Executive Director Search Committee Appointed

I have appointed a special committee to oversee the search for a new AALL executive director. Susan Siebers, former AALL secretary, agreed to serve as chair of the committee. Members of the committee are James Duggan, Ann Fessenden, Christine Graesser, Catherine Lemann, Gail Warren, and myself. Pam Reisinger, AALL director of meetings, and Steve Ligda, interim executive director, will assist the committee on an ex-officio basis.

The executive search firm Tuft and Associates has been engaged to work with the committee in conducting a nationwide search. Tuft will begin by gathering information from the committee members, identified stakeholders, and Headquarters staff, in order to construct a profile of the position and desirable characteristics. Tuft expects to announce the search early in February, through advertisements placed in various venues including AALLNET. Candidates who wish to apply may refer to the advertisement when it is posted.

Many thanks to the members and staff who have agreed to serve in this very important capacity.

The Continuing Professional Education Committee Needs Your Feedback!

In an effort to provide quality continuing professional education outside of the Annual Meeting, the CPE Committee has designed a short online survey to solicit your feedback. We encourage every member to complete the survey. We appreciate the time and effort you take to share your feedback. You have until end of day on Monday, January 22, to complete the survey. Please don’t delay, do it today! Go to the CPE Survey.

AALL Spectrum Member to Member Question

In AALL Spectrum’s, "Member to Member" department we pose a question each issue relating to AALL or law librarianship and publish three to five answers to the question from members. In the upcoming March issue we will feature an article about trends in outsourcing legal services. Our question for you is: Do you think law library jobs are in danger of being outsourced overseas? Why or why not?

AALL members can submit an answer for potential publication in Spectrum. We are looking for short (one paragraph or less), interesting answers to the question. We will select up to five of the responses submitted for publication each month. If we select yours, we will contact you for permission before publishing it. Responses are due Monday, January 15.

Selection of responses will be done by AALL Spectrum Editorial Director Paul Healey in conjunction with AALL Director of Publications Julia O’Donnell. Please send your responses to Paul and Julia by Monday, January 15.

Kudos Abound

Congratulations to:

• The Law Library of Congress, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary with a special ceremony on January 18 in the Jefferson Building of The Library of Congress. Part of the ceremony will include the presentation of a special plaque from AALL in honor of the law library’s 175 years of excellent service to Congress, the legal community, and the public. Past President Claire Germain will present the plaque on behalf of AALL.



• The AALL Publishing Initiatives Caucus for its Published Articles database, which was recently named the "Best New Current Awareness Service for Law Library Literature" in the Law Librarian Blog’s IMHO Awards.



• The Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section’s Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues on the recent publication of Sexual Orientation and the Law: A Research Bibliography, Selectively Annotating Legal Literature through 2005 (William S. Hein and Co., 2006), which is No. 74 in the AALL Publications Series. Editor-in-chief of the bibliography is James Donovan of the University of Georgia Law Library.



• Fred R. Shapiro, associate librarian for collections and access and lecturer in legal research at Yale Law School, who is editor of the recently-published Yale Book of Quotations. This extensive compilation of more than 12,000 quotations includes for each the source (when traceable) and the date when it first was used. He spent six years compiling the information for this book, using a wide array of sources, including many electronic resources. During his research he found that some quotations in other popular reference books have long been misattributed or have the wrong date. His book has been featured on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and has received praise from William Safire in The New York Times Magazine.



• Sabrina I. Pacifici, long-time AALL member who was profiled in the December 2006 issue of Law Practice, the magazine of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section. She is the creator of the legal research Web site LLRX.com as well as the blog beSpacific.



• AALL Past President Claire Germain, who will be the keynote speaker for a symposium held in Brazil in February, sponsored by the Supreme Court of Brazil. The topic of the symposium is "Juridical Information Management in Digital Environments."

Sincerely,

Sarah (Sally) Holterhoff
AALL President
Government Information/Reference Librarian
Valparaiso University School of Law Library
Wesemann Hall
656 S. Greenwich St.
Valparaiso, IN 46383-6493
Tel: (219) 465-7866
Fax: (219) 465-7917
Email: sally.holterhoff@valpo.edu

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