NECHE Removes Libraries from Standards

To my surprise and disappointment, the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) has removed libraries and library work from its 2026 Draft Accreditation Standards.

The EveryLibrary Institute drafted a paper, “At the Risk of Disappearing: How the Draft 2026 NECHE Standards Remove Libraries and Librarians from Accreditation,” that provides an overview of the proposed changes.

I am dismayed by this development. Although it does not directly impact law libraries, it does affect our on-campus colleagues. Who is to say that this change will not influence the ABA?

The proposed change is an affront to libraries and library staff and will further diminish faculty research and student learning at colleges and universities.

Last Day for Nominations is Tomorrow!

Tomorrow (3/7) is the last day for nominations for LLNE board seats!

LLNE is an all-volunteer, self-governed organization, so member involvement at all levels is crucial.   Please consider nominating yourself or someone else for any of the following openings:

• Treasurer (2 years)

• Education co-chair (2 years)

• VP/President-Elect (1 year term, followed by 1 year as President, then 1 year as Immediate Past President)

More information on the positions can be found in the LLNE bylaws.

All nominations and self-nominations should be forwarded to Andrew Hyland (ahyland@socialaw.com) no later than Friday, March 7, 2025.  Please email if you have any questions about an open position.

Scholarships Available for LRIP

All public librarians are encouraged to apply for a scholarship, sponsored by the LLNE Access to Justice Committee, to attend our chapter’s Legal Research Instruction Program.

The Legal Research Instruction Program (LRIP) is a six-week online seminar geared towards public librarians interested in learning more about law librarianship. Each week, a different aspect of legal research is covered — everything from an overview of the U.S. legal system to finding business transactional documents. The class will run on Wednesday evenings from March 19th through April 23rd. 

 For more information about the LRIP course, go to https://llne.org/llnes-legal-research-instruction-program-is-back/ or contact Brian Flaherty directly at brian2@bu.edu.

The LLNE Access to Justice Committee is providing two scholarships to cover the cost of registration. Applicants must be public (non-law) librarians from the New England region.

Applications should be submitted through this Google form https://forms.gle/Wdyy1hiYQJtzNwY89 by March 11, 2025. Scholarship recipients will be notified by March 13, 2025.

Please send questions about the scholarship to Anne Rajotte at anne.rajotte@uconn.edu.

We encourage all LLNE members to share this scholarship opportunity with their local public libraries and any public librarians that would be interested in this excellent professional development opportunity.

LLNE’S LRIP is Back!

The 2025 iteration of LLNE’s legal research instruction program will be entirely remote this year. It will be a combination of synchronous and asynchronous instruction, using zoom, the various google tools, video instruction, and the imagination of the great teaching librarians of the Law Librarians of New England.

The class will be run on six Wednesday evenings from March 19th through April 23rd.  The sessions will be 1.5 hours each Wednesday, though there will be some pre-work and some optional homework with each class.  To register, please fill out this form.

Instruction will include:

· Overview of the US legal system
· Introduction to legal research methods, including using secondary sources
· The role of case law, the courts and case finding tools, such as digests
· The organization of statutes and conducting a legislative history
· Finding regulations
· Understanding administrative law
· Finding transactional law documents
· Finding information about businesses and people
· Putting everything together with legal research strategy

For the course, you will have access to some of the more important legal research tools in the profession, however we will also cover how to do effective legal research without some of the more expensive resources.

Course Fee: $150.  You can pay using the Jotform, however if you need to pay by check please contact Brian at the email below.

Registration deadline: Friday, March 14, 2025.

If you have any questions, please email Brian Flaherty.

Nominations for Board Positions

February 11, 2025

LLNE Members,

This is to announce that nominations for open Board seats are now being accepted by the Nomination Committee – Alex Burnett, Maine State Legislature, Megan York, University of Maine School of Law, and Andrew Hyland, Social Law Library.

LLNE is an all-volunteer, self-governed organization, so member involvement at all levels is crucial. Please consider nominating yourself or someone else for any of the following openings:

• Treasurer (2 years)

• Education co-chair (2 years)

• VP/President-Elect (1 year term, followed by 1 year as President, then 1 year as Immediate Past President)

No experience is necessary and past Board members are also welcome. More information about the positions can be found in the Bylaws located on the LLNE website (https://llne.org/bylaws/).

All nominations and self-nominations should be forwarded to Andrew Hyland (ahyland@socialaw.com) no later than Friday, March 7, 2025. Please email if you have any questions about an open position.

Thank you,

Alex Burnett, Maine State Legislature,

Megan York, University of Maine School of Law,

Andrew Hyland, Social Law Library

Job Openings: Circuit Law Librarian – Northeast (Lawrence Law Library) & Central (Norfolk Law Library – Dedham)

Circuit Law Librarian – Central (Norfolk Law Library – Dedham), Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries (Dedham)

Working within the Trial Court Law Libraries, the Circuit Law Librarian – Central performs professional library duties over a defined geographic area in the following areas: legal research and reference, cataloging, interlibrary loan, bibliographic services and acquisitions. Assists Head Law Librarians in library operation; and may perform specific functions for the Trial Court Law Libraries such as invoice processing, collection development and maintaining a federal depository collection; performs related work as required.

Work is performed primarily under the direction of the Director of Court Services and Law Libraries and Senior Manager of Law Libraries, or their designee, and is evaluated for professional soundness and conformity to policy.

The position requires travel and entails working in multiple locations, including the  Norfolk, Worcester, Lowell, and Middlesex Law Libraries, and will be based in the Norfolk Law Library (Dedham).

This position is designated as a union position and is covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement with O.P.E.I.U., Local 6.

Qualifications

These are the minimum requirements necessary to apply:

• Master’s Degree in Library Science or Law Degree from an accredited library school and 1 full year of full-time experience in a professional capacity in a law library; equivalent combinations of education and experience will be considered for meeting the minimum qualifications.
• Preferred Qualifications: MLS, MLIS, or JD and some library and legal research experience;
• Knowledge of theory, principles and practices of library science and law library administration, including current methods and procedures in such areas as collection development, cataloging and legal research and reference;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to deal effectively and respectfully with people;
• Ability to work with judges, attorneys, court personnel;
• Ability to use computer applications such as MS Office spreadsheets, text editing and publisher programs;
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both oral and written form;
• Ability to reach with hands and arms, bend, crouch, lift materials weighing up to 30 pounds, and climb stairs; and
• Ability to travel within the Commonwealth and work at other Trial Court Law Library locations when necessary.

Full/Part Time

Full Time

Education

MLS/Masters

Salary

$82,164.94  /  year

Closing Date

Feb 10 2025 at 23:55 EST

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit https://trialcourtjobs.mass.gov/jobs/666ee536-e400-4133-b6ed-23c87dd6dc7e to apply.

Circuit Law Librarian – Northeast (Lawrence Law Library), Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries (Lawrence)

Working within the Trial Court Law Libraries, the Circuit Law Librarian – Central performs professional library duties over a defined geographic area in the following areas: legal research and reference, cataloging, interlibrary loan, bibliographic services and acquisitions. Assists Head Law Librarians in library operation; and may perform specific functions for the Trial Court Law Libraries such as invoice processing, collection development and maintaining a federal depository collection; performs related work as required.

Work is performed primarily under the direction of the Director of Court Services and Law Libraries and Senior Manager of Law Libraries, or their designee, and is evaluated for professional soundness and conformity to policy.

The position requires travel and entails working in multiple locations, including the Lowell, Essex, Lawrence, and Middlesex Law Libraries, and will be based in the Lawrence Law Library. 

This position is designated as a union position and is covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement with O.P.E.I.U., Local 6.

Qualifications

These are the minimum requirements necessary to apply:

• Master’s Degree in Library Science or Law Degree from an accredited library school and 1 full year of full-time experience in a professional capacity in a law library; equivalent combinations of education and experience will be considered for meeting the minimum qualifications.
• Preferred Qualifications: MLS, MLIS, or JD and some library and legal research experience;
• Knowledge of theory, principles and practices of library science and law library administration, including current methods and procedures in such areas as collection development, cataloging and legal research and reference;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to deal effectively and respectfully with people;
• Ability to work with judges, attorneys, court personnel;
• Ability to use computer applications such as MS Office spreadsheets, text editing and publisher programs;
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both oral and written form;
• Ability to reach with hands and arms, bend, crouch, lift materials weighing up to 30 pounds, and climb stairs; and
• Ability to travel within the Commonwealth and work at other Trial Court Law Library locations when necessary.

Full/Part Time

Full Time

Education

MLS/Masters

Salary

$82,164.94  /  year

Closing Date

Feb 10 2025 at 23:55 EST

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit https://trialcourtjobs.mass.gov/jobs/1c668fcb-058f-4514-85a3-87fb2ca30f5b to apply.

Position Announcement: Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Libraries

Law Librarian I

Location: Rockville, CT (May be required to work in other locations up to two days a week.)

The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch is seeking a qualified individual to perform professional to advanced library duties, which include providing legal reference and research guidance, instruction in database searching, and catalog and collection maintenance. 

Minimum Qualifications: Knowledge of professional principles and practices of library science including:  Classification systems; reference sources and techniques; acquisitions; cataloging and filing; bibliographic sources of information and library automation; knowledge of library administration principles and techniques; interpersonal skills; oral and written communication skills; computer skills; ability to analyze and solve problems relating to library methods and procedures.

Experience and Training: A Master’s degree in Library Science or Information Science from a graduate school accredited by the American Library Association. 

Starting Salary $73,767 – $92,975, plus benefits. New employees begin at the minimum. The starting salary for existing state employees may be higher than the minimum, in accordance with existing Judicial Branch policy.

See job posting and the link to full Law Librarian I job description:

Job Openings with the CT Judicial Branch

Applications must be received by January 27, 2025.  Applications should be submitted through the on-line application site at: www.jud.ct.gov/hronline/. Paper applications will not be accepted. Please select the location(s) you wish to work.

Please reference posting number 24-1000-004.

AA/EOE

ABLL’s Holiday Party

This year, ABLL is opening their holiday party to non-members for a fee ($50) that can then be applied to a membership (if the membership is established before the end of the year). The holiday party is at 6:00 pm on December 4th, at Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Please RSVP by November 18th.

Date: Wednesday December 4th   

Time: 6:00pm

Location:  Trident Booksellers and Café| 338 Newbury St, Boston, MA 02115

Non-ABLL Payment: PayPal

RSVP to caroline.safreed@wilmerhale.com by November 18th

Fall 2024 Service Project

The service project for this meeting is a donation drive for the MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital!

We have a team page, available here, with more information about the project.

They do prefer donations via their Amazon Gift Registry but will accept smaller donations, so there will be a collection spot for toys at the Fall 2024 meeting as well.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

LLNE Service Committee