We have a lot of wonderful content from 2019 to share with you in this issue and are looking forward to the articles we’ll receive in 2020!
Thank you to our CALL members who wrote recaps of the valuable lessons learned and interesting sights from conferences they attended through CALL grants for this issue! Thanks also go to our leaders who have provided recaps of recent CALL events. Continue reading Letter from the Editors
In January, Susane (Sue) Yesnick retired from Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath (previously Drinker Biddle & Reath) after 24 years. Retiring as a Senior Research Librarian, Sue started her career at Honigman LLP in Detroit, then spending several years in corporate and business libraries, including the Marketing and Strategy Library at Kraft Foods. The CALL Bulletin interviewed Sue upon her retirement to ask her about her experiences and find out what CALL meant to her.
Why did you decide to choose a career in law librarianship?
Law librarianship was a lucky break – actually, a couple of times. I wanted to be a newspaper librarian. My internship during my MSLS was at the Detroit Free Press information center. But at graduation there were no newspaper or magazine library openings. I saw a placement opening on the job board of the MSLS program at Wayne State for a beginning law library reference position at Honigman LLP in Detroit. I had taken several social science and government documents reference classes, so I applied. I took a Legal Research class after I got the position.
After a few years, I moved cities and positions, and was in Marketing & Strategy business libraries for many years, including at Kraft Foods. Shortly after the Kraft Foods position ended, one of the Kraft Foods external competitive intelligence researchers knew of a library research position at the-then Gardner Carton & Douglas. (Gardner Carton & Douglas merged with Drinker Biddle & Reath in 2007).
As we know, law librarianship is not confined to purely “legal” sources and research. Law librarianship was a great experience to blend my business, government, and legal research skills. I have had great Directors and colleagues, and appreciate their support and friendship.
What about librarianship changed the most during your career? Conversely, what about librarianship stayed the same during your career?
The common responses for what changed the most in librarianship are the speed at which information is now available, the ever-growing choices of resources, and the sheer sizes of large firms.
What I think has stayed the same is the importance of the trust relationship between internal and external “clients”. Whether research took several days to receive in the mail, or within an hour from now-online resource, internal and external clients have to trust that the researcher is knowledgeable and acting faithfully to pursue the research, and the researcher always has to manage expectations.
What made you decide to join CALL and how has CALL helped you throughout your career?
I have consistently belonged to law library or special library organizations throughout my career. CALL has been a great avenue for education, and for sharing of the law firm changes many of us encountered. Years ago I also occasionally presented at CALL panels or wrote for the CALL Bulletin, and they were also good opportunities for shared experiences.
What will you miss most about being a librarian?
I most miss that now when I see an article on a topic I know one of my attorneys was deeply interested in, not being able to share the information. Even with the news gathering resources firms have now, sometimes the breaking or significant news gets buried. I miss being on the cutting-edge of new developments. I miss the “hunt” for the research, but I do not miss writing memos.
What is one piece of advice you want to share with your fellow CALL members?
Mostly because of events in my life over the past few years, I have been recently been part of a number of conversations about the importance of Gratitude. Even for small things. For my career, and for the relationships I have because of that career, I am very grateful.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susane-sue-yesnick-99b326b
October 15, 2019 9:00 a.m.
Board Members Present: Jessie LeMar, Lindsey Carpino, Joe Mitzenmacher, Julie Swanson, Jessie Bowman, Megan Butman, and Philip Johnson
Board Members Absent: None
Significant Actions: None
Guests: Emily Barney, Pat McCoy, and Tom Keefe
Treasurer’s Report (Section IV):
Greetings, CALL members! We’re about halfway through our CALL year, and I wanted to share some of the work of our committees and upcoming events. Our February Business Meeting was at Maggiano’s on Feb. 6. While our attendance numbers for this meeting are up, the attendance at our September and November meetings this year were lower than average. And while I’d love to say it’s just because we’ve all just holding out for the pasta, meeting attendance and membership numbers has been a creeping downward trend in our association, and profession-wide. Continue reading President’s Letter
We’re happy to announce that the election for our 2020-2021 CALL Executive Board was sent on February 13th. The last day to submit your ballot is Friday, March 13, 2020, by 10:59 p.m. (CDT):
Please find the candidates’ bios at on this member’s only page of the CALL website (contact the CALL Secretary if you need the password to the members only area of the website).
Thank you to the Nominations and Elections Committee for their hard work. Thank you also to our slate of candidates for their service to CALL!
Attending the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference can be a worthwhile – and fun! – experience for law librarians at any career stage. The two of us, as newer law librarians, found this year’s meeting to be especially rewarding. It made us feel good about our profession and the people who have chosen it.
We are both relative newcomers to this career–Sarah at the Illinois Supreme Court Library and Leslie at DuPage County Law Library. We met at a CALL Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee lunch last year.
Six months later, with the help of generous grants from CALL, we headed off to Washington, D.C. for our first AALL Annual Meeting. We both want to thank CALL for the grants and support which allowed us the opportunity to attend AALL. Continue reading Grantee Report from CONELL & AALL Annual Meeting 2019
Five years ago, the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) was signed into Illinois law. Our state was the 11th one to enact this uniform law; at this point it has been enacted in 21 states (Texas, most recently) plus the District of Columbia.
Starting in 2016, the official online versions of Illinois Supreme and Appellate Court opinions have been affixed with a digital signature. These signatures are administered by the Reporter of Decisions and certify that the opinion is a true copy of the official opinion.
The 2018-2019 CALL Archives Committee was comprised of Committee co-chairs Matt Timko and Brittany Adams, as well as Committee members Anne Danberg, Pat Sayre-McCoy, and Clanitra Stewart Nejdl. Board Member Annie Mentkowski served as liaison.
The main effort and accomplishment of the Committee for this year was relocating the Archives from Northern Illinois University, which is more than 60 miles away from CALL/ABA Headquarters, to a more centralized location in the city. Continue reading CALL Archives Committee 2018-2019 Annual Report
This summer, from July 13-16th I was able to attend the AALL annual meeting and conference in Washington, D.C. thanks to a CALL travel grant. The theme of this year’s conference was Capitalizing on our Strengths and I believe the programs offered this year lived up to that theme. Continue reading AALL Grant Recipient Report – Anne Hudson
September 10, 2019 9:00 a.m.
Board Members Present: Jessie LeMar, Lindsey Carpino (phone), Joe Mitzenmacher, Julie Swanson, Jessie Bowman, Megan Butman, and Philip Johnson
Board Members Absent: None
Significant Actions: None
Guests: Meetings co-chairs Eugene Giudice and Carrie Port (phone), and Membership chair Todd Ito (phone)
Treasurer’s Report (Section IV):
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