CALL held its May 2024 Business Meeting at Wildfire, 159 W. Erie St., on Thursday, May 16, 2024.  President Mandy Lee welcomed two new members to the meeting: Ross Prolic and Ian Williams.

Mandy also gave a quick review of CALL highlights for the past year, including regular no-host lunch and happy hour meet-ups, community service events, and 2 in-person business meetings.

Thomson Reuters was our meeting sponsor, and Blythe McCoy mentioned the Thomson party this year at AALL, which will be on Monday night at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Meeting speaker

Our Business Meeting speaker was June Liebert, current AALL President. June discussed the recent and ongoing round tables held at various law school libraries regarding AI and the Future of Law Libraries, using the format of vicious and virtuous cycles.  She also discussed the idea of space, and how it can still be important even with so much of our work being done online.  June noted that people crave connections, libraries represent more than just a service, and certain populations rely on libraries for access to justice.  June also pointed out that it is not possible to digitize everything, but noted that it is not clear how libraries can fill the role of saving those things that cannot be put online.

June then discussed the changing roles of law librarians, and how increasing use of AI creates opportunities for growth of our profession.  She suggested that librarians must stay updated on what is going on with AI and technology in research and information to help people understand new technologies and learn to use AI.

June reported that AALL is hosting a (free to members) webinar series on Generative AI Foundations.  The first session already happened, and is posted on the AALL website.   She noted that attendance at this session was over 600 people, which broke a record for AALL seminar attendance.  June reminded the group that the next session is on the basics of prompt engineering, and is upcoming.

June reminded the group that the AALL Annual Meeting is coming up in July, and June said that they already have a high number of registrants.  She said that some of the hot topics will be around AI, DEI and legal tech.  She also encouraged people to check out the pre-conference workshops.  June also told the group that AALL is still looking for volunteers for the conference.  If anyone is interested, they should contact June Liebert or AALL.

Finally, June told the group the next conference location is Portland, Oregon.  She recommended Portland as a city with great food options!

Recognitions and awards

Mandy recognized the following individuals for their extra efforts in CALL this past year with a Presidential Certificate:

• Mike McMillan and Carrie Port, Meetings co-chairs – for getting in-person meetings back in order.
• Clare Willis – for spearheading the website revamp committee/project.

Mandy also presented the following awards:

Agnes & Harvey Reid Award for Excellence in Librarianship:  Lindsay Carpino

Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award: Pat Sayre-McCoy

Committee reports

The following committees offered reports:

Community Service:

The committee announced that they recently held a day of service at Cradles to Crayons, where they rehabilitated shoes to give them a new life for someone else.  This was also the charity for donations at the meeting, and QR codes were available at the tables for donations.

Bulletin:

The committee announced that they are producing a special summer issue to cover the AALL Annual Meeting and hope to include “hidden gems” suggested by the members.  Emily Barney will send around a survey for people to send suggestions.

Meeting closing

We had four raffle prizes this meeting!  Lexis sponsored two $25 gift cards, and they were won by Lindsey McGuire and Shari Duff.  Thomson Reuters gave a $25 gift card, won by Jim Fortsas, and a $50 gift card, won by Susan Siebert.

Before closing the business portion of the meeting, Mandy acknowledged and thanked the board members transitioning off the Executive Board: Todd Hillmer (Treasurer) and Scott Vanderlin (Past President).  Mandy welcomed the new Board members joining for the 2024-2025 CALL year: Emily Byrne (Director) and Mike McMillan (Treasurer). Mandy also thanked and acknowledged the current Board members who are moving to new positions on the Board: Philip Johnson (President), Mandy Lee (Past President), and Jill Meyer (Vice President/President-Elect).