Registration for the LLNE/ABLL Spring 2016 meeting is now open! The theme of the meeting is “Access to Government Information.” We will be spending the day discussing the role of law libraries and the government in providing access to this information, and why it is so critically important. Registration is $50 for LLNE members, and $40 for ABLL members.
Registration, the full schedule, and more is available at http://lawlibraryguides.neu.edu/LLNE2016
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“Prior to the donation the girls were using Dell desktop computers that were running on Windows XP, which is quite out of date” wrote Rashaa Schoolcraft, the organizer of the Rochambeau Library’s chapter.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.
At the Fall Meeting at Roger Williams on October 2, current LLNE prez Diane D’Angelo conducted a quick poll of the attendees. Inspired by our keynote speaker Margaret Hagan of Stanford, and her fascinating presentation on how to use design to make information more engaging for users, I’ve sketched our (very unscientific) results here:
Bonus question: What year LLNE was founded?
We’d love to hear what you think too-please leave your ideas and answers in the comment section!
By the Planning Committee
This year’s Fall LLNE meeting Successfully Supporting & Igniting Innovation is being hosted by the staff of the Roger Williams University School of Law Library and is being held in Bristol, RI. If you have never been to Bristol you are missing out. While it is best known for its festive (some might say over the top?) 4th of July celebration, it has also recently been recognized as a leaf peeping destination. According to TripAdvisor, Bristol is one of “23 of the most scenic North American destinations for leaf peeping this autumn.”
If you haven’t already registered for the LLNE Fall meeting, registration will be open until September 25th. For more information about what Bristol has to offer as a weekend destination, see the meeting’s website. Also, scholarship applications are still being accepted at this time.
We are looking forward to the meeting and looking forward to showing you all Rhode Island has to offer!
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:
Questions? Contact Jessica Jones or Josh LaPorte.
The LLNE Fall Meeting Planning Committee is excited to announce Margaret Hagan as our plenary speaker for the upcoming Fall meeting at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, RI.
In keeping with the theme on innovation, we will be mixing the day up by hosting Ms. Hagan remotely via Skype during our lunch time.
Margaret Hagan is a Fellow at the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School & a Lecturer at the Stanford Institute of Design (d.school).
While a student at Stanford Law, Ms. Hagan built Law Dojo to make studying for law school classes more interactive. She also started the blog Open Law Lab which was chosen as one of the top 100 legal sites by the ABA Journal in 2014. While a fellow at the d.school, she launched the Legal Design Initiative (formerly the Program for Legal Technology & Design), experimenting in how design can make legal services more usable, useful & engaging.
One of Ms. Hagan’s projects may be especially interesting to law librarians. The Visual Law Library is a free online collection of law visualizations, including infographics. One fun example is Mistake Defenses to Crimes at http://www.legaltechdesign.com/visualawlibrary/2014/02/13/mistake-defenses-to-crimes/.
The RWU law library staff has been at work on the upcoming meeting for months and is very excited that Margaret Hagan will be joining us. We are looking forward to sharing the day with LLNE members discussing innovation.
Please register now for the LLNE Fall Meeting, Successfully Supporting & Igniting Innovation.
Innovation surrounds our profession. Constant changes in legal technology, the practice of law, librarianship, information politics, and organizational culture often represent tremendous creativity and innovation.
You are cordially invited to join us for the LLNE Fall Meeting titled Successfully Supporting & Igniting Innovation which will be hosted by Roger Williams University School of Law Library in Bristol, RI on October 2, 2015. The RWU law library staff has been planning this meeting for months and is looking forward to sharing the day with you talking about innovation! We are trying to strike a balance between the theoretical, the practical, and the fun. We are also showcasing all Rhode Island has to offer on the innovation front.
This meeting attempts to engage successful innovators in our field and in New England in a discussion about why innovation is important and how we can support innovation among ourselves, for our patrons, at our institutions, in the practice of law, and as learning facilitators. The morning will feature panelists who will discuss the importance of supporting an innovative culture and the afternoon will feature an unconference.
For those of you who had the opportunity to attend the AALL Annual Meeting this year, you may have noticed an interactive whiteboard display for attendees to contribute ideas and sketches to during the course of the event. In the spirit of innovation, we are planning on having a similar reflective graphic available for conference attendees to express ideas on creating and supporting library and legal innovation. Created by a librarian/artist from New Hampshire, this experience promises to be unique and fun.
Registration is now open. More information will be posted as it becomes available. If you have questions about lodging, the program, or registration, please contact Raquel Ortiz at rortiz@rwu.edu.
Photo Credit: Kathleen MacAndrew
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!
The Law Librarians of New England are pleased to announce that you can now pay for your LLNE Spring 2015 conference registration by credit card.
If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, now is your chance. This year’s theme is Mindfulness and Librarians: Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Come learn how mindfulness techniques can help you be a more effective librarian.
For more information visit the LLNE.org site at http://bit.ly/1EbCmkV
Has it already more than a month since the Fall meeting? This morning’s dark, snowy walk to the MBTA says yes.
Looking back, the folks from Boston College Law Library and the Association of Boston Law Librarians did a great job as hosts. The meeting was held at BC’s Connors Center, in quaint Dover, MA. Attendees were treated to a day of panels and discussion focusing on ways to reinvent the law library. We heard from many different stakeholders in the continued success of law libraries, including law firm librarians, judicial law librarians, academics and attorneys themselves. Of course, none of it would have been possible without the support of the meeting’s sponsors.
Speaking of meetings, have you been thinking “I get so much out of the LLNE seasonal meetings, but I wish for once the theme would be…?” Have you ever wanted to invite a hundred law librarians over to your organization for a day of learning and lunch? Here is your opportunity – the Education Committee is looking for a host for the Spring 2016 meeting! Let one of the Education Directors (Elliott Hibbler or Bob DeFabrizio) know if you are interested in hosting. No one would say it is an easy commitment, but you will have the Education Committee backing you up all the way.
If you have an interest in mindfulness, you don’t have to wait long for an LLNE meeting about the topic! The University of New Hampshire School of Law and the Association of New Hampshire Law Librarians will be hosting the Spring 2015 meeting in Concord, NH on April 24th. I am already looking forward to it!
