Target Audience: All law librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify the factors that have made Delaware preeminent in the area of corporation law.
2. Participants will better understand whether changes in federal law will affect corporations choosing Delaware in the future.
Why do corporations choose Delaware, and will they continue to do so? Participants will learn why a majority of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. Participants will be introduced to Delaware General Corporation Law and discover how the law, the courts, and the legislature work in tandem to make Delaware the preferred state in which to incorporate. They will learn why its Court of Chancery is the choice of forum for corporate disputes. Panelists will discuss how the law has developed and seminal cases that have shaped Delaware corporate and entity laws. Is Delaware's dominance being challenged by the federal government's increased interest in regulating corporate governance? Speakers will discuss the effect of these measures on Delaware's traditional role as the leader in corporation law and corporate litigation.
Target Audience: Librarians exposed to maritime issues but not working in specialty firms
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will gain an understanding of key issues in the practice of modern-day maritime law.
2. Participants will learn where to find answers to key maritime issues.
Pirates, rovers, and assailing thieves. Drunken sailors and leaking rigs. With modern-day piracy and increased ship-based disasters, more and more maritime issues are creeping into our daily lives and legal practices. This program will cover key issues in current maritime practice, what is on the horizon in the field, and where you can find answers once the issues are sorted out. Our speakers represent both academia and the private sector for a well-rounded presentation of the topic. Prepare to set sail for the high seas!
Target Audience: Information technology librarians, technical services librarians, administrators interested in the next generation library management system
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify at least three advantages and disadvantages of cloud-based solutions and three types of cloud computing- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)-to lower the total cost of ownership.
2. Participants will be able to evaluate the library management functionality in OCLC's Web-Scale Management Services (WMS), a cloud computing interface, and the efficiency of OCLC's WorldCat Grid Services.
Libraries are on the forefront of migrating their data and services to the "cloud." Cloud computing is emerging as a key way for libraries to implement new services. Presenters will discuss how cloud computing can be implemented to leverage library end-user satisfaction and build the necessary interoperability. OCLC member institutions have been contributing to the idea of cloud computing through the centralized MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) records services. Now, OCLC's WMS promises less complexity in its library management system to create a more independent discovery and delivery platform. Panelists will also give a critical analysis on the trend of proliferated cloud computing services to demystify questions about privacy, security, and reliability that cloud computing often raises.
Target Audience: Law librarians interested in collaborating on the creation of institutional repositories and open access digital collections, as well as those interested in the research and teaching opportunities afforded by such collections
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe collaborative methods for developing digital collections.
2. Participants will be able to discuss how digital collections facilitate research access to rare resources, as well as how such collections can enhance teaching.
Building digital collections and repositories to facilitate research and enhance teaching has been a focus of much recent activity by state and university libraries. However, few law libraries have participated in this trend, largely due to the costs associated with content management systems and the need for specialist metadata librarians. By joining together in consortia, or by participating as junior partners in university digitization projects, law libraries are beginning to engage in the opportunities offered by digital collections. A panel of law librarians and professors will discuss the collaborative development of law library digital collections, as well as examine how these collections have greatly simplified research access to rare materials and enhanced teaching.
Target Audience: Electronic services librarians, acquisitions librarians, solo librarians, library directors
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify and list the best practices to employ when considering the acquisition of a new electronic resource.
2. Participants will be able to design and conduct an electronic resource trial using a focus group comprised of stakeholders within their institution.
This program will highlight the best practices to use when evaluating a new electronic resource for acquisition. These best practices are gleaned from the library literature, published surveys, and the experiences of the presenters. Best practices include: "try before you buy," obtaining stakeholder involvement, benchmarking, and using an electronic resource evaluation checklist, among others. The program will focus on four areas: 1) the electronic resource evaluation checklist, 2) selection and coordination of a trial focus group, 3) the cost-benefit analysis, and 4) subscription versus ownership and other licensing options. Other considerations to be examined include: authentication, user interface, content appropriateness, search capability, browsing capability, currency and archives, vendor support, training, user statistics, bill back mechanisms, online documentation, and formatting. In addition, the program will present questions to be asked of other stakeholders in the acquisitions process (e.g., the IT department, catalogers, public services). Program materials will include a sample electronic resource evaluation checklist and bibliography.
Target Audience: Technical services librarians, electronic resources librarians, library directors
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of various ERM systems in order to select a system that best meets their institution's needs.
2. Participants will be able to list workflow and implementation tips from different ERM systems users and to plan a smooth and positive installation of a new ERM system.
As libraries add more electronic resources to their collections, there will be a greater need to manage and maintain these resources effectively and efficiently. By viewing what ERM systems are available in the market place and identifying special features of each system, librarians responsible for electronic resources will be better equipped to select an ERM system that best fits their institution's needs. Librarians with limited resources will benefit from the demonstration of a locally developed, or an open source, ERM system. Insights into the pros and cons of using different ERM systems will also be shared.
Target Audience: Librarians interested in U.S. copyright law and the complex issues resulting from the technological changes of the past three decades
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will assess changes to copyright law over the past 35 years.
2. Participants will evaluate the need for additional changes to U.S. copyright laws related to digital technologies.
Join a substantive discussion about U.S. copyright law with two preeminent experts. Marybeth Peters, current Register of Copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office, has announced plans to step down from this post at the end of 2010-a position she has held since 1994. AALL’s own copyright expert, Laura (Lolly) Gasaway, has written and spoken extensively about copyright issues impacting libraries. Gasaway co-chaired the Section 108 Study Group, which examined the exceptions and limitations applicable to libraries and archives under the Copyright Act and made recommendations. Copyright Committee Chair Roger Skalbeck will moderate a discussion of copyright reform in the United States with a particular focus on library issues. Drawing on decades of experience, Gasaway and Peters will provide insights into major developments in copyright, including the 1976 Copyright Act, Fair Use, the TEACH Act, the DMCA, Section 108, distance education, and database protection. In examining touch points for copyright events relevant to libraries, these experts will talk about pending or possible copyright reform, including relevant legislative activities and court developments.
Target Audience: Librarians interested and involved in affecting legal information policy, especially policies relating to the authentication and preservation of digital legal resources
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify and discuss the various sections of the Authentication and Preservation of State Electronic Legal Materials Uniform Act.
2. Participants will generate ideas to assist with the adoption of the Authentication and Preservation of State Electronic Legal Materials Uniform Act in their respective states.
The City of Philadelphia, a centerpiece of early American history, was the host to many ideas and actions that gave birth to the American Revolution and independence. Fittingly, AALL and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) join together in Philadelphia today to discuss actions that could signal the birth of a revolution in digital government legal information - trustworthy authentication and preservation of online digital legal information by the states. The NCCUSL Drafting Committee on the Authentication and Preservation of State Electronic Legal Materials Act presented its first reading of the uniform act in July 2010 and the second reading earlier this month. The Drafting Committee Chair and Reporter will analyze the uniform law, discuss NCCUSL actions at and after the second reading, and offer their assessments of the next steps in the process - the American Bar Association House of Delegates reactions to the uniform law and expected actions in various states to enact the uniform act.
Target Audience: Library directors, managers, and supervisors
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to discuss integration issues such as collection, contracts, staffing, and ILS with an emphasis on the international component.
2. Participants will be able to explain how other firms have managed expansion through opening international offices and their firms' mergers.
Law firms are merging with each other without any slowdown, while others are expanding by opening international offices. Globalization and consolidation are closely tied to a firm's survival, growth, and strategic plan. When large firms merge, the combined firm can boast 3,000+ lawyers with a multitude of time zones, currencies, languages, and cultures. Law firm international expansion can also be a way for smaller firms to establish a regional presence. Regardless, whether the growth involves law firms in the United States and/or those with an international footprint, there are challenges to face since firms have traditionally relied on different fiscal years, accounting systems, management structures, and compensation practices. These are obstacles to overcome before two can be melded into one entity. The program panelists are from firms that have merged or expanded regionally, nationally, and globally. In a panel presentation, they will discuss the challenges they faced when their firms announced the expansion. Participants will learn what worked, what didn't, and what to do differently the next time the "M-word" comes up.
Target Audience: Law librarians interested in gaining a further understanding of THOMAS
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to articulate a user-centered design business model.
2. Participants will be able to name several ways that THOMAS can be improved in the near future.
THOMAS.gov, the legislative information database from the Law Library of Congress, was created in 1995. It is regarded as the "go to" place for bills, laws, Congressional Record, etc. This program will focus on the recent changes to THOMAS, many of which stem from user-generated feedback such as permanent links and integrated social media. The program will also cover how these changes better the user experience and make reference transactions using THOMAS easier. A member of the Library of Congress Information Technology Services Division will explain the challenges and requirements of revamping THOMAS around a user-centered design. The Law Library of Congress would like feedback and input from the participants on the next generation of THOMAS.
Target Audience: Researchers interested in the underlying legal issues in the movie, Philadelphia, and current HIV/AIDS discrimination litigation
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to track the progress of the case law relating to discrimination based on HIV/AIDS status.
2. Participants will be able to list and discuss the issues raised in cases of employer discrimination against employees based on HIV/AIDS status.
Clarence B. Cain was a standout student at the University of Virginia Law School in the 1970s. He is credited with touching the lives of hundreds of students by serving as a mentor before mentorship was popular. After graduation, Cain rose in the ranks at Hyatt Legal Services to a regional directorship until he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and fired. Though successful in a law suit against his employer, Cain did not live to see the verdict or the movie, Philadelphia, largely based on his life. Professor Burris, noted scholar on HIV/AIDS issues and a consultant on the movie, will talk about the Cain case and bring the issues still faced based on HIV/AIDS status to the present with Ronda B. Goldfein, Executive Director of the AIDS Law Project of Philadelphia.
Target Audience: Novice catalogers and staff at libraries with uncataloged special collections
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify and properly format the distinct and required MARC fields for manuscript and photograph collections.
2. Participants will be able to assess preservation and migration options for aging print and obsolete media that meet Society of American Archivist and ISO formatting standards.
Our collections' unique holdings can make the greatest impact to scholarship, and yet our special collections often suffer from a lack of staff expertise to preserve and describe these unusual formats and collections. An experienced special collections cataloger and a special collections librarian will share the basics of describing these formats in our catalogs and preserving them. Participants will develop sample MARC records for manuscript and photograph collections as part of the program.
Target audience: Librarians who seek access to information held by the federal government
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will identify federal statutes, executive orders, and Department of Defense regulations and directives that apply to the classification of information and the disclosure of classified information, as well as the various levels of security clearances possessed by federal employees.
2) Participants will identify historical situations where the unauthorized disclosure of classified information has jeopardized intelligence operations and describe scenarios in which secrecy is an essential factor in protecting national security.
Secrecy often poses difficulties in democracies where transparency of government operations is the norm. Claims to secrecy are viewed with suspicion, and questions arise as to whether the cloak of secrecy hides not secrets essential for national security, but evidence of malfeasance and incompetence. With the detention of Army Private Bradley Manning for the suspected release of classified information to WikiLeaks, many have viewed his role as one of whistleblower, rather than lawbreaker or spy.
Learn how information is classified, who has the authority to classify and declassify it, and who has access to it. Focusing on intelligence operations, also learn the importance of secrecy in protecting the national security of the United States, and the damage resulting from breaches of secrecy.
The views and opinions expressed during this program are those of the speakers and do not represent the views or policies of the United States Government.
Target Audience: All law librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will evaluate the challenges and opportunities involved in creating visually engaging presentations by using visual content produced under the open licensing system called Creative Commons.
2. Speakers will gain important presentation skills through improvisation, while audience members will benefit from hearing about current topics of interest to law librarians, often delivered in a humorous manner.
At Battledecks, aka PowerPoint karaoke, intrepid volunteers are challenged to give coherent four-minute presentations without any preparation-because they will see their 12 slides for the first time as they present. Battledecks is a great workout for librarians who speak and teach, because it requires fast thinking, strong speaking, and improvisation. The slides for Battledecks have all been created by AALL members using Creative Commons images with proper attribution. The theme of the inaugural Battledecks AALL will be "The Law Library Goes to 11." Battledecks presentations at Lawberry Camp have been thoughtful, passionate, surprisingly insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny. Battledecks is often a cut-throat competition, but everyone will win this time. Do you have what it takes?
Target Audience: Library managers from all types of libraries involved with the budget or the budgeting process
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to educate decision makers on the effects budget reductions will have on library services.
2. Participants will be able to formulate a plan to minimize the impact of reductions and lobby successfully for it.
Library budgets are stagnant or being reduced, and administrators are faced with making hard choices of “what” and/or “whom” to cut. In the current economic climate, libraries are often targeted for reductions because everything is perceived as being “online.” An informative dialogue role-play will be presented by a director and a technical services head in a law library that suffered two recent 10 percent budget cuts, with another one in the offing. How do you deal with these budget reductions? Do you eliminate or decrease the quality of services, stop binding, buy fewer materials, or reduce staff? This program will offer a range of ideas to cope with stagnant or reduced budgets, when you already feel like you’re “down to the bone.”
Target Audience: Mid-level law librarians/information professionals responsible for supporting scientific research needs of a user community
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to develop and execute scientific search strategies necessary to support their IP practice.
2. Participants will implement methods to identify and evaluate their organizations' scientific research needs and provide valuable input regarding information resources to aid end users in choosing the appropriate research product.
In the patent filing system, certain literature is important to disclose when a company files for a patent. The patentee needs to include non-patent literature related to their invention. Non-patent literature includes scientific, medical, or technical journal articles; book chapters; conference proceedings; theses; industry standards and much more. Understanding the process of how to conduct scientific literature research is an essential skill for law librarians in a patent practice. This program will address the strategies involved and resources available for conducting a scientific or technical literature search. Both subscription and free resources will be discussed, as both are helpful to the intellectual property researcher. In addition, this program will address how to retrieve copies of these documents once a search has been performed.
Target Audience: All librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will learn the rationale and learning theory for embedding librarians in support of clinical teaching in law schools.
2. Participants will be able to analyze the tools and techniques needed for starting an embedded librarian project at their law schools.
This program describes the Mason Law Library's experience of embedding librarians in clinics at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, rated second highest in the nation for clinical teaching. The project's rationale is based on adult learning theory, teaching at the point of need, and recommendations from Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law (2008) for teaching legal research as a part of lawyers' "expert performance." Embedding librarians in a practice environment enables users to learn and integrate advanced legal research skills, professional judgment, and ethics through modeling, practice, coaching, and feedback. The panelists include the embedded librarians and clinic directors, who will discuss the effectiveness of this experiment.
Target Audience: Directors, public services librarians, IT professionals, and non-catalogers in technical services in all types of libraries
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to understand RDA's new approach to relationships between authors and works, how this new approach needs to be accommodated, and how it can be utilized by public services librarians.
2. Participants will be able to assess RDA's new approach to dealing with publishing patterns and resolving challenges posed by diversification of electronic and online media, and how this approach can be utilized by acquisitions and serial librarians.
Resource Description and Access (RDA), the new cataloging code published in June 2010, is based on a recently formalized philosophy for providing access to materials. It is written with the international world of computers and online access strongly in mind along with the relationships of information elements. Librarians, other than catalogers, may not know much about this new code, nor may they know how these new standards for metadata creation will affect public services and technical services areas other than cataloging. Most may also not be aware of its possible applications outside of integrated library systems. "RDA for Everyone" will bring together a respected law cataloger/RDA tester, a well-known associate director/professor of legal research, and a reference and technology librarian (who is also the Chair of the Education Committee of the CS-SIS), to relate a brief history and description of RDA, explaining how it affects discovery and use of information, and how it has potential use outside the traditional library catalog.
Target Audience: All law librarians who are interested in information policy and legislative advocacy
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify AALL policies on a variety of information and legislative issues that impact the Association and our members.
2. Participants will list the top priorities and activities of the Copyright Committee, Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation Committee, Government Relations Committee, and Government Relations Office.
This year's Public Policy Update will shine a light-in a new, more informal setting-on the important work that AALL does for our members through our public policy program, and why we need your help to strengthen our Advocacy Team. AALL Government Relations Director Julie M. Strandlie will moderate an interactive conversation with audience participation on AALL's top policy priorities and the past year's accomplishments. Panelists, including Copyright Committee Chair Roger Skalbeck, Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation Committee Chair Timothy Coggins, and Government Relations Committee Chair Stephanie Hess, will also look into the "crystal ball" and offer their perspectives on what issues will emerge in the coming year. Please join us for this collaborative discussion that will conclude with the presentation of the prestigious AALL Public Access to Government Information Award and Robert L. Oakley Advocacy Award.
Target Audience: Library staff who work on group projects, especially those who lead projects and those who support collaborative organizations
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will evaluate the range of new technologies available to enhance collaborative work.
2. Participants will be able to identify and use skills needed to manage teams in collaborative work.
How do you collaborate with others? What if they work in other cities, countries, and time zones? New project management platforms such as Basecamp, collaborative mindmapping, and wireframe/mockup tools like Mockingbird and Balsamiq join familiar tools like wikis and Google Docs to make teamwork easier, regardless of where everyone is located. Join legal information consultants Connie Crosby and Kathie Sullivan for a tour of the latest collaborative tools being used in a number of industries and explore how law libraries can use them. Before the conference, Crosby and Sullivan will create a wiki for collecting resources and discussions about these tools; watch the CS-SIS blog for an invitation to participate. Lessons from this collaboration will be incorporated into the presentation.
Target Audience: Law firm librarians, as well as corporate legal departments and government agencies that are tasked with effectively implementing just-in-time information ownership policies by extending the firm's print and electronic resources
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify and analyze the types of services that membership libraries can provide, such as increasing access to resources and expanding research/reference assistance while ensuring a significant ROI.
2. Participants will be able to explain the membership library concept to the C-level, using metrics to justify the costs of membership, and be able to instruct attorneys on accessing information and materials existing "outside the walls" of the individual firm.
Membership libraries serve a critical role in the legal information community, but many librarians are simply unaware of the services they offer. Law firms are moving away from a model that emphasizes ownership of information resources to one that emphasizes just-in-time access. In response, membership libraries are embracing innovative ways of offering responsive, collaborative services, such as API (Application Programming Interface) technologies, to fulfill the information needs of attorneys and other legal professionals. This session brings together representatives from two prominent membership libraries along with a user of their services to talk about how looking outside the walls of one's own library and firm can be key to ensuring firm-wide access, especially for minimally staffed branch offices, to legal information while keeping costs in check.
Target Audience: Reference librarians and others interested in access to justice issues
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain the issues affecting the functionally illiterate in their access to justice.
2. Participants will be able to design a reference plan to be able to assist functionally illiterate law library customers.
Many litigants who can neither afford an attorney nor qualify for any assistance programs find their way to the local law library to see if they can proceed on their own. A significant number of these individuals would be classified as illiterate. The National Institute of Literacy estimates that more than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level. Librarians typically supply these customers with written materials because they are the only (or easiest) resources available. Nevertheless, such texts may be too difficult for these litigants, so what other assistance can librarians provide? This program will examine some of the hurdles that face the illiterate as they try to navigate the legal system. It will also offer some ideas on how to help such individuals who come to the law library seeking assistance.
Target Audience: Law librarians interested in legal history, constitutional studies, archives, preservation, and local history
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify the major contributions of James Wilson to the U.S. Constitution.
2. Participants will be able to examine and compare various projects providing preservation of, and access to, James Wilson's documents.
James Wilson is the author of the phrase "We The People" in the U.S. Constitution. He also signed the Declaration of Independence, served as an original member of the U.S. Supreme Court, and helped found the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His early notes and drafts, archived in Philadelphia, are being preserved and made accessible to researchers and scholars. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has several versions of the U.S. Constitution, including the earliest surviving draft handwritten by Constitutional Convention delegate James Wilson and the first newspaper printing by The Pennsylvania Packet. This program will feature an archivist and law professor who will discuss the importance of Wilson's writings, his crucial role in creating our constitution, and the archive's current work of preservation and access.
Target Audience: Law library managers and public services librarians interested in disseminating information about the library and library services to technology-savvy patrons
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe what smartphone tags are, what types of information they encode, and how they can be used to extend library services.
2. Participants will be able to analyze the pros and cons of implementing a smartphone tag reader project in their own libraries.
In the fall of 2010, the University of Colorado's William A. Wise Law Library implemented a project to post smartphone readable tags in strategic places throughout the library using Microsoft Tag Reader software. These tags lead users to web pages, pdf files, PowerPoint presentations, text messages, and contact information relevant to the tag's location. The law library used these tags to extend library services by providing instruction on how to use collections and equipment; awareness of electronic resources and current acquisitions in specific subject collections; and marketing of library services. During this practical program, project manager Robert Linz will explain all aspects of this inexpensive patron outreach project, including planning; implementation; advertising; and analyzing the successes, surprises, and lessons learned.
Target Audience: Librarians who understand the basics of leading or actively participating in meetings can benefit from advanced facilitation techniques
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will analyze techniques for maximizing involvement from all meeting participants.
2. Participants will compare methods for managing unproductive meeting behaviors, such as negativity, indecisiveness, and unresponsiveness.
As many librarians learned in last year's AALL presentation on facilitation, a well-facilitated meeting can transform a regular work session into an extraordinarily productive event. Participants learned that a well-crafted agenda, thoughtful ground rules, optimal meeting space, and detailed minutes can all set the stage for a successful meeting. However, meetings can still go awry. A poorly facilitated meeting can make everyone dread meetings even if the meeting has been well-planned. Managing or facilitating behaviors is the final essential ingredient for success. Have you ever been in a meeting that is monopolized by one individual? Or someone offers a suggestion that is way off in left field? Perhaps you have been in a meeting where hostilities have erupted? Using video clips of actual meeting scenarios, the speakers will present advanced techniques for facilitating meeting behaviors.
Target Audience: Librarians who have OCLC ILL responsibilities
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify OCLC ILL techniques and tips to create more effective ILL requests.
2. Participants will be able to implement more effective OCLC ILL procedures.
Interlibrary loan (ILL) plays an important role in meeting the needs of patrons, whether they're judges, lawyers, students, or faculty. Unless you have an unlimited budget and can purchase every item requested by your patrons, you, at some time, will need to rely on another library—sometimes not even a law library—to help meet your patrons' needs. You probably turn to ILL and OCLC to identify what libraries own the item, place your request through the ILL system, and then you wait and hope… Did you know that by using OCLC more effectively you can help raise the odds of placing a successful ILL request with less "unfilled" replies? As an ILL lender, are you frustrated that you receive requests for materials that you don't lend? Do you know how to analyze the policy directory listings? Does your library have an informative policy profile? Would you like to be considered a "good ILL-er" by your colleagues? This 30-minute, quick-fire session will showcase techniques and tips that will give you the background to place more effective ILL requests, and create and analyze library profiles. This program is intended for those familiar with OCLC's ILL system. While you won't learn the basics of ILL, you will come away with the skills to become a better "ILL-er"—both borrower and lender—resulting in a more efficient ILL operation.
Target Audience: Academic law librarians and law firm librarians who support international commercial arbitration practice groups
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify the characteristics of international commercial arbitration that create challenges to effective research and advocacy, and will master strategies and identify resources necessary to overcome these challenges.
2. Participants will learn how to effectively demonstrate the essential print and multimedia resources necessary for international commercial arbitration research and advocacy.
In the past, most international commercial arbitrators and practitioners came from a few international law firms. With the explosion of international commerce, international commercial arbitration (ICA) has become much more prevalent, and more generalists have become involved. In a field that is qualitatively different than other areas of law, more research and practice instruction is necessary. Law librarians have unique qualifications to assist in this instruction. The program will explore the reasons favoring and disfavoring ICA as a dispute resolution tool. The program will also discuss how the characteristics of ICA create challenges to effective research and advocacy. The program will discuss eight sources of law in international commercial arbitration, how to locate these sources, and the use of these sources in ICA advocacy.
Target Audience: Librarians who work with metadata, metadata frameworks, and controlled vocabularies
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to assess various sources for authority control of elements and vocabularies in the world beyond the MARC format and OCLC authority files.
2. Participants will be able to judge which vocabularies fit their library's needs for metadata organization.
Barbara Tillett and John Mark Ockerbloom will explore the real potential behind linked library data by providing an informative overview of acronyms like RDF, LCSH/SKOS , VIAF and the RDA Registry and by highlighting how the linked data from id.loc.gov is being used to power searches in the Online Books Page and the main library catalog, Franklin, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Target Audience: All librarians concerned with network neutrality and internet pricing
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe the FCC's ability to create regulations for the Internet, and explain why the FCC's rule on network neutrality was overturned.
2. Participants will be able to assess tiers of Internet service and pricing.
In 2009, AALL sponsored a well-attended panel on network neutrality. In the interim, three significant events have occurred: the FCC released an order dealing with network neutrality, and that rule was overturned by an appeals court, based on the reasoning that the FCC does not have the congressional authority to create such a rule. Finally, in December 2010, the FCC released a set of rules on network neutrality .
The speakers will explain the new rules and how the rules will affect our profession. Particular attention will be paid to the impact the court decision should have on the rules that were released in December.
Target Audience: All librarians interested in social networking
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify what legal issues might arise around social networking sites and usage.
2. Participants will be able to explain the pressures on and risks to courts, judges, and judicial staff – including court libraries – when engaging in social networking at the institutional level.
Social networking sites spread information effortlessly. For litigants and courts, this can be both risky and beneficial. Could your spouse gain access to your emails and IMs in Facebook during a divorce? How can courts engage in social networking in such a way that maintains impartiality and ethical standards while promoting public trust and accountability? This panel will discuss social networking issues that arise during litigation, provide an overview of a recent groundbreaking study by the Conference of Court Public Information Officers (CCPIO New Media Report), and survey the federal courts’ reaction to and use of social networking sites. This session will answer substantive legal and policy questions surrounding social networking and the justice system.
Karen Salaz recommends attendees view this YouTube video (EPIC 2015) prior to the session.
Come meet the award-winning authors of the 2011 AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers competition. Hear the authors discuss how they chose their topics, researched and wrote their articles, got past writer's block, juggled the challenges of writing while working 8-5, and other topics. If you want to hear the words of successful writers, you won't want to miss it.
Target Audience: Librarians and researchers interested in learning the uses of modern forensic science techniques and exhumation to prove historical legal facts; librarians and researchers who wish to learn about new developments in the Meriwether Lewis case; librarians and researchers interested in how Philadelphia played a key role in the genesis of the Lewis and Clark expedition
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to assess the role of modern forensic science techniques and exhumation in re-examinations of historical legal events.
2. Participants will be able to explain why the accepted version of Meriwether Lewis's death could be controverted by forensic examination of his remains, and will be able to discuss recent developments in the Meriwether Lewis case.
James E. Starrs, Professor Emeritus of Law and Forensic Sciences at The George Washington University Law School, will discuss his Meriwether Lewis Project, now in progress at the request of the Lewis family, to secure the approval of the U.S. Park Service under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) for the exhumation of the remains of explorer Meriwether Lewis. The primary goal of the project is to determine whether Lewis's controversial 1809 death at a frontier inn along Tennessee's Natchez Trace was a suicide or a murder. The contemporary evidence was inconclusive, there being no eyewitnesses. Via forensic analytical techniques nonexistent in the early 1800s, scientists now may be able to provide answers to key questions, such as whether the body exhumed is in fact that of Lewis, and if so, whether gunpowder residue reveals a close-range shot, as well as the location of the bullet wounds, if any. Other facts about Lewis that could bear upon the issue of murder or suicide perhaps could be determined, such as whether he suffered from disease and whether his remains show evidence of the therapeutic use of mercury or other toxic substances. Professor Starrs will explore these issues as well as new developments in the Meriwether Lewis affair. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to explore the American West with the hope of discovering a transcontinental water route. Though the Lewis and Clark undertaking was aimed at gathering information about the Louisiana Purchase and uncharted western territories, it was not strictly a western venture. It is fitting for this program to be offered in Philadelphia, which later twentieth century research has shown to have furnished not only the venue, but the expertise, to assist and guide Meriwether Lewis in the year of preparation necessary for the launch of the expedition. Today, Philadelphia is home to the archive of the journals of Lewis and Clark (American Philosophical Society), as well as to the Charles Willson Peale portraits of both Lewis and Clark (Second Bank of the United States), both part of Independence National Historical Park in Center City, Philadelphia.
Target Audience: Law library educators, students, and directors interested in how to best meet the needs of today's library employers, while preparing LIS students to be leaders in the law library profession
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will successfully identify the reasons to reform Library Information Science (LIS) curricula.
2. Participants will be able to identify the needs of library employers.
What are the skills and knowledge at the core of law librarianship in our digital global market? The panelists will be asked their views on library school curricula and on best strategies to give voice to faculty, students, and employers' in designing the LIS curricula. The panelists will share their opinions about how to improve law library curricula, while balancing new market demands and digital directions with the profession's core competencies.
Target Audience: Administrators; technical, public, and access services staff
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain alternative options to traditional library management systems and factors to consider when planning a migration.
2. Participants will be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the systems described and how these alternatives interact with systems already in place.
The web-based OPAC, and the more recent "discovery layer" craze, has had a positive effect on how people find resources in libraries. But has there been a corresponding change updating library operations? What will future library management systems offer in terms of the "back-end" staff interface relied upon so heavily to manage and deliver collections? Pressure to improve workflows, increase efficiency, and cut costs continues, but staff can only do so much with the tools they have. Will the next generation of library management systems finally break away from the traditional card catalog and print-based workflows? This session will examine the Open Library Environment (OLE) project and Ex Libris' Unified Resource Management (URM) framework, as well as explore the future of the library system staff interface.
Target Audience: Law firm librarians on the front lines in dealing with online contract negotiations and the cost recovery issues and trends surrounding those contracts and negotiations
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify trends in cost recovery for electronic legal research in law firms.
2. Participants will be able to identify solutions for successful contract negotiations, as well as alternatives to the dominant online research vendors in the market.
To recover costs or not to recover costs-that is often the question asked when it comes to online research these days. While the costs for online research keep rising, there are clients who refuse to pay, lawyers who hesitate to charge them, and firms that are skittish about taking on costs that, for some, are in the millions. During this session, panelists will identify the major trends in cost recovery for electronic research, alternatives to the major vendors for online research, and discuss best practices for negotiating online research contracts. Adequate time for questions from the audience will be provided.
This program will be webcast live here.
Target Audience: Law library directors/managers, IT librarians, other librarians concerned about accessibility, disability, and the digital divide
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to list three specific examples of assistive technology products, and discuss the basic benefits and limitations of each product.
2. Participants will be able to discuss four general issues impacting the ability of assistive technology to bridge the digital divide.
Assistive technology holds the promise of bridging the digital divide for disabled law library patrons, but it cannot do so unless it performs well. How usable are specialized assistive technology products such as text-to-speech software, speech-to-text software, and eye tracking hardware? What technological obstacles impede increased assistive technology usability? Is it expensive to make non-specialized consumer goods and services (e.g., e-book readers) more usable? Does lack of knowledge explain why so few websites voluntarily follow accessibility guidelines? What changes to the law might make assistive technology more usable? Presenters will combine human interest stories with technological expertise and technology demonstrations to identify challenges and discuss possible solutions to bridging the digital divide for disabled law library patrons in academia or law firms.
Target Audience: Librarians who support students, faculty, and attorneys working in the areas of international law or humanitarian law specifically
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will list the key features of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect.
2. Participants will create a research plan in International Humanitarian Law.
The purpose of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine is to prevent mass atrocities by placing a duty upon state actors to protect their citizens. When individual states fail in this duty, it is the collective responsibility of the international community to respond. This response may include, in an exceptional case, military intervention. Gareth Evans, a former Foreign Minister of Australia, and the former President of the International Crisis Group, has promoted this development in International Humanitarian Law. The Responsibility to Protect is an emerging norm with an uncertain future. Its status has been a subject of debate in the United Nations General Assembly. This program will discuss its development, its application or misapplication, and its future as a mechanism to prevent mass atrocities. The program will also provide a strategy for researching a cutting-edge topic in International Humanitarian Law.
Target Audience: Researchers interested in learning more about the judicial nomination process and its impact on diversity in Article III Courts
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain the vetting process for Article III judicial nominees and analyze its impact on judicial diversity.
2. Participants will be able to analyze the impact on case law developed by diverse versus non-diverse Article III Courts from the perspective of a sitting judge.
2010 marked the anniversary of the appointment of Judge William H. Hastie, the first African American to serve as a federal judge, to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. Sixty years later, judicial diversity still has not been achieved; minority groups and women remain underrepresented on Article III Courts. A noted scholar on judicial diversity will discuss the continued need for a diverse court, and an attorney who has served on several judicial nominating committees will explain the vetting process and discuss the effects the process has on the level of diversity in federal courts. Finally, the Hon. Theodore A. McKee, Chief Judge of the same court on which Judge Hastie served, will talk about living through the vetting process and the impact of the courts’ composition on his work on the bench.
Target Audience: All librarians who have a role in vendor contract negotiations
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to analyze contract terms to better understand how those terms affect the end results of their negotiations.
2. Participants will acquire the tools to negotiate a favorable contract with a services vendor.
Vendor contracts are getting more complex, with finer print. Many librarians are involved in the contract negotiation process and need to be able to read and comprehend often complex contracts in order to get the most favorable terms for their libraries and institutions. Two attorneys who are involved in their large firms' vendor contract negotiations, along with their library directors, will discuss contract best practices, what elements to look for in a contract, and which clauses or provisions will render a contract unworkable. They will offer practical tips on negotiation skills, and on reaching a workable agreement with service vendors.
Target Audience: Law librarians in any setting who would like to take their already excellent customer service skills to the next level
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe the Zingermans' customer service principles and apply them to their own library setting.
2. Participants will be able to describe concrete examples of teaching, defining, living, measuring, and rewarding excellent customer service.
This program will challenge law librarians to create a vision of their own library’s ideal customer service experience using the principles of a unique organization: Zingerman’s Delicatessen of Ann Arbor. Named the “Coolest Small Business in America” by INC magazine, Zingerman’s is so renowned for its customer-centric culture that it created a separate training company just to meet the information requests of other organizations. The Zingerman’s customer service model, which includes the organizational credos of “fairness is on another planet” and “breaking the rules,” has been adopted by a small number of public libraries across the United States. This program, led by a library director and customer service trainer, will feature how a large public law library staff has adapted Zingerman’s principles to create a culture that makes it easy to provide excellent customer service to all of its patrons, including each other.
Target Audience: Librarians who implement web technologies or wish to communicate effectively with their IT department about their implementation
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify the skills and tools needed to begin using various programming languages.
2. Participants will be able to select possible applications for their library, based on the programming languages presented.
Programming languages and the web tools they create permeate today’s library. Daily, librarians make decisions about the tools they offer patrons online. They consult with IT staff about implementing online tools, but they may not have a realistic idea of what they’re requesting. Most librarians know a little, want to know more, and are willing to self-educate—but may not know where to start. This program will provide an overview of several programming languages that are currently being used by libraries. Panelists will discuss how they use these languages to create online tools for patrons, design and display effective web pages, and manipulate cataloging records.
Target Audience: Library professionals who manage collections of legal materials and legal research budgets
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will gain a greater understanding of the legal, technological, and policy implications of a national repository of public law and the specific steps law libraries can take to advance public law.
2. Participants will learn how Law.gov will foster innovation, competition, and choice in legal research-and how this impacts library collection costs.
American law is in the public domain, but it remains expensive or downright inaccessible to most of the people it governs. Law.Gov is a nationwide movement to make the primary legal materials of the United States readily available to all, and to assist governmental institutions in making these materials available in bulk as distributed, authenticated, well-formatted data. Panelists will discuss the 2010 Law.gov report and findings of the National Inventory of Primary Legal Research in connection with AALL's policy position on open access to legal materials, with a special emphasis on the role of law librarians to make Law.gov a reality. Panelists will also discuss what Law.gov means for law libraries and their budgets, law schools, and legal publishers.
Target Audience: FCIL, academic, and socially responsible law librarians interested in libraries as cultural institutions that must be rebuilt after man-made catastrophes
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain U.S. accession to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the work of UNESCO as "lead agency for the protection of the world's documentary heritage in libraries and archives."
2. Participants will be able to participate in the rebuilding of national libraries and archives destroyed in the Balkan, Iraqi, and Afghan conflicts.
"Libricide" is a recently coined term for the destruction of a culture's memory by obliterating its historical documentary record. Beginning with the Lieber Code in the U.S. Civil War, libraries were recognized as institutions to be safeguarded during wartime; the hanging of Hitler's chief plunderer in the Nuremberg trials was crucial recognition of destruction of cultural property as a potential war crime. The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two additions completed the process and led to its inclusion in the Serbian war crimes trials. Destruction of the Iraqi national archives, the ongoing plunder of archeological sites and academic libraries, and sales of Sumerian tablets and other pre-Islamic cuneiforms make this a topic of current and urgent interest to librarians and legal researchers. This program will examine 20th century instances of state-sponsored libricide, the development of the Hague Convention with an assessment of its use to date, and the efforts of the international library community to rebuild destroyed libraries and archives.
Target Audience: Academic law librarians, firm librarians, and public law librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will learn the theory, terminology, and importance of assessment.
2. Participants will become familiar with current examples of assessment in law schools and law firms.
The topic of assessment in legal education continues to gather steam and is now at the forefront with the implications of Proposed ABA Standards on Student Learning Outcomes and talk of a legal research component on the bar exam. Additionally, as law firms implement new associate training models, law librarians must be able to assess the learning that occurs, as well as evaluate the training program itself. This program will feature law librarians actively involved in assessment in law schools and in law firms. David Armond, Senior Law Librarian at the BYU Law Library, will address the use of pre-teaching feedback, such as using the results of TWEN quizzes before lectures to shape in-class instruction, and using practicums as effective assessment tools in a first-year legal research course. Molly Brownfield, until recently Head of Reference Services at Duke Law Library, will address assessment in the context of a specialized upper-level research course, including concrete examples of research assignments and corresponding grading sheets. Linda-Jean Schneider, Director of Libraries & Research at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, will discuss assessment activities she has undertaken in connection with her firm’s associate training program, including the assessment of associates’ legal research skills and the evaluation of the training program itself. Don MacLeod, Manager of Knowledge Management at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, heads his firm’s mandatory three-hour research orientation for first-year and summer associates, and will discuss assessing attorneys’ legal research skills in connection with that orientation. He will also discuss his use of Research Monitor to evaluate the use of electronic subscriptions within his firm.
Missed it the first time?
Target Audience: Librarians who understand the basics of leading or actively participating in meetings can benefit from advanced facilitation techniques
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will analyze techniques for maximizing involvement from all meeting participants.
2. Participants will compare methods for managing unproductive meeting behaviors, such as negativity, indecisiveness, and unresponsiveness.
As many librarians learned in last year's AALL presentation on facilitation, a well-facilitated meeting can transform a regular work session into an extraordinarily productive event. Participants learned that a well-crafted agenda, thoughtful ground rules, optimal meeting space, and detailed minutes can all set the stage for a successful meeting. However, meetings can still go awry. A poorly facilitated meeting can make everyone dread meetings even if the meeting has been well-planned. Managing or facilitating behaviors is the final essential ingredient for success. Have you ever been in a meeting that is monopolized by one individual? Or someone offers a suggestion that is way off in left field? Perhaps you have been in a meeting where hostilities have erupted? Using video clips of actual meeting scenarios, the speakers will present advanced techniques for facilitating meeting behaviors.
Target Audience: Technical services librarians, administrators
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to analyze the potential workflow impacts of implementing RDA, based upon the experiences of RDA testing.
2. Participants will be able to explain how the RDA Toolkit is structured and how to use it effectively.
Law catalogers who participated in the RDA testing process during the fall of 2010 will describe their experiences. Topics will include: the testing process, overall impressions of RDA, and use of the online RDA Toolkit. The presenters will specifically compare using the online RDA Toolkit with using printed AACR2 guidelines for cataloging library materials. Participants will learn how RDA affected library workflow and productivity in the test libraries. (Please note that this program is NOT a training session on RDA itself.)
Target Audience: Law library directors, academic librarians, private law librarians, collection development librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will understand the different collection development strategies and needs of academic and law firm libraries, with respect to both print and electronic resources. Knowledge of these differences and trends can promote better collection development decisions, improve coordination between academic and law firm libraries, and contribute to better legal skills training.
2. Participants will be able to identify specific collection development processes in order to develop law library collections that promote resource sharing between educational and private institutions, while meeting the collection needs of their primary patron population.
The findings of both the MacCrate Report and the Carnegie Report have emphasized the need to incorporate practical legal skills within the law school curriculum. These findings extend to both the teaching of legal research skills and law school collections, both print and electronic, that support these efforts. Law library collections need to reflect both the analytic process of legal analysis, as well as the application of practical skills. Academic and law firm librarians, as well as skilled practitioners, can effectively collaborate in efforts to provide legal collections and instruction that best support the findings of the MacCrate and Carnegie reports. In doing so, both private and academic law libraries can achieve effective resource sharing and optimal cost effectiveness in the utilization of resources.
Target Audience: All law librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will analyze e-book licensing models, focusing on implications for alternative pricing, digital rights management, license negotiation, and usability.
2. Participants will be able to discuss how e-books will impact the future of law libraries.
The future of e-books in law libraries is still unclear, despite the surging popularity of dedicated e-book readers such as the Kindle. Legal publishers have taken a cautious approach in developing e-books to date. In addition, e-book licensing, particularly in economically difficult times, will provide new challenges to law librarians. Representatives from leading legal publishers and e-book vendors will discuss what they see as the future of e-books and how it will change law libraries.
Target Audience: Reference librarians, library directors and managers
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to list at least five business tools typically available at public and academic libraries open to the general public.
2. Participants will be able to identify the libraries in their communities that are likely to provide access to free or inexpensive business resources.
Even the best legal collection may not answer every question asked by attorneys, legal support staff, and public law library patrons. Business resources better answer questions about starting a new business, competitor intelligence, writing business plans, locating industry reports, SEC filings, working with contractors, and economic or demographic profiles. Especially in today's economy, it may be impossible to justify purchasing expensive business materials your patrons use periodically but infrequently. Join a panel of public and academic business librarians who will examine a variety of free or inexpensive business tools typically available in libraries open to the public in your community. Patrons may have to visit another library, or online resources may be accessible from a library website with a borrower's card. Learn to be savvy about business resources on a shoestring!
Target Audience: Law librarians who support faculty, students, and government and private attorneys who work with civil law jurisdictions and U.S. litigation involving the doctrine of forum non conveniens
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe the essential principles of the civil law tradition necessary to understand the impact of U.S. transnational litigation in Latin America.
2. Participants will be able to explain forum shopping and the repercussions of the U.S. doctrine of forum non conveniens.
Globalization has brought different legal systems closer together. Legal practitioners, government lawyers, and judges increasingly need to deal with cases that require research and understanding of a foreign legal system or specific aspects of comparative law. People doing business in civil law countries need to understand the fundamentals of civil code-based jurisdictions. This presentation will introduce the main elements that distinguish common law and civil law traditions, especially with respect to Latin American jurisdictions. Additionally, the U.S. bar has been very active on issues of forum shopping involving civil law jurisdictions. For example, there are cases involving U.S. multinational corporations litigating in Latin American and U.S. courts for damages arising from activities related to petroleum exploration and banana plantations, or based on U.S.-manufactured defective products. The presentation will also discuss various responses (judicial decisions and legislation) from Latin American civil law countries to the U.S. forum non conveniens doctrine, and provide participants with a research guide for exploring these issues further.
Target Audience: Librarians who want to focus their library services to best meet the needs of their patrons
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify and assess the issues to be addressed in a patron satisfaction survey.
2. Participants will be able to create and distribute a satisfaction survey and analyze the results to identify the best services and delivery methods for their patrons.
Librarians provide a multitude of services for patrons, but it’s not always easy to know how—or if—these services are being used, or whether they’re even of value to patrons. Do patrons consult the web pages you create? Do the handouts and pathfinders help patrons, or do they even know these are available? What resources—including those beyond your library’s—are patrons consulting? Is most of their current awareness via social media? What do you do with this information? These issues directly affect what to deliver and how to deliver it using methods most beneficial to patrons. But how do you determine the “what” and the “how”? To learn how to better survey library patrons, the Student Services Committee of ALL-SIS is undertaking a project to collect and compile student satisfaction surveys from member libraries. The result will be a compilation of the contributed surveys and a sample “best” survey culled from the responses, which can be used as a blueprint for your library surveys. This program will examine the benefits of a satisfaction survey, how to determine what information you want to ascertain, the best way to ask the questions to get those answers, the sample “best” survey, and what to do with the results. Although based on information from ALL-SIS members, the results will be of value to those in all library settings.
Target Audience: Anyone who publishes or plans to publish articles
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify their rights as authors under current copyright law and determine which rights they want to retain.
2. Participants will be able to implement techniques to retain certain rights.
Now that institutional repositories, digital libraries, and scholarly communities such as SSRN are commonplace, it's difficult to anticipate future uses of a published work. Before submitting an article for review or upon acceptance of an article, it is important to read and comprehend the fine print in the publisher's author agreement. Author agreements may strip authors of basic rights afforded under copyright law. This session will educate participants about basic author rights and engage authors in the process of identifying rights that are a personal priority. In addition, participants will learn how to revise author agreements, select an appropriate alternate model agreement, and negotiate with publishers to maintain priority rights.
Target Audience: Law librarians interested in developing a digital collection with multimedia features; specifically librarians interested in developing procedures for collecting, preserving, and providing access to local area legal history in a digital format
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to plan, implement, and manage a digital archive collection with multimedia features.
2. Participants will be prepared to assess and use digital collection management software.
In 2010, The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library collaborated with the Cleveland Memory Project to create Legal Landmarks, a digital archival collection featuring a selection of Greater Cleveland's groundbreaking court cases. The speakers will discuss the procedures and practices established to create an institutional archive that collects, preserves, and provides access to local area legal history in a digital format with multimedia features, including financial considerations, staffing decisions, hardware purchases, and digital collection management software. The speakers will also address effective strategies for overcoming challenges that may arise, including creating a controlled vocabulary, assigning metadata, and overcoming copyright issues.
Target Audience: Law librarians who want a step-by-step plan for conducting medical legal research in medical databases
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will learn the strategies and skills necessary to perform comprehensive medical searches in specialized medical databases, including MEDLINE.
2. Participants will become familiar with the different levels of medical proof found in the medical literature.
Most law librarians will have to locate and find appropriate medical or health-related research during the course of their careers. However, many are intimidated by medical or scientific information and do not know how to start. This program will provide an introduction for law librarians to locating and evaluating medical information. Topics include: defining evidence-based medicine, applying the methods of evidence-based medicine to the process of medical research, and evaluating retrieved information. Effective searching of MEDLINE, using the controlled vocabulary MeSH (the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings), will also be covered.
Target Audience: Librarians serving rural areas
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify at least five specific instances wherein services to the legal community of a predominantly rural audience are significantly different from those provided to more populous regions.
2. Participants will be able to analyze data documenting these differences and use them to improve library services for their own communities.
Law schools and legal institutions in rural settings have a unique perspective on access to legal resources and instruction of legal professionals. Some vendors no longer support institution-specific representatives for smaller schools. Primary legal resources in low-population states are limited, and secondary sources may be nonexistent. New attorneys going into rural law offices will have neither the resources of large firms nor the benefits of additional training by firm librarians. Given these realities, three central questions need to be addressed: 1) What differences are legal institutions with significant rural populations noticing, and can these differences be documented? 2) What is being done to accommodate for them? 3) Where is it possible to affect change? Many law librarians in rural states are finding ways to benefit from this environment and making resources available to a grateful audience of legal professionals. This program will illuminate the weaknesses of supply and raise awareness among librarians and vendors who service rural areas with a goal toward improvement.
Target Audience: Academic law library directors and other administrators; all academic law librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will learn about changes in the American Bar Association Standards for Approval of Law Schools that directly affect their jobs and their libraries.
2. Participants will be able to evaluate their libraries' policies and practices in light of the new standards.
During 2009-2011, the American Bar Association reviewed and is now revising its Standards for Approval of Law Schools and the accompanying Interpretations, the law school "accreditation standards." Significant changes have been proposed for law libraries and for educational outcomes, including legal research education. The recommended changes are soon to be finalized and sent for approval. Academic law librarians must understand the Standards and their implication for management of the law school library, especially as their law school approaches its sabbatical accreditation visit. In this program, two ABA committee members involved in the formulation of the recommended Standards revisions will describe the changes made to the law library standards and the proposals for outcomes measurement, and will then answer questions about the intended application of the new standards. Participants will be expected to have read the new Standards in advance of the program to allow maximum time for questions.
Target Audience: Public and instructional services librarians; audiovisual and computer services librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain current guidelines for using DVD clips for teaching purposes.
2. Participants will be able to evaluate options for the legal circumvention of copyright protection systems on DVDs.
Faculty and presenters routinely use film content in instructional sessions and academic meetings. Previous rules prohibiting the "ripping" of DVD content hampered the ability to create smooth showings of multiple clips from a variety of DVDs. On July 26, 2010, the Librarian of Congress announced six classes of works exempt for three years from the statutory prohibition (i.e., 17 USC 1201(a)(1)) regarding circumvention of copyright protection systems. One of these classes is "motion pictures on DVDs" when "short portions" are used for educational use by college professors and film/media studies students. This program will review how to apply the new guideline, including procedures for circumventing DVD copyright protection systems. It will also examine socio-political and technological contexts for the DVD guideline change and their relevance for future media formats.
Target Audience: Librarians or information specialists interested in learning about mobile applications and how they work
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify specific tasks suitable to achieve on a mobile device and assess applications to achieve those tasks.
2. Participants will analyze sources available to identify and evaluate applications on multiple mobile platforms.
Between the Apple iPhone and various Android devices, more than 300,000 applications are available to society for use in the workplace and home environments. Finding good apps is hard. Understanding which activities can be accomplished using mobile devices can be equally difficult. This program will highlight best-of-breed mobile applications by focusing on tools that solve problems for law librarians. Presenters will demonstrate various features of mobile applications for the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices, including some tools for iPad and other tablets. In addition, available resources to discover and evaluate new applications will be shared.
Target Audience: Technical services librarians, public services librarians, library managers
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will become acquainted with ways to utilize staff in more creative ways.
2. Participants will be introduced to new initiatives that can benefit their libraries and generate increased appreciation for technical services staff skills.
Shrinking library budgets often require reductions in materials and staffing, even as demands for library services continue to grow. Some libraries deal with this dilemma by bridging the previously well-defined distinctions between technical services and public services. Initiatives and projects on public services department "wish lists" can often be readily accomplished when goals are realigned to utilize the expertise and specialized skill sets of technical services staff. This program will explore techniques for building cooperative partnerships between the two departments. Managerial tips, best practices, ways of fostering innovation and creativity, and initiatives at various law libraries will be discussed.
Target Audience: Directors, reference librarians, and IT librarians serving self-represented litigants and other members of the public
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to assess the development of new national objectives and proposals for serving self-represented litigants.
2. Participants will be able to explain new federal requirements regarding language access and interpreter services to their libraries and parent organizations.
In the last few years, there have been dynamic changes in how government institutions serve self-represented litigants. First, the effects of the 2008 change in federal administration are now reaching the courts and ancillary agencies, including libraries that serve self-represented litigants. For example, the Department of Justice is now mandating significant increases in interpreter services and the use of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Plans. Second, the Legal Services Corporation has adopted innovative new technologies to reach under-served self-represented litigants. Third, state courts are focusing their attention on the financially driven re-engineering of court services by including streamlined and improved services for the public. Two nationally known innovators in these fields will review these significant changes and explain how participants can best prepare for them.
Target Audience: All librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Librarians will analyze and apply the information provided to evaluate which of these new legal research products will be appropriate for use within their organizations.
2. Librarians will use the information provided to assist them in determining how best to implement these new legal research tools in their organizations.
During January 2010 (Legal Tech-NY), with much fanfare, WestlawNext and Lexis for Microsoft Office were unveiled. Lexis Advance arrived in late 2010. WestlawNext for the iPad is now here. Eighteen months after the first debuts, it’s time to examine their impact. How did the rollout of WestlawNext go in law schools? Have law firms embraced WestlawNext? What are the reactions, the benefits, and the burdens? What synergies exist between the schools and firms and other law organizations with regard to the introduction of WestlawNext? Have those synergies been explored? What has happened to Lexis for Microsoft Office? Presenters will take an in-depth look at the experiences two law schools and two law firms had with these products.
This program will be webcast live here.
