AALL reports this morning the name change proposal failed. A little more than 4 out of every 5 votes received were against the name change. AALL will continue to be the American Association of Law Libraries rather than the proposed Association for Legal Information.
Nearly 60% of the membership voted on the proposal, which AALL
Though I have been accused of having “grizzly bear” hair by a certain toddler who shares a house with me, I have not been hibernating for the winter. I would not hold it against you if you thought that was the case, though–it has been a couple of months since I’ve posted a blog. But
If you are a member of the American Association of Law Libraries and have not been living under that proverbial rock as of late, you are probably more than well aware that the organization is eagerly awaiting the results of the vote on a proposed name change. As the deadline to cast ballots nears, I want to encourage everyone who is a member to have your opinion counted. It takes just minutes and the result will impact not just the Association, but the whole of our industry for years to come. While I feel it imperative to tell you to vote, what I do not want to do is tell you how you should do so. This is for several reasons.
Continue Reading AALL Name Change – Enough with the Roses!
Welcome to Part 2 of this series, where we will cover specific marketing opportunities that currently exist for the law firm library. Most of these examples are opportunities hiding in plain sight and already part of a law librarian’s current day-to-day responsibilities. The key is to shift our perspective to recognize and take advantage of
The Cool Tools Café program at this year’s AALL Annual Meeting showcased–like it always does–many great presentations concerning implementing technologies to improve library offerings. For those unfamiliar with the format of the Cool Tools Café, the program features a variety of demonstrations set up in different stations inside a large conference room—attendees are given free rein to wander around and scope out the various presentations on technologies. Standing out among these was the presentation conducted by CUNY Library Associate Professor & Emerging Technologies Librarian Alex Berrio Matamoros; Alex’s presentation regarded law librarians using screencasting software as a teaching tool.
Continue Reading Screencasting in the Library
The Cool Tools Café program at this year’s AALL Annual Meeting showcased–like it always does–many great presentations concerning implementing technologies to improve library offerings. For those unfamiliar with the format of the Cool Tools Café, the program features a variety of demonstrations set up in different stations inside a large conference room—attendees are given free rein to wander around and scope out the various presentations on technologies. Standing out among these was the presentation conducted by CUNY Library Associate Professor & Emerging Technologies Librarian Alex Berrio Matamoros; Alex’s presentation regarded law librarians using screencasting software as a teaching tool.
Continue Reading Screencasting in the Library
The Exhibit Hall at AALL showcased a clear trend towards vendors offering visualization tools to improve the process of legal researching. From a macro level, legal research has transitioned from being a chiefly print-based medium to a primarily electronic-based medium, and, encouragingly, vendors have developed tools to really exploit this shift.
Continue Reading Vendor Trends: Interactive Data Visualizations
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, we are not referring to the end of the year holidays. We are talking about library summer conference season, of course. That time of year when the business cards come out, the presentations go on, and the networking and educational opportunitiesget craaaaazy! Hold onto your lanyards folks, because iBraryGuy is hitting the road with you.
Continue Reading iBraryGuy Hits the Conference Circuit!
As collections are becoming more electronic, the value of the library space is becoming increasingly questioned. A trend among articles written by non-librarians is to link the edifice with the profession: the librarian works in a library, technology is making libraries obsolete, therefore librarians will also become obsolete (librarians are a dead end job according to this article from Yahoo Education, and librarians are a dying breed according to this article from Digital Book World). Even articles that attempt to exclaim the value of librarianship focus heavily on the library spaces, rather than the professionals in those spaces. For example, this recent CNN article kindly relates how libraries are thriving, but focuses almost completely on the edifices themselves: the architecture of the Seattle Public Library, 27 fascinating buildings, the library as a community space, and a photographer’s book of photos of public libraries are all given substantial ink (pixels?). Again, the perception is the edifice and profession are one and the same, so what actually occurs when the physical space is downsized/eliminated?
Continue Reading Thursday’s Musing: The Value of Perception, the Librarian and the Library Space
AALL announced details on its plans to produce a ROI study about law librarians and law libraries (press release available here). AALL announced late last week their selection of HBR Consulting to conduct the study. The results of this study will provide empirical data concerning the value of law librarians, which will be a boon to law firm administrators especially in regards to their budgetary assessments of library staffing.
Continue Reading How Impactful Could AALL’s ROI Study Be?