Hello, CALL, and happy spring! February marked the 70th anniversary of CALL’s creation, and Todd reflects on this a bit in his President’s Letter. Note that we will have more on this occasion, which will be celebrated at the May Business Meeting, in our next issue. Continue reading From the Editors
Category Archives: Winter 2017
President’s Letter
The year 2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chicago Association of Law Libraries. Anniversaries such as this allow us the opportunity to reflect on the history of this organization and its accomplishments and where we are today. One transformational change that has occurred since 1947 is the rise of the internet, which radically changed the way we do research. Indeed, in thinking about CALL’s 70th anniversary, I was greatly aided by the recent addition of digital versions of back issues of the CALL Bulletin to the online resource HeinOnline. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate the first eight issues of the Bulletin, so I could not examine the very first issue, but there are mentions of CALL’s founding in contemporaneous issues of Law Library Journal, which are also available in HeinOnline. The Law Library Journal articles and later issues of the Bulletin show that despite all the changes that have occurred in our profession in the last 70 years, the mission of the organization has remained largely the same. Continue reading President’s Letter
CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – November 2016
Complete, up-to-date CALL Board meeting minutes are available on the CALL website.
AALL Headquarters, 105 W. Adams St., Suite 3300 (enter on Clark St.)
- November 8, 2016, 9:00 a.m.
Board Members Present
- Todd Ito
- Clare Willis
- Julie Pabarja (via phone)
- Konya Lafferty Moss (via phone)
- Tom Gaylord
- Lindsey Carpino
Continue reading CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – November 2016
CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – December 2016
Complete, up-to-date CALL Board meeting minutes are available on the CALL website.
AALL Headquarters, 105 W. Adams St., Suite 3300 (enter on Clark St.)
- December 13, 2016, 9:00 a.m.
Board Members Present
- Todd Ito
- Clare Willis
- Julie Pabarja
- Lindsey Carpino
- Tom Gaylord
- Diana Koppang
Continue reading CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – December 2016
CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – January 2017
Complete, up-to-date CALL Board meeting minutes are available on the CALL website.
AALL Headquarters, 105 W. Adams St., Suite 3300 (enter on Clark St.)
- January 10, 2017, 9:00 a.m.
Board Members Present
- Todd Ito
- Clare Willis
- Julie Pabarja
- Konya Lafferty Moss
- Tom Gaylord
- Diana Koppang
Continue reading CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – January 2017
CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – February 2017
Complete, up-to-date CALL Board meeting minutes are available on the CALL website.
AALL Headquarters, 105 W. Adams St., Suite 3300 (enter on Clark St.)
- February 14, 2017, 9:00 a.m.
Board Members Present
- Todd Ito
- Clare Willis
- Julie Pabarja
- Konya Lafferty Moss
- Tom Gaylord
- Diana Koppang
Continue reading CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – February 2017
HOLY COW! A Parallel History of Law Librarians and the Chicago Cubs
If there was ever a time to celebrate Chicago’s place in the law library and baseball universes, it was 2016.1 In law libraries, AALL held its 109th Annual Meeting in Chicago, and both the president and a new recipient of the Gallagher Distinguished Service Award hailed from the Windy City. And in baseball, well here’s what a die-hard White Sox fan tweeted at 1:03 a.m. on November 3, 2016: “It happened: @Cubs win World Series. That’s change even this South Sider can believe in. Want to come to the White House before I leave?”
Given my research and writing interests in both law libraries and baseball,2 it’s not surprising that Richard Leiter’s invitation to speak on a topic of law library history during the November 2016 episode of his “Law Librarian Conversations” podcast led to an essay that offered a parallel history of Chicago’s place in the law library profession and the city’s favorite team (at least in 2016), the Chicago Cubs. Since it seemed like Chicago law librarians who did not listen to the podcast might enjoy the essay, I offered the slightly edited version which follows to the editors of the CALL Bulletin.
Before beginning, one caveat. Since I only had about ten minutes of air time on the podcast, it was impossible to do justice to either the Cubs or all those who have contributed to the Chicago law library scene in the past century. So I offered only a few highlights of both, apologizing in advance for all the people and events I was forced to omit. Particularly on the library side since so many of them are professional colleagues and dear personal friends. With that proviso in mind and with apologies to the late, great Harry Caray for stealing his catchphrase,3 here is “HOLY COW! A Parallel History of Law Librarians and the Chicago Cubs.” Continue reading HOLY COW! A Parallel History of Law Librarians and the Chicago Cubs
CALL Bulletin Coming Soon to a Database Near You . . .
It has taken nearly two years, but we are proud to announce that in late February the archive of the CALL Bulletin will be available on HeinOnline’s Law Library Shelf. The unveiling of the collection was timed to coincide with CALL’s 70th Anniversary. The archive dates back to 1952, and moving forward every new issue of the Bulletin will be added to the archive. Now, all of CALL’s good work will be show-cased to a wider audience. Unfortunately, we are still missing the first eight issues of the Bulletin. If you happen to have copies, or suggestions for locating the missing copies, please contact Annie Mentkowski, CALL Historian, via email (annie.mentkowsi@rrb.gov).
Should you need another access point to the archive, the Hein project has not replaced the other CALL Bulletin archives. Digitized issued dating back to issue no. 178 (Fall 2000) will still be available on the CALL website. And, the original print copies of the entire archive are housed at the David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library at Northern Illinois University. If you have any questions regarding the CALL archive please contact the Archives Committee co-chairs, Clanitra Nejdl (cstewart5@niu.edu) or Pat Sayre-McCoy (psm1@chicago.edu).
We would like to send a big thank you to HeinOnline for all of their hard work in digitizing and preserving the CALL Bulletin. And, a special thank you to Lyo Louis-Jacques, who spearheaded this excellent initiative.
Switching Library Settings Recap
On Wednesday, January 25, CALL’s Mentorship and Continuing Education Committees jointly hosted a lunchtime event at Jenner & Block LLP entitled “Switching Library Settings.” Moderated by Ben Brighoff, the event featured a panel of CALL members, including Annie Mentkowski, Valerie Carullo, JoAnn Hounshell, and Katie Leonard. Each of the panelists shared their experiences and advice on transitioning from one law library setting to another, whether it be from academia to government, academia to legal information vendor, academia to law firm, or law firm to legal information vendor. Although each of the panelists shared unique insights, a common sentiment expressed by each was the value, when considering a move, of networking and being involved with professional organizations. Including the panelists, 26 CALL members attended the event, including several members new to our organization and the law library profession.
Advocacy Update with AALL’s Emily Feltren
The CALL Government Relations Committee is happy to announce that we will be sponsoring an appearance in Chicago by Emily Feltren, the Director of the AALL Government Relations Office. Emily will be here on Thursday, April 6, to give Chicago’s law librarian community the opportunity to hear about AALL’s policy priorities for 2017, what effect the 115th Congress and the Trump administration will have on those priorities, and what CALL members can do to be advocates for issues of importance to librarians. Details on the event and a link to register to attend the event (via Wild Apricot) are provided below. We hope to see you there!
Where: Denton’s, 233 South Wacker Drive, #5900
When: Thursday, April 6. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., Emily will speak from Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Sign up at: https://caoll.wildapricot.org/event-2468219 (Registration will be open until April 5)
Cost: $5 (paid in advance via Wild Apricot or collected at the door)
Feel free to bring your own lunch. Beverages will be provided.