Greetings CALL Colleagues,

As I sit down to write this, I see snowflakes in the forecast for the upcoming week, which means that the brief but glorious period of fall in Chicago is quickly transitioning into the colder, darker days of winter. Fortunately, it also means that the holidays are approaching and for many people such as me, this will bring celebratory gatherings with family and friends after a year of scaled back or cancelled festivities. Aside from the pure joy of sharing hugs and pumpkin pie, I appreciate the seasonal opportunity to pause and reflect on all that I am thankful for, including being part of this community.

I have often said that law librarianship is a perfect career for anyone is who is endlessly curious or considers themselves a lifelong learner. One of my favorite aspects of my job is that I am constantly learning new things. Today I might be researching immigration law and tomorrow I’ll be looking for company profiles and the day after that it will be historical news articles from the 1700s.

This year I am particularly grateful to CALL’s Continuing Education committee for putting on such fantastic programming and continually expanding my horizons. In the past year they’ve held events on cyber security, hate crimes, DEI in law librarianship, proposing conference programs and most recently, Sneaker Law! I have seen a sneak(er) peak of what they have in store for us in the coming months and the outstanding streak of events will continue into 2022.

I am also endlessly grateful to have such generous colleagues in the law libraries. As everyone on the listserv knows, we routinely help one another out in tracking down urgent resources. In particular, I am thankful to law librarians around the globe who were willing to share sources during the early days of the pandemic when many of us were locked out of our libraries and offices and didn’t have access to our full collections. But it didn’t take a global emergency to showcase the generosity of our members. We have routinely shared our time, our expertise and our services with one another.

This spirit of generosity is the foundation of our community, which is the last thing I would like to express gratitude for this month. I am truly thankful for the fellowship and friendship of CALL members. Thank you to everyone who organizes the meetings and networking events, the media club and the trivia nights. And thank you to everyone who attends them too! These opportunities for gathering, even though we’re still virtual, are essential not only to our professional development, but also our overall well-being.

Several years ago, I heard Michelle Norris, former NPR correspondent and current columnist with the Washington Post, speak at a library conference. She opened her talk by saying to the audience, “Let’s learn new things together.” That line has stayed with me over the years because I think it so perfectly encapsulates what we do in libraries. In our community, we may take turns being the learner or being the one sharing our expertise, but regardless, we are doing it together.

Thank YOU for being a part of CALL and best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Jamie