President’s Letter

This is the President’s letter for the Winter 2015 issue of the CALL Bulletin, and this year that appellation is surprisingly and painfully appropriate.  Winter has indeed come early.  But then so have changes and opportunities brought to our membership by the hard work of CALL members and committees.

The CALL Bulletin’s hard work on changing platforms resulted in a great Fall issue!  Response has been enthusiastic.  More change is on the way for the Bulletin Committee: Kevin McClure is moving on to greater challenges at the NU-Q Library: Northwestern University in Qatar.  While we will miss him as CALL Bulletin co-editor, we are gaining a foreign correspondent – so we look forward to postings from the Middle East outpost of CALL!

Back here in Illinois, the CALL Board approved a Resolution of Appreciation to the Illinois Library Association for their invaluable assistance in shepherding UELMA through the Illinois General Assembly and to the desk of the governor. UELMA became law in Illinois on August 26, 2014.  The Resolution recognizes the work of Kip Kolkmeier, ILA’s legislative consultant, Su Erickson, its then-President, and Robert Doyle, its Executive Director.  The Resolution was formally presented by to ILA on behalf of CALL by Keith Ann Stiverson on October 16, 2014.

Lauren Odom received a grant to attend the Mid-American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting which was held in Chicago in October.  It was a great meeting! And Lauren’s article gives us all a great wrap-up of it.

Meetings Committee chairs Elizabeth Schubert and Jesse Bowman brought CALL to another new venue, the Tortoise Club, for the November Business Meeting, sponsored by Bloomberg BNA.  An excellent attendance of about 100 CALL members and guests listened to a wonderful presentation by Lori Andrews, noted law professor from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, on privacy (and the lack of it!) in the age of social media.  More on that in the business meeting roundup.

The speaker’s topic coordinated nicely with CALL’s Continuing Education Committee’s presentation on Halloween of “The Frightening Power of Social Media Investigations.” Read more about this valuable presentation in Erica Mohai’s roundup.

Also at the November meeting, the membership approved the submission of an amendment of CALL’s Bylaws to the voting membership for adoption.  The amendment incorporates gender identity into the anti-discrimination provisions of CALL’s Bylaws, to conform with AALL’s Bylaws.  Please remember to vote!

The Nominations and Elections Committee has announced the slate of candidates for CALL’s leadership in 2015-2016.  See the links in this issue to the candidates’ pictures and personal statements.  The election will begin in February, 2015.

We have such a great start on a good year here at CALL!  I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to spending time with friends and family over the holiday break.  Happy holidays from CALL!

Margaret Schilt
CALL President 2014-2015