by Kristine Lloyd
Either you are reading this via email on Thursday, which means you’re at your desk, inundated with emails, eating a bowl of gruel (o
atmeal), and not attending this year’s PDC; or you’ve been re-directed after taking our survey and delightfully commenting on what a great day you had. I am writing in advance of the workshop, mostly because I am confidant that it will be a terrific success.
Professional Development is a key part of our lives. The part that keeps us innovative and invigorated. Every time I attend a workshop or professional event, it is meeting, talking to, and connecting with other librarians that renews my librarian spirit and engages me to think about new solutions for work challenges. That said, I hope many of you are planning to attend AALL this year so you can report your adventures to home-bound LLOPSters.
Jennifer Hill led our Professional Development Committee this year, and she did an excellent job of leading our motley crew: Holly Gale, Erin Hoffrance, Kristine Lloyd and Lori Fossum. Thank you, Jennifer et al and see you next year!
by Kristine Lloyd
We librarians love to joke about the patrons who think that “everything is on
Google.” Those silly, misguided patrons who act like they don’t need us. But maybe it’s the other way around, maybe we are the ones who need them. We need our patrons to ask us complicated questions and send us bird-dogging for answers. We need them to be a little bit overwhelmed at the sheer volume of information so we can navigate them through the deluge.
Continue reading 'DIY Libraries'»
The LLOPS Grants Committee is pleased to announce the award of two AALL Annual Meeting registration grants to Jill Allyn and Jennifer Hill.
Dawn Kendrick, Chair
Bridget Dacres
Jan Lawrence
by Fred Hanson
I imagine most librarians would sense a kinship with John Lennon. He seemed the “bookish” rock-n-roller, authoring acclaimed books. One would hardly think of Keith Richards.
In this article about his upcoming autobiography, Richards mentions aspirations he once had of becoming a librarian. He even considered using Dewey to arrange his personal library before deciding it was too much work.
It’s great to find him saying “The public library is a great equaliser.” Imagine a wastral (and rock idol) like Keith praising libraries! It sounds so much more genuine than the usual sound bites politicians lob in our direction.
by Jill Allyn
This is part 2 of a 2-part article that Jill wrote for our blog, recounting the GSB Flood of 2009. Read Part 1 here:
Aftermath: Litigation associates whose offices received serious water damage on floor 17 packed up their offices very quickly (every person was responsible for packing up his/her own office). In the chaos, wet library books were tossed out, and we had no record of which volumes these were. Other attorneys scooped up favorite titles from the library before they were moved to build personal collections that could be kept close at hand. The built-in shelving in the main library on floor 18 housed the Washington collection, and since it received no damage, was able to remain in place behind protective plastic sheeting. It was crazy to have some of the most used titles on 16 and some on 18, so on June 15th I asked the movers to return and move the Washington collection to floor 16. During this period there was only one elevator operational for all the businesses from floors 11 – 22, and much of the time it was being used for moving, demolition, and the like. Simply getting to floors 16 and 18 from floor 11 required a long wait. The firm opened a special client/matter for flood-related activities, and we documented all costs, including labor costs, there.
Continue reading 'Water is Bad for Books and Business: Part 2'»
by Tania Schriwer
Back in January, Greg Lambert of 3 Geeks and a Law Blog made ten projections for the year 2010, one of them being that this would be the year of social media acceptance in the legal field. Many others have echoed the
expectation that law firms would start to embrace the world of Facebook and Twitter, particularly as a cheap and effective marketing tool. Right on cue, back in January, Kristine Lloyd found this chart from myCorporateResources.com which showed the various social media AmLaw 100 firms had started using. As Kristine noted, many firms had signed up for a Twitter account, but had yet to tweet. I decided to investigate whether, at this stage in the year, any of these tweet-reluctant firms had joined the tweeting bandwagon and, if so, what were they tweeting about.
Continue reading 'BigLaw Twitterers: Flying Soloor Birds of a Feather'»
By Jill Allyn
The Event: May 18, 2009, (twenty-nine years to the day after St. Helens erupted), a pressurized sprinkler line erupted sometime around 3:30 AM in the ceiling over the Garvey Schubert Barer (GSB) library on floor 18. Water flowing in the pipe at an estimated 700 gallons per minute sprayed upwards, quickly soaking the ceiling tiles below the pipe. The ceiling tiles failed, and water spray carried foam insulation and bits of tile into the library.
Building personnel became aware of the break at about 5 am and called the fire department. The fire fighters turned off the water and quickly arrived on Floor 18. There were 4 1/2 inches of water in some attorney offices. Using their water hoses as giant squeegees, the firemen pushed large amounts of the standing water into the elevator banks. This shorted out all four elevators that serve floors 11-22. Water seeped down on the north side of the building, wetting carpet and walls, from floor 18 to floor 11. Water dripped onto scanners and copiers, seeped under walls and migrated around the firm via the carpet. The elevator shafts leaked water as far down as six levels, to the bottom of the parking garage. The fire department later estimated that had the water continued rising just 15 minutes more, it would have run down data ports and shorted out the firm’s servers that serve all 5 GSB offices.
Continue reading 'Water is Bad for Books andBusiness: Part 1'»
by Kristine Lloyd
A combination of curiosity and disdain piqued my interest and led to my subsequent purchase of This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All by Marilyn Johnson. The exceedingly lengthy 
subtitle is so very librarian-esque, but more importantly, what’s up with the term “cybrarian?” Does anyone actually use this term, without irony? On the cheesy scale, it ranks right up there with Guybrarian.
The cover of the book features a superhero librarian. With her svelte bod, ample bosom, and kindle in hand, she leaps bounds, books and buildings to save us all. Throughout the book, Johnson compares us to navigators, miners, jockeys and Girl Scouts. In sum: we are information saviors, which frankly, may be a lofty load for any of us to bear. Despite the smarmy exhortations about our greatness, Johnson does highlight the heroism of our profession, with inspiring tales of information visionaries creating complex and innovative library services on Second Life, standing up for patrons’ privacy rights, linking students across the globe and fighting to save artifacts of both the commoner and the exalted. Continue reading 'Cybrarians, Seriously?'»
by Kristine Lloyd
1. A whole lot of neat stuff to learn, both new and old, borrowed and blue. We’ll talk new technologies in the morning, and then we’ll talk about new methods for old school human resources dilemmas. You’ll be blue if you miss out on this year’s workshop!
2. No bird-watching, but great views of the city, atop the Federal Courthouse, that is, if the view is not obstructed by a uni-cloud
3. There will be Diet Dr. Pepper
4. Good looking techno-dudes
5. “Web 2.0” will not be the catchphrase of the day
6. Charo is our lunchtime entertainer this year
7. Plenty of coffee to wake you up and sweet treats to spike your blood sugar and attentiveness
8. You won’t be chastised if you go for the vegetarian option, even if you’re a carnivore
9. Post-workshop Imbibery and Processing of the day’s events, compliments of our Social Committee
10. This year’s workshop is the perfect blend of new ways of connecting and communicating, plus good, old-fashioned people skills
See you there!
Last week, during our March meeting, many LLOPS members had the 
honor of meeting our AALL President, Catherine Lemann. In addition to particpating in a panel discussion on disaster planning, Ms. Lemann also congratulated our chapter on its 20th anniversary. Happy Anniversary LLOPS!
Click on the photograph to view a larger version of our lovely Executive Board with AALL President Catherin Lemann.
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atmeal), and not attending this year’s PDC; or you’ve been re-directed after taking our survey and delightfully commenting on what a great day you had. I am writing in advance of the workshop, mostly because I am confidant that it will be a terrific success.
Themocracy