Meetings & Events – Law Librarians of New England

Interview with LLNE Spring Meeting Panelist Nicholas Mignanelli

We are so excited for the LLNE/SNELLA Spring 2022 Meeting! In anticipation of our day at Yale Law School discussing Critical Law Librarianship, we hope you enjoy this interview with one of the panelists.

Picture of Rufus looking like a good boy!

Tell us a fun fact about yourself! I have always loved folklore (not the Taylor Swift album). I am especially fond of urban legends, ghost stories, and local cryptids. New England, being America’s creepy attic, is full of them.
What is your favorite New England spot and why? There are so many to choose from, so I’ll highlight two spots found in our host city of New Haven. First, Center Church on the Green – The First Church of Christ in New Haven, a church completed in 1814 that serves as the meetinghouse for a congregation that was organized in 1639. It contains a Tiffany window depicting Puritan minister John Davenport preaching his first sermon in New Haven, a Fisk organ, box pews, a crypt with 137 well-preserved headstones dating from 1687, and a friendly and welcoming congregation. Second, Lighthouse Point Park, a city park that features the iconic Five Mile Point Light, a turn-of-the-century carousel, a beach, nature trails, and magnificent views of the Long Island Sound and the New Haven skyline.
Do you have any pets? No, but my parents have a German Shepard named Rufus who I adore. He is intelligent, funny, and a good boy (although I still haven’t forgiven him for the time he ate my HeinOnline facemask).
What is your favorite hobby? I collect rare law books. I recently acquired a first edition of Tapping Reeve’s The Law of Baron and Femme, an early American legal treatise on “domestic relations” (family law) published here in New Haven in 1816.
What do you enjoy most about being a law librarian? As Alfred, Lord Tennyson put it, “[m]astering the lawless science of our law, / That codeless myriad of precedent, / That wilderness of single instances, / Thro’ which a few, by wit or fortune led, / May beat a pathway out to wealth and fame.” I have a romantic view of legal information, and this is what brings me joy as a law librarian and legal research professor.
How did you end up where you are, doing what you’re doing? How did you end up in your specialty? I fell in love with legal research instruction as a student at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law, where I worked as a teaching assistant in legal research. I had wonderful mentors who encouraged me to go to the University of Arizona Law Library Fellows Program, the first law library program to offer an entire graduate seminar on teaching legal research. After Arizona, I served as the reference & instructional services librarian and a lecturer in law at the University of Miami School of Law, where I first discovered Critical Legal Research and began to think about how I could integrate critical perspectives on legal information into the legal research classroom. About a year and a half ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to return to New England as the research & instructional services librarian and a lecturer in legal research at Yale Law School.
What do you think is one of the most important aspects of critical law librarianship? I think the heart of critical law librarianship is the theory that power structures in our society shape the organization of legal information and embed biases in legal research tools. Accordingly, we need to find ways to contend with this phenomenon, whether through the methods and strategies of Critical Legal Research or the pedagogical techniques of critical legal information literacy.

LLNE Scholarship Application is EXTENDED to May 20th!

Greetings LLNE Members!

The members of the LLNE Scholarship Committee would like to invite you to apply for our open scholarships. We 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 held this June at Yale Law School, or the AALL meeting being held this July in Denver, CO.
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 application criteria and the application form can be found here, (LLNE scholarship guidelines and application process), and the application deadline has been extended to next Friday, May 20th. Please contact Dawn Smith at dawn.smith@yale.edu if you need more information.

Again, we encourage you to apply!

Posted on behalf of the Scholarship Committee

LLNE Scholarship Application is open!

Greetings LLNE Members!

Basic Scholarship information:

Meeting Scholarship: Help with registration fees or travel expenses, for LLNE members who wish to attend the Spring LLNE Meeting being held this June at Yale Law School, or the AALL meeting being held this July in Denver, CO.
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 application criteria and the application form can be found here, (LLNE scholarship guidelines and application process), and all applications are due on May 13^th, 2022. Please contact Dawn Smith at dawn.smith@yale.edu if you need more information.

Again, we encourage you to apply!

Sincerely,

The LLNE Scholarship Committee

Dawn Smith, Chair

Ana Delgado Valentin

Jocelyn Kennedy

Service Project Wrap-Up: South Coast Fair Housing

The Service Committee would like to thank everyone who attended LLNE Trivia Night 2021. The event was hosted by trivia master Thomas Todd (also known as Ttodd) and 34 librarians, friends, and family participated. It was a great night of pop culture and general knowledge trivia, culminating in a tie breaker show down between Cardoza and UConn. The winning team was Cardz Against Humanity, the team from Cardoza Law Library. Congratulations to Christine George, Richard Kim, Ingrid Mattson, Anu Pal, and Olivia Smith!! The winners will receive e-gift cards to Frugal Bookstore, a fantastic black-owned bookstore located in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.

The event was to raise money for SouthCoast Fair Housing in New Bedford, MA. SouthCoast Fair Housing is “dedicated to eliminating housing discrimination, ensuring equal housing opportunities, and developing inclusive communities throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.” They do this through education, community outreach, advocacy, investigation, and legal representation.

If you haven’t donated, there is still time. Just go to https://bit.ly/3Ep9VGO and donate any amount today.

Also, a big thanks to Lexis for sponsoring trivia night.

If you are interested in joining the Service Committee or have an idea for our next project, please reach out to co-chairs Jessica Almeida and Kaitlin Connolly.

Fall 2021 Meeting – [In]accessible Justice: Innovation, Technology and Solutions

There is still time to register for the Fall 2021 meeting next Friday!

If you’ve registered, a Zoom link to attend will be sent soon!

More details and a schedule can be found on the meeting website.

See you soon!

Fall 2021 Meeting Planning Committee

LLNE Trivia Night 2021!

Join us on Wednesday, November 17th at 7PM (EST) for LLNE Trivia Night 2021! The event will once again be hosted by Ttodd and prizes provided by Lexis. We will be raising money for SouthCoast Fair Housing, a nonprofit fair housing organization dedicated to eliminating housing discrimination, ensuring equal housing opportunities, and developing inclusive communities throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Remember to register for the event and donate any amount! Once registered, the Zoom link will be sent to you prior to the event. This event is open to all, so feel free to invite family, friends, and colleagues.

Can’t make it to trivia? You can still donate to this great cause!

Questions? Contact Jessica at jessica.almeida@umassd.edu.

The LLNE Service Committee

Update From the Access to Justice Committee

Hello LLNE Members,

I am Anne Rajotte, the chair of the Access to Justice Committee. I am joined this year by three members: Dana Lucisano, Misty Peltz-Steele, and Sara McMahon. The Committee is actively seeking opportunities for outreach to public libraries and the community generally. Some possible initiatives this year include creating additional informational resources through Legal Link and submitting proposals to present at regional library conferences on topics related to assisting public library patrons with locating reliable legal information.

This fall’s virtual meeting, which focuses on technology and access to justice, should provide some inspiration and ideas for how law librarians can use their skills and resources to begin to bridge the justice gap. As our profession combines information seeking, legal knowledge, and technological innovation, we are natural participants in the movement to increase access to justice.

The Access to Justice Committee welcomes new members! Please contact me at anne.rajotte@uconn.edu if you are interested in joining us.

Save the Date!

Logo in blue and yellow for LLNE’s virtual fall conference, [In]accessible Justice: Innovation, Technology and Solutions with a yellow figure climbing the words

We are excited to announce, the LLNE Fall Conference, will be held November 12^th online.

Entitled, [In}accessible Justice: Innovation, Technology, and Solutions, it will focus on the intersection of technology and access to justice and explore ways that technology can help to bridge the justice gap. The day will begin with speakers from the National Center for State Courts defining the justice gap and discussing existing approaches to address it. The following panels will explore ways technology can improve access to legal assistance, information, and institutions. Speakers from technology firms, nonprofits, law firms, law schools, courts, and bar associations will discuss their initiatives and how they have used technology to address an identified need.

A lot of research and location scouting was done to find a COVID safe location for the Fall 2021 meeting. Sadly, after monitoring health recommendations and local and regional COVID-19 developments, it was decided to not hold an in person meeting.

Many more details and registration are coming soon on the conference website!

We look forward to seeing you there!!! -Nicole Dyszlewski, Jessica Almeida, Kaitlin Connolly, Danielle Lamontagne, Joshua LaPorte, Jessica Panella, Anne Rajotte, and Michael VanderHeijden

Service Committee Spring 2021 Project Wrap-Up

This Spring, the committee organized three projects to coincide with the LLNE FUNtivities and Spring Virtual Meeting.

Our first project was raising money for NEADS Prison Pup Program. NEADS is an organization that provides service dogs to veterans, people with physical disabilities, individuals with autism, and even assistance dogs that work in hospitals and courthouses. 90-95% of NEADS puppies are trained in correctional institutions in New England through their Prison Pup Program. Through the generosity of our members, we have raised over $1,300. If you would like to give to this wonderful organization, please visit https://support.neads.org/llne.

Child posing with a card made for Meals on Wheels.

Our second project was creating cards and decorated lunch bags for Meals on Wheels locations throughout New England. The committee is happy to report that members have pledged to create over 300 cards and bags. Please remember to take a photo of your creations and use the #LLNEFuntivities on Twitter. The sign-up form is now closed, but if you are interested in contributing to this project, please email Jessica at jessica.almeida@umassd.edu.

Our last project highlighted an informational resource to compliment the Coded Bias screening and panel on Friday, June 11th. The committee showcased the filmmaker’s activist toolkit, containing ways to get involved in the algorithmic justice movement. The committee is encouraging members to sign the Universal Declaration of Data Rights as Human Rights, which was developed by the Coded Bias team, if you are interested in further supporting this cause. Upon signature, your name and zip code are sent to US elected officials. For more information, go to https://llne.org/interested-in-algorithmic-justice-here-are-ways-llne-members-can-help/.

If you are interested in joining the Service Committee or have an idea for a project, please contact Jessica Almeida at jessica.almeida@umassd.edu.

Interested in algorithmic justice? Here are ways LLNE members can help!

Don’t forget to register for the June 11^th (this Friday!) screening and discussion of the acclaimed documentary Coded Bias. The event starts at 7pm EST: tinyurl.com/xr5dm9wf. The filmmaker, Shalini Kantayya, has also compiled an activist toolkit for those interested in becoming advocates for “algorithmic justice.” If any LLNE members would like to get involved, page 24 of the toolkit lists recommended organizations to which you can subscribe and make donations.

Another way to get involved is by signing the Universal Declaration of Data Rights as Human Rights, which was developed by the Coded Bias team. Upon signature, your name and zip code are sent to US elected officials. The committee is encouraging members to sign the declaration if they are interested in further supporting this cause.

We hope to see you on Friday!

LLNE Service Committee