Tag Archives: Grantee Reports

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

Wikidata – a New Tool to Enhance Access to Law Library Collections

This was a fascinating program explaining Wikidata to those who weren’t sure why they should use it. Then the speakers discussed projects they were working on or had recently worked on, summarized below.

Although the program title said “Law Library Catalog” collections, they also discussed IR projects.

Continue reading Wikidata – a New Tool to Enhance Access to Law Library Collections

Grantee Report: Law Books: History &; Connoisseurship Rare Books School

This summer, thanks to a CALL grant, I was able to take Law Books: History & Connoisseurship, a course held through the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.

The course, which was held remotely, took place from August 1-6 and was team taught by Mike Widener, recently retired from the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School, and Ryan Greenwood, of the University of Minnesota Law Library.

The curriculum covered the canon of historical law books, as well as the history of the trade in Europe, America, and Latin America. The course was framed with a view to collection development: assignments required me to think strategically about how I would like to curate a collection, and a rare bookseller was invited as a guest speaker to offer insight into the current market. Continue reading Grantee Report: Law Books: History &; Connoisseurship Rare Books School

Grantee Report: AALL Introduction to Law Library Budgets Course

The CALL Grants and Awards Committee graciously provided me with a Grant to enroll in the AALL Introduction to Law Libraries virtual course. The course was self-paced which created flexibility in my scheduling; while I received the grant in March, I was able to take and complete the course in June after the semester and grading had ended. Additionally, the course itself was only one hour long allowing me to complete it gradually over the course of a full day, rather than being required to sit during a one hour slot. This flexibility was wonderful and allowed me to focus on work while also completing the course. Continue reading Grantee Report: AALL Introduction to Law Library Budgets Course

No Stone Unturned: Leveraging HUMINT Insights

As you sip your shaken-not-stirred martini at the bar, you recognize “As Time Goes By” on the piano.  You sigh impatiently as you look at your Rolex again – your contact is late.  You have very urgent questions only they can answer and you are starting to worry.  Are they having trouble finding parking?   Or is their Aston Martin lying in a ditch, nudged off the road by shadowy figures hidden in the fog?

A very glamorous scenario to be sure, but that type of intelligence imagery belongs to the fictional world of movies.  Competitive (Strategic) Intelligence (CI/SI) certainly does have military roots and practiced by national security agencies and police departments. However, the business world adapted those original techniques with an aim to “leverage insights, best practices, and unimpeachable ethics to drive growth and reduce risk in strategic choice” in their respective industries.  (Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP)). Continue reading No Stone Unturned: Leveraging HUMINT Insights

Grantee Report from CONELL & AALL Annual Meeting 2019

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

Highlights from IALL Annual Course in Sydney

Yaama.* A CALL grant facilitated my attendance at the 38th Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) held in Sydney, Australia, October 27-30. “Law Down Under: Australia’s Legal Landscape” drew 132 delegates (attendees) from 21 countries with 48% being first-time delegates.

*The Gamilaraay language word for hello used in Northern NSW, Australia. Continue reading Highlights from IALL Annual Course in Sydney

Conference Review: CALIcon 2018

From June 7-8, 2018, thanks to the generosity of the CALL Grants and Chapter Awards Committee, I attended CALIcon 18 at American University Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C.

CALIcon18

In addition to attending several excellent sessions presented by librarians, IT professionals, and law professors, I also presented a session of my own, entitled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bot.” In this column, I will highlight a few observations and experiences from my time at the conference. Continue reading Conference Review: CALIcon 2018