President’s Letter

Dear CALL Colleagues:

When I became Vice President, I understood that I’d have to write my first President’s Letter eventually, but I didn’t realize that “eventually” would happen so soon! In any case, congratulations to Clare, and please join me in wishing her and her family all the best.

Part of being a librarian is having to deal with unexpected challenges, and being taken in unexpected directions. I have been a member of this profession for nearly 20 years, and I can safely say that when I started I never would have imagined that one day I’d be teaching a course on using Legal Technology. But one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about being a librarian is that whatever challenges arise, there is someone out there who has already faced that same challenge (or something similar) and who is willing to share what they’ve learned about overcoming it. I tell my students that one of the benefits of using an index when conducting legal research is that it’s a way to utilize someone else’s thought process, and that it may lead you to answers you otherwise wouldn’t have considered. Likewise, when we rely on the wide range of resources both inside and outside our organization, we can “think outside our brains” and give ourselves a greater chance of coming up with the solution to a challenge.

There are many ways to discover what’s new and exciting in the realm of legal professionals and to see how others are dealing with and overcoming challenges in the legal industry: the ABA Legal Tech Show (either the programming sessions or just visiting the Expo Hall and chatting with the exhibitors), the CALI Conference, the AALL and MAALL Annual Meetings, the CALL Bulletin (but of course you already knew about that one), and so many other events and publications. Take advantage of these resources!

Speaking of “new and exciting”, our CALL committees have some new projects in the works:

  • The Government Relations Committee is working to provide targeted outreach and advocacy efforts on legislative issues that are important to CALL members.
  • The Continuing Education Committee is increasing and diversifying its programming.
  • The Community Service Committee is offering expanded opportunities for volunteering.
  • The newly-formed Professional Development Task Force will help newer members who want assistance with proposing and submitting AALL programs and with becoming more active in CALL and AALL.

These and other CALL committee activities allow us to work together to help solve each other’s problems. If you are involved on a committee, we appreciate your great work! If not, think about how you’d like to help next year!

Best,
Joe Mitzenmacher