The Gender Jurisprudence and International Criminal Law Project Website

  - NELLCO Board of Directors: 

The meeting that wasn't 

  - Symposium 2013

  - PALMPrint

It really is almost summer, right?  Here in Albany we haven't quite been able to put away the sweaters and scarves and wool socks. Those unexpected cold fronts are still swinging through, making us juggle our wardrobes through this transition of the seasons. Thankfully, the lilacs (my favorites) have survived the current cold snap, and their already much-too-brief appearance hasn't been further stunted. I hope you're enjoying them in your region, too!

The meeting that wasn't

In this double issue there is a lot to report, but first I want to extend a huge thanks to the NELLCO Board of Directors for responding so well in the face of unexpected and unimaginable circumstances. The NELLCO Spring Board of Directors meeting was held on April 18-19 at Northeastern University School of Law. Sarah Hooke Lee, Director of the Law Library and NELLCO Vice-President/President-Elect, was our host for the day-and-a-half meeting. The Board met for a half-day session on strategic planning models Thurs. afternoon, followed by the Board dinner on Thurs. evening. We were scheduled to reconvene Fri. morning for a full day of Board work, but on Fri. morning we awoke to find Boston in near complete shutdown. Our meeting venue was closed, all public transportation, including taxi service, was offline, and everyone was being urged to shelter in place as police sought the fugitive Boston Marathon bombing suspects. Needless to say, we were forced to abandon our meeting plans and figure out how to get everyone back home with no public transport and only three vehicles between us!

Luckily, a handful of our Board members live the Boston area, so they were able to stay home.  Femi Cadmus (Cornell) and Paul George (UPenn) were both able to fly out later in the day.  Mike Hughes (Quinnipiac), Helane Davis (Albany Law School) and I were able to get everyone else into our vehicles and out of Boston. Helane took the longest detour, returning to Albany via South Royalton, VT to drop off Carl Yirka (Vermont Law School). Mike packed them in like sardines in his car and deposited everyone either at home (Blair Kauffman) or at the train station in New Haven (the NYC crew). I had the company of Theresa McCue, Darcy Kirk, and Chris Hepler. We dropped Darcy off at her car on the top floor of an eerily abandoned Alewife Station garage, while Sue Zago waited patiently in a parking lot off of the Mass Pike for us to hand off Chris to her for their journey north. Everyone really came together in what could have been a very trying and stressful situation. I hope this goes down as the most memorable NELLCO Board meeting ever.

Symposium 2013

Our 2nd annual NELLCO Symposium was held March 14-15 here at the Albany Law School. Once again members of the law library staff at ALS helped us welcome members and vendors to the Symposium. We had 15 vendors represented in the exhibit space, and about 50 members in attendance. We had hoped for a better turnout among our members, but we know that travel budgets are being affected by the economy, and members have to be selective. We hope word will spread about the excellent content and networking at the Symposium, and we'll see our attendance rise next year. 

 

This year, in response to feedback in 2012, the focus was on our Interest Groups, each of which had a half-day session. Concurrent to each of the IG sessions, we offered a Six Thinking Hats workshop, taught by facilitator Phil Shearrer. Of the  members who completed evaluations, 100% said they will recommend the Symposium to their colleagues. Half of the respondents had been to the 2012 Symposium. Of those returning attendees, 82% rated it better than last year and 18% rate it about the same as last year. When the NELLCO Executive Committee met in late March we discussed the future of the Symposium at length. We reviewed the feedback and explored a number of different options and ideas. In the end, the Executive Committee has elected to continue with the momentum we're building, stick with our focus on the NELLCO Interest Groups, and hold Symposium 2014 at Albany Law School on March 13-14. Mark your calendars now!

 

PALMPrint

Loading PALMPrint Materials

Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that Preserving America's Legal Materials in Print (PALMPrint) has launched! The materials for the collection will be contributed by the law libraries at Cornell, U. of Pennsylvania, Quinnipiac University, and Vermont Law School. The W.B. Meyer company  pulled the first batch of materials from Quinnipiac on a sunny day in March. The next pick up will occur this week, when Meyer heads to Philadelphia to load up the materials being contributed by the University of Pennsylvania Law Library.

With more than 60 libraries participating (including two of our Canadian members!) the cost per library for the 3-year pilot was only $3,900.00, or $1,300.00 per year! Invoices and copies of the counter-signed MOUs have been mailed out to all participating libraries. Please be in touch if you haven't received yours by the end of the month!

Tracy L. Thompson-Przylucki

Theresa McCue - Administrative and Member Support Manager  

This will be the last issue of the Tips from Theresa column in The Slice! Instead, keep your eyes open for the new NELLCO Advantage, coming in two weeks! The goal of this monthly brief is to keep you informed of everything from discounts, free resources, trials, and special offers; all of the value that you get from your NELLCO membership!

Current Trials

• TradeLawGuide ( ends 6-13-13)
• ALM Rival Edge (sign up for a webinar)

Upcoming Trials

• MCLE Online Pass