Category Archives: 2017 Issues

CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – November 2016

Complete, up-to-date CALL Board meeting minutes are available on the CALL website.

AALL Headquarters, 105 W. Adams St., Suite 3300 (enter on Clark St.)

  • November 8, 2016, 9:00 a.m.

Board Members Present

  • Todd Ito
  • Clare Willis
  • Julie Pabarja (via phone)
  • Konya Lafferty Moss (via phone)
  • Tom Gaylord
  • Lindsey Carpino

Continue reading CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – November 2016

HOLY COW! A Parallel History of Law Librarians and the Chicago Cubs

If there was ever a time to celebrate Chicago’s place in the law library and baseball universes, it was 2016.1 In law libraries, AALL held its 109th Annual Meeting in Chicago, and both the president and a new recipient of the Gallagher Distinguished Service Award hailed from the Windy City. And in baseball, well here’s what a die-hard White Sox fan tweeted at 1:03 a.m. on November 3, 2016: “It happened: @Cubs win World Series. That’s change even this South Sider can believe in. Want to come to the White House before I leave?”

Given my research and writing interests in both law libraries and baseball,2 it’s not surprising that Richard Leiter’s invitation to speak on a topic of law library history during the November 2016 episode of his “Law Librarian Conversations” podcast led to an essay that offered a parallel history of Chicago’s place in the law library profession and the city’s favorite team (at least in 2016), the Chicago Cubs. Since it seemed like Chicago law librarians who did not listen to the podcast might enjoy the essay, I offered the slightly edited version which follows to the editors of the CALL Bulletin.

Before beginning, one caveat. Since I only had about ten minutes of air time on the podcast, it was impossible to do justice to either the Cubs or all those who have contributed to the Chicago law library scene in the past century. So I offered only a few highlights of both, apologizing in advance for all the people and events I was forced to omit. Particularly on the library side since so many of them are professional colleagues and dear personal friends. With that proviso in mind and with apologies to the late, great Harry Caray for stealing his catchphrase,3 here is “HOLY COW! A Parallel History of Law Librarians and the Chicago Cubs.” Continue reading HOLY COW! A Parallel History of Law Librarians and the Chicago Cubs

CALL Bulletin Coming Soon to a Database Near You . . .

It has taken nearly two years, but we are proud to announce that in late February the archive of the CALL Bulletin will be available on HeinOnline’s Law Library Shelf. The unveiling of the collection was timed to coincide with CALL’s 70th Anniversary. The archive dates back to 1952, and moving forward every new issue of the Bulletin will be added to the archive. Now, all of CALL’s good work will be show-cased to a wider audience.  Unfortunately, we are still missing the first eight issues of the Bulletin. If you happen to have copies, or suggestions for locating the missing copies, please contact Annie Mentkowski, CALL Historian, via email (annie.mentkowsi@rrb.gov).

Should you need another access point to the archive, the Hein project has not replaced the other CALL Bulletin archives. Digitized issued dating back to issue no. 178 (Fall 2000) will still be available on the CALL website.  And, the original print copies of the entire archive are housed at the David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library at Northern Illinois University. If you have any questions regarding the CALL archive please contact the Archives Committee co-chairs, Clanitra Nejdl (cstewart5@niu.edu) or Pat Sayre-McCoy (psm1@chicago.edu).

We would like to send a big thank you to HeinOnline for all of their hard work in digitizing and preserving the CALL Bulletin. And, a special thank you to Lyo Louis-Jacques, who spearheaded this excellent initiative.

Switching Library Settings Recap

On Wednesday, January 25, CALL’s Mentorship and Continuing Education Committees jointly hosted a lunchtime event at Jenner & Block LLP entitled “Switching Library Settings.”  Moderated by Ben Brighoff, the event featured a panel of CALL members, including Annie Mentkowski, Valerie Carullo, JoAnn Hounshell, and Katie Leonard.  Each of the panelists shared their experiences and advice on transitioning from one law library setting to another, whether it be from academia to government, academia to legal information vendor, academia to law firm, or law firm to legal information vendor.  Although each of the panelists shared unique insights, a common sentiment expressed by each was the value, when considering a move, of networking and being involved with professional organizations.  Including the panelists, 26 CALL members attended the event, including several members new to our organization and the law library profession.

Advocacy Update with AALL’s Emily Feltren

The CALL Government Relations Committee is happy to announce that we will be sponsoring an appearance in Chicago by Emily Feltren, the Director of the AALL Government Relations Office. Emily will be here on Thursday, April 6, to give Chicago’s law librarian community the opportunity to hear about AALL’s policy priorities for 2017, what effect the 115th Congress and the Trump administration will have on those priorities, and what CALL members can do to be advocates for issues of importance to librarians. Details on the event and a link to register to attend the event (via Wild Apricot) are provided below. We hope to see you there!

Where:  Denton’s, 233 South Wacker Drive, #5900
When:  Thursday, April 6. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., Emily will speak from Noon to 1:00 p.m.

Sign up at:  https://caoll.wildapricot.org/event-2468219 (Registration will be open until April 5)
Cost:  $5 (paid in advance via Wild Apricot or collected at the door)

Feel free to bring your own lunch. Beverages will be provided.