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April 2012 PLL E-News
In This Issue
Newly Redesigned PLL Website
PLL Resource Guides Debut at ALA
Sylvia Coulter
Member Publications and Activties
Welcome New Members
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Newly Redesigned PLL Web Site Is Unveiled

 

On behalf of the PLL Special Interest Section Board of Directors, I am proud to announce a long awaited redesign of the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Section web site. We hope that you find the site more vibrant, dynamic and interactive.

The new site includes a new PLL logo, new colors and a more intuitive horizontal menu. Additionally, in the age of social networking, we have made it easier for members to follow PLL as well as read the latest posts from PLL Twitter, Private Law Libs Daily and On Firmer Ground. A Flickr webpart has been added to the home page so that we can share photos of PLL events and highlight members.

We invite you to explore our new Leadership, Publications, Education and Membership Resources sub pages.

Moving forward, PLL plans to continuously refresh the site to meet member needs. To that end, we would appreciate your feedback. We are grateful to Ellen Callinan, the PLL web master, for her vision and hard work on this project. Please contact Ellen  directly with your suggestions and thoughts on how PLL can provide members with a world class web site that meets your information needs.

 

PLL Website Screenshot 


PLL Resource Guides Debut at the Association of Legal Administrators Annual Meeting

Building on feedback from last year's ALA meeting, I asked PLL to craft a one page flyer that highlighted the PLL Practice Guides.   When administrators  stop by the AALL exhibitor booth, we are often asked how can your  association help us  know more about what we need for our libraries ?   We are often asked about collection rebalancing or even more basic how  do i know I need a librarian ?  This one page take away described the PLL guides and provided a web address so once back in the office, administrators could download the actual practices they needed.  Some took the flyer and told us they wanted to make sure their librarians were aware of the publications.
 
For many administrators without librarians, Firms of 50 or less attorneys, it  was a chance for PLL and AALL to showcase our profession to an audience without knowledge of our skill set.  The fact that the Guides were current and included interviews with librarians in the field also was a selling point.  Administrators often left business cards and took ours in case they had follow up questions about best practices.   
 
Marcia Burris  and Lori Martin, Co-Chairs of the PLL PR/Marketing committee were instrumental in producing this  flyer.  While their commitment was significant,  so  was  the return on investment. Again and again, we heard what a great one page take away PLL had provided.  ALA members thanked us for exhibiting and gave us plenty of new ideas for next years meeting in DC.   

 
Monice  Kaczorowski, ALA Representative 
  

Silvia Coulter, LawVision Group, on Owning New Technologies 
 

In addition to our Keynote speaker and panels, the PLL Summit will host a series of tracks in the afternoon focusing on current issues of importance to law librarians.

Silvia Coulter, LawVision Group, will lead the Technology Track, Owning New Technologies, 3:30-4:15 p.m. Silvia Coulter is well versed in law firm dynamics, having been a former CMO at Ropes & Gray, in Boston and at Dorsey & Whitney, in Minneapolis. Prior to co-Founding LawVision Group, where she presently leads the firm's Client Development and Strategic Growth Practice business, Silvia chaired the Client Development Practice at Hildebrandt International.

 

Silvia understands law firm inter-department relationships and how they are an important main stay for a firm to be competitive in this global economy. Please join us as Silvia addresses how do the new technologies fit in with today's law librarian's responsibilities, and how do we communicate to the rest of the firm why it is so vital that the research department "own," evolving applications?

Libraries still provide traditional services. Although the medium has changed, the message is the same. At the end of the day, our responsibility is to provide the most cost efficient services to our clients (attorneys), so that they are empowered to provide the same to their clients; the revenue source for the firm.

 

MEMBER PUBLICATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

 

Jeff Bois, John Cavicchi, Mary Gilligan and Geoff Trigger presented a PLL IP Subgroup webinar on Shift This!- A Paradigm for Integrating Law School & Law Firm Patent Research. 

 

Mark Gediman contributed an article "The Busine$$ of the Law Firm Library," to the February 2012 issue of  AALL Spectrum. Mark targets Cost Recovery policies, the 'Print v. Online Debate,'Reference Services, and Training, all of which he calls "a form of library marketing..." to demonstrate the value of the information professionals to the firms.

 

Steve Lastres's article on Knowledge Management-"Aligning Through Knowledge Management"-was included in the Spring issue of The Connection, the Newsletter of the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators. This article was previously published in the June 2011 issue of the Special Libraries Association's (SLA) Information Outlook. Steve posits: "By adopting a business perspective and addressing the same problems as other managers, librarians can better align their services with the language and values of their organization."

 

Jill Strand, Director of the Information Resources Library at Mason Edelman Borman & Brand in Minneapolis, authored the article, "Networking for Introverts." Printed in the March-April 2012 issue of Information Outlook, this article distills responses from seasoned Information Professionals.to questions about being comfortable and in the right mind frame for networking events. With this article, Jill attempts to take the 'work' out of 'networking' for all of us.

 

Monice Kaczorowski was interviewed in the March 2012 issue of The Legal Administrator  about how to get the best benefit from the library and how to hire the best librarian. A link to the article will be available on the AALL Publishing Initiatives Caucus web site shortly.  

 

Gitelle Seer has been elected to Life Membership in AALL"s LLAGNY chapter. 

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

 

Karen Anello, Dilworth Paxson LLP, Philadelphia

Claudia A. Banks, Schiff Hardin LLP, Chicago

Kim L. Castellano, Bottomline Technologies, Seymour, Connecticut

Elizabeth J. Chambers, Wallace, Jordan, Ratcliff & Brandt, LLC, Birmingham, Alabama

Sarah Rachael Cook, Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP, San Francisco

Timothy Fritz, Sherman & Howard LLC, Denver

Erin Kurinsky, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Los Angeles

Kurt Mattson, Lionel Sawyer & Collins, Law Vegas

Jennifer Miller, Bingham McCutchen LLP, Fairfax, Virginia

Nora Gray Sawyer, Littler Mendelson, San Francisco

Narinder Toor, Arnold & Porter, London