2017 MAALL, LLAW, MichALL, MALL, and CALL Joint Annual Meeting

The MALLCO Acquisitions and Collection Development Interest Group Roundtable will be an opportunity to examine some of the new challenges law libraries are facing like “shrinking budgets”, changing accreditation standards, “traditional scholarship” versus “experiential learning”, knowledge management and open access issues.  For an overview of these issues, see the article by Christine Bowersox and Sheri Lewis, “Collection Development in the 21st Century: Law Firm and Academic Perspective”, July-August AALL Spectrum 48-51.

Join an open dialogue with others who stand in your shoes.   Topics include (but are not limited to!) training and instruction, reference interactions, research support and services and other student and faculty focused initiatives.  We will share what is working at our own locations and explore together viable strategies to move us forward.
Who should come?  This is a unique opportunity to connect with other academic reference and faculty services law librarians and learn from each other’s experience.

At the Illinois College of Law we teach legal research using a "hybrid" flipped classroom model. To have more control over our content, we created a LibGuide to replace our former textbook. We also use LibGuides to supplement seminar courses taught by doctrinal faculty. Our embedded librarians use them to help students select topics and research seminar papers and we produce libguides to address specific research needs of our constituencies.  We will guide you through the process of creating an alternative textbook and show additional examples where we use libguides to forge stronger bonds between the library, students, and faculty.

The Resource Sharing Interest Group Roundtable will be an open discussion of trends and changes resource sharing librarians and staffs have seen over the last year. It will provide the opportunity to discuss and exchange new ideas about policies and procedures; ways to market what we do to our students, faculty, and staff; and ways to garner meaningful statistical data. Who should come: Resource Sharing Librarians and staff and anyone interesting in learning more about resource sharing.  

This program explores the uses of current awareness items (e.g., news articles, blogs, etc.) by librarians for the benefit of their constituencies. Potential uses in academic, government, and law firm libraries are emphasized. However, this information can be adapted by librarians of all types. The presenters will share their best practices for staying current, staying organized, utilizing professional networks to expand information possibilities, and not getting overwhelmed by information.

Jessie Burchfield Paper: Searching for Snowballs - Can a minor traffic offense really lead to crippling debt and even jail time? It might if the offender misses court dates or fails to pay fines, resulting in Failure to Appear and Failure to Pay warrants, each adding additional costs. Some district court judges refer to this phenomenon as “the district court snowball.” This paper analyzes data from three central Arkansas counties as a sample to determine the frequency of the phenomenon, look for patterns, and suggest potential solutions.

Barbara Fritschel: When unpopular opinions meet politics: Three Milwaukee federal judges who faced impeachment investigations looks at how the impeachment process may have multiple purposes using as case studies federal judges serving in Milwaukee. Learn about these colorful judges, their times, local legal Milwaukee history and how litigants tried to use Congress to influence the outcomes of cases.

Jennifer Prilliman: This paper in progress examines current literature about information behavior models and emerging legal technology and tools. This information is then applied to legal education and explores the challenges and opportunities law schools should be prepared to face.

The IR Roundtable is an open conversation about law library institutional repositories. Topics include (but aren’t limited to!) recent changes in ownership of Bepress, relationships between law school repositories and that of a parent institution, thoughts on implementing LawArXiv, and general repository management including how to improve our repositories, thoughts on usage statistics, and marketing.

Who should come? This discussion provides a unique opportunity for anyone who manages an online repository to connect with others and discuss issues of concern and trade tips and tricks. Do you work in a library that hosts a repository but don’t manage it yourself? Feel free to come join the conversation to learn more about this area of librarianship and let the repository managers know what works or does not from your perspective.

Context is an important part of the student research and writing experience. Neither researching nor writing happen in a vacuum. The two are forever linked. In order to provide a well-balanced research and writing experience it is essential that the departments covering these areas have a good working relationship. This program will feature panelists from the Northern Illinois University Law Library and Legal Writing department who will share the successes and challenges faced when working across departments to achieve an enhanced student learning experience. Suggestions for getting the conversation started in your home institutions will also be presented.

Conference members will come together to discuss the book: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.

Sociologist Matthew Desmond takes us into the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee to tell the story of eight families on the edge. Arleen is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the 20 dollars a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Scott is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind. The fates of these families are in the hands of two landlords: Sherrena Tarver, a former schoolteacher turned inner-city entrepreneur, and Tobin Charney, who runs one of the worst trailer parks in Milwaukee. They loathe some of their tenants and are fond of others, but as Sherrena puts it, "Love don't pay the bills." She moves to evict Arleen and her boys a few days before Christmas. Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. But today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today. As we see families forced into shelters, squalid apartments, or more dangerous neighborhoods, we bear witness to the human cost of America's vast inequality -- and to people's determination and intelligence in the face of hardship.

 

A.I.: Oh, You!-- Jill L. Kilgore, Littler Mendelson

What commonalities do steam engines, power looms, and PCs share? For over two centuries, humans have argued that each of these technologies would displace human workers. As we enter the “second machine age,” artificial intelligence threatens to displace workers. New research argues both for and against this future, with some suggesting technological unemployment as a fallacy, while others argue that it is inevitable and presently influencing the job market. In this poster presentation, I will provide an overview of the rise of artificial intelligence, summarize historical arguments surrounding the technology, and explore how A.I. relates to information professionals in 2017.

Modular Teaching for Today's Law Students-- Clare Gaynor Willis, Research & Instructional Services Librarian at the Pritzker Legal Research Center Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; Debbie Ginsberg, Emily Barney, Chicago-Kent, Scott Vanderlin, University of Chicago.

Librarians at Chicago-Kent teach one-off classes in legal writing, seminar, and other courses.  To help the faculty better understand what instruction we can provide. the librarians created a series of specialized and adaptable legal research and technology instruction modules. Research modules cover topics such as statutory research and free/low-cost resources.  Technology modules feature topics such developing students' skills with Microsoft Word as well as presentation skills. Faculty can choose the modules that best fit their needs.  We will explain how we developed these modules, marketed them, and how any library can use this concept.

Preparing for a Renovation Without Moving the Collection -- Heather Buckwalter, Creighton University Law Library

In recent years, many libraries have undergone major renovations. In many of those cases, staff have struggled with relocating the collection during the renovation. In this presentation, learn how Creighton Law Library is undergoing a major renovation this summer without moving the collection. See how the staff prepared for the renovation while still providing as much access to information as possible.

Wisconsin State Law Library Services to Law Librarians -- Julie Tessmer, Wisconsin State Law Librarian

We offer a variety of services to law librarians, attorneys, and the general public. From interlibrary loan to reference services, and research databases to archived materials, learn how we can help you and your users.

Herding Cats: Using an Access Database to Track Copyright Permissions and Uploads of Faculty Scholarship to an Institutional Repository and SSRN -- Sharon L. Nelson, Northern Illinois University College of Law

Many academic libraries assist faculty in uploading their scholarship to institutional repositories and other online services. However, this can be a complex process: copyright permissions need to be verified; the source and format of documents to be posted must meet copyright, database vendor, and IR standards; appropriate metadata needs to be created; and each stage in the process must be tracked to ensure no “cats” get lost along the way. This poster describes the Access database I created to manage the uploads of our faculty’s scholarship.

Popping Up Together-- Karen Westwood, Director, Anne W. Grande Law Library (Hennepin County) & Lois Thompson, Director, Hennepin County Library

Hennepin County Law Library (HCLL) joined Hennepin County Library (HCL) in creating “pop up” libraries in Minneapolis’ Cedar Riverside neighborhood.  These grant-funded pop ups brought services into the neighborhood using mobile technology, Wi-Fi hotspots, books, and “branding” to give the pop ups the  feel of a local HCL branch.  Prior surveying of residents, many of whom are Somali immigrants, indicated a desire for language and computer literacy skills for signing legal documents, job training, and citizenship classes.  HCLL provided a law librarian at each pop up event to highlight information and services offered by HCLL.  The law librarian advised residents about free online legal resources, legal resources at public libraries, and legal questions best directed to law libraries.  The HCL and HCLL directors will discuss this program and its popularity.

Building Bonds: Personal Librarians -- Lynn K. Hartke, Saint Louis University School of Law

The Personal Librarian program at the Immel Law Library builds bonds between students and librarians. In the first semester of school, first-year students are assigned reference librarians, who then send their students personal emails introducing themselves and the program. The students gain a better understanding of the available library resources. The relationship often reaches beyond the first year, as students continue to utilize the library and its services during law school and after graduation, as their legal careers progress.

Legal Ease: A Collaborative Self-Care White Paper -- Heather Simmons University of Illinois College of Law

Wellness and self-care are words we hear, especially in the context of lawyers and law students, but what about law librarians? Our days are filled with deadlines, interruptions, and difficult patrons. Self-care and wellness combat the everyday stressors of our profession. Efforts to be mindful, setting limits, and knowing when to ask for help are steps we can take towards a less stressful life. Part of a collaborative effort between two AALL special interest sections (RIPS-SIS & LISP-SIS), this poster session is a sneak peek at a forthcoming AALL white paper on how law librarians can combat stress and burnout.

Curating Government Information to Facilitate Access to Justice (A2J) -- Michael Samson, Wayne State University Law Library

The vast amounts of law-related content uploaded daily to government web sites reflects the growing preference for electronic information among Federal Depository Libraries. Yet, discovering and accessing this information can be particularly challenging for individuals who are unfamiliar with our legislative, judicial, and administrative systems.  This interactive poster will illustrate how digital tools can be used to curate government/legal information to facilitate more meaningful access by a community of users. Examples highlight how blogs, alert services, and others can help identify, contextualize, and share the most relevant information from web-based government sources to facilitate Access to Justice.
 

The most fortunate new students, attorneys and judges encounter law libraries via “orientation” events or “on-boarding” processes.  In other cases, “thrown to the wolves” is perhaps a more accurate description.  Organizations benefit when new legal researchers find their way to the library early and often.  Increasingly, however, librarians must proactively create opportunities to grab the attention of newcomers early in their academic or professional careers.  It sounds easy, but programs must be strategically developed, training sessions continuously evaluated, and relevant communication consistently maintained.  This session will cover orientation methods, library services that promote ongoing collaboration, and the best methods to keep patrons coming back for more.

Librarians can be valuable partners, working with others in the institution to further its mission. However, some institutional cultures and hierarchies can make true collaboration difficult. Through discussion and research results, this session will consider the extent of the problem, barriers to full participation in the institution, success stories, and strategies to find fulfillment in your work.

This session will focus on strategies for incorporating data analytics and artificial intelligence tools into legal research instruction, with the goal of producing forward-thinking, practice-ready graduates. Tools such as Ravel’s Judge and Motion Analytics, Casetext’s CARA, Lex Machina, and Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Analytics will be discussed. Attendees will leave with several strategies for crafting exercises that expose students to these new tools.

Library staff who feel valued and recognized for the work that they do are more motivated and productive than those who don’t.  This program will help supervisors and managers understand what motivates employees and how to meaningfully recognize and reward staff achievement.

In this session, participants will learn tips and tricks for presenting and communicating their message all while staying calm and cool in the chaos of public speaking. Short listening and communication exercises will be used and we will learn how to apply skills to engage our audiences. We will also focus on preparation and post presentation evaluation. Participants will take away skill building tools to apply in their everyday. Every presenter has a style. What’s yours?

Legal assistance clinics provide crucial services on a wide range of issues, from small business advice to bankruptcy filings to enabling access to the the courts and justice. Clinics rely on volunteer attorneys, paralegals, librarians, and students to be viable. With the American Bar Association’s requirements for experiential education and employers demanding graduates with practical knowledge, clinical training is now an integral and valuable part of the law school experience. Join us as we explore several different models of how law libraries play a pivotal role in clinical operations and education.

The Honorable Diane S. Sykes will be the keynote speaker at the 2017 MAALL, LLAW, MichALL, MALL, and CALL Joint Annual Meeting.

Many academic [law] libraries serve a variety of patrons beyond the law school community. How does your library support alumni, self-represented litigants and the legal community?

• Any innovative programming?
• Specialized instruction?
• Outreach?
• Reference and research consultation availability?
• Remote access to databases?
• • Which ones?
  • Legal research training/instruction?
• Access to Justice considerations:
• • What services are we providing to Self-Represented Litigants (SRL)?
• Legal community:
• • What services are you providing? Lawyers? Judges?

Michigan law librarians have an exceptionally cooperative working relationship – we are ‘better together.’

Public and academic law libraries are seeing an increasing number of patrons who are asking for legal advice instead of legal information.  What is the best way to respond that will give a satisfactory reference experience for both patron and law librarian?  Paul Healey will explain uncertainty management theory and how using methods to increase or decrease a patron’s uncertainty can steer them to materials and legal information without stepping over the line into giving legal advice.   The panel will then present several scenarios and demonstrate how librarians can appraise the patron’s uncertainty and use management techniques to steer the patron toward better options and deflect emotional manipulation by the patron.

We’ll showcase 60 of our favorite technology tips, apps, programs, and websites that you can use for teaching research, explaining tech concepts, using technology, improving efficiency, and having fun!  Some of these are ours - and some from all of you (share your tip here).

LawArXiv is an emerging collaborative initiative of the LIPA, MALLCO, NELLCO, and Cornell Law Library. Its mission is to empower the scholarly legal community and champion open access principles by ensuring community ownership of legal scholarship. This session will provide more information about the goals, objectives, and governance of the open-access repository. Presenters will walk through the status of the project, submitting papers, and searching.  Attendees who are participating in the repository will be encouraged to impart insights. Presenters and attendees will share suggestions for library involvement and brainstorm next steps.

New technologies have changed society in monumental ways, and the practice of law is no exception. These changes are creating new job opportunities for inventive law school graduates. To meet these changing needs students need hands-on, practical experience with a variety of tools while also acquiring a deeper understanding of the legal and ethical ramifications that surround the use of these technologies. In this panel the speakers will address methods for teaching such topics as cloud computing; artificial intelligence systems; technology-assisted review and eDiscovery; mobile lawyering; courtroom and presentation technologies; information security and maintaining client confidentiality.

Flipped classrooms are great for facilitating experiential learning, but what about legal research concepts and theories that don’t quite fit into this hands-on approach?  Are there ways to reinforce concepts such as research strategy, sources, and research specific vocabulary using the flipped classroom format?  Yes! In this presentation we’ll present and discuss interactive techniques that we’ve incorporated into our flipped Advanced Legal Research course that promote mastery of legal research concepts, vocabulary and theories. 

In 1939, the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) created procedures governing the establishment of local Chapters.  Since then, the number of AALL Chapters has grown to thirty.  Each Chapter serves a specific geographic region, offering members access to educational and networking opportunities as well as social events.  Many have been active advocates for legislation and social change at the state and federal levels.  Collectively, they have almost eighty years of stories to be told.  Their rich history is documented in the records they produce.  Panelists will present brief overviews of how their respective Chapters preserve the legacy of their membership.  Our goal is to stimulate an audience-wide dialog about the benefits and challenges of managing Chapter archival resources.       

87% of employees worldwide are not engaged in their jobs. How can law libraries build teams that understand each other's abilities, trust each other, and effectively implement strategies based on this understanding and trust? How can librarians and staff identify and develop their own strengths and learn to work with other's strengths? How can managers build better teams? This program will explore some of the ways individuals and managers can identify and develop strengths that will enable them to truly be better together!

Court and County Law Libraries who are funded by filing fees have been confronting shrinking budgets for years (see AALL: Explore Funding Opportunities for Law Libraries Task Force Report of 2000 https://www.aallnet.org/Archived/Leadership-Governance/committees/task-force-report.html  and Sonoma County’s more recent http://sonomacountylawlibrary.org/About-Us/Library-Funding/).  While many avenues have been explored, one option is for a county law library to partner with its local public library.  The Hennepin County Law Library entered into a verbal agreement with the Hennepin County Library in 2014; hired a new law library director in 2015 and approved a written cooperative agreement with the county in 2017.  The benefits to both parties are many and will be discussed in detail by the two library directors.