Category Archives: Fall 2014

Issue 233

Fall 2014 – Letter From the Editors

Lyonette Louis-JacquesDear colleagues,

Yes indeed, there have been some changes around here at the CALL Bulletin! We are delighted to unveil our new online format, which promises to make your contributions easier to find and link to, in a display that we hope you will find attractive, all at a lower cost for our membership.

We’re grateful to Emily Barney and Debbie Ginsberg of Chicago-Kent, Kevin McClurewho brought a lot of brainstorming and hard work to this transition. The design you’re viewing owes much to their skill and vision, which they are now patiently working to pass along to your humble editors. We also appreciate the willingness of the CALL Board to fearlessly travel this road with us, even in those times when we weren’t always able to show them exactly where we thought we were going. Finally, we bid thanks and a fond farewell to Mary Chase, our cheerful collaborator in bringing the CALL Bulletin to press for the past several years in our previous format. Continue reading Fall 2014 – Letter From the Editors

Fall 2014 President’s Letter

margaretschiltBy Margaret Schilt, D’Angelo Law Library, University of Chicago
mduczyns@uchicago.edu

Dear CALL members,

The leaves begin to change and the weather shifts to cooler temperatures, just in time for many of our students to buckle down and focus on their classwork for the autumn semester or quarter. Business seems to pick up for everyone after Labor Day goes by, and CALL is no exception.

This issue is the beginning of a new era for the CALL Bulletin. Lyonette Louis-Jacques and Kevin McClure and the Bulletin Committee have moved the Bulletin to an online publication format, while preserving the ability to print and save each issue as a PDF file, for archiving purposes. This is truly the best of both worlds. Continue reading Fall 2014 President’s Letter

Would You Like To Play CALL-er I.D.?

By Scott Vanderlin, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
svanderlin@kentlaw.iit.edu

For those of you who were not able to attend this year’s AALL Annual Meeting in San Antonio, CALL once again had a respectable showing in the ever-important Chapter Showcase section of the Exhibit Hall.  This is prime real estate, and The CALL PR/Internet Committee has made it our mission these past couple of years to make sure everyone who passes by the CALL table leaves with a smile.  As you’ll recall, last year’s CALL display was a big hit with everyone in Seattle. Continue reading Would You Like To Play CALL-er I.D.?

CONELL at San Antonio

By Lindsey Ann Carpino, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science
lcarpin2@illinois.edu

As I began to explore the idea of attending my first AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in San Antonio, many of my mentors informed me of the Conference of Newer Law Librarians (CONELL). My mentors shared their positive experiences and how they still remain in contact with the friends they met during CONELL.

I became increasingly excited about this unique opportunity to connect with other law librarians who shared the same stage in their career. CONELL typically takes place the Saturday before the conference begins and offers newer librarians the chance to meet the AALL Executive Board, and network and bond during a luncheon and afternoon tour of the hosting city.

During the conference, the CONELL attendees wore ribbons that signified their newer member status. While I was hesitant to declare my novice status, I was quickly relieved when shortly after donning the ribbon with my friends, a longtime member who was excited to welcome us stopped to chat with us. I instantly became proud to announce my newly acquired status as a newer member of AALL. Continue reading CONELL at San Antonio

Forget the Alamo: Four Busy Days in San Antonio

By Joanne Kiley

Thank you, Chicago Association of Law Libraries and Grants Committee, for the opportunity to attend a AALL conference. Here is where I disclose something shameful. I had not attended a AALL conference since 2002 (and had only attended one other major association conference from 2002 to 2014). I know, terrible. Much has changed at AALL, and it is very good. I learned so much and met many new people. All of this will benefit my work at the office, for CALL, and for the AALL Leadership Development Committee.

My first day was spent in the Leadership Training Session led by Paul Meyer, of Tecker International, discussing the importance of associations and how to sustain them. We discussed the need for our association to do something of true benefit for its members and the need for involved and invested members. Continue reading Forget the Alamo: Four Busy Days in San Antonio

A Fun and Enriching Experience, Deep in the Heart of Texas

By Jesse Bowman, Electronic Research, Technology, and Instructional Services Librarian, Pritzker Legal Research Center, Northwestern University School of Law
jesse.bowman@law.northwestern.edu

With the generous assistance of the CALL Grants Committee, I attended the AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in San Antonio, Texas from July 12-15. Amidst the educational programming, networking opportunities, Tex-Mex cuisine, and unparalleled margaritas, I had a fantastic experience. In this article, I will relay a few thoughts and observations about my time in the Lone Star State.

Bexar County Courthouse ~ Photo by Jesse Bowman
Bexar County Courthouse ~ Photo by Jesse Bowman

I arrived in San Antonio feeling excited but very nervous. I was scheduled to speak at “Deep Dive: Inventing the New Classroom,” a session focusing on legal research instruction. In particular, I planned to speak on how social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, can be used when teaching today’s legal research students. Although I felt prepared, I found myself feeling surprisingly anxious about speaking to an audience of professional colleagues. As such, after getting checked in at the Convention Center, I spent the eve of the Opening General Session back at the hotel, reviewing my notes and aiming to awake ready and refreshed. Continue reading A Fun and Enriching Experience, Deep in the Heart of Texas

Meet New CALL Member Clanitra Stewart

By Kara Dunn, Graduate School of Library and Information Science,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
kkdunn3@illinois.edu

Clanitra Stewart recently joined the library faculty at the Northern Illinois University College of Law as a Reference and Instructional Services Librarian and Assistant Professor. Clanitra has previously worked for the South Carolina Appleseed Justice Center, where she provided policy advocacy on behalf of low-income communities, and the Georgia Legal Services Program, where she represented indigent clients in a variety of civil cases.

She received an MLIS from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina in 2013, and a J.D. from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 2000. CALL Bulletin Committee member Kara Dunn recently chatted with Clanitra, so we could all get to know her a little better. Continue reading Meet New CALL Member Clanitra Stewart

“Don’t We Have a Policy on That?” The Short History of the CALL Corporate Memory Committee

By Susan P. Siebers, Retired; Director of Library & Information Services, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, 1979-2011 susan.siebers@gmail.com

For years, many CALL members were aware our Board didn’t have a method for easily accessing its policies once the Board membership changed. Those of us who were long-time members also realized some topics were discussed year after year without reference to what had been discussed or decided previously.

During a discussion of a proposed Bylaws amendment, I made a comment about how nice it would be to have all the Board’s current policies together and available to aid discussions. After further conversations with Frank Drake and Board members about how this could be accomplished, the Board in February, 2002, created the Corporate Memory Committee as a Special Committee to “create a dynamic list of policies and guidelines, culled from the Board minutes, and arrange them in an easily accessible format for the Board and members to refer to.”

I was asked to chair the initial committee. Frank Drake was also on the committee from the start. (Be careful what you suggest!) From the beginning, we saw the product of the committee to be a working document for the CALL Board and Committee Chairs, the Policy Log. This document would allow everyone to easily know what the policies are; not to freeze them in perpetuity, but to have them available for use and, where relevant, for discussion of possible changes.

The Committee’s original work was the most challenging. We obtained copies of Board minutes for the prior seven years, and read them thoroughly, looking for policies that had been established. The Committee in many cases had to ask the Board to clarify whether what was recorded was actually a policy. In some cases, we recommended that a policy ought to be clarified. We also established the format for recording entries, under topic headings, with each entry’s heading being the subject and date in the year/month format (for example: Corporate Memory 2005-03, which would identify a policy about Corporate Memory from March of 2005).

Members of the Committee were originally past presidents of CALL. This was later expanded to include former Board members. This has been most helpful to the committee’s work since we together represent many years’ span of Board experience.

The CALL Secretary has always been a working member of the Committee. The secretaries soon realized the importance of having the Board be clear about whether a discussion resulted in the establishment of a new policy. Secretaries have greatly sharpened the wording of Board actions in the minutes too; and in recent years, also list new policy decisions at the beginning of each meeting’s minutes. Having attended the current meetings, they often also helped the Committee understand the actions taken by the Boards.

As the Committee discussed and continues to discuss these minutes, we also suggest recommendations for updates to the CALL Handbook for Officers and Committee Chairs. That document has become a much more useful document over the years, and our need to indicate ongoing updates has declined as presidents are making notes in their current handbooks where changes will be needed.

After a couple years of operating as a Special Committee, the CALL Board asked the Committee to recommend whether it should become a standing committee. Since we saw the need for ongoing updates to the Policy Log, in May, 2005, the Board agreed with the Committee’s recommendation that it be made a standing committee.

Our work beyond the original establishment of the Policy Log has included frequent updates to add new policies to the Log. We also established a working table of contents, had the Policy Log added to the documents on the CALL website, and most recently, have been reviewing and streamlining the entire document. This has been most rewarding, as the document had become somewhat unwieldy. This continues to be our charge for the 2014-2015 year.

 

CALL Leadership Training Day

By Clare Gaynor Willis, CALL Secretary, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
cwillis@kentlaw.iit.edu

CALL Board members and committee chairs met at DLA Piper on August 7, 2014 for CALL’s annual leadership training session. CALL President Margaret Schilt started the meeting by reporting on her experiences at the AALL Chapter Leadership Summit, Chapter Leadership Training, and business meeting of the Council of Chapter Presidents. Margaret shared what she learned about leadership from the presenter at the chapter summit, Mark Levin. She told the group that Levin emphasized finding ways to use a member’s unique skills even if the volunteer opportunity does not match the usual model of a year-long project or commitment. Margaret said Levin also stressed asking people personally and thanking members for their service.

Those present had several ideas on how to achieve those goals. People liked the idea of spreading out commitments over the course of the year, noting that CALL committee work is often front-loaded in the beginning of the CALL year. Several members wanted CALL to emphasize how involvement with CALL would help members at their jobs. Margaret then noted all of the different ways that CALL already succeeds as an organization: strong chapter identity, quality programming, affiliation, and strength of spokespeople who speak for CALL in larger forums. Continue reading CALL Leadership Training Day