Tag Archives: Letter from the President

President’s Letter

Dear CALL members,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your President.  It has been an honor to work with our devoted Board, committee chairs, and members this past year. While it takes a lot of hard work to steer this ship, and while we’re certainly in uncharted waters, this ride hasn’t been all work – there have been plenty of laughs along the way. The 2019-2020 CALL year has certainly been one for the memory books!

I think we can all agree it’s been quite a year, and the last couple months have been unlike anything our profession or city has experienced.  I appreciate the patience and flexibility you’ve shown as we’ve faced changes and uncertainty. First, we transitioned to new membership software that caused some hiccups and had a small learning curve (this was mostly for me!). You rolled with the punches at our first speaker-free meeting in February. When we couldn’t host a May meeting, our members found ways to connect, share ideas, and commiserate through our first CALL Zoom Happy Hours. I have witnessed the many ways that the struggles of our new virtual world have highlighted the strong spirit of collaboration at CALL.

While we weren’t able to gather to celebrate the end of our term in May, I would like to recognize our CALL Award winners. The lack of in-person speeches does not in any way take away from their important contributions to our profession and association. A virtual drum roll…. The Agnes and Harvey Reid Award for Outstanding Contribution to Law Librarianship was awarded to Clare Gaynor Willis and Diana Koppang. The LIfetime Achievement in Law Librarianship was given to Kathleen Powers Goodridge.  Finally, the Award for Outstanding In-House Publication goes to Jesse Bowman. Congratulations to our winners and, fear not, your plaques are coming. Even if trophy shops aren’t considered essential, we think our award winners definitely are!

I would also like to thank our Committee Chairs for all their hard work. In addition to the many hours it takes to plan the logistics of our Business Meetings, the Meetings Committee was able to find new ways to bring our members together for happy hours and networking events. Our Continuing Education Committee hosted a number of well-attended virtual and in-person education events, and coordinated with Mentorship and Leadership to reach out to new and prospective members with our programming. Community Service collected funds and in-kind items for the Lawyers’ Assistance Program, Greater Chicago Food Depository, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Placement and Recruitment examined issues in developing the new generation of law librarians.  They attended career days and planned initiatives to identify and reach out to new members. The Government Relations Committee attended the Illinois LIbrary Association Legislative Meet-Up in March. Finally, all of our committees worked to find new ways to align their work with our Strategic Plan, which was introduced last Spring. Our PR Committee was tweeting out our accomplishments, news, and, more importantly, pics of the delicious desserts at our meetings!  This is just a small snippet of the work of our committees this past year. I can not understate how lucky we are to have a membership that takes such an active and engaging role in our profession!

Last, I want to personally thank our Board for their hard word and friendship. The times they are a-changing in the legal world, now more than ever, but I am happy to pass the leadership torch to our new President, Lindsey Carpino, and new VP/President-Elect, Jamie Sommer. I know the CALL gavel is in good hands — whenever it is we can actually get together in person to hand it off. See you all in September (hopefully)!

Thank you,

Jessie LeMar

 

President’s Letter

Hello CALL members!

It seems like we were just at the May Business Meeting, but we blinked and here we are in September already! For CALL and the legal community, September is always a period of new starts — new students, new attorneys, new committees, and me, the new President of CALL! As we start what I hope will be another great year at CALL, I want to take time to thank all the members who stepped up to the siren song of committee work. We have a great roster of Committee Chairs and new committee members. As always, we are an organization of volunteers, and I greatly appreciate the many hours our members dedicate to create the educational programming, social events, networking, and service that define our organization. To our new(er) members who want to be involved and don’t know where to start, there’s still time to join a committee or reach out for a mentor. Drop me a line, I’m happy to chat! Continue reading President’s Letter

President’s Letter

Dear CALL Colleagues:

This is my fifth and final President’s message to you (including the one bonus message from last year), because during the May CALL business meeting at Petterino’s, I passed the gavel to Jessie LeMar. We can all rest easy knowing that our association (and the gavel) will be in her capable hands for the upcoming year.

I want to take one final opportunity to thank the Board members, committee chairs, and committee members for volunteering their time to make this an eventful and productive CALL year. Here are some of the highlights from 2018-19: Continue reading President’s Letter

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.

Continue reading President’s Letter

Winter 2014 President’s Letter

As temperatures get chillier and we enter the holiday season, this is a good time to reflect on the accomplishments of CALL and its members during warmer months!

Since the beginning of the 2013-2014 CALL term, the CALL Board has had the pleasure of meeting with each of the committee chairs to discuss our goals for the year and our plans to move forward with the CALL 2011-2016 Strategic Plan. Many of our committee chairs are first-time chairs, and I’m happy to see that all of the committees have started to make significant strides moving forward on their ambitious agendas.

Halfway into the Strategic Plan, we have made great progress. An annotated version of the CALL Strategic Plan, updated with our progress as of May 2013, is available as an appendix to the Board’s September 2013 minutes. You will continue to receive annual updates on our Strategic Plan at the beginning of every CALL term. Continue reading Winter 2014 President’s Letter