I am very pleased to write to you as Chair of the Social Responsibilities SIS. We have several issues for consideration and action and I want to encourage everyone to get involved.

As you may know, the SIS sponsored a resolution at the Annual Meeting in San Antonio dealing with the war in Iraq (more details below). The resolution, which was based loosely on the resolution passed in June 2005 by ALA, was defeated in a standing vote of the membership. However, several members expressed interest in re-working the resolution for possible reconsideration in 2006. If you are interested in participating, please contact me.

As you know the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2005 with a program at AALL in San Antonio entitled: Realizing Visions and Valuing History: Twenty Years of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues. The program featured founding members of the Standing Committee discussing their efforts in creating the standing committee and nurturing its role in AALL. Not surprisingly, it was a fantastic and moving program.

As part of the celebratory events for the Standing Committee, Carol Alpert was recognized for her for her many tireless efforts to promote equality for the Lesbian and Gay community and social justice for all within the American Association of Law Libraries. The award was presented at the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay issues meeting on Tuesday July 19th. As a follow-up, we hope to form a special committee to create an ongoing SR-SIS Social Justice Award, recognizing the efforts of others in promoting social justice. More information on this will be coming soon.

We are currently researching an issue involving AALL policy of non-discrimination as it applies to AALL contract provisions negotiated with conference hotels. Several SR members noted that the language AALL uses as a model did not include a reference to sexual orientation discrimination. We hope raise this as an action item for the AALL Executive Board.

The SR Book Drive continued to grow exponentially! Under the fine stewardship of Ron Wheeler and Barbara Lah, we collected more in cash and donations for this year's drive than ever. The contributions will help children in five schools in the San Antonio Independent School District. Special thanks must go to Ron and Barbara who went that extra mile. (They even send personalized thank you notes to all contributors!) We will soon begin preparations for the St. Louis book drive; if you would like to participate, please contact me.

Looking forward to next year's conference, we are pleased to announce that the SR had two programs accepted for the 2006 Annual Meeting. DADT, Solomon, FAIR v. Rumsfeld, and the Librarian's Role in Amelioration (to be coordinated by Elvira Embser-Herbert) and One Hundred Years: A Look at the Federal Indian Trust Relation Through the Cobell Case (sponsored by the Native People's Caucus together with the SR as co-sponsor and coordinated by Faye Hadley.)

As part of the program proposal development process, we began collecting information on the SR's history of proposing resolutions on timely social topics. This will build on research already done by Elvira Embser-Herbert for the Standing Committee program in San Antonio in 2005. Ann Hemmens proposed drafting an “Informational Item” for the AALL Executive Board in which we list all of the SR sponsored Resolutions proposed and approved by the entire AALL membership. If you want to participate or have information to contribute, please contact me.

You may have seen that Elvira Embser-Herbert is also writing an article for the February issue of Spectrum entitled Why the heck is there a Standing Committee for Lesbian and Gay Issues, Anyway?. Her article will focus on diversity and she is seeking input from members who are willing to be quoted in this article. If you want to contribute your thoughts, please contact her.

As you can see there are a lot of issues on the table and many possibilities for your involvement this year. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you want to work on any of these initiatives. I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Chair in 2005-06.

Leslie Campbell, Chair
Social Responsibilities SIS
Leslie_Campbell@ao.uscourts.gov
202.502.1587

The following officers were in attendance:

SR-SIS OFFICERS
Ann Hemmens, Chair
Leslie Campbell, Vice Chair/Chair-Elect
Ron Wheeler, Secretary-Treasurer
Alison Alifano, Immediate Past Chair
Jeffrey Berns, Chair of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues
Rebecca Trammell, Chair of the Standing Committee on Law Library Service to Institution Residents

SR-SIS MEMBERS

The meeting was called to order by Ann Hemmens at 5:30 pm.

Minutes were approved by a voice vote.

Ron Wheeler gave the treasurer's report. This year we had excess expenses over revenue totaling $952.82, which gave us an ending balance of $12,142.55 as of May 31, 2005.

Ann Hemmens reviewed the 2004-2005 annual report which highlighted various activities including:

• The marriage equality resolution was drafted, passed by the SR-SIS membership, and ultimately passed by the AALL general membership at the AALL Business Meeting. The Resolution opposes all federal and state constitutional amendments defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.
• The SR donated $1000 to the Sri Lanka National Library & Documentation Services Board in response to the tsunami of December 26, 2004.
• Two SR sponsored programs were presented at the 2005 Annual meeting: 1) Visionary Collection Development: Strategies for Building Legal Collections on Emerging Social Issues and 2) Realizing Visions and Valuing History: Twenty Years of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues.
• The Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay issues awarded the Alan Holoch Memorial Grant to Courtney Selby of the University of Tulsa.
• The Standing Committee on Law Library Service to Institution Residents – see committee updates below.
• The 7th Annual SR-SIS book drive, Fiesta of Books, will benefit the San Antonio Independent School District's most needy school libraries. Barbara Lah and Ron Wheeler, both from the University of New Mexico, are coordinating this effort.
• The SR bylaws were amended in the 2005 election to allow for conducting electronic election of officers.

Elvira Embser-Herbert coordinated the acquisition and distribution of name-tag ribbons that say “SR-SIS SC on Lesbian & Gay Issues Celebrates 20 Years.” All standing committee members were encouraged to see Elvira for a ribbon to wear during the annual meeting.

Committee Reports

1. Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues
• Will be doing bylaws changes.
• Bibliography is coming along coordinated by James Donovan. It has a 69 page title list, and each title needs to have an abstract written.
• Courtney Selby received the 2005 Holoch grant. Congratulations Courtney!
• The 2005 Standing Committee Reception is being held at Boudros-The Vault. The entrance fee is $15.
• The Standing Committee Business meeting is Tuesday at 5:15 pm in Salon L.
2. Standing Committee on Law Library Service to Institution Residents reports that Rebecca Trammell updated the Werner's Manual for Prison Law Libraries, 3 rd ed. Also, the hugely successful Joint Roundtable on Service to Pro Se Patrons and Prisoners will be offered again at AALL 2005 in San Antonio.
3. The newsletter is now online at http://aallnet.org/sis/srsis/newsletter/index.htm. Our new Webmaster is Stephanie Davidson.
4. CONELL – Alison Alifano and Ron Wheeler sat at the SR-SIS table at CONELL and had lots of interested parties stop by for information.
5. Book Drive – As of 7/17/2005 the Fiesta of Books book drive has collected 214 books and $255 in individual donations. Members interested in organizing the book drive for 2006 should contact Ron Wheeler or Barbara Lah for specifics.

Election results were announced. Our officers for 2005-2006 are as follows:

• Chair – Leslie Campbell
• Vice Chair – Elvira Embser-Herbert
• Secretary/Treasurer – Ron Wheeler
• Past Chair – Ann Hemmens
• Chair, Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues – Stephanie Davidson
• Chair, Standing Committee on Law Library Service to Institution Residents – Rebecca Trammell

Elvira discussed program proposals for the 2006 meeting. The Program Committee agreed to meet Wednesday morning at 7:30 am in the restaurant to discuss the ideas. Some ideas were:

• Family law in the 21st century
• Deep Throats and Deep Secrets
• Amelioration/Gays in the military

New Business:

1. The recognition Award for Carol Alpert was discussed. The award is to be presented at the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay issues meeting on Tuesday July 19th.
2. A special committee to create an SR-SIS Social Justice Award was discussed. This committee will be formed soon.
3. Ron Wheeler announced that Randall Ellis, the executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby of Texas (LGRL) will be attending the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Reception. He will be presented with a copy of the AALL resolution opposing constitutional amendments defining marriage.
4. Ron Wheeler announced that Kelly Browne is putting together SIS skits to be performed at the annual meeting in St. Louis. Anyone interested in being in a skit with Ron should contact him.

There was some discussion of the LSU librarians who are fighting with the Louisiana legislature over legislative attempts to sensor libraries from collecting LGBT content. Similar fights are taking place in OK, AL, and NC. No action was taken.

Samuel Trosow introduced a resolution opposing the war in Iraq and asked that the SR-SIS sponsor the resolution. There was much discussion. The vote was 18 to 5, with one abstention, to sponsor the resolution and present it to the full AALL membership for a vote. Then there was a motion to have the SR-SIS Chair appoint a committee to draft the final language of the resolution. That motion carried. The committee members included Barbara Lah, Leslie Campbell, Prano Amjadi, and Heather Phillips.

The meeting was adjourned at around 7:15 pm.

Submitted by
Ron Wheeler
SR-SIS Secretary /Treasurer

The two SR-SIS programs at the 2005 Annual Meeting in San Antonio were well attended and inspirational.

• Program A-5: Visionary Collection Development: Strategies for Building Legal Collections on Emerging Social Issues, Sunday July 17, 2005 - With Larry Reeves, Senior Reference Librarian, Loyola Law School, coordinating and Courtney Selby, Collection Development Librarian, University of Tulsa Law Library Program, doing a great job moderating, this program provided a panel of true visionaries who have developed several very special library collections focusing on social, cultural and political issues in the law:
• Ann Atchison informed us about the Williams Project at the UCLA School of Law, a comprehensive collection supporting legal research in the area of sexual orientation law and public policy;
• Brian Keough of the University at Albany, SUNY provided details on the National Death Penalty Archive which supports research on the history of capital punishment. One fascinating aspect of his talk were his insights into the importance of preserving these unique, historic archives and the challenges of finding, collecting and maintaining these invaluable collections;
• Roy Mersky, Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and Director of Research at the University of Texas at Austin, talked about the challenge of starting and supporting a collection on Law in Popular Culture.
• Program F-6: Realizing Visions and Valuing History: Twenty Years of the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues, Tuesday July 19 th, 2005 - Picture yourself sitting around a roaring campfire at the end of a long day with other pioneers, sharing insights and inspiration about the early pioneering efforts. Add some humor and a lot of heart, and you have this wonderful program. Coordinator & Moderator, Elvira Embser-Herbert, Circulation Librarian at the University of Minnesota Law Library, guided the reminiscences of several of the founding members of the SC, allowing each participant to share their thoughts about their own role in the development and nurturing of the Standing Committee and its role in AALL. She also peppered the panel of pioneers with thought-provoking questions.
  
  The program was lively and moving, providing both a sense of history and inspiration for the future. The program include long-time Standing Committee members: Carol Alpert, New York University Law Library; Albert O. Brecht, University of Southern California, Barnett Information Technology Center and Call Law Library; Camille Broussard, New York Law School Library; Laura N. Gasaway, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law Library; George R. Jackson, University of Minnesota Law Library; Marilyn K. Nicely, University of Oklahoma Law Library; Scott Pagel, George Washington University, Jacob Burns Law Library; and Ann Puckett, University of Georgia Law Library.

Submitted by,
Leslie Campbell, Chair
Social Responsibilities SIS

The SR sponsored 5 proposals for programs to be considered for the 2006 Annual Meeting in St. Louis. Many thanks to those who worked so hard to put these terrific proposals together. The proposed programs included:

• DADT, Solomon, FAIR v. Rumsfeld, and the Librarian's Role in Amelioration;
• Umbrella of Secrecy: When the USA Patriot Act and FOIA Collide, (co sponsored by the Government Documents SIS and SR);
• One Hundred Years: A Look at the Federal Indian Trust Relation Through the Cobell Case (sponsored by the Native People's Caucus together with the SR as co-sponsor);
• Pioneering Family Law in the 21st Century;
• Advocating for Change - AALL's History of Social, Legislative, Political and Policy Advocacy.

Two of the SR sponsored proposals for programs were accepted for the 2006 Annual Meeting in St. Louis. They are:

• DADT, Solomon, FAIR v. Rumsfeld, and the Librarian's Role in Amelioration - This panel discussion will include a socio-legal scholar who will discuss “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” and the Solomon legislation, (which threatens to withdraw federal funds from schools that do not allow military recruiters the same access to OCI that they grant non-discriminatory employers); the Executive Director of AALS who will discuss amelioration; and a constitutional law scholar who will discuss the litigation in reaction to Solomon culminating in FAIR v. Rumsfeld and the high court's decision in that case. For more information on this program, see the program proposal description: (http://proposals.aallnet.org/share.asp?share=319311)
  note: proposals are no longer available on AALL's site; this program has been scheduled as:
  I-1, Wednesday, July 12, from 9:00a.m. – 10:30a.m. updated 4/10/06 by sd

• One Hundred Years: A Look at the Federal Indian Trust Relation Through the Cobell Case (sponsored by the Native People's Caucus together with the SR as co-sponsor) - This program will present an overview of the history of the trust relationship between Native peoples of America and the U.S. Government and feature several speakers who are involved in the Cobell case and several experts in the issues surrounding the trust relationships. For more information on this program, see the program proposal description: (http://proposals.aallnet.org/share.asp?share=106827)
  note: proposals are no longer available on AALL's site; this program has been scheduled as:
  G-5, Tuesday, July 11, from 10:15a.m. – 11:30a.m. updated 4/10/06 by sd

We can all look forward to a great meeting in 2006! Please be sure to attend these two SR-SIS programs in St. Louis.

Many thanks to those who worked so hard to put all of our terrific proposals together. If your program was not accepted this year, please consider resubmitting your proposal next year.

Submitted by,
Leslie Campbell, Chair
Social Responsibilities SIS

The 2005 Fiesta of Books was a huge success. MANY THANKS TO Barbara Lah and Ron Wheeler, both at the University of New Mexico School of Law, who agreed to lead the 2005 book drive for the SR-SIS. Thanks to their creativity, innovation and hard work, the aptly named “Fiesta of Books” was very successful. Their report follows:

SR-SIS Annual Book Drive 2005 – Fiesta of Books -- The Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section held its Annual Book Drive to benefit the San Antonio Independent School District 's most needy school libraries. Those schools are Carvajal Elementary, Herff Elementary, Margil Elementary, Pershing Elementary, and W. W. White Elementary. These schools have a high number of at risk children, and most of their populations are identified as both ethnic minorities and as economically disadvantaged. Ron and Barbara worked with W.W. White Elementary school librarian, Jane Whitaker, to coordinate the effort. A special Wish List that was posted with Amazon.com facilitated the giving process.

Fiesta of Books was a whopping success! AALL members and others donated $2283.52 and 451 books to the project. The Private Law Librarian's Special Interest Section held a raffle at their annual luncheon to benefit the Fiesta of Books. Both Lexis, who donated 190 books at the Conference, and the Arizona Law Librarians also generously supported the project.

The donations supplemented the meager $1 per student per year allotment provided for the school librarians to make book purchases. The money and books have been divided among the five schools. Jane Whitaker stated that the librarians were excited and grateful for receiving so many books for their collections. Finally, Ron and Barbara implemented a new feature this year - handwritten thank you notes to acknowledge our many thoughtful donors.

The Fiesta of Books Team would like to again thank all who generously supported this project.

Submitted by,
Barbara Lah
2005 Book Drive

Without a doubt, the 2005 book drive was the most successful ever! But another book drive is being planned for St. Louis. Kathleen Case, who is the Government Documents Librarian at St. Louis University, and several of the US Courts librarians (Kris Albertus, Jim and Joan Voelker) offered to help with the 2006 Book Drive in St. Louis. If you would also be interested in helping, please contact Leslie Campbell.

At Session I of the AALL 2005 Business Meeting in San Antonio, on July 18 th, a resolution was proposed by the Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section opposing the war in Iraq. The text of the resolution is included below.

This resolution was modeled after a resolution of the same name passed by the American Library Association Council on June 29, 2005. The text of the ALA resolution can be found at: http://www.ala.org/ala/iro/awardsactivities/resolutionlibrariesiraq.htm)

This resolution was brought to the attention of the SR by Samuel Trosow, who attended the SR Business meeting to ask the SR to introduce and sponsor a resolution opposing the war in Iraq. The text of the ALA resolution can be found at: http://www.ala.org/ala/iro/awardsactivities/resolutionlibrariesiraq.htm)

There was much discussion among the SR membership present at the business meeting. The vote was 18 to 5, with one abstention, to sponsor the resolution and present it to the full AALL membership for a vote. Then there was a motion to have the SR-SIS Chair appoint a committee to draft the final language of the resolution to be proposed on behalf of the SR. That motion carried. The committee members included Barbara Lah, Leslie Campbell, Prano Amjadi, and Heather Phillips. The committee worked (through the opening reception!) to craft compromise language that addressed several concerns expressed by the SR membership at the business meeting about some of the wording of the ALA proposal.

Barbara Lah read the proposal into the record at the first session of the AALL 2005 Business Meeting on July 18 th (Note: there is a picture of Barbara Lah reading the Resolution in the Sept./Oct 2005 issue of Spectrum (page 11)!) President Victoria Trotta requested a vote to confirm going forward with debate. A super-majority supported discussion and at the 2nd business meeting the resolution was fully debated.

At the second session of the business meeting on Tuesday, July 19, Leslie Campbell spoke on behalf of the SR in support of the motion. There was a great deal of discussion of the resolution, with members of AALL speaking both in support and in opposition. Although many members expressed their personal opposition to the war, questions were raised as to whether a such a resolution was sufficiently germane to the central core mission of AALL. Several members also expressed concern about the potential for such a resolution to have negative consequences on library initiatives advocated by AALL before Congress.

A standing vote was held with 85 voting for the resolution and 169 opposed. After the vote several members expressed interest in re-working the resolution for re-introduction in 2006. If you are interested in working on another proposal, contact Leslie Campbell. The text of the resolution follows.

• Whereas, many of the justifications for the invasion of Iraq have proven to be unfounded; and
• Whereas, the war in Iraq has taken the lives of untold thousands of people; and
• Whereas, during the war in Iraq, many of Iraq's cultural treasures including libraries, archives, manuscripts and artifacts have been destroyed, lost or stolen; and
• Whereas, the numbers of deaths and destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage will continue to increase so long as U.S. forces remain in Iraq; and
• Whereas, the U.S. is spending billions of dollars for the war in Iraq; and
• Whereas, a small fraction of these resources would be more than sufficient for rebuilding and greatly enhancing the libraries and educational institutions of both Iraq and the U.S.; and
• Whereas, the American Library Association has recently passed a similar resolution; and
• Whereas, the American Association of Law Libraries has taken positions in the past on important social issues; therefore, be it

Resolved that the American Association of Law Libraries calls for the withdrawal from Iraq of U.S. military forces, and allow the people of Iraq to fully govern themselves.

Resolved that the American Association of Law Libraries urges the U.S. government to subsequently shift its budgetary priorities from the war in Iraq to improve support for vital domestic programs, including U.S. libraries.

Resolved that the American Association of Law Libraries calls upon the U.S. government to provide material assistance through the United Nations for the reconstruction of Iraq, including its museums, libraries, schools and other cultural resources.

Resolved that this resolution be sent to all members of Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State and the President of the United States.

[Proposed by the Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section, AALL 2005 Business Meeting, San Antonio, TX, July 18, 2005. Resolution failed by a vote of 85 for passage and 169 against passage on July 19, 2005]

Submitted by,
Leslie Campbell, Chair
Social Responsibilities SIS

Just a reminder that last year year's ballot included proposed changes to three bylaws amendments, one of which allowed the SR-SIS to conduct electronic elections for officers instead of requiring a paper ballot. So elections this year will be done by electronic ballot rather than paper. We will be providing more information as it develops.

Submitted by
Ann Hemmens, Chair
SR-SIS Nominations Committee

Bibliography on Sexual Orientation and the Law

Throughout the last year, James Donovan, James Durham, and Stephanie Wilson have been coordinating an effort to revise the Standing Committee's 1994 Selective Bibliography on Homosexuality and the Law. This update will cover articles written between August of 1993 and December of 2004, and also updates the subject breakdown to accommodate the direction that the contemporary literature has taken. This new bibliography will also feature an enhancement in the form of brief annotations for each of the included citations, in addition to an introductory essay surveying the development of literature in the field over the last 10 years.

This is an exciting effort, and one that you can still be a part of! We still need volunteers to write annotations in eight subject areas. There are subjects with as few as four entries, and some with as many as 32, so a wide variety of commitment levels are available. Note also that all annotators will receive appropriate credit on the publication of the article. If you are interested in contributing annotations, please contact James Donovan at jdonovan@uga.edu.

Reception in St. Louis

Stephanie Davidson is currently looking for a great location for next year's SC reception. If anyone familiar with St. Louis has suggestions for locations for the reception in St. Louis, please get in contact with her. (Or if you would just like to help her do some research and come up with a great venue.) She and local SC members are working on it but have not yet found “the” space yet.

Submitted by
Stephanie Davidson, Chair
Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues

We joined two other AALL Special Interest Sections (Legal Information Services to the Public and Research Instruction & Patron Services) for the second annual “Joint Roundtable: Services to Pro Se Patrons & Prisoners” at the 2005 Annual Meeting in San Antonio. We had nearly 100 people in attendance. Camilla Tubbs of Yale Law Library discussed status of electronic legal research in state prisons. This was followed by a demonstration of the TouchSonic Technologies by Mark Cacho of LexisNexis for the correctional library environment, allowing online access to legal materials. The final section was a discussion of the challenges and strategies for dealing with pro se patrons (also known as “pro pers” or “self-represented litigants”). The documents distributed at the session are posted on the SR-SIS webpage (http://aallnet.org/sis/srsis/lsirhome.html). A special thanks to Pamela Melton, Amy Hale-Janeke and Marie Erickson for help coordinating this popular event and to Camilla Tubbs and Mark Cacho for their informative presentations. Look for the third annual session in St. Louis 2006!

At the Standing Committee Business Meeting at the 2005 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, we agreed to update the Standing Committee's publication, Recommended Collections for Prison and Other Institution Law Libraries & Guidelines for Prison Law Libraries (1996 ed.). We divided the project among five members, hoping to work on it this year. We also agreed to post to the SR-SIS webpage a list of organizations which coordinate donating books to prisons (http://aallnet.org/sis/srsis/prison-books.doc). And we will continue to try to recruit more law libraries to participate in our database of Law Libraries Serving Prisoners (http://aallnet.org/sis/srsis/llsp/). If you have any interest in working with this Standing Committee, please contact Ann Hemmens (hemmens@u.washington.edu).

Submitted by
Ann Hemmens
Standing Committee on Library Service to Institution Residents

Three AALL Special Interest Sections (Legal Information Services to the Public, Research Instruction & Patron Services, and Social Responsibilities) sponsored the second annual Joint Roundtable at the 2005 Annual Meeting in San Antonio. The documents distributed at the session are posted on the SR-SIS Standing Committee on Library Service to Institution Residents webpage: http://aallnet.org/sis/srsis/lsirhome.html.

For a summary of the session see the entry on the AALLamo Blog by Amy Hale-Janeke, "Great Roundtable Discussion on Access to Legal Information by Prisoners/ Pro Ses" (http://weblog.law.ttu.edu/AALLamo/). Look for another session in St. Louis.

Submitted by
Ann Hemmens