Law Librarian Conversations Richard Leiter

Special guests will include, Scott Pagel, Teresa Miguel-Stearns, Frank Houdek, and Darin Fox, current and past members of the ABA Data Policy and Collection Committee and noted experts in law library data and statistics. Regular line up of co-hosts and pundits includes: Ken Hirsh, Elizabeth Farrell Clifford, Roger Skalbeck, Mandy Lee, and Greg Lambert. 

By some objective measures, academic law libraries are “disappearing” before our very eyes. The ABA Annual Questionnaire may have no law library questions next year and Self Study/SEQs now only contain about ten questions regarding the library! (In the past year I served on two site teams and the report template that I completed last month was smaller than the one I did last year!) Does it mean we’re less important? Nope. Not by a long shot. Other indicators show strong evidence that law libraries in law schools are more important and popular than ever before.

Topics that will be considered are how the center of gravity is shifting away from objective measures of what is a law library, to subjective ones that emphasize services that we provide to our institutions. Anecdotally, it seems that law libraries are as popular as ever and are providing many expanded services, such as managing digital publication in law schools, PERMA, developing digitization of primary materials, expanded teaching throughout curricula via specialized research classes, etc., etc. But on paper, in the ABA Questionnaire, SEQ, etc., it seems we’re disappearing.

 

Hosted by Richard Leiter, host of Law Librarian Conversations, this episode will focus on a general discussion of issues of concern to the  Diversity Committee of the American Association of Law Libraries. 

The PLLIP Board invites everyone to a town hall to discuss status of PLLIP. 

Our panelists will discuss issues about how citizens access primary state legal material. Our democracy presupposes an informed and educated citizenry, but modern technology has thrown some unexpected monkey wrenches into system and we're all - librarians, citizens, courts and states themselves are working out methods for providing free, unfettered access.

Ever increasing number of states that now call for tech competency in their rules of professional conduct. What should law librarians be doing in this sphere. What is our role in teaching technologies that are out of the sphere of legal research? Our panel of experts includes Darin Fox, University of Oklahoma School of Law, Michael Robak, Univesity of Missouri Kansas City, Ken Hirsh, University of Cincinnati, Greg Lambert, Jackson Walker, LLP. The conversation will be assisted by co-hosts Roger Skalbeck, University of Richmond, and Elizabeth Farrell Clifford, Florida State University. I will be joined in studio by Mandy Lee, University of Nebraska, who will be monitoring the chatroom. 

LawLibCon welcomes a new regular co-host, Elizabeth Farrell Clifford. She joins Roger Skalbeck and Richard Leiter in this months "reunion" episode. Mandy Lee joins Richard in studio in the chat room. Special guests this month are Greg Lambert and Jean O'Grady. The discussion ranges over regular news in the field and ends with a discussion of librarians' roles as gate keepers or innovators.