Dear Colleagues,
As I’m writing this column, the leaves are changing and falling and the air is turning crisp. It reminds me that the season is quickly changing to winter and makes me ponder all of the changes that law librarians confront in our profession. We experience periodic changes in the way that we do business, legal information formats that we purchase, law library facilities that we work in, and ways that we transmit information and communicate with each other.
Heidi Frostestad Kuehl
As law librarians, though, I’d like to think that we are well prepared to handle the various changes in this technology-driven and ever-changing world of legal research and also changing notions of library services in varying types of law libraries. Law librarians always seem to be intrigued about new technologies and ready to address unexpected changes because we are specialists in creating order, so perhaps in this changing season think about a new change in your organization that you would like to take a leadership role in and contribute to making the transition more seamless as a result of your skills as a law librarian. Our profession and all law librarians, in general, have many invaluable skills and expertise to contribute when confronting changes in our workplace. I must thank Sheri Lewis for helping me coordinate the brown bag session last summer at AALL on “Adding Value to Your Organization: Non-Traditional Roles for Law Librarians.” It was an interesting panel of speakers and opened up a nice discussion of the myriad roles that law librarians take on in their different types of organizations.
At the first CALL business meeting on September 23rd at Lloyd’s, many CALL members attended and heard our CALL Internet Committee Co-Chair, Debbie Ginsberg, speak about our new social media initiatives. Please see the summary of the business meeting and Debbie’s presentation later in this issue of the Bulletin. CALL now has a LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter account, and we are using these technologies to communicate with all of our members who are interested in using social media to connect with other CALL members. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Internet Committee, especially co-chairs Debbie Ginsberg and Frank Lima, and the Public Relations Committee, especially co-chairs Alina Kelly and Pat Sayre McCoy, for working on the social media projects and continuing to enhance our web and social media presence. These technologies will provide exciting mediums for collaboration and sharing information among members. Special thanks also to Jill Matulionisand Maribel Nash, our Meetings Co-Chairs, for all of their work planning the first business meeting and the venue with delicious food.
Our CALL Strategic Planning Committee, Pam Cipkowski, Frank Drake, Sheri Lewis, Vanessa Nelson, andGretchen Van Dam, have already been working hard this year on our strategic planning efforts for 2011-2016. Thank you to all of the members of the Strategic Planning Committee for their time and detailed planning for the future of CALL and identifying clear strategic planning goals for the Board to implement. The Strategic Planning Committee will continue their work throughout the year, and we really appreciate all of their detailed development of tangible goals for the next five years of our organization and its work. I would also like to thank all of the members of the CALL Nominations Committee, including Chair Sheri Lewis, for the fine slate of candidates for our 2011-2012 election that will be held next Spring.
Our wonderful Community Service Committee continues to offer opportunities for our members to help others by contributing to excellent charitable organizations. Our hard-working Community Service Committee Co-Chairs, Kevin McClure and Susan Sloma, have organized collections at each of our business meetings and are also soliciting the input of members for worthy charitable organizations throughout the year. Please consult the news and events section on the CALL website for more information about CALL’s Community Service initiatives: http://new.chicagolawlib.org/ .
As you read this Winter issue of the CALL Bulletin, I’d like to also thank our fantastic Co-Editors, Thomas Keefe andMargaret Schilt, for their great work so far this year. I also encourage all of you to thank them for diligently soliciting authors, interesting articles, and creating a vibrant publication that can make each CALL member proud. I always learn something from every issue of the CALL Bulletin and appreciate the many contributions of all of our members!
As we are approaching the end of the calendar year, I find myself trying to catch up and organize my schedule for the next year. It reminds me how much time Board members devote to our CALL service, and I truly appreciate all of the wisdom of our Board members and the many hours that they spend analyzing issues and contributing to the overall operation of our association. I would like to thank the whole CALL Board: Juli, Denise, Gretchen, Julie, Gail, and Todd for their numerous hours working with our CALL Committees as liaisons and all of their work during our Board meetings this year. I am grateful for their fantastic input and valuable contributions to our Association by serving on the CALL Board.
This all brings me back to change. We are experiencing changes in our ways of operating and communicating in CALL and within our own organizations at work. Take time during this season to think about new ways about thinking about change in your work and perhaps embrace the change while planning for ways of addressing the changes throughout this year. Law librarians can spearhead change and offer a unique perspective because we are inherently organizers, categorizers, catalogers, technology specialists, and create order for all types of information. I am looking forward to all of the CALL activities and events yet to come during 2011.
I wish you a very happy holiday season as we welcome the New Year!
Best wishes,
Heidi
