24874552 Holiday Letter From the Law Library of Congress

8/6/2019 24874552 Holiday Letter From the Law Library of Congress

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January 5, 2010

Dear Law Library o Congress Colleagues and Friends:

I wan ed o end his year o change, and new beginnings, by sending you my bes or he holiday season and o provide you wi h impor-

an Law Library o Congress upda es as we head in o 2010.I began my enure as he 22nd Law Librarian o Congress

on Augus 30 h, 2009. During much o 2009, wo Ac ing Law Librarians Charles Doyle and Donna W. Scheeder led he Law Library. Wi hou heirable leadership and s ead as dedica ion o he mission o he Law Library,i would no have been as easy o assume he helm when I was appoin edLaw Librarian. I hank hem bo h or heir exemplary service.

We hos ed a number o special even s and programs duringhe year. Four ha I wan o highligh are: he inaugura ion o he Kellogg

Lec ure; a program in honor o Na ional Womens His ory Mon h; our an-nual Law Day celebra ion; and a commemora ion o he 60 h anniversary o he Geneva Conven ions.

e Law Library hosted the inaugural Frederic R. and Molly S.Kellogg Biennial Lecture on Jurisprudence. is biennial lecture

series will presen he mos dis inguished con ribu ors oin erna ional jurisprudence, judged hrough wri ings, repu a ion,and broad and con inuing in uence on con emporary legal scholar-ship. is years speaker was Ronald Dworkin, Professor of Ju-

risprudence a Universi y College London and he New York Uni-

versi y School o Law. His lec ure, Is here Tru h in In erpre a ion?Law Li era ure and His ory, ocused on he philosophical aspec so he law. e Law Library honored National Womens History Month by


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hos ing ormer Congresswoman Cons ance Connie Morella as shediscussed her legisla ive experience during her presen a ion o Leg-isla ing in Heels An Anecdo al Journal. e Law Librarys annual Law Day program Abraham Lincoln andthe Emancipation Proclamation, was well-received by a diverse audi-ence of historians, professors, lawyers, and the general public. Partici-pants included two Members of Congress, Representative G.K. But-ter eld and Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. e Law Library of Congress, the American Red Cross and the

Friends o he Law Library o Congress presen ed a hough -provok-ing panel discussion on he his ory o he Geneva Conven ions inorder o mark he 60 h anniversary o hese landmark documen s.Members of the panel included Representative omas J. Rooney,Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan and Senior Associate, Deputy General Counsel W. Hays Parks. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Susan

Rice, delivered a recorded message on the Geneva Conventions. e Collection Services Division continued to make prog-ress on two major projects during 2009. e rst involved the classi cationof law titles organized under the LAW shelving system. e classi cationo hese i les allows hem o be in egra ed by coun ry and subjec wi hin hecollection of the Law Library. is project rst began in 2004. e secondinvolved he preserva ion o he o cial gazetes which are produced by moscoun ries o he world. Laws and regula ions are rs published by individualcoun ries in o cial gazetes, and are he primary source o law hroughou he world. e Law Library preserves this primary source material by micro lm-ing each page of each published gaze e. e Law Library prepared and sent

2,140,994 pages of gaze es to be micro lmed in Fiscal Year 2009. During he later par o 2009, he Law Library joined heLibrary o Congress in he social media universe by adding i s own Twiterpro le and Facebook Fan Page. You can access the Law Librarys Twi er pro-


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to the present. is content will be added to THOMAS in 2010. Additionallegacy con en , including congressional hearings, rea ies, and oor deba es is being prepared or THOMAS in he nex ew years.

e Law Library is pursuing the registration of the LAW.GOV domain where researchers hroughou he world will be able o ndau hori a ive local, s a e, na ional, oreign and in erna ional legal and legisla-tive information. e Law Library envisions hosting the site and collaborat-ing wi h ederal agencies, s a e, local, and oreign na ional governmen s, andinternational organizations to maintain a one-stop URL.

e Law Library plans to reinstate its lapsed tradition of host-ing a workshop immedia ely be ore he annual American Socie y In erna ionalLaw (ASIL) conference held in the spring in Washington. During 2010, theLaw Library will join ly sponsor he workshop wi h ASIL, he Law LibrariansSocie y o Washing on, DC, and he Federal Law Librarians Caucus o he American Associa ion o Law Libraries.

Wi h he Law Library celebra ing he Global Legal In or-mation Networks (GLIN) 16th Annual Directors meeting last year, andacknowledging ha GLIN exis ed in analog orm or years be ore he rs on-line version, i is impor an o under ake a comprehensive review o GLIN inorder to e ectively plan strategic priorities for its future. e Law Library haengaged he services o an ou side consul an o conduc he rs ull assess-ment of GLIN. e assessment will begin in early January and is expected to be comple ed by he end o June.

We have formed a commi ee to develop a Strategic Plan that will help shape the future of the Law Library of Congress. is is a coordina-ed and collabora ive efor among Law Library execu ives, senior managers,

and key subjec mater exper s, and includes a good represen a ion o in eres sand diversi y o perspec ives. Broad areas o inquiry will address, among o h-ers, general rends in law and legal publishing, work orce compe encies, and

ools and echnology employed o accomplish high-quali y work produc s and


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deliver responsive services o Law Library o Congress cons i uencies.

is year, a er many years as an active member and chairo he American Bar Associa ions S anding Commitee on he Law Library of Congress, Tedson Meyers, passed the leadership gavel to Elizabeth (Liz)Medaglia. I ake his oppor uni y o hank Tedson or his unwavering dedica-

ion o he Law Library. I have already had he chance o mee wi h memberso he commitee, he ABA s af, and wi h Liz. I is erri c o have he s reng ho his highly-respec ed pro essional organiza ion behind us.

As we all re ec on he world even s ha ranspired in 2009,it is important to note that the Law Library sta has o en been involved inproviding cri ical legal research o in orm decision makers and inspire publicdebate on the legal aspects of several of these events. is year, our foreignlegal specialis s provided in-dep h legal research and analysis on compara-

ive heal h care en i lemen s, regula ion o nancial marke s and axa ions,and an authoritative review of Executive powers in Central America. eLaw Librarys unique combina ion o comprehensive legal ma erials and s af exper ise enabled us o shed ligh on world even s hrough he lens o he law.

A he very end o 2009, we experienced wo unpreceden ed

events in Washington. e rst event was a record snowfall that covered met-ropoli an Washing on in almos wo ee o snow righ be ore he Chris masholidays. Although many Federal o ces were closed the Law Library ReadingRoom had to remain open as the Senate continued its debate of the nationalhealth care reform legislation. e Law Librarys reference librarians sta edthe Law Library Reading Room during all of the Senates debates consistent wi h he s a u ory manda e ha requires [T]he law library shall be kep openevery day so long as ei her House o Congress is in session. (Codi ed in heUS Code at 2 U.S.C. 138). e second unprecedented event involved the LawLibrarys re erence librarians repor ing o work a 6:30 AM on Chris mas Evefor an early morning vote by the Senate - the rst time since 1895 that theSena e has been in session on Chris mas Eve. I wan o ake his oppor uni y


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o acknowledge he heroic efor s o he law library s af ha ul lled ourCongressional manda e during his his oric ime!

e Law Library will be hosting a number of events in 2010and we hope your schedule will allow you o atend as many as possible.One in par icular ha you should plan or is he 2010 Wickersham AwardDinner, which will be held on March 23, 2010 a he Willard Ho el in Wash-ington, D.C. e Friends of the Law Library of Congress will be honoringHarold Hongju Koh, he Legal Adviser a he Uni ed S a es Depar men o S a e. Save he da e!

is past year has been lled with great change and excep-ional oppor uni y or me personally. I am honored o be par o he Library

o Congress, and know ha we s and on he shoulders o gian s as we acehe many impor an decisions ahead o us. I look orward o working wi h

each and every one o you as we serve Congress, he American people andhe worlds legal communi y.

May 2010 be lled wi h peace and prosperi y!

Sincerely,

Roberta I. Sha erLaw Librarian o Congress

Images on this letterhead, taken from: Le grand coustumier de Normandie

, a manuscript on parchment that contains seven illuminated minatures that appear to have been produced ca.

1450 to 1470. One of the treasures of the Law Library of Congress. (Law Library Rare Book

Collection: LCCN 2004572900)

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24874552 Holiday Letter From the Law Library of Congress