MAY/JUNE 2009, v.36, no. 5
The SCALL Newsletter is published electronically five times per year (September/October, November/December, January/February, March/April, and May/June by the Southern California Association of Law Libraries, a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. PDF versions of the SCALL Newletter can be downloaded here: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/newsletter.htm
FROM THE PRESIDENT... Jessica Wimer
It is hard to believe that June is already upon us! While this month marks the end of my term as your SCALL President, it also marks a time of new opportunities for SCALL members. To say that it has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as your president this year is an understatement; words simply cannot express my gratitude to my fellow SCALL members for allowing me to be of service. Before I highlight what is ahead for SCALL members, let me take this moment to again congratulate Vice President/President Elect Brian Raphael and his committee for organizing a tremendously successful Institute. This year’s Institute in La Quinta, CA, themed, “Near and Far with ADR: Exploring the Many Facets of Alternative Dispute Resolution,” brought in over 74 attendees and nine exhibitors. Brian and his committee did a great job in carrying on the tradition of providing top-notch programming, a well orchestrated event, and generating a substantial income to support next year’s programming, committees, and projects.
By now most of you should have received the latest copy of the SCALL Directory along with your membership renewal and volunteer forms. I can’t encourage you enough to consider volunteering for one of our many committees! SCALL is a wonderful and dynamic chapter because so many of us devote our time and effort to meeting the needs of the Association as a whole. In turn, we get back much more than we give. Committee work allows you to serve your fellow members by supplying them with the information and/or opportunities they need for professional growth. It also guarantees you will be presented with innumerable opportunities to network and make valued friends.
As you look through the new SCALL Directory and place it on your shelf, I also ask that you begin to consider the value of having a print directory in addition to the version available online. Do you find it useful to have both? Would you be just as happy with the online version only? This is not to say that the print version is going anywhere in the near future – or ever! Perhaps though, it is time for SCALL to follow the general trend these days of going green whenever possible. Not printing the directory would definitely help minimize our collective ecological footprint – something that many of us take to heart. Our Vice President/President Elect was the first to take a step in this direction by having all Institute registration and promotional material sent via the SCALL listserv rather than by mail, and this was done with great results!
Next on the agenda for SCALL members is the annual June Business meeting, to be held on Tuesday, June 30th, at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Courthouse in Pasadena. Be sure to mark your calendars! In addition to honoring our newly inducted Life members and our various award honorees, we will be voting on an increase to the cost of your SCALL membership dues. The Board proposes a $20.00 increase that will go into effect over two years in two $10.00 increments. The first $10.00 increase will happen next year and will increase the 2010-2011 SCALL membership dues to a yearly $30.00 fee. The following year will see a second and final $10.00 increase resulting in your SCALL membership dues in the amount of $40.00. The Board recognizes this is a substantial increase during tough economic times, has given it much thought, and does not take this on lightly. This increase will put us in line with other urban chapters of our size with similar demographics, and it will also better allow our chapter to meet the demands of increased program costs without passing them along to our members. Additionally, this increase will insure that we can continue to adequately fund our committees such as Grants, Scholarships, and the Inner City Youth Committee, while still providing our members with benefits that make being part of SCALL a worthwhile endeavor. If you have any concerns about this increase, please do not hesitate to reach out to me and let me know. I am more than happy to discuss this with you!
For those of you who are already looking forward to July and making your AALL plans, don’t forget to stop by the Pacific Chapters Joint Reception, graciously sponsored by West, a Thomson Reuters business, and hosted this year by SANDALL. A special thanks goes out to John Adkins, from SANDALL, and Lori Hedstrom, from West, for their efforts in organizing the event this year. The reception will take place on Saturday, July 25th, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. The scheduled location at this time is the Renaissance-Congressional Hall A. I hope to see many of you there. There is also the SCALL table that should not be missed! Thanks to the hard work of Carolina Rose, Wendy Nobunaga, and our dedicated SCALL volunteers, we will have a presence in the exhibit hall as usual.
I will close this final President’s column as I started – by thanking you all for making this year as your SCALL President such a positive experience. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve in this position, and it is with great confidence that I pass the gavel along to your new SCALL President, Brian Raphael, and his new Board.