Pin-up Passions

By , March 29, 2012 10:02 am

by Kristine Lloyd

I have a dirty little secret I’ve been hiding from the librarian community for years. Here goes: I’m not an organized person. I’m pretty sure this is a mortal sin in the library world. My desk is piled with papers, and my pin boards are stuck with random collections of postcards, pictures and schedules, some years-old, yellowing under the fluorescent work lights. Comparing my desk to say, any of my co-workers, you’ll see that I’m the bad neighbor in the hood, the one with waist-high weeds and cars ratcheted up on concrete blocks. There, I’ve said it. What a relief. Continue reading 'Pin-up Passions'»

Eli’s Take: Professional Development Spring Workshop 2012

By , March 28, 2012 10:01 am

by Eli Edwards

Being new to Puget Sound, as well as law librarianship, I was particularly interested in the sessions for this year’s workshop, entitled “Moving Ahead When There’s No Money in the Budget: delivering information, developing skills, and serving the community in tough times.” The content and presenters were even better than anticipated, and I left with new tools and resources to try, new communities to explore, and new insight as to how state and local politics work. Continue reading 'Eli’s Take: Professional Development Spring Workshop 2012'»

Professional Development Spring Workshop 2012

By , March 21, 2012 2:32 pm

by Stina McClintock

The last time I won something was in June of 2011.  It was a $10 gift card to Black Raven brewery.  Coincidentally, that was the same month that Kim Kardashian won the Glamour Entrepreneur of the Year.  So it was a pleasant surprise to get in my email the word that I had been awarded a grant for the LLOPS Professional Development Conference last week, breaking my almost two year dry spell. Continue reading 'Professional Development Spring Workshop 2012'»

LLOPS Business Meeting Minutes 1/25/2012

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By , March 20, 2012 11:39 am

LLOPS Business Meeting Minutes
1/25/2012 

Attendees: Crystal Sherman Norton, Jennifer Hill, Stephanie Wilson, Mort Brinchmann, Judy Davis, Karen Helde, Barbara Rothwell, Philippe Cloutier, Kerry FitzGerald, Barbara Swatt-Engstrom, Tina Ching, Robyn Hagle, Eli Edwards, Erin Hoffrance, Holly Gale, Barbara Holt, and others.

Where: Lane Powell, 1420 Fifth Ave., Seattle, WA

Time: Noon Continue reading 'LLOPS Business Meeting Minutes 1/25/2012'»

Do You Want to Be Embedded?

By , March 19, 2012 12:53 pm

by Kristine Lloyd

There’s no doubt that specialization is necessary in our increasingly complex world. Remember when a lawyer was just a lawyer? Now lawyers are riparian rights specialists or dog bite litigation aficionados. While academic law librarians often specialize to support particular areas of law, we private law librarians are still primarily generalists, which can be challenging when you get one patent question a year that leaves you in a cold sweat, desperately thumbing through Penny Hazelton’s Specialized Legal Research. Continue reading 'Do You Want to Be Embedded?'»

Some Things About Mary

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By , March 12, 2012 12:50 pm

by Mort Brinchmann

As Darcy Kirk noted in her February e-letter, Mary Whisner‘s Fall 2009 Law Library Journal article, “The United States Code, Prima Facie Evidence, and Positive Law,” was recently cited at length in Gonzalez v. Village of West Milwaukee, 2012 WL 313572 (7th Cir. Feb. 2, 2012).  I really enjoyed Mary’s most recent offering in LLJ’s recent tribute to Morris L. Cohen: “That Most Congenial Lawyer/Bibliographer”. Mary “browses” Cohen’s Bibliography of Early American Law to produce a collection of asides and lively interaction between U.S. History and Legal Bibliography.  I would not say that her article drove me to consult Cohen’s work (though I might dive into The Reporters to find out what Cranch & Wheaton are up to).  I am sure that even those who have taken Legal Bib in the last 20 years will fully enjoy joining Mary on her “trip to Nerdvana.”


Sunshine Week 2012 Webcast

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By , March 9, 2012 9:20 am

Sunshine Week Webcast: Secrecy, Disclosure and the Risks for Security and Accountability

Friday, March 16, 2012

10:15am – 12:30pm

Univ. of Washington Research Commons Green A. The Research Commons is located in the Allen Library (South Wing). Map & directions.

March 11 – 17, 2012 is Sunshine Week: Your Right to Know. Along with its partners, OpenTheGovernment.org is hosting the annual Sunshine Week national webcast on Friday, March 16. This year’s discussion, “Secrecy, Disclosure and the Risks for Security and Accountability,” will feature two panels. This first panel will focus on the topic of whistleblowers and the press. The second set of panelists will discuss secret government and secret laws. For more information on this year’s speakers, see http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/3375

Please join us on Friday, March 16 on the UW campus to watch the national webcast. No need to register. Everyone is welcome!

About Sunshine Week: Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools, and others interested in the public’s right to know. Sunshine Week 2012 National Dialogue is brought to you in celebration of Sunshine Week by the American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, League of Women Voters, National Freedom of Information Coalition, OMB Watch, OpenTheGovernment.org, Project On Government Oversight, Sunshine Week, Special Libraries Association, and the Sunlight Foundation.

Informational Interviews

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By , March 7, 2012 8:42 am

Guest Post by Erin Dorney, Outreach Librarian for the Millersville University Library in Pennsylvania

CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 image by Len Matthews on Flickr, remixed by libraryscenester

If you’re not doing them, you should be. According to Wikipedia (is it blasphemous to cite Wikipedia in a law librarianship blog post?), an informational interview is “a meeting in which a job seeker asks for career and industry advice rather than employment.” However, these get-togethers can serve a number of different purposes, whether you are seeking employment, just getting started as a library school student, or are happily employed. Continue reading 'Informational Interviews'»

March Madness²

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By , March 5, 2012 3:13 pm

by Stina McClintock

“I’m starting a fantasy league.  I think I’ll be good at it.” – Kim Kardashian

With the advent of smart phones and calendar syncing, every time I log on to my work email, I see all appointments and important dates that are creeping up on me.  In particular, March 11th looms with an all caps reminder “SELECTION SUNDAY” to remind me that on this day, I will wake up, light a candle next to my Adam Morrison bobblehead and say a secret prayer that Gonzaga does not get selected as a low 8 seed in the east. Continue reading 'March Madness²'»

UW Law School Ranks #1 for Home Page

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By , March 1, 2012 10:49 am

by Robyn Hagle

For the 3rd consecutive year, all ABA-accredited home pages for law schools were evaluated and ranked according to 24 elements across 3 themes:

  1. Design Patterns & Metadata
  2. Accessibility & Validation
  3. Marketing & Communications

The University of Washington School of Law came out on top in 2011.  This is an improvement on their previous ranking of #4 in 2009.  Congrats to UW for a thoughtfully designed, accessible webpage. I appreciate that the Library is prominently featured across the main navigation menu at the top of the page.

You can read reports from the last 3 years by searching “Top 10 Law School Home Pages” at: http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/.

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