AALLNET Advisory Committee 2006-07 Members of the 2006-07 AALLNET Advisory Committee were Chair James E. Duggan, Janice Snyder Anderson, Roy Balleste, Daniel R. Campbell, Stephanie E. Fox, Barrett D. Graham, Elizabeth A. Greenfield, and Kumar Percy Jayasuriya. Kathie Sullivan served as Board Liaison, and Raquel Ortiz and Richard Leiter were ex-officio members. The committee accomplished a number of projects and activities during the past year, including: setting up subcommittees to work with Raquel Ortiz, AALLNET Coordinator, to work on two projects: a) a streaming video project: “to develop guidelines, procedures, and policies for entities wishing to provide streaming media via AALL” and b) a publications transition project: “to implement the move of news content from AALL Spectrum and annual reports from Law Library Journal to AALLNET”; and working with AALL Web Administrator Chris Siwa and AALL Interim Executive Director Steve Ligda to develop a report on pursuing an RFP for a content management system for AALLNET. The report was submitted to the AALL Executive Board Finance and Budget Committee. In addition, the committee worked with AALL Web Administrator Chris Siwa and AALL Director of Publications Julia O'Donnell to make the AALLNET member handbook available on AALLNET; monitored transfer of Washington Affairs Office web pages to AALLNET; coordinated status announcements on AALLNET to the membership via the Law-Lib listserv in February 2007, and developed notification procedures should AALLNET go offline in the future. Committee members Kumar Percy Jayasuriya and Daniel Campbell developed and coordinated the 2007 AALL Webmaster’s Workshop, which was held at Tulane Law School in New Orleans; AALL Web Administrator Chris Siwa staffed the AALLNET table in the Activities Area of the Exhibit Hall at the AALL Annual Meeting in New Orleans in lieu of the traditional discussion forum owners’ roundtable; Roy Balleste set up a display for the Activities Area at the meeting; Stephanie Fox represented the committee at the CONELL Marketplace at the meeting; and Chair James Duggan and AALLNET Coordinator Raquel Ortiz attended the LLJ/AALL Spectrum fall meeting in Chicago, participating in the interviews for the new AALL Spectrum Editor. Suggested projects for next year include continuing work begun on formulating an RFP for a content management system for AALLNET; working with the AALLNET Coordinator to formulate policies on transferring content to AALLNET and archiving content, as well as other issues involving content migration and sustainability on AALLNET; and working with AALL HQ staff to develop and maintain necessary policies that ensure AALLNET stability and backup procedures/operations are in place. James Duggan, Chair 2006-07

Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee 2006-07

The Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee (AELIC) 2006-07 successfully completed several projects this year, updated its action plan for the 2007-08 year, and initiated other projects that the 2007-08 committee will continue. The State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (http://www.aallnet.org/committee/aelic/index.html) was completed and published with AELIC 2005-06 Chair Richard Matthews as Editor-in-Chief and Associate Washington Affairs Representative Mary Alice Baish as Executive Editor. The Report outlined the important investigation of six sources of law in every state: state administrative codes and registers, state statutes and session laws, and state high and intermediate appellate court opinions. Congratulations and thanks to all AELIC and GRC members, state law librarians and other state authors for their diligent and superb work on the Report. AELIC members participated in “Authentic Legal Information in the Digital Age: A National Summit” in Schaumburg, IL on April 20-21, 2007. Fifty delegates, including AALL members and leaders from the judiciary and the legal community, from state governments and from interested organizations and associations, participated in the summit and discussed issues relating to the crucial question addressed in the State-by-State report – “How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web?” See http://www.aallnet.org/summit/default.asp for more information about the summit, including materials presented at the summit. One AELIC program at the 2007 Annual Meeting, “AELIC’s Survey on Authentication of Government Information: A Year Later and Still Challenging,” addressed the authentication issue and the summit further. Three summit delegates, AALL President Sally Holterhoff, AALL Associate Washington Affairs Representative Mary Alice Baish, and D.C. Superior Court Judge Herbert Dixon Jr. were speakers at the program. In addition to this program, AELIC presented a second program at the 2007 Annual Meeting: “At the Top of the Rise: Government Web Sites That Have Met the Challenge”. AELIC members Karen Wallace, Joan Shear, Terrye Conroy, Warren Rees, and Jan e Edwards discussed the “best” government Web sites that adhere to the AELIC established principles and core values for government Web sites. A subcommittee of members Joan Shear and Jane Edwards led the committee to prepare a new document, Principles and Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Web Sites, which outlines important criteria for Web sites. The principles and core values cover issues relating to accessibility, reliability, official status, comprehensiveness, and preservation. The AALL Executive Board approved AELIC’s document in March 2007 and the document was subsequently published in pamphlet format. Copies of the Principles and Core Values pamphlet were placed in the Annual Meeting bags for all 2007 attendees and were distributed at the AELIC table in the activities area of the exhibit hall.

An AELIC subcommittee, chaired by Karen Wallace, drafted Guidelines for Evaluating a Legal Web Site. AELIC shared the guidelines with AALL members at the 2007 Annual Meeting and solicited member input about the guidelines through several avenues,

including a survey, a presentation to the Legal Information Services to the Public SIS, a newspaper article, and at the “At the Top of the Rise” program. Anyone who wishes to share additional comments about the guidelines can visit the AELIC Web site and click on the survey URL there. AELIC 2007-08 will continue to work on the guidelines. AELIC submitted its 2006-07 activities and action plan for 2007-08 to the AALL Executive Board in February 2007. The action plan for 2007-08 outlines eight activities that the 2007-08 AELIC expects to accomplish during the coming year. Committee members for the 2006-07 Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee were Pauline Afuso, Terrye Conroy, Jane Edwards, Emily M. Janoski-Haehlen, Anita Postyn, Warren Rees, Joan Shear and Karen Wallace. Steven P. Anderson served as the Executive Board liaison to the AELIC. Timothy L. Coggins, Chair 2006-07

Annual Meeting Program Committee 2006-07

The 2007 Annual Meeting Program Committee (AMPC) met in February 2006 with Vice President/President-Elect Sarah Holterhoff and selected the theme “Rise to the Challenge” for the 2007 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, reflecting both the challenges of the city in which we were to meet and those faced by the profession.

Making the program proposal and selection process clear and understandable to the membership was a continuing goal. Outreach initiatives pioneered by the 2006 committee were continued, including the AMPC Web site on AALLNET, the inclusion of an informational flier in the St. Louis meeting bags, and a staffed AMPC table in the Activities Area of the Exhibit Hall. AMPC hosted a well-attended open forum during the 2006 Annual Meeting for members to meet the committee and ask questions and appeared at SIS training to exchange information.

AMPC selected four workshops and sixty-six programs at its September 2006 meeting. The keynote speaker selected was Joan Biskupic, Supreme Court correspondent for USA Today and a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review.

AMPC solicited proposals for the Hot Topic program from the membership and in May selected “Legal Publishing in the 21st Century.”

Hardworking members of the 2007 AMPC were Leanne Battle, Marcus Hochstetler, Elizabeth LeDoux, Allen Moye, Amy Osborne, Leonette Williams, and AALL President Sarah Holterhoff, ex officio. We are grateful that President Holterhoff devoted her time and energy to participate fully in each of our meetings. This close working relationship should be standard operating procedure in the future whenever possible.

Lastly, we are particularly grateful for the consummate professionalism of AALL staff members Heidi Letzmann, Program Manager, and Pam Reisinger, Director of Meetings, without whom there would be no Annual Meeting. Donna K. Bausch, Chair 2006-07

Awards Committee 2006-07 The 2006-07 Awards Committee finished its work at a joint meeting with the 2007-08 committee on July 17, 2007, at the AALL Annual Meeting. The committee’s duties are to solicit award nominations, evaluate submissions, make award selections (or in the case of the Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award, make recommendations to the AALL Executive Board), notify the winners, and keep policies and procedures updated. The committee also coordinates the presentation of awards with AALL Headquarters, including location of presentations and proofreading plaque and award brochure copy. The committee sends a representative to the CONELL Marketplace. This year’s Awards Committee members were Carol Bredemeyer (Chair), Mark Bernstein, Gregory Garneau, Judith Gaskell, Lori Hedstrom, Ruth Hill, Sandra Klein, Kristin Nelson, Mary Ann Nelson, Cheryl Rae Nyberg, Catherine Wagar, and Leonette Williams. Darcy Kirk was the Executive Board liaison. Subcommittees for each award are formed and the subcommittee chairs arrange for any materials to be sent to the members. The subcommittees notify the Awards Chair of the recipients. The Awards Chair writes congratulatory letters to the recipients. Articles about the Andrews and Gallagher Awards were written for the June issue of AALL Spectrum. A display case showcasing the award recipients was in the Exhibit Hall at the Annual Meeting. With a shortened Annual Meeting, there was no awards ceremony in New Orleans. The Andrews and Gallagher Awards were presented at the Closing Banquet. Other awards were presented at appropriate venues during the meeting. The following awards were made: • Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Awards: Carol D. Billings, Law

Library of Louisiana; Roger F. Jacobs, Retired, Kresge Law Library, University of Notre Dame; Cossette Sun, Oakland-Alameda County Law Library.

• Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award: Prestatehood Legal Materials, Michael

W. Chiorazzi and Marguerite I. Most, eds. (William S. Hein & Co.). • AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Award: Barbara A. Bintliff and Georgia Briscoe,

“The Ethics of Electronic Record Sharing,” AALL Spectrum, June 2006, at 15. • Chapter Professional Development Award: “Spotlight on Your Career,” Colorado

Association of Law Libraries. • Law Library Journal Article of the Year Award: Susan Nevelow Mart, "Let the

People Know," 98 Law Library Journal 7 (2006).

• Law Library Publication Awards: The Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room, Boston College Law Library (Print Category); Current Literature Awareness Services, University of Texas Law Library (Nonprint Category).

• AALL Public Access to Government Information Awards: Cathy Hartman,

University of North Texas Government Documents Web site; John Joergensen, Rutgers-Camden Law School Library Digital Project.

• AALL/Thomson West Excellence in Marketing Awards: “The ABCs of Public

Education Forums,” Riverside County Law Library (Best Campaign); University of Georgia School of Law Library, “Orientation Break With Library Goodie Bag” (Best PR Toolkit); “NELLCO Brochure,” (Best Brochure); “Law Library Lights,” Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. (Best Newsletter); “A Law Library Primer – Law School 1L Orientation Fall 2006,” Chase College of Law Library, Northern Kentucky University (Best Use of Technology).

The committee thanks AALL staff members Steve Ligda, Kim Rundle, Pam Reisinger, and Chris Siwa, as well as President Sally Holterhoff, for their help in assuring that the awards process runs smoothly. Carol Bredemeyer, Chair 2006-07

Continuing Professional Education Special Committee 2006-2007 The work of the Continuing Professional Education Special Committee (CPE) began in earnest when it first met at the 2006 AALL Annual Meeting in St. Louis. CPE’s role is to develop and facilitate continuing education programs and learning opportunities in a variety of formats, all of which are to occur in between AALL’s annual meetings. In St. Louis, AALL’s recently appointed education manager, Celeste Smith, inspired the committee by delivering a report on continuing education trends in other library and law-related professional associations. The major activity of CPE was to establish the AALL/BNA grants program. It devised a simple application process and awarded and monitored the grants for 2006-07. The grants program is flexible and takes a member-driven approach to providing programs. Celeste Smith is available to advise program proposers who have questions about the logistics of hosting their programs. The four rounds of grant proposal submissions resulted in the funding of sixteen continuing education programs during 2006-07. See http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/docs/cpe-recipients-2006-07.pdf for the range of continuing education programs that were awarded our grants. In St. Louis, CPE arranged to videotape Amy Hale-Janeke’s program, “What Do YOU Want? The Hidden Problem of Compassion Fatigue,” featuring Dr. Charles R. Figley. This program was one of a variety of videos and podcasts that became available on the CPE Web site at http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/media.asp. This important part of our Web site was launched in April 2007. During our pilot year, CPE experimented with providing learning opportunities in different formats. The Compassion Fatigue topic included a video accompanied by a self-test, handouts, and a listserv discussion moderated by Amy Hale-Janeke. We were delighted to receive positive feedback from AALL members who took advantage of this program. In the coming year more programs of this type will be available via the CPE Web site as an exclusive benefit to AALL members. Other major activities of the new committee included: conducting an online survey of AALL members to find out their desired continuing education topics and members’ preferred registration fees for programs, writing a members briefing that appeared in the April 2007 edition of AALL Spectrum, revising the AALL professional education policy to make it consistent with AALL’s Strategic Directions, and hosting a Telspan distance-learning program in conjunction with a live audience of CALL members in Chicago on the subject of negotiating licenses for electronic content. CPE also compared Telspan with Webex to decide which system works best for a planned series of distance learning programs of interest to AALL members who prefer desktop learning opportunities. At the initiative of Michael Chiorazzi, AALL held a Management and Leadership Institute at University of Arizona. Celeste Smith and CPE contributed by advertising the program, helping to select participants, and designing an evaluation form for the participants. Celeste Smith also provided support for a successful

PLL-SIS program largely funded by BNA, “Law Firm Library Management Workshop: Solutions and Scenarios,” held on October 18th in Washington D.C. Members of CPE for 2006-07 were Karen Brunner, Timothy Coggins, Amy Hale-Janeke, Pam Rino, Rosalie Sanders, Susan Siebers, Gretchen Van Dam, and Stephen Weiter. Each participated with enthusiasm and dedication. We were very ably assisted by Celeste Smith, who embraced our mission and worked diligently to make our pilot year such a success. I sincerely thank the committee members for their excellent work, and I am pleased to report that the CPE Special Committee will be an AALL standing committee for 2007-08. Carole L. Hinchcliff, Chair 2006-07

Copyright Committee 2006-07 The 2006-07 Copyright Committee completed several projects this year and made progress on a few others. The committee drafted detailed responses to questions posed by the Section 108 Study Group. Section 108 is the section of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 108) that governs interlibrary loan, preservation, and other library functions. The committee’s positions were presented by Keith Ann Stiverson, on behalf of the Copyright Committee, at a Study Group meeting on March 16, 2007, in Chicago. These comments then formed the basis of our written submission, see: http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/lt03162007b.html The Copyright Committee’s participation in the Section 108 study process was important because its members have the legal knowledge to be able to comment on the issue, as well as the library experience to understand how interlibrary loan works in the real world. The comments responded to different parts of section 108 from the comments submitted last year by the 2005-06 Copyright Committee. In May 2006, the Orphan Works Act of 2006 (H.R. 5439) was introduced. Orphan works are works protected by copyright where the creator/owner is impossible to find. Orphan works legislation provides a safety valve in copyright law that prevents such works from being locked up just because there is no way to get permission for a non-fair use of the work. The committee followed the bill as it appeared on the fast track and was passed out of committee, but languished on the floor when it was rolled into the Copyright Modernization Act (H.R. 6052) right before the midterm elections. Earlier that session, Representative Lofgren introduced the competing Public Domain Enhancement Act (H.R. 2408), which proposed to deal with orphan works by creating a national registry system. An orphan-works bill has not yet been introduced in the 110th Congress. In 2005, Congressman Rick Boucher introduced the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act of 2005 (H.R. 1201). The bill would defang the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and revitalize aspects of fair use. It did not pass out of committee and has not been reintroduced. The committee proposed three excellent programs this year’s annual meeting: “Understanding Copyright Challenges in Licensing: What to Look for in Your Subscription Agreement,” “Access to Knowledge (A2K) in Developing Countries: New Ideas and Developments for Information Sharing,” and “Copyright Exemptions for Libraries in the Digital Age: Report of the Section 108 Study Group.” The licensing and Section 108 programs were approved for 2007 and the A2K program will be provided to next year’s committee for possible resubmission. In addition, the committee will be represented at CONELL and during the Exhibit Hall breaks during the 2007 Annual Meeting.

The two major AALL copyright policies, AALL Model Law Firm Copyright Policy and AALL Guidelines on the Fair Use of Copyrighted Works by Law Libraries were reviewed. Future copyright committees might want to expand them to address some of the issues raised in Principles for Licensing Electronic Resources. The committee completed the requested Committee Action Plan and Report on the committee, its structure, and its relationships with other parts of AALL. Late in the year, it reintroduced the idea of each committee member tracking a particular area of the law. It came too late to be very useful this year, but ideally will help the 2007-08 Copyright Committee get up to speed quickly. We had hoped to do more publishing, either in AALL Spectrum or with the new Washington Affairs Office e-publications. Unfortunately, that and the revision of the Web site did not get as far as we had hoped. Overall, thanks to a great set of members, the committee had an excellent year. Jonathan Franklin, Chair 2006-07

Council of Newsletter Editors 2006-07

The Council of Newsletter Editors (CONE) unites more than fifty newsletter editors of AALL-affiliated publications, including chapters, special interest sections, and caucuses. CONE officers for 2006-07 are Nancy Babb and Mark Podvia, co-chairs; Victoria Williamson, Webmaster; and Liz Glankler, listserv coordinator. CONE maintains a Web site and listserv to promote communication and resource sharing among the membership. Current Web resources include directories of editors and newsletter Web sites, CONE distribution policies, newsletter preparation tips, and handouts from past workshops. The listserv is used as a forum for announcements about member publications and CONE and AALL activities as well as general discussion. Topics of perennial interest include archiving of electronic publications, photo release forms, advertising, and new media. In the interests of re-invigorating the format of and broadening attendance at CONE activities during the AALL Annual Meeting, CONE sponsored an educational program for the 2007 Annual Meeting instead of hosting a Saturday workshop, as had been held in the three previous years. “Newsletters, Blogs and E-mail Alerts: Making Your Communication Rise to the Challenge,” was held on Monday, July 16th. A panel of editors from academic and firm libraries described their experiences with various publication formats and shared advice for evaluating these formats within the context of individual needs. The program was designed to appeal to writers, photographers, and other contributors as well as editors and encouraged active audience participation. Other CONE activities in New Orleans included the business meeting and a table in the exhibit hall featuring recent newsletters. Topics discussed at the business meeting included selection of new officers, review of Web site resources, proposals for new resources, and plans for 2008. Nancy Babb and Mark Podvia, Co-Chairs 2006-07

Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee 2006-07 The Economic Status of Law Librarians Committee had a productive year. The committee’s program proposal was accepted for the 2007 Annual Meeting. “Who Really Sets Our Salaries: A Discussion Among Decision-Makers and Librarians” brought together a law firm administrator, a university HR compensation specialist, and a compensation consultant with two law librarians for an open, facilitated discussion. The AALL Executive Board approved a name change for the committee from Economic Status of Law Librarianship to Economic Status of Law Librarians to better reflect the scope of the committee’s charge. The AALL Executive Board approved the committee taking on an advisory role for the AALL Biennial Salary Survey. Julia O’Donnell, AALL Director of Publications, became an ex officio member of the committee as part of this additional charge. Working with the library-type SISs, library jobs included in the salary survey were defined; this information will be included in an appendix to the survey results. Changes were made to some survey questions to help refine the results into a more productive resource. The committee worked on an expanded toolkit for AALL members, and started a redesign of the committee Web page. Library-type SISs and Chapters were asked to create their own committees on the economic status of law librarians to help serve as a two-way conduit of information. Although some groups delayed the creation of this new committee to the following year, the committee views this as a major resource for our members as it will help in the compilation of information at all levels. Merle J. Slyhoff, Chair 2006-07

Government Relations Committee 2006-07 One of the most important activities of the Government Relations Committee (GRC) is recruiting AALL members to help with advocacy efforts. Members of Congress and their staffs respond best when they are approached by an AALL member-constituent or AALL chapter about the issues that are important to us. The year began with two very successful advocacy workshops held at the 2006 annual meeting: 37 attended the morning session for chapter leaders, and 24 attended the afternoon session for newer law librarians. GRC monitored many important legislative and administrative developments and worked with members in various AALL chapters to contact legislators. Each GRC member served as liaison to several chapters and was responsible for keeping those members informed and active in our advocacy efforts. Net neutrality, the Open Government Act, the Fair Use Act, FOIA issues, appropriations for GPO, NARA, and the Law Library of Congress, are only a few of the issues we worked on this year. Our members were extremely helpful; they made the calls, sent the letters, and remembered to thank the government officials who responded well to our priorities. The GRC received eleven nominations for the Public Access to Government Information (PAGI) Award, and after reviewing the nominations, unanimously recommended that Cathy Hartman, Assistant Dean of Libraries at the University of North Texas, and John Joergensen, Reference Librarian at Rutgers-Camden Law School Library, receive the award this year. The Awards Committee concurred. GRC program proposals for the 2007 Annual Meeting that were accepted are: 1) the Advocacy Workshop; 2) the Town Meeting with GPO/NARA; 3) the Annual Leg/Reg Update; 4) Web-harvesting; and 5) Finding information on PACER. The first three programs have become annual events. Under the leadership of AALL President Sally Holterhoff, a follow-up national summit on authentication was held in Schaumburg, IL in late April so that AALL leaders could work with invited state officials to help determine how authentication problems can be tackled in all the states. I served on the planning committee for the national summit and took part in the summit sessions that were held to find solutions. The summit succeeded beyond all expectations, and GRC will be involved in following up on future efforts to ensure that appropriate authentication principles are adopted by the states.

GRC Members for 2006-07 were: Barbara Brandon, A. Hays Butler, Paul Callister, Janet Fischer (Webmaster), Mary Louise Hess, Stephanie Hess, Scott Matheson, Larry Meyer, Maryruth Storer, Camilla Tubbs, Sally Wambold, and Kate Wilko. We felt privileged to have President Sally Holterhoff as our Board liaison. Mary Alice Baish, Associate Washington Affairs Representative, provided us with both stellar leadership and support throughout the year. Bryan Stevens, who assisted Mary Alice, returned to Pennsylvania; Elizabeth LeDoux provided part-time assistance in the Washington Office for several months. We hope that additional Washington Affairs Office support can be found,

because it really helps with our advocacy efforts, which require energy, imagination, and (perhaps above all), speed in responding to important issues that are vital to our members and to the future of law libraries.

Keith Ann Stiverson, Chair 2006-07

Grants Committee 2006-07 Rae Ellen Best, Susana I. Camargo-Pohl, Julie L. Kimbrough, Connie Lenz (Chair), Robert J. Nissenbaum, Frosty Owen, and Carol Suhre served on the 2006-07 Grants Committee. Lyonette Louis-Jacques was our Executive Board liaison. The committee’s primary responsibility is to administer AALL’s Annual Meeting/Workshop grants program and the Minority Leadership Development Award. The 2006-07 committee had a successful year. It had $6000 to fund Annual Meeting/Workshop grants. It received twenty-eight applications to attend the 2007 Annual Meeting or a workshop and awarded twenty-one grants to attend the Annual Meeting. Eight of these grants were awarded to student members and thirteen were awarded to full members. There were six applications for the Minority Leadership Development Award. In consultation with the Diversity Committee, Dennis Kim-Prieto was selected to receive this award. In addition to awarding grants, the committee’s main accomplishments this year include working with AALL’s Webmaster to get the grants applications online, revising the forms used for scoring applications, and updating links to chapter and SIS grant pages on the committee’s Web site. The chair recommends that next year’s committee confer with the Diversity Committee regarding better coordination in awarding the Minority Leadership Development Award. The chair also recommends that the 2007-08 committee continues review of scoring criteria for all grants and continues to develop the committee’s Web site. Julie Kimbrough will chair the Grants Committee in 2007-08. Connie Lenz, Chair 2006-07

Joint Study Institute Planning Committee 2006-07

In the December 13, 2006 edition of From the Desk of, President Sally Holterhoff announced that plans were underway for AALL to host the 2008 Joint Study Institute (JSI) at Georgetown University Law Center. President Holterhoff named Timothy Coggins and Darcy Kirk as co-chairs of the planning committee and James Duggan, Mark Engsberg, Judith Gaskell, Kumar Percy Jayasuriya, Hazel Johnson, Stephen Margeton, Robert Oakley and Herb Somers as planning committee members. Celeste Smith serves as AALL headquarters liaison and ex officio member of the planning committee.

Initiated in 1998 and sponsored by AALL, the Australian Law Librarians’ Association, the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/Association Canadienne des Bibliothèques de Droit (CALL/ACBD) and the New Zealand Law Librarians’ Association, the Joint Study Institutes occur biennially with the location rotating among the host countries. The New Zealand group is a recent addition to the original group that sponsored the JSIs. The goal of the institute meetings is to provide an environment that enables law librarians from other jurisdictions to discuss common, current, and relevant issues. The planning committee, after careful consideration of dates for the various associations’ meetings, scheduled the sixth Joint Study Institute for Wednesday, June 25 through Saturday, June 28, 2008. Sessions will be held in the new John Wolff International and Comparative Law Library at Georgetown University Law Center. The registration fee will be US$400. Registration will be capped at sixty attendees with preference given to those attending from other countries. Previously, AALL sponsored the 2000 JSI at Yale Law School. The planning committee selected “Harmonization and Confrontation: Integrating Foreign and International Law into the American Legal System” as the theme for the 2008 institute. The conference will feature sessions on the historical use of international law in United States Supreme Court decisions, a debate about the use of international norms and rules in U.S. law, federalism and the relationship between U.S. federal and state law, researching foreign and international law, authentication of online legal resources and what the various countries are doing related to this issue, digitizing the world’s law, and others. The Committee has invited Justice Anthony Kennedy to speak at the 2008 JSI about this issue, the subject of his 2005 opinion in Roper v. Simmons, but will not know his decision until August 2007. The Planning Committee continues to work on other issues associated with the 2008 JSI, such as the social events and excursions and publicity, including the development of a Web site for the 2008 JSI, and will disseminate additional information about the 2008 JSI later this summer. Timothy L. Coggins and Darcy Kirk, Co-Chairs 2006-07

Membership & Retention Committee 2006-07 The Membership & Retention Committee had an active year in 2006-07. It continued its responsibility of contacting members who have not renewed their memberships. Hannah Phelps, the AALL Membership Services Coordinator, provided names and contact information of these members to the committee. Due to the size of the contact list, it was divided geographically among the committee and each member was assigned 40 to 50 individuals to contact. Initial outreach was conducted via e-mail with subsequent contact by telephone. The following list reflects some of the reasons individuals have not renewed their memberships: • Economics: Some employers would no longer cover the cost. The value of the

membership was not worth the cost. Recent graduates who were not yet employed full-time and found the cost prohibitive. A question was raised by this group as to whether a half price membership was available during the student-to-professional transition.

• Retirement: Seven individuals indicated that they had retired or were anticipating

retirement. • Left Profession: Ten indicated that they had left the law librarian profession. • Unreachable: Several could not be reached at the contact information provided. • Deceased: Three members are deceased. • A significant portion indicated that they had either forgotten to renew, and would do

so, or thought that they had renewed. Many of these individuals follow up with their own institutions or with AALL Headquarters, rather than via the committee.

The 2005-06 committee proposed a project to help raise awareness of the benefits of membership in AALL. This project took the form of an essay contest entitled, “Why I Belong….” The committee segmented the responses into three groups based on years of experience: 0-5 years, 5-10 years, and 10+ years. The winners from each group were contacted in March and received full registration to the 2007 Annual Meeting. The contest, which ran from November 15 through December 15, was promoted in the AALL Spectrum, on various listservs, and via President Holterhoff’s From the Desk of e-mail newsletter. An article on the contest and the winners appeared in the June AALL Spectrum. An initiative was proposed this year to contact new AALL members and personally welcome them to the association. The goal is to establish a personal and warm connection with the association, to answer any questions, and to offer guidance about AALL. Hannah Phelps indicated that her office could provide a listing of new members

on a periodic basis (quarterly or twice a year). Work on this project began in April; each committee member received a copy of the packet sent to new members of AALL. The intention was to review the packets and discuss what information should be emphasized and what other information should be included. We hope that next year’s committee will see this as a project worth pursuing. A committee member raised a question regarding AALL representation at the annual meetings of other associations such as SLA and ALA. At the 2007 Annual Meeting, all present at the committee meeting agreed that our presence at these other associations’ meetings would be valuable. The committee began inquiring with the AALL headquarters as to whether there is a role for this committee in this activity. The chair would like to thank committee members Sue Burch, Tom Duggan, Carla Evans, Leanne Hillery, Roberta Studwell, Cossette T. Sun, Nancy Thoms, and Tracy Timmons for their hard work throughout the year. The chair would also like to thank Joyce Manna Janto, our Executive Board liaison, and Hannah Phelps, AALL staff liaison, for their invaluable knowledge and insight. Claudia Jalowka, Chair 2006-07

Mentoring Committee 2006-07 Elizabeth Adelman, Caroline Benoit, Jessie Wallace Burchfield, Michael Bushbaum, Charlotte Graesser Henderson, Gregory Ivy, Trina Holloway, Katie Leonard, Stefanie Pearlman, and Lee Peoples served on the 2006-07 Mentoring Committee. Joyce Manna Janto was Executive Board liaison. The committee held its first business meeting at the 2006 Annual Meeting in St. Louis and discussed its three principal activities for the year: (1) coordinating CONELL, (2) coordinating the Mentor Project, and (3) increasing utilization of the relatively new Quick Mentor service. The committee formed four subcommittees: CONELL, chaired by Michael Bushbaum; Mentor Project, chaired by Jessie Wallace Burchfield; Quick Mentor, chaired by Katie Leonard; and Publicity, chaired by Lee Peoples. Ninety-eight AALL members registered for CONELL at the 2007 Annual Meeting. On the evening preceding CONELL, participants had an opportunity to meet each other during optional no-host dinners held at preselected restaurants. Based on CONELL evaluations completed the previous year, the Mentoring Committee slightly shortened the CONELL program and eliminated the “Ask the Experts” session. In addition to meeting Executive Board members and other AALL members, CONELL participants learned about AALL and careers in law librarianship, and enjoyed a bus trip of New Orleans. In October 2006, the committee surveyed Mentor Project participants to assess their Mentor Project experiences. In June 2007, the committee worked with ALL-SIS, PLL-SIS, and SCCLL-SIS to match 104 members as mentors and mentees. The committee hosted a reception to facilitate the meeting of Mentor Project participants at the Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The committee launched the Quick Mentor service in 2004-05 to provide short-term mentoring to AALL members. Despite persistent promotion, only three members sought mentoring through this service, which was consistent with usage in previous years. The Publicity Subcommittee promoted the above activities in the AALL Spectrum, listserv messages, Mentoring Committee Web pages, and other means such as President Holterhoff’s From the Desk of e-mail messages. Gregory Ivy, Chair 2006-07

National Summit Planning Committee 2006-07

President Sally Holterhoff named a special National Summit Planning Committee to investigate and plan an advocacy summit, focusing on the authentication of legal information in the digital age. Members of the committee were Mary Alice Baish, Timothy Coggins, Claire Germain, Sally Holterhoff, Darcy Kirk, Judy Meadows, Robert Oakley and Keith Ann Stiverson. Hazel Johnson and Elizabeth LeDoux joined the committee later and provided assistance with planning and logistical issues associated with the summit, as well as serving as hosts for the delegates at the summit registration desk. Pam Reisinger of the AALL Headquarters provided assistance with local arrangements for the summit. The committee held a planning session in Chicago in September 2006 to brainstorm about the goals, focus and content of the summit and developed a theme for the summit – “Authentic Legal Information in the Digital Age” – and then conducted the rest of its planning for the summit via conference calls. The committee decided that the summit should focus on the results of the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee’s fifty state survey about the availability of official and authentic digital information, conducted in 2006. The results were published in AALL’s State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources. The specific goals identified for the summit were: (1) to explore legal and technological solutions to ensure permanent access to digital state legal materials that are both official and authentic and (2) to develop an action plan and strategies for implementation. The Planning Committee identified delegates, prepared and finalized an agenda for the summit, solicited speakers for the various sessions; and handled local arrangements, as well as other aspects of the summit. Delegates invited to the summit represented all branches of government – judiciary, executive, and legislative – as well as selected AALL members. President Holterhoff authored a letter outlining the goals for the summit that was mailed to all the delegates. President Holterhoff’s letter included the following statement from Randall Shepard, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court and past President of the Conference of Chief Justices.

“Our courts and the legal system depend on the statutes, regulations and court decisions we use to be accurate, unaltered, official and authentic. While legal information provided by state governments in digital format has many benefits, we cannot rely upon it with confidence until the important issue of authenticity has been addressed. I commend the AALL for its foresight in hosting a summit of key stakeholders from the legal community to investigate this challenge and explore possible solutions.”

The invitation packet included an information card outlining the goals and details of the summit as well as a response card.

Fifty delegates attended the summit, which was held April 20-21, 2007, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. For a detailed agenda of the summit, see http://www.aallnet.org/summit/default.asp. Also included at the summit Web site are materials, including PowerPoint presentations, from agenda sessions, follow-up articles about the summit, and some photographs of the various delegates who attended the summit. For a detailed and excellent analysis of the summit, see Mary Alice Baish’s recent article, “AALL Reaches the Tipping Point in National Leadership on Digital Authentication,” in the July 2007 issue of the AALL Spectrum.

The summit was a resounding success. Tom Wrosch, a summit delegate from the Office of the Oregon Secretary of State, commented, “Last year I hadn’t heard of [AALL] and now I don’t know how I ever lived without them.” The Planning Committee and summit delegates continue to discuss summit issues via an AALL listserv and are working on follow-up activities, such as the possibility of a model or uniform act about authentication.

An Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee program, “AELIC’s Survey on Authentication of Government Information: A Year Later and Still Challenging,” at the 2007 AALL Annual Meeting detailed more information about the summit and featured summit delegates Sally Holterhoff, AALL President, Mary Alice Baish, Associate Washington Affairs Representative, and the Honorable Herbert B. Dixon, Jr., Associate Judge, Superior Court of D.C. Timothy L. Coggins, Co-Chair 2006-07

Placement Committee 2006-07 During the past year, the Placement Committee proposed several major initiatives including changing the committee’s name and charge to reflect a broader role in providing career-related advice and assistance to members; improving and enhancing the AALL Jobs Hotline website to add such additional services as Post-A-Resume, Virtual Career Advisors, and links to articles and websites related to career development; and modernizing and automating many of the traditional Placement Office services provided before, during and after the Annual Meeting. These initiatives reflected comments and suggestions from many members who frequented the Placement Office and used its services in the past. Unfortunately, the committee was unable to move forward on most of these initiatives. The proposal to change the committee’s name and charge were referred to the Committee on Committees, which is still considering it. The proposal to enhance the website was not approved by the AALL Executive Board, which was concerned that some aspects of the proposal overlapped with the charges of other committees including the Recruitment and Mentoring Committees and suggested that the Placement Committee approach these committees about working on these initiatives together. Working with AALL Membership Coordinator Hannah Phelps, the committee did draft Placement Office operating procedures, which should help future committee members in setting up, staffing, and breaking down the office at future Annual Meetings. Placement Committee members were: Linda M. Ryan, Chair; Hannah Phelps, AALL Membership Coordinator; Marcia Baker; Stephanie Crawford; Rosemary LaSala; Gayle Lynn-Nelson; Ruth Bridges; Teresa Gallego O’Rourke; Hazel Lord; Jennifer Murray; and Cornell Winston, AALL Executive Board liaison. Linda M. Ryan, Chair 2006-07

Pro Bono Partnerships Special Committee 2006-07 The “Members’ Briefing” for the July 2007 AALL Spectrum included a report of the work done by the Special Committee on Pro Bono Partnerships in 2006-07. Much of the article summarized extensive surveying completed by committee members. Using surveys and interviews, committee members gathered information about pro bono efforts in law libraries. The committee spotlighted pro bono activities in the various types of law libraries. Members of the committee also contacted external sources (primarily legal aid and bar association pro bono providers in the fifty states) to determine ways to strengthen pro bono partnerships between law libraries and external organizations. For online access, Chris Siwa at AALL did a marvelous job of creating an online database for the survey results, which he loaded onto the special committee’s web page so members would be able to retrieve information on pro bono partnerships by individual state.

The committee also participated in programs outside of AALL. These include the Self Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) and the Equal Justice Conference (EJC). For SRLN, the committee made a recommendation to the AALL Executive Board for monetary support for the network. The network is a growing group of organizations and working groups dedicated to assisting self represented litigants. In March, Sara Galligan attended the 2007 Equal Justice Conference (EJC) in Denver. One aspect of the program that looked promising for the Special Committee on Pro Bono Partnerships was the EJC’s emphasis on leveraging pro bono partnerships to increase access to justice. The special committee, with a one-year term ending in July 2007, made the following recommendations for continued pro bono partnerships: • The committee recommended creating a new joint committee within the LISP-SIS

and the SCCLL-SIS as an entity to continue pro bono partnership efforts and activities for law libraries. These two SIS sections will include this recommendation as an action item at their July 2007 business meetings.

• Maintain a presence on the AALL web site, either under the auspices of some other

AALL entity or as special committee page. This should include the link to the 50-state survey that includes feedback from bar and legal aid associations regarding new ways to strengthen pro bono partnerships with law librarians. The link is located on the special committee’s web page.

• The Special Committee on Pro Bono Partnerships recommended that the AALL

Executive Board become an organizational supporter of SRLN, including both ongoing financial support and service on SRLN’s management group. The recommendation is to begin with $5,000 per year. This request was submitted for AALL Executive Board action during its March meeting; it was continued for

discussion at the AALL Executive Board Meeting in July. The special committee also recommends that the Executive Board consider appointing an association representative to SRLN.

• EJC encourages pro bono and partnerships. AALL should try to stay involved by

sending members to the meetings. For the next EJC meeting in Minneapolis, AALL members should consider developing a program proposal about law librarians and pro bono partnerships.

Committee members included: Sara Galligan, Chair, Camille Broussard, Charles Dyer, Pamela Gregory, Marcus Hochstetler, Jean Holcomb, Scott Larson, Monica Sharum, and Jill Sidford, with Bobbie Denny leaving the committee due to retirement. Steve Anderson was our Executive Board liaison. Sara Galligan, Chair 2006-07

Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee 2006-07

With a revised charge, the Recruitment to Law Librarianship Committee (RLLC) had an active year, focused on its mission to serve as a clearinghouse of law librarianship education and career information for prospective law librarians.

Committee members were Chair Ann Clifford Green, Eric W. Brust, Jennifer Meger, Diane Murley, Sara R. Paul, Michael Saint-Onge, Leah Sandwell-Weiss, Barbara G. Traub, Maureen D. Well and Amy J. Wright.

Diane Murley served as the committee’s Webmaster. She added many relevant articles to the Web page over the past year including “A Day in the Life of a Law Librarian,” (Winter 2007 issue of Law Library Lights) and an LLRX article by George Butterfield, “Is a J.D. Necessary for Law Librarians?”

Committee member Sara Paul represented the RLLC and AALL at a webinar for paralegals and legal assistants on other legal careers sponsored by the International Paralegal Management Association on October 5, 2006. Sara spoke about her career path and how AALL has enhanced her professional life.

The chair responded to inquiries from people interested in pursuing careers in law librarianship who filled out the RLLC Web site contact form. To start a dialog with prospective law librarians, she sent out a form letter via e-mail. Frequently, the initial response was followed up by a telephone call or e-mail from another committee member.

Questions were fielded about graduate education, career opportunities, the future of the job market, and the opportunities available in the various sectors of law librarianship, including academic, court, government, law firm, and special libraries. Many questions were from lawyers or other librarians interested in alternative careers.

The RLLC thanks all the members of AALL and its chapters for their personal and chapter-wide efforts to promote law librarianship during the year. Many chapters have been active and have reported their successes to the RLLC. The committee plans to expand on these chapter relationships in the future.

Ann Clifford Green and committee member Barbara Traub represented the RLLC at the CONELL Marketplace at the AALL Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The committee hosted a table in the Activities Area of the Exhibit Hall and handed out business cards with the slogan “What’s It Like to be a Law Librarian.” The cards included URLs for the RLLC and AALL Web pages.

Barbara Traub will chair the RLLC in the 2007-08 year.

Ann Clifford Green, Chair 2006-07

Scholarships Committee 2006-07

In addition to publicizing, soliciting applications, scoring applications, and awarding scholarships, the 2006-07 Scholarships Committee addressed several other issues this year. The committee re-examined the complex titles of the various types of educational scholarships available and reclassified them, using simpler and more descriptive titles. The change in title and classification of the educational scholarships also required changes to many of the scholarship applications. Christopher Siwa, AALL Web Administrator, was instrumental in editing the text of the committee web site to accommodate the scholarships title and category changes on the web site as well as the changes to the individual online applications. This year, the committee benefited from a newly available online score sheet also collaboratively developed by Christopher Siwa. Although committee members have had access to submitted applications online in previous years, the online score sheet allowed committee members to post their individual application scores onto a common score sheet that was accessible by all committee members to review during the final application evaluation process. In an effort to increase awareness of AALL scholarship availability, the committee developed a brochure to advertise the various scholarships. The brochures were distributed at CONELL and at a table in the Activities Area of the Exhibit Hall at the AALL Annual Meeting. During the year, the committee awarded fifteen scholarships totaling $36,000.00. The breakdown is as follows: • From the LexisNexis John R. Johnson Memorial Scholarship Endowment, three

scholarships for law school graduates seeking a library degree were awarded to Valerie Bowen, Christopher Hudson and David Dames.

• From the AALL/Thomson West George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment,

four scholarships were awarded to Mary Godfrey-Richards, Xiaomeng Zhang, Taciana Williams and Clarence Robertson.

• From the AALL Scholarship funds, four scholarships for law school graduates

seeking a library degree were awarded to Caitlin Elwood, Jacob Sayward, John Hadler and Louis Rosen. Four scholarships for non law school graduates seeking a library degree were also awarded to Kathrine Stockert, Katherine Sosnoff, Lauren Seney and Sara Balls.

Funds for scholarships were available due to the generous support of AALL, LexisNexis, Thomson West and the many donations of individual members of AALL.

Members of the 2006-07 Scholarships Committee were Elizabeth Goldberg, James Martin, Eugenia Minor, Holly Riccio, Eloise Vondruska, Jessica Wimer and Scott Childs, Chair. Anne Myers was Executive Board liaison and Hannah Phelps was staff liaison. Holly Riccio will chair the Scholarships Committee during 2007-08. Scott Childs, Chair 2006-07