is as Easy as Pi

Who: You, as an individual and/or your library

What: Help the Girls Who Code Club at Rochambeau Library!

How: There are a couple of ways to help:

Buy a Raspberry Pi on Amazon and bring it to the fall meeting on October 2^nd at Roger Williams.
Make a monetary donation
1. In person at the fall meeting
2. Can’t come to the meeting, but still want to help? Contact Jessica Jones or Josh LaPorte.

Questions? Contact Jessica Jones or Josh LaPorte.

Service Committee Update

By the LLNE Service Committee

Earlier this summer the Service Committee launches its legal research web portal aimed at public librarians, LLNE Legal Link. It got a great reception at AALL in Philadelphia and the Committee hopes to continue expanding the project over the next year. The Committee developed postcards to help publicize the project to public librarians. Please consider picking some up at the upcoming Fall LLNE meeting and bring them back to public libraries near you.

Currently, the portal hosts a directory of public law libraries available in each state, as well as information on how a bill becomes a law in each New England state. The Legal Link will likely expand to connect its users to local legal aid organizations, legal research guides for a variety of topics, best practices, and links to state statutes, court rules and regulations. While the main goal of Legal Link is to serve as a clearinghouse for legal information, we are also interested in creating commentary and new content to help explain how to adequately use these resources.

At AALL, the Committee also presented a poster session describing its work on the public library legal book drive during 2013-2014. It was the only poster session during AALL that a chapter had created and there was interest in potentially recreating the project from other chapters across the country.

Over the next year, the Committee will continue its work on LLNE Legal Link and also develop roles for LLNE members who may want to contribute to the project without serving as an official member of the committee. These members would provide assistance with concrete tasks or questions the Committee has. If you are interested in learning more please contact a Service Committee member.

LLNE Legal Link Launches!

By the LLNE Service Committee

The Service Committee is proud to announce that LLNE Legal Link, our legal research web portal, is now live and you can access it here and from the LLNE homepage. We will be debuting the website at AALL this week in Philadelphia, passing out postcards at the LLNE booth, so be sure to help spread the word!

The idea behind Legal Link was to create a legal research portal for public librarians, where they can find relevant legal information for the New England region all in one place. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Legal Link will serve largely as a curator of legal content – linking out to resources that LLNE members trust and use often so that non-law librarians in the region will have quick and easy access to useful reference materials. Because the portal is freely accessible from our website, we also anticipate it serving as a tool for pro-se individuals who are navigating the legal research world on their own.

As of now, the site hosts a directory of public law libraries available in each state, as well as information on how a bill becomes a law in each New England state. Going forward, we hope to grow Legal Link by connecting its users to local legal aid organizations, legal research guides for a variety of topics, best practices, and links to state statutes, court rules, regulations, and more. While the main goal of Legal Link is to serve as a clearinghouse for legal information, we are also interested in creating commentary and new content to help explain how to adequately use these resources.