Stacia Stein

  • CALL Position: Bulletin Editor
Bulletin, Summer 2023

Summer 2023 Letter from the Editors

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First of all, I want to say how very thankful we are for Matt Timko and all he has done with the Bulletin since 2018 in his role as editor. Moving forward, Emily Barney will continue on as a “corporate memory” editor to provide tech training and access to the new team and Stacia Stein has stepped up to a new role as co-editor of the Bulletin.

For this issue, we hope you’ll take the time to review the work so many CALL members on committees and in the Executive Board were busy with in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.  Here are a few of the highlights:

AALL 2023

This summer, of course, included the AALL 2023 Annual meeting. In Mandy Lee’s inaugural President’s letter, she highlights how CALL stood out at the AALL 2023 meeting. Eugene Guidice shares his own take on the conference in his grantee report titled “It Was All About AI…..Or Was it?”

CALL Webinars & Business Meeting

If you missed any of the 4 events hosted by Continuing Education 2022-2023, be sure to check their Annual Report where they’ve shared links to the Zoom recordings and some slides from events focused on recent IL legislation, ABA policies,  and specialized legal research strategies.

Thanks to Clare Willis for her recap of the September CALL Business Meeting with Steven Schwinn and his discussion of SCOTUS trends with the administrative state and the implications of recent cases for the separation of powers.

CALL Award Profiles

While the 2023 Honorees were announced back at the May 2023 Business Meeting and shared in the Bulletin, we’re glad to include more details about each person in this issue:

More CALL Work

Of course this is just the tip of the broad ranging work done within CALL in the last year, as you can find in the 16 more articles in the Table of Contents for Issue #268, with more details from the CALL Executive Board and our standing committees.

As we reflect on all the work done in the last year and what’s to come, we’re looking forward to working with Caitlin Archer-Helke, Shannon Conder, and Rachel Ford on the Bulletin  committee.

Seeing so much great work done across all the CALL Committees makes us eager to bring in more examples throughout the year to highlight opportunities for members to connect and learn throughout our organization. With this current team, we are looking for ways to make the Bulletin editing more collaborative.

As I mentioned at the end of our last virtual CALL Business Meeting, we’d also like to help CALL members find what they’re interested here: if you have topics you’d like to learn more about from fellow CALL members, feel free to reach out to Stacia and me with “writing prompts” we can use to find and share the expertise available within our membership.

featured photo is Chicago Skyline Sunset from Promontory Point,
an older summer photo Emily took back in 2016

Spring 2022, Mentorship & Leadership Development

MLDC Recent Webinar on Adaptive Leadership

On April 7, The Mentorship & Leadership Development and the Continue Education Committees hosted a virtual panel discussion on adaptive leadership. Panelists included Eugene Giudice (Dentons US LLP). Joanne Kiley (HBR Consulting) and Mandy Lee (Chicago-Kent College of Law Library). Heidi Kuehl (NIU College of Law) moderated the panel. Continue reading MLDC Recent Webinar on Adaptive Leadership →

Summer 2022, Mentorship & Leadership Development

CALL Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee 2021-2022 Annual Report

The 2021-2022 Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee (MLDC) was comprised of Brandy Ellis, Sally Holterhoff, Heidi Kuehl, Lyonette Louis-Jacques, and Stacia Stein (chair). Mandy Lee served as CALL Board Liaison. The Committee sought to connect with new members and promote leadership development through 4 main initiatives: Continue reading CALL Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee 2021-2022 Annual Report →

Spring 2016

Things I Wish I’d Learned in Library School

Photo of Stacia Stein
Stacia Stein

Determined to eke out every last bit of knowledge from my library school experience, I’ve been asking my colleagues and fellow CALL members if there was anything they wished they would have learned in library school. Meanwhile, I’ve also been combing through job descriptions for clues, and reflecting on my own education and what I perceive as its gaps and its successes. Continue reading Things I Wish I’d Learned in Library School →

Spring 2016

ABA TECHSHOW Roundtable

Stacia Stein
Stacia Stein

I should have known from my choice of Hepburn & Tracy movies that I was destined to be a librarian. Adam’s Rib, where the two played married lawyers on opposite sides of the courtroom, was enjoyable, but Desk Set, which took place in the library of a broadcasting network in New York, was always my favorite. It is a classic story of technology vs. humans—with a little romance and holiday spirit thrown in for good measure! Bunny Watson, as portrayed by Katherine Hepburn, was so knowledgeable. She knew every resource in the library and had ready the answer to every question—even faster than a computer!

Librarianship has come a long way since the Desk Set[1] days, when technology and humans vied for supremacy in a library. Computers and technology are now integral to research. Continue reading ABA TECHSHOW Roundtable →

Winter 2016

Key Resources in Middle East Librarianship

Photo of Stacia Stein
Stacia Stein

This semester I am taking a class in Middle East Librarianship. As part of the course, I have been tasked to select 10-15 reference works that should be part of any basic Middle East reference collection.

In order to determine what these resources ought to be, I developed a few research strategies. First, I narrowed the focus to resources that would be useful in an academic law library. This required additional consideration because there are many legal jurisdictions within the Middle East. To address each jurisdiction separately would require more than 10-15 reference works.

Therefore, I decided to further narrow the focus to resources that deal with Islamic law generally or that provide useful background on Islam for the legal scholar. Secondly, because of my own language limitations, I chose to look only at resources aimed at English speakers.  Finally, I also wanted to have a nice mix of databases, serials and monographs in the collection.

In order to determine what the most useful resources might be, I looked at various libguides at libraries with well-known Mid-East collections. When available, I also tried to find reviews of the sources to flesh out scope, perspective and intended audience. I also consulted In Custodia Legis – the blog for the Law Librarians of Congress, and Int-Law listserv’s public message archives. Are there any key resources that I missed? Are there any research strategies I should have applied?

Continue reading Key Resources in Middle East Librarianship →

Winter 2016

Book Review – The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities

In his book, The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities (Knopf, 2015), Justice Stephen Breyer examines the ways in which foreign law and circumstances impact the Supreme Court. Many of Justice Breyer’s critics often disapprove of the Justice’s global outlook. In writing this book, Justice Breyer aims, in part, to put his critics’ anxieties about national sovereignty “in perspective.” So, what is the perspective of Justice Breyer?

Justice Breyer defines the Court and the World broadly, dividing the book into four categories: Part I examines how the Court can effectively protect basic liberties in the face of security threats; Part II focuses on statutory interpretation and asks: Can American statutes be understood to open the doors of American courts to foreign victims of human rights abuses? And what is the geographical reach of commercial statutes?; Part III considers how the Court interprets treaties that concern unfamiliar subjects; and Part IV looks at the extent to which exchanges between judges and lawyers of different nations help judges reach better decisions.

Justice Breyer backs up his main points with copious and detailed examples, making this book a valuable, if sometimes dry, resource. In fact, a casual book reviewer might be inclined to crack open a beer (Lagunitas … Born Yesterday… Fresh. Hoppy. Invigorating. However, this is a book review, not a beer review!) to get through the last 100 or so pages.

Continue reading Book Review – The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities →

Fall 2015

CALL Library School Experience

Stacia Stein Photo CALL
Stacia Stein

Why do I get myself into these things?! This is a question I have asked myself a lot this year. In fact, I am asking myself that very question right now, as I stare at a blank computer screen, reflecting on my first year in library school, trying to find some sort of form and poetic resonance in my experience.

It’s a question that I asked myself last summer when I attended “bootcamp” at the University of Illinois, the mandatory 1-week introductory course in Champaign for students intending on pursuing their MLIS degree online … 4 quizzes, 2 papers, 1 group presentation and required active participation in live classes as well as internet message boards that never sleep! It’s a question that I asked myself last fall when the class I was taking wasn’t resonating with me. Because the class was online, I had no way of knowing if this disconnect was a sign that I had maybe made the wrong career choice or if, in fact, other students were feeling it too. And, yes, it’s also a question that I asked myself Spring Semester, when I took two inspiring and challenging classes but struggled to find the time to balance work, school and life.

Continue reading CALL Library School Experience →