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By Newsletter-Blog, March 7, 2014 10:02 am

by Anna Endter
This post has been reposted from the Gallagher Law Library blog

From the Google Maps Blog:
If you’ve ever wondered which trails Lewis & Clark traveled for their famous expedition, or looked for maps of the best schools in your region, you may have found yourself scouring the web without much luck. The best results for your search may come from governments, nonprofits and businesses, but historically that information has been hard to find or inaccessible to the public. Well, now, with the new Google Maps Gallery, it’s easier for you to find maps like those all in one place.

I poked around a little and found a map from the World Bank that shows the percentage of internet users across the world, a topic that is often of interest to the legal community.  I also noticed that you can explore by topic to find things like historical and environmental maps.  Give it a try!
(Hat tip to beSpacific)

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By Newsletter-Blog, March 5, 2014 1:24 pm

by Anna Endter

A PDF copy of the current LLOPS Membership Directory is now available under the “Member Resources” tab of the website.  Please note that you can print a copy of the Directory if you wish; we are not planning to have them printed for LLOPS members this year since it’s so easy to access online!

You can also use this link to get to the Directory: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/llops/members/search.asp.

You’ll need to log-in with the same LLOPS username and password that we normally use for members only resources.  If you don’t have this information, email Kim Ositis.

If you have corrections to the Membership Directory please contact me.

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By Newsletter-Blog, March 5, 2014 12:47 pm

by Jessica King

You may have already heard that the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference and Information Expo will be held on June 8-10, just a train ride away in Vancouver, BC. As a member of the SLA Legal Division Executive Board and the SLA Pacific Northwest Chapter, I encourage you to think about attending. SLA membership is a mix of legal, corporate, government, medical, museum and other information professionals. The annual conference presents an opportunity to meet librarians of all kinds of specializations.

Registration and travel information can be found on the conference website. The SLA Western Canada Chapter has a great website with local Vancouver information (which might come in handy if you are planning a visit at any time). If you want to take a closer look at what sessions and meetings will be offered, head over to the conference online planner. I’ve listed some sessions that I plan to attend:

• 60 Sites in 60 Seconds – A popular session every year introducing you to websites that you can use at work or at home. The topics range from desktop sharing to language learning to foodie blogs.
• Analysis of Patent and Other Large Bibliographic Data Sets
• Bringing Parks to the People: Online Access to the Scenery and History of Our National Parks
• Legal Division Unconference – This is always an interesting session because any topic can come up.

Of course, there is always the IT Dance Party to look forward to and the Legal Division has a breakfast and business meeting every year where award winners are recognized. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have. I hope you take a minute to consider going to Vancouver this year. I think you will find it to be a rewarding professional experience.

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By Newsletter-Blog, February 20, 2014 10:32 am

Okay, maybe not lots and lots, but there are a couple of LLOPS events coming up:

LLOPS Monthly Meeting
When: Wednesday February 26, 2014 at 12:00PM

Where: Lane Powell, 1420 5th Ave #4200 Seattle, WA 98101 (42nd Floor Conference room – behind the reception desk. Please have your ID with you!)

What: Traci Timmons, Librarian at Seattle Art Museum’s Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library, will discuss her work serving SAM staff and art research clients.  She will be joined by Sarah Berman, Curatorial Associate for Collections at SAM. Sarah will talk about doing provenance research, something unique to art libraries

LLOPS Happy Hour
When:Wednesday March 5th at 4:30PM

Where:  The Alibi Room, 85 Pike St #410, Seattle, WA 98101.  The Alibi Room is right across Post Alley from the Gum Wall. As you approach Pike Market from downtown on Pike Street, just follow the descending cobbled lane on your left – the Alibi Room is found where the Alley takes a hard left.

What: You buy your drinks, LLOPS will buy the apps. Rumor has that Bridget, Barbara and hopefully Fred will be trying out their new senior status.

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By Newsletter-Blog, February 3, 2014 5:59 pm

It might feel like it is too soon but the next annual meeting will be here before we know it!  For those of you making plans to go to the AALL Annual Meeting in San Antonio, try not to miss the free reception for the five Pacific Chapters:  SANDALL, NOCALL, SCALL, LLOPS & Westpac.

Continue reading 'Save the Date for the Pacific Chapters Reception at AALL Annual Meeting 2014'»

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By Newsletter-Blog, January 28, 2014 10:51 am

Please join us for the first meeting of 2014!  Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 29th from Noon – 1:00 PM.

Continue reading 'January 29 LLOPS Meeting'»

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By Newsletter-Blog, January 22, 2014 7:31 am

by Amy Eaton

Did you see that the AALL Call for Committee Volunteers is now open?

If you have ever thought about volunteering, I want to urge you to do so. I have volunteered on several committees and found the work to be fun, challenging and almost always helped me in my career. Often committee work gave me an opportunity to lead and demonstrate my capabilities when perhaps my work position did not offer managerial responsibilities. Committee work introduced me to librarians in other types of libraries, many of whom I am friends with still. Explore the various committees and select those that interest you. Complete the volunteer form and do take section 8 seriously. Explain why you are interested in that specific committee (or committees). If you have a passion for vendor relations, share it! The association needs volunteers from all regions and all types of libraries. If you tried before and did not get appointed, please try again. This might be your lucky year!

Call for Committee Volunteers Now Open

Become an active member of our Association by volunteering for an AALL committee. Our committees help to implement AALL’s strategic directions. AALL thrives because our members get involved, and you benefit from the professional experience and collegiality of committee membership. You will have the opportunity to meet AALL members from all types of law libraries and from all parts of the country.

There are 24 standing committees to choose from. The committees focus on either policy issues or process functions. Please review the charges and other committee information available on the committee pages of AALLNET. These pages provide the charge of each committee, as well as an overview of the work involved, anticipated time commitment, and any suggested member qualifications.

AALL benefits when a variety of perspectives are represented on committees. Newer members, experienced members, and members from all types of libraries and functions are encouraged to apply. Your work provides the energy to move AALL forward!

Please complete and submit the AALL Committee Volunteer Form by February 14.

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By Newsletter-Blog, January 2, 2014 12:18 pm

by Tal Noznisky

On Tuesdays, I work with young people at Seattle 826, a non-profit tutoring center. Recently, a high school student needed help drafting a position paper on capital punishment. The student already planned to argue for capital punishment and against its most common renunciations. He wanted to play the contrarian and discover both sides of the capital punishment debate. I was game to assist, and delighted to facilitate legal research using free and accessible Internet resources. But where to begin?

The student came in with a focused set of ideas, but was two large steps shy of stable outline. He needed factual support for his argument and he needed to organize a persuasive flow. Fortunately he had a powerful secret weapon to get things rolling: a list of sources recommended by none other than the teacher who would grade the paper. I suggested, “Let’s look some of these up.”

The list had some favorable “greatest hits” on the subject, including Justice Antonin Scalia’s 2008 statement denying a rehearing in Kennedy v. Louisiana and a link to Pew Research Center’s Death Penalty topic page. Starting there, the student branched out through embedded or cited links and Google. A big picture view of the essay appeared. We talked it out and discovered what exactly he wanted to say. The details started coming together as well.

Through some rapid structured Googling, the student found that similar statistics about public opinion and cost of capital punishment were used for opposing opinions. He weaved the data from those arguments into his own, founded on Scalia’s, and addressed counter-arguments based on the same info. He was in the advantageous position of recognizing both sides and knowing which persuasion to take as his thesis statement.

I really hope that, besides an A+ paper outline, the student took away a process for researching hot-button and legally-oriented opinions. Those can easily drift toward fringe or inflammatory ideas that, while intriguing, do not make strong persuasive essays. Google is full of crazy ideas, but with a reliable base camp of, say, sources your teacher wants to see mentioned in your paper, good research just got easier.

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By Newsletter-Blog, December 16, 2013 10:51 am

What did you miss?  Who was there?  Was holiday cheer served in the form of jello shots?  There were donuts?!  Pictures and the scoop will be provided in LLOPSCited next week so be sure to check your inboxes!

If you would like to share your thoughts or pictures, please contact Grace Feldman!

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By Newsletter-Blog, December 3, 2013 11:27 am

by Anna Endter

I think it’s the time of year that has me considering, as I often do, how I can rearrange things in the new year, how I can do a better job at the tasks that require effort above and beyond my normal work duties.  Right now, I’m thinking about how best to stay informed professionally and how to make time for current awareness in an already crowded workday.  I could be wrong, but I think that many of us are in the midst of a season where simply keeping up with life’s demands and not letting too many things slip through the cracks is the goal, whether that be at work, home, or in some other capacity.  Does this ring true for you?

Recently, in a flurry of I-must-keep-up like thoughts, I subscribed to a number of different legal newsletters and blogs.  I’m making an effort to skim them, in addition to the usual AALL messages and such, because I don’t want to focus my current awareness efforts solely on law librarianship.  It’s important to know about what’s afoot in the broader legal profession, as well.  (And I suppose that, two paragraphs in, I should also note that here I’m focusing on my own current awareness efforts but there’s also the topic of current awareness on behalf of our patrons.  Do you participate in finding current awareness resources for your attorneys or faculty?  A topic for another time, perhaps.)

Now obviously, as librarians, we are not short on information.  Sifting through that information, for our own professional development purposes, can be tricky.  How do you, Librarian, decide what to keep up with and what to let fall away?  I would love to see a discussion about this topic but I know that isn’t likely to happen.  And that’s okay, we are all keeping up in one way or another, whether it’s with the Kardashians (do you see what I did there?), a busy workload or, especially at this time of year, our friends and family.  If I do receive responses, I’d be glad to include them within a longer summary in the newly revived LLOPSCited.  Send me an email, stop me at the LLOPS holiday party, or get in touch with me via the comments.