Category Archives: Fall 2018

Fall 2018

The Role of Libraries in Knowledge Management

In October, I attended the Knowledge Management (KM) in the Legal Profession presented by Ark in New York. Speakers were from a diverse range of law firms and corporate legal departments – diverse in size, geographic location, and practice focus. Attendees likewise represented a cross-section of the private legal industry. While there were many law librarians in attendance, they were outnumbered by those from I.T. departments, knowledge management attorneys, and others in high level positions within their organizations – law firms, corporations, and consulting firms.

As is the case any time you dive into the world of KM, one finds it to be a frustratingly nebulous concept which intertwines throughout an organization’s departments. With that intertwining comes the question of who should be in charge of it? Law firms and corporate legal departments have answered that question in a variety of ways. Many see this as data work and should therefore fall under I.T. Others see it as needing to be led by attorneys. Still others have housed this responsibility with the library – clearly the right place for it! Self-interest aside, the more I learn of knowledge management, the more certain I am that the responsibility and, more importantly, the strategic direction for this rapidly developing area belongs with the library.

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Fall 2018

President’s Letter

Dear CALL Colleagues:

The daylight hours are getting shorter, the weather is turning colder, and the tension from looming final exams is starting to creep into the atmosphere within the walls of our law schools. There’s no question that we find ourselves in the middle of the fall/winter holiday season. In this letter, I want to focus on the fall holiday that I feel exemplifies the traits of CALL members: Thanksgiving.

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Fall 2018, CALL Executive Board

CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – September 2018

Board Members Present: Joe Mitzenmacher, Jessie LeMar, Clare Willis, Julie Swanson, Jesse Bowman, Scott Vanderlin, and Annie Mentkowski

      Significant Actions: None

      Guests:  Tom Keefe, Julie Pabarja, and Eric Parker

      Treasurer’s Report (Section IV)

    • Harris Bank Balance as August 31, 2018: $22,574.09
    • Net Income as of August 31, 2018: $785.89
    • Membership numbers as of September 10, 2018: 287
Archives, Fall 2018

Archives Come Back to Loyola

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After 10 years at the Northern Illinois University (NIU) College of Law, the CALL archives have returned to the Chicago city limits. The archives—which include administrative records, publications, and photographs from CALL events over the years—will now return to the library at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Making the round trip, the archives moved from Loyola in 2007 due to a lack of storage space.  The Archives Committee Chair at the time, Therese Clarke Arado, offered to house the archives at NIU, where they remained until September of this year.

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Fall 2018, CALL Executive Board

CALL Executive Board Meeting Minutes – August 2018

Board Members Present: Joe Mitzenmacher, Jessie LeMar, Clare Willis, Julie Swanson, Jesse Bowman, and Annie Mentkowski

     Board Members Absent: Scott Vanderlin

     Significant Actions: None

     Guests:  None

     Treasurer’s Report (Section IV)

    • Harris Bank Balance as July 31, 2018: $22,741.82
    • Net Income as of July 31, 2018: $2,354.46
    • Membership numbers as of August 13, 2018: 302
Fall 2018, Meetings

September 2018 Business Meeting

CALL held its September Business Meeting on September 20th at Wildfire. Eighty-six members attended the meeting. We welcomed several new members: Molly Caballero from Locke Lord, Michael Hensler from Kirkland & Ellis, Anne Hudson from DePaul University College of Law, and Mary Ellen Murphy from the American Dental Association.

Sponsor

The sponsor of the meeting was Deal Point Data. Tom Quinn spoke on behalf of the company. Mr. Quinn said that the company’s purpose is to help corporate research. He discussed a tool to search and monitor charters and bylaws. Quinn emphasized that Deal Point Data is a small company and it does all of its research, product development, and customer support in the United States.

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Fall 2018

What Will Be Your Legacy?

Last week one of the Bulletin’s co-editors asked if I’d be interested in writing an article for the upcoming issue. I jokingly responded the only thing I could think of off the top of my head was my ongoing retirement planning (which, if you don’t know me, will hopefully involve lots of travel).

Barring any emergencies, I still have several years to go before I intend to retire. But a recent visit to a financial planner has gotten me thinking a lot about “what comes after work.” And it turns out that my offhand quip contained a nugget that could be worthy an article, namely:

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Fall 2018

Promoting Wellness and Healthy Habits in Academic Law Libraries

As the temperature drops and cramming for exams commences, the stress of law school often causes students to develop unhealthy behaviors and habits. Law libraries can use their space to help students remain healthy and motivated during this busy and overwhelming time. They can apply small business health and safety advice given by certified health and safety consultants.

Sunlight & Solitude

Natural light improves mood and productivity.[1] The layout of the Northwestern Pritzker Legal Research Center allows for lots of natural light to come in by many study areas. Several large tables and comfortable chairs are positioned next to windows to allow students to soak up some Vitamin D while hard at work. The natural light hopefully counteracts some of the adverse effects of the harsh fluorescent lights throughout the law school. Libraries lacking windows could consider getting a SAD lamp or two to help students get through the long winter months.

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