Eugene Giudice

  • CALL Position: Meetings Committee, Co-Chair, 2015-2016
  • Research Librarian
Summer 2025

Government Relations Committee Annual Report – 2024-25

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REPORT SUMMARY:

This report summarizes the activities of the GRC in 2024 – 2025 and plans for 2025 – 2026.

2024 – 2025 COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES

I wish to thank the CALL board for the opportunity to serve as GRC chair this year.  This opportunity has provided me with the opportunity to better understand some of the challenges that libraries and librarians are facing from a policy perspective.  I also wish to thank the other members of the committee, namely past president Sally Holterhoff and Ross Prolic.

The highlight of the year was the webinar on librarian advocacy that GRC co-sponsored with the Continuing Education committee.  Over 80 individuals signed up for the webinar which included a panel made up of Dave McFadden from Southwestern Law School and current AALL Government Relations Committee Chair, Elizabeth Lynch from the Addison Public Library, Amanda McKay of the Effingham Public Library and Laura Long of the Freemont Public Library.  Elizabeth, Amanda and Laura provided unique perspectives on the challenges that public librarians and libraries face in the current political and social climate.  In addition to these perspectives, the attendees were given practical actions they can take to support the public libraries in their home locations.

In addition to the webinar, the committee endeavored to keep the CALL membership informed on state legislation that impact libraries, publishers and authors.

The committee undertook to draft a statement of support for the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  That statement is under review by the board and hopefully will be released sometime in 2025.

PLANS FOR 2025 – 2026

The committee will continue to monitor state and federal legislation affecting libraries, librarians, authors and intellectual freedom.  The committee will also endeavor to hold another webinar in early 2026.  This topic is to be determined and would welcome guidance and suggestions from the board and the Continuing Education committee as to topics that should be covered.

In addition, the committee will work to get Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias to speak at an in-person CALL meeting.

The committee also hopes to publish the statement of support for IMLS in 2025.

Fall 2024, Government Relations

Stay tuned for more from the Government Relations Committee!

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The Government Relations Committee is hard at work to curate programs and information of use to librarians in Illinois. Stay tuned for exciting opportunities, including the following:

  • A special guest appearance from Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias at the May CALL meeting
  • A webinar on effective advocacy for libraries and libraries
  • Updated information on the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act in Illinois

The committee is chaired by Eugene Giudice and includes members Ross Prolic and Sally Holterhoff.

Interested in prior years of the Government Relations Committee? Take a look at annual reports and other materials on the Bulletin.

Fall 2024, Public Relations

Public Relations Committee Annual Report 2023-24

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Chair

Eugene Giudice

Membership

includes Jesse Bowman

Report

The committee was fairly inactive in the 2023-24 CALL year except for periodic updates to the CALL website for events like CALL meetings and meet-ups.

Eugene would especially like to thank Jesse Bowman for his continued stewardship of the CALL website, including all updates during the 2023-24 season.

Recommendations for the forthcoming year

The committee recommends to the CALL board that the charge of the Public Relations Committee be reviewed such that it can be better utilized as a resource for all CALL committees and a more effective external voice for CALL.

Summer 2023

It Was All About AI…..Or Was it? – AALL 2023 Grantee Report

I wish to start this article by thanking the 2022–2023 Grants and Awards Committee for providing me with resources to attend this year’s conference.  I would encourage all CALL members to avail themselves of the opportunity that the Grants and Awards Committee offers each year to help subsidize attendance at the annual AALL conference.  This article aims to share my reflections on some of the sessions I sat in on.

As the title of this article implies, I went into this conference thinking the hot topic that would dominate all the conversations would be generative AI and its impact on our profession.  While it is true that there were many substantive discussions on this topic, as the conference progressed, it became clear to me that another topic became a very dominant undercurrent for me, and that was the idea of the invitation, how we offer it and maybe most importantly, to whom do we offer it. Continue reading It Was All About AI…..Or Was it? – AALL 2023 Grantee Report →

Summer 2021, Meetings

CALL Meetings Committee 2020-2021 Annual Report

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Co-Chairs:

  • Carrie Port
  • Eugene Giudice – Co-Chair

Committee Members

  • Mike McMillan
  • Jill Meyer – committee member

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic precluded any in-person events.  The meetings committee, realizing the necessity to keep the librarian community connected, was able to put on a number of virtual events.  The events that the committee planned this year were as follows: Continue reading CALL Meetings Committee 2020-2021 Annual Report →

Summer 2018

Special Library Association Conference Report

This year’s Special Library Association conference was held from 11 – 13 June 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland.  The theme of this year’s conference was “B’More” and there were ample opportunities for an information professional to gain the tools to truly Be More, from the educational sessions to the products on display in the exhibition hall. Continue reading Special Library Association Conference Report →

Fall 2016

Transitions: A Life’s Journey

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If there is one constant in life, it is change. We change daily,
starting with daily physiological changes (nails grow, hair grows, cells generate and die off) to personal changes (changes in relationships, changes in where we live) to changes that effect many people (political changes, economic changes). We also change professionally. We call these changes transitions. Dictionary.com defines transition as “movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change.” This definition implies a discrete time of transition. The transition has a beginning, a middle, and an end as we move from an “as is” condition to a “to be” condition. Continue reading Transitions: A Life’s Journey →