AALL 2012

Target Audience: Law librarians interested in providing services to military members and veterans

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to articulate anecdotal and statistical indicators of the need for legal assistance for military service members and veterans.
2) Participants will be able to summarize three means of support that law librarians can provide to address the needs of service members and veterans.

While a growing number of service members are returning home, many of those still deployed abroad continue to serve despite intensifying legal issues at home. Additionally, because of the increasing number of veterans returning home with medical and other significant needs, veterans are finding it more difficult to successfully assert claims for medical and other types of assistance. Further, criminal courts are seeing an increasing number of cases involving veterans. The American Bar Association, state bar associations, and academic institutions are implementing programs to provide legal assistance to service members and veterans. This program will attempt to describe the scope of the need and familiarize participants with some of the program initiatives and resources designed to help address the legal needs of service members and veterans. The panel members will also discuss how law librarians can support these programs.

Target Audience: Law librarians from all types of libraries whose patrons need access to declassified records for their research

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify five challenges related to the federal government’s declassification policy and assess the effectiveness of the National Declassification Center in addressing these challenges.
2) Participants will be able to list effective strategies for locating and making use of newly declassified records to benefit their library users and contribute to a more open government.

The National Declassification Center (NDC), established by Executive Order in late 2009, has the vital task of preparing a revised backlog of approximately 385 million pages for public release by December 31, 2013. Many of these records are of great interest to legal researchers. NDC Director Sheryl Jasielum Shenberger will discuss the progress the NDC has made in addressing this growing backlog and prioritizing records for release, as well as the challenges that remain. Nate Jones, FOIA Coordinator for the National Security Archive, will assess the progress that the NDC has made from an outsider’s perspective, and Catherine Dunn, Government Relations Committee Chair and moderator of this session, will outline the sources available for accessing declassified documents and discuss how researchers can use them effectively.

Target Audience: Librarians interested in improving their services

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify problems users have working with web-based interfaces.
2) Participants will be able to implement a cost-effective usability program.

How can you design systems that work efficiently, while avoiding common problems? Enter usability testing, a process to observe user interaction with a system intended to discover and fix problems. Contrary to popular belief, usability testing need not be expensive or even overly time consuming. This program will demonstrate different types of usability testing, including sophisticated software tools and low-tech solutions; discuss the “test early and often” model of usability testing; and show how to budget time and money for a successful usability testing program. Participants will also see a live usability test conducted during this program.

Target Audience: Reference and acquisitions librarians, electronic services librarians

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will become knowledgeable about usage statistics and how to gather them.
2) Participants will have the ability to analyze third-party aggregators and ERM integration.

Library analytics have become more important than ever in the electronic era. As budgets tighten and students demand more online resources, evaluating usage of such resources becomes a key issue in allocating expense funds. Statistical analysis is one way to determine whether a library is getting its best bang for the buck. However, obtaining and analyzing such statistics can be a scattered and challenging process. Speakers will discuss the ways libraries obtain patron usage statistics with a central focus on electronic resources. Participants will see demonstrations of third-party statistical gathering software, as well as learn how to gain access to statistics held and distributed directly by vendors. An overview of COUNTER and SUSHI compliance will also be presented.

Target Audience: All librarians who are interested in developing strong advocacy skills

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will identify the elements of an effective, purposeful story and will be able to create such stories.
2) Participants will be able to incorporate storytelling within their advocacy efforts.

Whether persuading an administrator within your institution or lobbying for external action, storytelling can be a powerful and compelling advocacy tool. Telling stories about real people and real challenges is an effective means for convincing others of your viewpoint. What makes a good story? How can you incorporate the elements of storytelling into your advocacy efforts? After learning the fundamentals of a persuasive story and how to successfully integrate the story within a strategic advocacy campaign, participants will have the opportunity to practice their newly acquired skills in small groups. Volunteers from the small groups will share their story drafts with the larger audience and receive constructive feedback.

Target Audience: Public services staff in all types of law libraries

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will gain a better understanding of the future of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) in a digital world.
2) Participants will learn what options are available as libraries collaborate to provide regional FDLP sites (services).

This program will examine the future of the Federal Depository Library Program, now that the old print model of distribution is largely a thing of the past. How is the Government Printing Office adjusting to the new world of digital information?

Target Audience: Anyone who uses multiple online legal research vendors in their normal workflow

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to assess the advantages and disadvantages of newer generation vendor engines over classic versions of Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis, and Westlaw.
2) Participants will be able to discuss how the adoption of these new versions of standard research tools affects the education of end users and workflows in libraries.

What began as a lively discussion of WestlawNext last year in Philadelphia continues with this sequel program. This forum will enable librarians familiar with Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis Advance, and WestlawNext to compare the developments of these research tools and consider the effect these changes have had in libraries. The discussion will contrast the latest interfaces of these services to their classic versions, as well as to each other. What worked? What failed? Have these “improvements” changed the workflow at your institution or company? Did these changes impact user preference? And, how can vendors improve future product generations? Practical matters – such as implementation, user education, accuracy of results, document sharing, billing practices, and user satisfaction – will dominate the discussion.

Target Audience: Law librarians in all organizations who are asked to provide strategic information for their own or parent organization

Learning Outcomes:
1) Law librarians in all organizations will be able to immediately use the information presented to enhance the strategic knowledge-base of their own or parent organization, and thereby, make a measurable contribution to the future.
2) Participants will be introduced to the basics of two, strategically focused skills – environmental scanning and trend analysis – to augment their own professional skill set.

Environmental scanning and trend analysis are two techniques that are used regularly in any number of settings to help organizations plan for and position themselves for the future. Law firms might use these techniques to anticipate client demand for their services. Law schools may need to prepare for curricula changes. Governmental bodies may be faced with regulatory or reporting requirements. All libraries are constantly challenged to anticipate changes in collections, services, staffing, and technology. By providing actual examples and demonstrating the use of proven techniques, this program will show how law firms, law schools, and government libraries can leverage environmental scanning and trend analysis to position their parent organizations, and themselves, for long-term viability. Drawing upon their own expertise and experience, the panelists will individually describe their own findings and methodologies, and then engage the audience in a discussion of best practices and information-gathering techniques that are common to the kinds of organizations represented and have contributed to organizations’ strategic decision-making.

Target Audience: Law librarians interested in planning and conducting a digitization project

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to create a digitization policy for their libraries.
2) Participants will learn how to identify sources of costs in projects and in archiving digital content, considering in-house or outsourcing options.

This program will cover the basics of creating digital products, including best practices, specifications, metadata, workflow, quality control and assessment, and vendor relations. Additionally, participants will learn how to manage digital content, including making the content available for users, assessing user needs, ingest of content, access issues for digital content management, preservation options, and digital repositories. This program is co-sponsored by the Legal Information Preservation Alliance (LIPA).

Target Audience: Academic, government, and court reference and collection development librarians

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to analyze a research problem in terms of the legal system, the human rights issue, and the appropriate treaty.
2) Participants will be able to identify and apply the knowledge of the appropriate institutional source; the stage in the institution’s process at which the relevant information/document is likely to be found; and the type of document that is most likely to have the information needed to solve the problem.

Part I of this program will teach participants the advanced skills they need to research difficult problems in the United Nations Charter-based and treaty-based bodies. Presenters will use examples of violations of human rights law and the institutional responses to them to illuminate the characteristics of the treaties; the enigmatic organization and procedures of the institutions created by the Charter and the treaties; and the unique documents produced by those institutions. Participants will return to their institutions able to solve research problems that they could not have previously addressed.

Target Audience: Information professionals in law schools, government libraries, prison libraries

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to track the history of the Anti-Abuse Act of 1986, which created the disparity between U.S. federal criminal penalties for crack cocaine and powder cocaine, to the recently passed Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduces that disparity.
2) Participants will be able to analyze the potential impact that the new legislation is expected to have in predominately low-income, African-American communities.

Since the late 1980s, increasingly more severe sentencing has been applied to the possession or distribution of crack cocaine, which is more often associated with low-income, African-American communities. However, while African-American defendants account for roughly 80 percent of those arrested and jailed for crack-related offenses, public health data reveals that two-thirds of crack cocaine users are more likely to be white or Hispanic. For a first-time trafficking offense involving five grams or more of crack cocaine, or 500 grams or more of powder cocaine, the statutory penalty range was five to 40 years of imprisonment. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 set out to reduce the racial disparity in sentencing for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. Attendees will discover the motivation behind the original legislation that created the sentencing disparity and the implications of the new legislation for low-income, African-American communities.

Target Audience: Reference librarians in all libraries who need to research people or companies

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify and utilize the best and most cost-effective online resources for their public records research.
2) Participants will be prepared to analyze and evaluate public records databases and their content.

Looking for information on a person or company? This program will cover sites and strategies useful in public records research. Participants will learn creative ways to use (mostly) free web sites to find location and real property data, birth/death and marriage/divorce records, company affiliations, professional licenses, court records, and more. Additional discussion will cover public records databases and how to critically evaluate the information. The speakers each have more than a decade of experience in conducting research on people and companies, and will provide concrete examples and strategies used in their work.

Target Audience: Technical services librarians, public services librarians, information system managers, database managers, library directors

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will tour the key features of Google Scholar’s search service for legal opinions and journals.
2) Participants will discover indexing problems with legal collections and the approaches Google Scholar has adopted to solve those problems.

Google Scholar has recently implemented an extensive database of U.S. case law. Legal professionals, law students, and other users can find and read the decisions that govern their lives. Google Scholar is not only used by students, faculty, librarians, and researchers, it is also used by professionals in many large law firms. For the first time, one of the founding engineers of Google Scholar, Dr. Anurag Acharya, will join AALL to share the approaches taken to meet the challenges of legal materials. Dr. Acharya will present Google Scholar’s search service for legal materials, describing and illustrating key features. He will also explain how Google approaches problems specific to indexing legal collections. The program will conclude with a 30-minute question-and-answer session.

Target Audience: Technical services librarians, administrators

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will benefit from hearing about other law librarians’ real-life experiences with RDA and will learn how to successfully implement Resource Description Access (RDA) in their libraries.
2) Participants will be able to assess the impact of RDA implementation on their online library catalogs.

Three U.S. national libraries are expected to implement the new cataloging code, RDA, beginning January 2013. Law catalogers who participated in the RDA testing process and training during the fall of 2010 and the spring of 2011 described their experiences at “The TS-SIS Hot Topic program: The RDA Decision and What It Means for Me and My Library!” in Philadelphia in 2011. The two law libraries represented at that program have decided to implement RDA well before the U.S. national libraries do so. Law catalogers from those libraries will share their experiences transitioning from AACR2 to RDA, and discuss the impact on workflow, productivity, OPAC displays, and information retrieval.

Target Audience: Law librarians interested in microform collection management and access

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to describe the current status of microform-produced, law-related materials and the availability of microform equipment.
2) Participants will be able to compare options for managing and accessing microform collections.

For nearly a century, microform has provided compact storage of non-binary, human-readable information, allowing libraries to efficiently and effectively increase their collection size and variety of topical content. Recently, the production of microform and microform reading equipment has plummeted, but the quality of digitization from microform has vastly improved. Microform is becoming a legacy format, and libraries must decide what to do with their collections. This program will examine the current status of the production of law-related materials on microform, availability of microform equipment, and digitization of existing law-related microform materials. Additional discussion will cover the options for managing microform collections, as well as access to print and microform-based information in the next decade, including storage and preservation, scanning and digitization equipment, access methodologies, and user services.

Target Audience: Academic, government, and court reference and collection development librarians

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to analyze a research problem in terms of the legal system, the human rights issue, and the appropriate treaty.

2) Participants will be able to identify and apply the knowledge of the appropriate institutional source, the stage in the institution’s process at which the relevant information/document is likely to be found, and the type of document that is most likely to have the information needed to solve the problem.

Part II of this program will teach participants the advanced skills they need to do research on difficult problems in the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and Court. Presenters will use examples of violations of human rights law and the institutional responses to them to illuminate the characteristics of the European and American Human Rights agreements; the enigmatic organization and procedures of the institutions created by the those treaties; and the unique documents that they produce. Upon returning to their institutions, participants will be able to solve research problems that they could not have previously addressed.

Target Audience: All librarians who deal with copyright issues

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will be able to explain their obligations and opportunities for using copyrighted materials.

2) Participants will be able to identify high-priority copyright issues at the federal and state levels that impact law librarians.

Law librarians are often the go-to professionals for copyright issues and questions.  Whether we are evaluating the copyright issues of documents we need to use, seeking permissions, determining fair use, applying the Section 108 copyright exemption for libraries, or just answering everybody’s question of “Can I copy/scan/email/post/route this?”, copyright impacts our professional lives on a day-to-day basis.  The digital revolution has complicated copyright by allowing forms of copying and distribution that were unheard of in the analog era.  Keeping up with this ever-changing world is a particular challenge.

In a unique format, the Copyright Committee is presenting a series of short presentations on three hot topics in the copyright world.  The first will focus on locating owners of copyrighted materials.  A law librarian and practicing attorney will provide tips and suggestions for locating elusive owners of copyrighted “orphan” works.  The second presentation will look at copyright coverage of state and local government documents.  While virtually all federal documents are in the public domain under 17 USC Section 105, this federal law does not apply to the states, leaving states with various approaches.  Speakers will highlight the skills for determining if a particular state document may be covered by a copyright.  The final presentation will look at the most recent developments in copyright legislation and litigation, including the ongoing Google Books and Georgia State University lawsuits, recent suits claiming copyright protection for court briefs and “prior art” in patent claims, and the latest in the copyright piracy (SOPA) debate in Congress.

Target Audience: Librarians who support attorneys, comply with privacy laws, do licensing, and provide reference; IT staff

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will learn about attorney-client confidentiality requirements relating to legal research.
2) Participants will be able to apply confidentiality compliance techniques to licensing, reference, and some IT support for attorneys and judges, as well as clinical law faculty and students.

Attorney-client confidentiality is challenged by cloud computing, passwords that identify database users, vendor advertisements that identify subscribers, employer access to employee email, Internet Service Provider and web tracking access to online research activity, and some uses of social media. A Boston attorney with expertise in confidentiality and privacy law will outline the scope of ethical and legal requirements for attorneys and for the librarians and IT staff who support them. Participants will receive tips on how to support compliance with confidentiality requirements. A significant portion of the presentation will be devoted to audience questions in order to address specific concerns of those attending.

Target Audience: Library managers and directors; technical services librarians; research managers; library staff responsible for implementing software and/or working with vendors to implement online services

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will be able to provide IT with the information they need to facilitate a smooth implementation of a product or online service, as well as provide IT with proper requirements for any custom development work that the library needs.

2) Participants will strategically examine the skills of the library staff in order to describe them in a way that will resonate with technology executives.

Sometimes it seems as if librarians are from Venus and technologists are from Mars.  This highly interactive session will explore two aspects of partnering effectively with IT.  Learn how you can position the library to play a strategic role in firm technology initiatives and be a savvy consumer of IT services.  A CIO for a large firm will talk about how his world changed when the library was added to his areas of responsibility, what his world is like now, and what he looks for in partners on technology initiatives. A director of knowledge management and library services at a large law firm will explain how the librarian’s skill set brings value to technology projects. Learn strategies to position the library as a "go-to" resource for technology projects, such as enterprise search, intranets, precedent collections, and mobile technology.  A panel of IT professionals will candidly discuss how to get the support you need for building a custom application, integrating data from your library systems into your portal, or implementing commercial products on the firm’s network.  This is your chance to ask the questions you would love to pose to your IT colleagues. A glossary of technical terms, a checklist for implementing software, guidelines for developing a requirements document for a custom database, and other tips will be provided so that you are well prepared when asking IT for help with a project.

Target Audience: Library managers and system librarians with responsibility for the selection and implementation of integrated library systems; librarians interested in vendor practices and the automation marketplace; librarians interested in the future of library automation

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify the major issues in the lawsuit and how it may impact the library automation marketplace.
2) Participants will be able to identify some of the major trends influencing library automation.

The SkyRiver/Innovative Interfaces lawsuit against OCLC for monopoly practices has potentially wide-ranging impact for the law library world. These two major automation players, whose business interests were formerly in separate worlds, are now in direct competition. While OCLC has long been the primary bibliographic utility for copy cataloging, SkyRiver has recently become a new vendor supplying bibliographic records to libraries. And while Innovative Interfaces has long been the provider of integrated library systems (especially for law libraries), the development of Worldcat Local and Web Management Services by OCLC makes it a significant player in this market, too. This program will present the facts surrounding this lawsuit, what it may mean for libraries, and some projections for the future of library automation.

Target Audience: Law librarians interested in extending the reach of their catalogs

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will understand how linked data in our current catalog records can impact user searches.
2) Participants will understand the basic structure of Resource Description Framework (RDF).

Catalogers and systems developers might appreciate the potential of the Semantic Web, but it is difficult to see how a library’s catalog data can be linked in. Diane Hillmann, John Joergensen, and F. Tim Knight will provide an overview and live project examples of how Resource Description and Access (RDA), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), and Resource Description Framework (RDF) can push libraries’ records onto the web and extend catalog functionality.

Target Audience: Librarians and researchers interested in the historical development of law and the use of early American legal research sources, both in print and online

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to explain how 17th century Anglo-American courts reconciled supernatural beliefs and the rule of law.
2) Participants will be able to locate primary and secondary historical legal sources on early American witchcraft trials using print and electronic sources, including publicly available databases of pre-Revolutionary materials.

In 1692, 20 people from Salem Village, about 10 miles north of Boston, were killed during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. While the trials are often portrayed as arbitrary, they actually followed very strict rules that had been developed over centuries. Librarians from the Jacob Burns Law Library, which has an extensive collection of materials on witchcraft trials, will look at the substantive and procedural laws regulating witchcraft trials in the late 17th century, how they came to be, and how they were applied in the Massachusetts Colony during the Salem trials. The identification and use of primary and secondary legal history materials will be discussed, including formerly scarce materials that are now widely available electronically.

Target Audience: Law librarians who serve pro se litigants and need to understand the role of statewide committees that advance partnerships and strategies for enhancing access-to-justice initiatives at a policy/program level; law librarians who consider Access to Justice (A2J) committees as critical advocates for the preservation of library programs

Learning Outcomes:
1) Attendees will be able to describe the impact of A2J committees in the preservation of law library services.
2) Attendees will learn how they can connect with these committees in their respective states to expand the law librarian’s role in access-to-justice initiatives.

Engaging with key organizations can help law librarians broaden their base of support and increase their effectiveness. This program will give an overview of A2J committees around the country. Participants will learn how the committees work and about their importance for the preservation of law libraries and access to legal information.  Very few law librarians are currently members of A2J committees, but law librarians who are A2J members in Washington and Maryland will describe the ways their committee connections strengthen partnerships with courts, legal aid organizations, and bar associations. Speakers will explain how connections to A2J committees help promote law libraries and how they create mutually beneficial opportunities to expand A2J. A short question-and-answer period will invite audience participants to offer input regarding their local A2J and advocacy efforts.

Target Audience: Library directors in academic law libraries; public services librarians who teach or provide faculty services

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to assess the potential for expanded faculty service at their law school libraries, explain the benefits and potential drawbacks of using each of the predominant models of library research assistant (RA) programs, and identify institutional factors essential to the success of such programs.
2) Participants will learn how to design a library RA program that supports institutional objectives and fits the staffing and funding profile of their particular library.

A law library research assistant (RA) program can enhance a library’s value and market librarian skills within the institution, while expanding the teaching role of librarians. A library RA program promotes faculty recruitment and retention by providing skilled and accountable research assistants to law faculty. Two predominant models of library RA programs exist in U.S. law schools, and administrators of these programs get many inquiries from other academic librarians who are interested in starting their own programs. Law librarians representing the two models will explain the distinctions among their programs and the factors that make their models successful.

Target Audience: Librarians from any field who need to find and understand Canadian legislation

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify and explain core Canadian legislative concepts to patrons.
2) Participants will be able to identify and explain Canadian statutory citations.

Have you ever looked a Canadian statute but didn’t understand how it was amended? Has your law firm recently retained a Canadian client? Have you ever had to find a Canadian statute but were left empty-handed? Are you just plain curious as to how your neighbors to the north draft, organize, and publish their legislation? If you said “yes” to any of these questions, this program is for you! At this session, you will learn about the differences between Canadian and American legislation, how Canadian legislation becomes law, how it is organized and published, and how it is consolidated. Three experienced Canadian law librarians will provide the introductory material you need.

Target Audience: Law librarians battling to safeguard public law library service against proposed state budget cuts that—should they become reality—challenge its very existence

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will identify alternative advocacy strategies devised by public law librarians (state, court, and county) aimed at preserving their operations in hard economic times.
2) Participants will be able to select, from among these alternative strategies, a blended advocacy plan—drawing elements from other states, but tailored to fit their own unique jurisdictions.

Faced with hard economic times, state governments are pinching savings from every budget line-item, often at a huge cost to public service. Protecting law libraries in such an environment requires a coordinated strategy. Unfortunately, there are 50 states, each with its own unique context. No single “master plan” fits all. Sharing experiences can, however, show what works—and what does not work—in particular circumstances. Such knowledge enables each individual to profit from the collective experience, extracting those elements that forge a productive local strategy. This program will constitute a culminating event built through speaker-structured conversation in the AALL Members Only section of AALLNET. This continuous online discussion—interactive and always current—fosters strategy-sharing in distinct, volatile environments. All speakers, networking from process inception until the Annual Conference, will draw from this raw material a strategic paradigm: a menu of alternatives that, in some combination, may prove useful anywhere. It is expected that this process, presently targeted for 2011-2012, will be ongoing. Building collective strategies never ends. It progresses from year, to year, to year.

Target Audience: Librarians looking for ways to enhance their digital presence among patrons, especially through the use of custom-made instructional modules and digital media

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify the latest trends involving patron learning habits, especially with regard to technology and digital media.
2) Participants will explore the process of creating library instructional guides that are tailored for today’s users, using two different methods—a purpose-built design and LibGuides; participants will understand the challenges and successes of each method.

This program will explore the depth of student engagement with digital media, specifically how to manage and deal with information-complacent patrons through new methods of engagement within instructional materials. Two librarians will share their case studies of how they incorporated digital media tools into their instructional materials in an effort to engage today’s tech-savvy patrons, and will also inspire participants to incorporate digital media into their own instructional materials and library guides by showcasing an exemplary librarian-created product, Lawbore, (http://lawbore.net/) and its sister site Learnmore (http://learnmore.lawbore.net/). The speakers will then provide participants with ideas and tips on how the average librarian with limited resources and IT knowledge can create his or her own digital media-enhanced products using tools such as LibGuides.

Target Audience: Collection development librarians, acquisitions librarians, catalogers, and systems librarians

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to negotiate a shared patron-driven e-book acquisitions plan that meets the needs of individual institutions.
2) Participants will be able to identify and evaluate opportunities for inter-institutional collaboration in e-book collection development.

This program describes the experiences of two state university law schools that joined forces to craft a shared patron-driven acquisitions program with a common vendor. Building a shared e-book collection among the state university libraries in Florida has been talked about for some time, though budget cuts and reorganization have prevented it from becoming a reality. Forced to look at creative ways to maximize acquisitions budgets, the law libraries at Florida State University and University of Florida worked with Ingram Coutts to adopt a shared PDA plan for legal monographs. By combining resources, the libraries were able to provide their users access to far more titles than would have been possible with individual plans. In this presentation, each school will discuss working together and with the vendor to create a shared profile, how they were able to exclude titles already owned or preferred in print, and how the PDA dovetails with each school’s collection development goals. They will also share how the plan impacted their individual budgets, workflows, and library management systems, as well as how it was received by users. A representative from Ingram Coutts will discuss the challenges and benefits of developing a single PDA plan that would meet the individual needs of two separate law schools. How these rival schools came together and whether they are still partners in this effort will be presented by three players on this unlikely team.

Target Audience: Librarians interested in digital libraries and digitizing government documents

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify the steps involved in building a subject-based digital library.
2) Participants will be able to describe how to curate a digital collection of historic legal documents.

This program identifies the steps involved in building a digital archive of litigation documents related to the Mt. Laurel cases, a series of groundbreaking cases on affordable housing in New Jersey regarded as the state law equivalent of Brown v. Board of Education. Just as Brown forced the “American dilemma” of race onto the national political agenda, the New Jersey Supreme Court used judicial power to put the “political third rail” of suburban housing equity and affordability before legislators and governors who would have preferred to ignore the problem. Speakers will explain the basics involved in a successful digitization project, including selection, funding, digitizing documents, cost management, metadata, workflow, quality control, website design, the use of open source software, digital preservation, and publicity.

Target Audience: Individuals responsible for teaching, outreach, and marketing at their libraries; individuals interested in incorporating Quick Response (QR) codes into their workflow

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will assess the usefulness of QR codes for their libraries.
2) Participants will be able to create QR codes and incorporate them into instructional and marketing materials.

QR codes have been rapidly increasing in popularity. Companies and libraries alike use them to connect people with online information when and where they need it. They can be used to link physical and electronic resources and to direct patrons to up-to-the-minute information about library services. The presenters will discuss why their libraries chose QR codes over competing formats, how they have made use of these codes, and pitfalls to avoid when implementing QR code programs. They will also teach participants how to create QR codes and integrate them seamlessly into instructional and marketing materials. Participants will have the tools necessary to evaluate whether QR codes are right for their libraries and to develop innovative uses that meet their patrons’ needs.

Target Audience: Law library directors, managers, and supervisors looking to extend the scope of responsibilities to enterprise knowledge management

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will understand what “knowledge management” (KM) is and grasp the benefits and challenges of adopting KM strategy.
2) Participants will understand the roles law librarians can play in portal deployment at law firms and examine case studies of KM projects lead by law librarians.

The program will cover what “knowledge management” is and the types of knowledge in law firms that require KM strategies and solutions. A demonstration of several KM projects will show the role law librarians play in leading KM initiatives. Librarians will understand how to go back to their firms to propose KM projects. The session will conclude with a discussion of the benefits/ROI and challenges involved in developing a KM enterprise strategy so that law librarians can develop a business case to get their KM initiative approved.

Target Audience: All librarians who are interested in technology leadership

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will be able to identify new opportunities and roles for law librarians as the use of mobile devices and iPads continues to grow in the legal workplace. 

2) Participants will learn about features and apps for iPads and other mobile devices that are useful for lawyers and law librarians.

Lawyers expect their mobile devices to connect at their workplace, and many now have iPads for personal use.  Law students use smartphones to access resources and expect to use iPads in the classroom. Some law firms and courts have embraced the iPad as their mobile tool of choice.  How does the law librarian fit into this picture?  Hear from a law firm director of library and research services who stepped up to answer the question many attorneys ask upon receiving an iPad:  What am I supposed to do with this?  Discover a variety of lawyer- and law student-friendly apps for accessing firm and law school library resources, performing online research, and increasing productivity of iPads and various other mobile devices.  An academic law library administrator will also describe the role his library staff played in developing and publicizing to the law school community a multi-platform smartphone app for accessing key library services. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the mobile device world and be better able to engage in conversations about the iPad’s place in legal settings. The session concludes with audience questions.

Target Audience: Law firm librarians who are responsible for distributing information throughout their law firms

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will be able to evaluate the current awareness needs of their firm.

2) Participants will be able to identify solutions for organizing and delivering information in their firm.

"Infobesity" doesn't begin to define the current awareness problems facing legal professionals today, but there are new and evolving ways to meet the challenge of getting the right news to people in a less disruptive manner.  Librarians and technologists can team up to find creative and effective ways to locate a good source, sift through it for relevant content, curate it, consolidate it with other sources, organize it, and deliver it in a variety of ways to reduce the interruptions and distractions caused by too-frequent emails and alerts. This program will help librarians evaluate the available tools to make informed decisions.  Case studies will illustrate solutions in action, including ways to include internal content, and what mobile options can and cannot do.

Target Audience: All librarians interested in greater access to legal materials

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to connect with nonprofit organizations working to improve access to legal materials for immigration detainees.
2) Participants will be able to identify the obstacles to library access for immigration detainees.

In 2010, approximately 363,000 foreign nationals were held in civil detention in the United States. About half of the detainees were held in privately run prisons. Unlike those who have been charged with a crime, they have no right to free legal counsel and do not have the same access to legal materials that are enjoyed by those who are charged with or have been convicted of crimes. The speakers will describe the current state of access to legal materials for immigration detainees, identify the ABA nonbinding standards for access to legal materials, and inform participants of efforts in the library and legal communities to improve access to legal information for persons in immigration detention.

This session will be webcast from Boston on AALL2go (member login required).

Target Audience: Law firm librarians who are directors or managers; technical services, electronic services, and reference librarians; academic librarians interested in knowing what law firms are doing with regard to e-books

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to analyze and utilize the information provided to evaluate e-book formats for use in their organizations.
2) Participants will be able to analyze and utilize the information provided to assist them in creating e-book policies for their organizations.

With little fanfare, LexisNexis has begun offering some content in e-book format (e.g., the color books such as the Redbook New York Civil Practice Law and Rules). Thomson Reuters has indicated court rules for New York and others will be in e-book format in the fourth quarter of 2011. The ABA and Apple have entered into a partnership to publish legal e-books for sale in the Apple bookstore. Visions of attorneys waving their Kindles and iPads in front of our faces demanding e-books have begun to haunt our dreams. So many questions come to mind: What will the functionality be like? How will updates work? Will attorneys want both print and e-book formats, and what will that do to our budgets? What happens when an attorney leaves, along with e-book content paid for by the firm? A panel of two firm librarians who have conducted e-book trials, and two vendors will talk about this experience, as well as what vendors are doing with regard to functionality, pricing, and administration.

Law firm librarians are encouraged to complete this survey in advance of the program.

Target Audience: Academic librarians, library directors, collection development librarians, acquisitions librarians, etc.

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will learn how to develop successful collaborative efforts with libraries in their local area.
2) Participants will learn how to partner with other libraries to maximize access to resources and realize efficiencies.

The Boston Academic Law Library Consortium (BALLCO) is a joint undertaking to coordinate access, maintenance, and housing of law-related titles among the members of the group and to provide for expedited access to those sources as requested by the other members in this local geographic area. A panel from the six participating Boston-area academic law libraries will share their collaborative efforts to optimize their respective resources and to provide their users timely access to a wide range of legal materials. The panel will discuss the group’s efforts from inception through planning and implementation.

Target Audience: Librarians, library managers, library administrators, department heads

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will discover ways to balance personal issues with professional communication when dealing with other employees.
2) Participants will explore techniques that are utilized by a professional social worker, for dealing with sensitive staff issues.

Over the past few years, personal staff problems seem to be on the rise. Library employees are dealing with anxiety, depression, divorce, financial difficulties, and other issues which affect their productivity and ability to concentrate. Managers may find themselves spending extensive amounts of time coaching employees with personal problems at the expense of working through specific job duties. Good managers, like good counselors, understand the issues and needs, both professional and personal, of their staff. They also know how to help and motivate staff through difficult periods. Participants in this program will explore effective techniques, utilized by social workers, for counseling others who are going through difficult personal issues. Join us in a lively discussion with a librarian and social worker as we discuss, and role play real staff issues and explore effective techniques for resolving them.

Target Audience: Academic law librarians working in schools that have LLM students and international visiting scholars; firm librarians who support overseas offices

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify the pedagogical and research needs of international students and faculty, and explain how they differ from those of traditional JD students.
2) Participants will be able to apply techniques that address the differences, challenges, and synergies of working with an international patron base.

This program will address common questions and concerns that law librarians have when dealing with international members of the law school community in the library, the classroom, and the academy. Speakers will discuss their own experiences working with these populations and will offer best practices for dealing with language issues, different legal education cultures and perceptions of librarians and libraries, and issues arising from having patrons trained in a different type of legal system. Participants will develop an increased understanding of common issues that these unique populations present and will also receive ideas on how they can better engage this patron group in the library’s activities.

Target Audience: Academic law librarians; law librarians in firms that specialize in environmental, international, and/or land use planning law

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will examine the U.S. and international body of law affecting economic development projects where wildlife may be endangered.
2) Participants will consider the legal context in which conflicts arise between protection of wildlife and economic development projects.

The inevitable conflicts between economic development and wildlife protection are complicated and emotional. The social impacts of cases like the “snail darter case” and events like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill highlight the controversy that often surrounds crucial economic development and equally important wildlife protection. In the 30 years since TVA v. Hill, these clashes have continued both at home and abroad. Professor Zygmunt Plater, who litigated the “snail darter case” and has written and spoken extensively on the case in the past three decades, will present and analyze the body of law and ramifications that grew from that case.

Target Audience: Law firm librarians who are responsible for building awareness of resources and services; librarians who have an interest in building upon existing technical skills to create collaborative solutions

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will gain perspective on basic features of SharePoint, such as no-code development and taxonomy/metadata management.

2) Participants will examine case studies,which include solutions that librarians have developed to meet the business needs of their organizations, and gain ideas for how they can do the same.

Join library and knowledge management (KM) professionals who are responsible for architecting solutions in SharePoint to explore a variety of ways to bring value to your firm/organization.  Find out why SharePoint is so powerful and easy to learn and use for creating custom pages without coding experience.  Panelists will explain how SharePoint 2010 "thinks like a librarian" in utilizing features such as taxonomy/metadata management services.  They will also provide examples of how librarians are directly involved with intranet development, not only in creating research pages, but also in creating team sites to increase efficiency for collection envelopment, lateral onboarding/orientation, and general project/task management.  Additionally, client extranets and the value librarians can bring to these projects will be discussed.

Target Audience: Law librarians who have Chinese law research demands

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify major government organs in China, the different types of documents produced by those organs, and the legal relationship between those documents.
2) Participants will be able to explain how to locate Chinese legal documents as soon as they are promulgated, and will compare the respective timeliness of Westlaw China, Lawinfochina, Isinolaw, and other commercial and government databases.

This program will identify major government organs in the People’s Republic of China that promulgate laws and regulations, the different types of documents produced, and the legal relationship between those documents. Participants will focus on learning how to locate these documents as fast as they are enacted. Participants will also identify leading Chinese secondary sources in cutting-edge areas. Additionally, the session will compare the timeliness of different databases, including Lawinfochina, Westlaw China, Isinolaw, and official Chinese government websites.

Target Audience: Librarians interested in interpretation of this historic U.S. Supreme Court decision and the law librarian’s role in access to justice; librarians who serve self-represented litigants, especially those with civil matters

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to explain the impact Turner v. Rogers has on due process requirements for the unrepresented.
2) Participants will be able to identify new ways that law library services contribute to meeting the courts’ access standards.

Turner v. Rogers (131 S.Ct. 2507) is a 2011 decision that calls for fundamental fairness and access to the courts in civil cases. “Civil Gideon” champions the right to counsel in civil cases. Law librarians can unite with Turner as a landmark case in the delivery of legal services to the unrepresented. The Turner case offers a new perspective for advocating the library’s role in access to justice services. The program will conclude with a dialog on how law librarians might implement the Turner principles.

Target Audience: Academic librarians who teach legal research

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to design a basic blended learning course utilizing in-person class sessions, webinars, and online course management software.
2) Participants will be prepared to identify and assess at least five different integrated learning techniques to actively involve students in learning legal research.

ABA Rule 306 has permitted law schools to offer distance education classes for some time, and students increasingly enjoy the greater convenience of online courses. Legal research classes are emerging as key areas of potential innovation for law schools testing out online and blended courses. Librarians have a unique opportunity to take the lead in pioneering new ways of teaching in this new learning environment. Panelists will draw on their own experience of creating and teaching conventional, online, and blended legal research classes to review what has worked and what hasn’t. This session will include discussion of webinars, online course management systems, in-person sessions, and integrated learning techniques that actively involve students in mastering the concepts of legal research.

Target Audience: Librarians with responsibility for library administration and/or legal information purchasing decisions

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will understand the history of the Federal Trade Commission guidelines related to legal information resources and of the antitrust discussion within AALL.
2) Participants will be able to identify the challenges posed by current antitrust law on association activity, while also identifying strategies for effective collective responses to unfair licensing and publishing practices.

Join in this practical exploration of how antitrust issues relate to associations, led by Shaun Esposito, CRIV Chair 2011-2012.  Stephen W. Armstrong, Senior Counsel and chair of the Antitrust Practice Group at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP, will provide a brief overview of antitrust concerns relevant to professional organizations.  AALL Vendor Liaison Margaret Maes will briefly summarize the “AALL and Antitrust FAQs” recently published on AALLNET, with Armstrong providing commentary and analysis of the FAQs.  Esposito and Maes will then take turns presenting fact scenarios to Armstrong based upon activities that AALL members and leadership have identified as key challenges facing associations when considering action at the organizational level.  Audience members will then be invited to ask questions or present fact scenarios of their own for consideration.

Target Audience: Librarians interested in computer history or who would like to learn digital preservation techniques

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to list several hurdles to preserving digital objects.
2) Participants will be able to identify steps they can take personally and professionally as librarians to help preserve digital objects.

Jason Scott has been an “armchair archivist” since 1998 with the Archive Team and Textfiles.com. He has recently become a professional archivist and works with the Internet Archive to preserve pieces of our digital heritage (e.g., discontinued social networking sites). In this free-form lecture and interview, Scott will discuss his trials and tribulations in this quest for preservation, as well as offer suggestions for steps that information professionals can take to preserve their own data and that of others. Connections will also be made between preserving “general” data and the problems with preserving law and other materials published on the Internet.

Target Audience: Librarians who want to know more about securities terms; librarians who do financial research and need to know about Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) transactions

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to recognize and understand new securities terms and how they were developed.
2) Participants will be able to understand how and why PIPE transactions are used as a financing vehicle, and how to identify resources and methods for researching PIPEs.

Corporate and securities terms of art evolve as labels to identify complex mechanisms, which can be difficult to understand without knowing how the terms evolved and are used by securities and corporate attorneys. The first part of the program will cover the meaning behind some of these terms of art. The speakers will present and explain Big Boy Letters, Bear Hug Letters, a Greenshoe, a Wells Notice, and additional terms.

The second part of the program will focus on PIPEs: how they are used by companies as a financing device and how librarians can find information about them. PIPE transactions have become an increasingly important financing vehicle for many public companies, and in 2011, PIPE deals raised more than $27 billion in financings. As a consequence, librarians who work for law firms with private equity clients are being asked to research PIPE deals. This part of the program will describe for participants the PIPE market and why PIPE financings are used. Participants will also learn about online tools that librarians can use in researching PIPE transactions. The program will conclude with a discussion of search strategies for using these resources.

Target Audience: All law librarians who are interested in information policy and legislative advocacy

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify and have the opportunity to discuss AALL policies on a variety of information and legislative issues that impact the Association and our members.
2) Participants will be able to list the top priorities and activities of the Copyright Committee, Digital Access to Legal Information Committee, Government Relations Committee, and Government Relations Office.

Director of AALL's Government Relations Office, Emily Feltren, will moderate an interactive conversation on AALL’s top policy priorities between the chairs of AALL’s three policy committees – the Copyright Committee, the Digital Access to Legal Information Committee, and the Government Relations Committee. The committee chairs will also report on the past year’s policy accomplishments and present their perspectives on issues likely to emerge in the coming year. This collaborative discussion and update will conclude with the presentation of the prestigious AALL Public Access to Government Information Award and the Robert L. Oakley Advocacy Award.

Target Audience: Special collections librarians, reference librarians, catalogers, collection development librarians

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify six types of evidence for reconstructing the contents of historic lawyers’ libraries.
2) Participants will be able to contribute historic library inventories to LibraryThing for research and collection development.

The contents of early law libraries provide important evidence for legal historians studying individual lawyers, the development of doctrine, and the history of legal publishing. The program will first examine the historical study of individual law libraries: how to analyze a library as a historical document, how to reconstruct a library, and why it is a powerful and useful collection development tool. Next, the program will demonstrate LibraryThing’s “Libraries of Early America” project: how this free and open-access database enables the aggregation and comparison of holdings from many early libraries; how the project enables the study of libraries from broad geographic areas, time periods, and professions; how law librarians can add information on historical law libraries; and opportunities for developing new tools.

Target Audience: Legal research teachers, whether beginning, advanced, or subject-specific

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to create and implement lessons that make more effective and appropriate use of pop culture references to teach legal research.
2) Participants will be able to explain the pedagogical advantages of using pop culture and humor in the classroom.

“I’m Just a Bill.” Marcia Clark being schooled during the OJ trial for not Shepardizing. Pop culture is full of examples of legal research, but the value such examples actually add to our lessons is rarely assessed. The program speakers will begin with a discussion of the pedagogical support for using culturally familiar characters and settings in the classroom, and then provide examples and demonstrate best practices for prepping and integrating video clips, songs, comics, and other pop culture references into a legal research lesson. These best practices include selection of references familiar to the audience and use of technology to prepare and deliver the lessons. The speakers will also discuss their experiences using pop culture and how to avoid potential risks when implementing this technique in the classroom. Lastly, this session will also address how using pop culture and humor can humanize teachers to students, encourage student participation in what many see as a “boring” class, and foster collaboration among instructors.

Target Audience: All librarians who have a role in managing the use of licensed digital data

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify issues and possible conflicts between how digital data users want to use data and how digital data is licensed to be used.
2) Participants will be able to design ways to inform users of permissible uses and to "monitor" the use of digital data.

While vendor contracts are getting more complex, the use of licensed digital data has become even more restrictive. Digital data is the vendor’s property, which it licenses to subscribers. Licensed data in our highly electronic library workplace makes compliance tricky. This program will elaborate on how to comply with restrictions on the use of licensed data, how to notify and instruct users on restrictions of use, and how a library can monitor the actual uses.

Target Audience: Foreign and international law librarians and those interested in current issues in international law

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to summarize the legal and policy arguments for and against the involvement of the United States with the International Criminal Court.
2) Participants will be able to identify the source materials relating to U.S. policy regarding the International Criminal Court.

The International Criminal Court represents a major development in International Criminal Law. On July 17, 1998, 120 states adopted the Rome Statute as the legal basis for the court. The Rome Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002, after ratification by 60 countries. Currently, the statute has received 117 ratifications. Despite this development, three administrations have kept the United States outside the court. This program will debate the future of U.S. policy regarding the International Criminal Court and whether a policy change is necessary.

Come meet the award-winning authors of the 2012 AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers competition. Hear the authors discuss how they chose their topics, researched and wrote their articles, got past writer's block, juggled the challenges of writing while working 8-5, and other topics. Hear the words of successful writers and be inspired!

Target Audience: All AALL members

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify the real interests that lie at the heart of conflict.
2) Participants will be able to generate creative options to resolve conflict.

This interactive program offers an introduction to interest-based negotiation. University of Richmond law professor and former law school dean, John Douglass, will teach participants about the basic skills of problem solving, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Through a series of skits, role plays, and real-life examples, participants will identify the real interests that lie at the heart of conflict, generate creative options to resolve conflict, seek and use information that leads to more satisfactory resolutions, and deal with emotional issues that can sidetrack effective communication. These valuable lessons can be tried at home, on the job, and within professional associations as well. These timely lessons may be particularly beneficial to associations when they are increasingly asked to confront hotly contested issues and members struggle to reach meetings of the minds.

Target Audience: Librarians who want to become more comfortable with technology and learn about easily adoptable tools that can be used to improve library websites, marketing, services, or instruction sessions

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify and compare technologies that libraries across the country have implemented to improve library services.
2) Participants will be able to select and implement technologies appropriate to their libraries.

It can be hard to keep up with the constant changes in the world of information technology, tools, gadgets, and apps. During this session, visit stations of tech-savvy librarians who will perform short demos of a myriad of available technologies that they have implemented in libraries of all kinds and sizes. There are tools to help with marketing, sharing information, citation, personal productivity, research, and teaching. These emerging technologies come in the shape of browser add-ons, software, mobile apps, and web 2.0 tools.

Target Audience: International law research and information specialists, who in the course of their duties, need to identify major sources of legislation, information, and research trends in the area of discussion

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will compare major research centers, identify scholars in the field of Internet privacy, and analyze major areas of academic research and interest in regard to protection of personal identifiable (PI) information online.
2) Participants will be able to summarize all major research and legislative developments in the United States and European Union on issues of privacy protection online, and will be able to compare and assess U.S. and European approaches to the problem.

The Law Library of Congress will host an interactive roundtable discussion that will highlight U.S. and European approaches toward various legal problems associated with protection and preservation of personal information submitted online. Academics and practitioners will analyze existing laws, regulations, and policies in the United States and abroad, and compare methods of regulating the usage of personal information online, assess the safety of Internet searches, and review the possibility to remain anonymous behind an IP address. The session speakers will conduct a case study examining major scholarly and legislative developments in the United States and Western Europe in the field of personal online information protection, and they will debate the adequacy of privacy measures proposed by the U.S. Congress and FTC in comparison with European Union directives that provide for broader co-regulation by interested parties. Privacy protection policies formulated in landmark court decisions and specifics of data protection in varied countries will be examined and presented in a form of a debate between proponents of U.S. and European approaches.

Target Audience: Librarians interested in discovering new collection management techniques and developing innovative client services

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will gain ideas for implementing new library services.
2) Participants will be able to compare how other libraries are changing their collection development standards with their own practices.

The twin pressures of budget restrictions and increasing demand for services have inspired many creative responses from law librarians. Librarians will benefit from sharing their best practices and experiences with each other. This session will use the “fishbowl technique” to engage audience members in a discussion of innovative practices being implemented at their own libraries. The moderators will facilitate an ongoing conversation among 4-6 rotating participants from the audience and encourage questions from the audience, as well.

Target Audience: Anyone who wants an overview of the wide range of contexts in which social media law arises (attorney professional conduct, health law, securities law, marketing and adverting, and family law, to name a few), as well as those who want to understand permissible and impermissible social media uses by employees, according to the latest guidance from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), including a  run-down of non-NLRB case law involving social media and employers/employees

Learning Outcomes:

1) Participants will get an overview of the numerous areas of law touched by social media and the thorny issues created for companies, regulators, and courts. 

2) Participants will learn the many ways employees (rank and file, managers, and C-level executives) have used social media with (often) unintended negative consequences, and what employers can do about it. They will learn the factors established by the NLRB that identify (or nullify) a violation of the National Labor Relations Act, based on an employee’s use of social media.

A Twitter-happy chief financial officer is relieved of his duties after too many tweets about company business. The Wall Street Journal writes an article on the CFO and quotes his tweets in the paper. The company’s stock drops. A Michigan medical technician is fired after posting on Facebook that she hoped a “cop killer” she worked on that day “rotted in hell.” 

Social media legal issues come into play in these areas and more: intellectual property (a blogger or employee uses your company logo on a blog—how do you protect your trademark, your brand?), courtroom/litigation issues (can a judge friend a lawyer, can an attorney have a third party “friend” a juror?), family law (use of social media photographs and postings in divorce, child custody cases), securities law (a Facebook entry from a C-level employee posts: “Can’t wait to get back from Bentonville, Ark. tomorrow with the team – fingers crossed that we can pull this off!” Given that Wal-Mart is headquartered in Bentonville, is the C-level employee spilling inside information about an upcoming merger?), health law (can doctors demand that patients sign a release prior to treatment promising not to review the doctor on a site such as Angie’s List?).  

An emerging body of social media law does exist, and a number of federal agencies (FTC, NLRB, SEC, EEOC and perhaps soon the FDA), as well as state attorneys general, are enforcing with increasing gusto. The National Labor Relations Board has adopted a policy that every social media case be referred to Washington, to assure uniformity in the board’s approach to the emerging issue, and says that every NLRB regional office in the country is handling at least one social media-related case. What are the standards when employees post social media messages about work while off duty, on their own computers, in their own homes? How are courts ruling? What can employers do? What should a social media policy say? You’ll learn all this and more in a session on social media, with a special emphasis on social media issues in the workplace.

Target Audience: Librarians in all types of law libraries who are interested in expanding their current roles within their organizations in areas outside of the library; librarians who may be charged with additional responsibilities within their parent organization

Learning Outcomes:
1)  Participants will be able to identify new and different ways they can use their existing skills to find innovative opportunities within their organizations.
2)  Participants will learn how law libraries can implement embedded librarian programs, and identify strategies for creating an embedded librarian program specific to their own organization’s needs.

More and more, librarians are thinking outside the library and discovering that expanding their traditional roles can make them more valuable to their parent organizations.  Embedded librarian programs have unique relevance for law libraries, and they can look very different depending on the type of organization they serve.  This program will give three different perspectives on utilizing embedded librarians to improve the interaction between librarians, faculty, attorneys, and other library users in academic, law firm, and government law libraries. The panelists will impart how organizations benefit from these programs and what elements are needed to implement a successful program. The presentations will be followed by guided roundtable discussions specific to the types of law library in order to explore the challenges and possibilities of launching an embedded librarian program.

Target Audience: Librarians who teach, whether the instruction is in the form of a library workshop, bibliographic instruction, or a for-credit legal research course.

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to question students effectively in the classroom and encourage learning on a variety of levels.
2) Participants will be able to use controversial subjects to engage students in legal research on cutting-edge areas of the law.

The hardest questions don’t always have easy answers. Legal research instructors need to ask hard questions—covering content, assessing student understanding, and moving instruction forward. Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a basis for instructors to consider as they develop questions for their students. The speakers in this program will describe effective questioning strategies in light of Bloom’s Taxonomy and demonstrate how to ask effective questions. Audience members will participate in a brief discussion of high-interest—and often controversial—subjects and how to use them to raise student interest when teaching.

Target Audience: Law firm librarians; faculty services librarians; anyone training experienced attorneys

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to understand how to articulate and present best practices in cross-platform research.
2) Participants will be able to acquire the tools for presenting information to a seasoned group of attorneys, helping them adapt to a changing mix of legal resources.

As more and more resources move online, many experienced attorneys wonder: When should you still use print resources, and when should you use electronic ones? Are there best practices for when to use each in the research process? Librarians have an opportunity to help these attorneys, many of whom graduated from law school before the digital revolution, by hosting a review of how to use print and online resources together in a strategic way to accomplish research goals. Learn about one law firm’s experience in presenting cross-platform research training to a mixed-generation group of attorneys, and review the best practices they developed for when to use each kind of resource. You’ll also get tips on how to present information to an experienced audience of professionals from a vendor representative.

Target Audience: Public law librarians who work with self-represented litigants

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify important factors to consider in the development and design of online dynamic legal forms.
2) Participants will receive coaching on how to navigate and address political issues surrounding the creation of dynamic legal forms.

Online intelligent legal forms are the future of form delivery for self-represented litigants. However, developing such forms can be labor intensive and complex. If your state or county court is considering developing online dynamic legal forms, you will want to learn from first adopters about what works well and what doesn’t, as well as how TurboForms will impact all public law librarians. Speakers will address the creation of a vendor-supported and fee-based system implemented state-wide in Arizona (TurboCourt), as well as a large metropolitan county court’s home-grown and free system (eCourt in Maricopa County), which is used by select other county court systems in the same state.

This session will be webcast from Boston on AALL2go (member login required).

Target Audience: Library managers from all types of libraries involved with the budgeting process

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to design and conduct a numbers-based evaluation of library staff, online and print resources, and services when considering budget cuts.
2) Participants will be able to analyze the value of staff, resources, and services, and then demonstrate how that value affects the institutional budget – thus, proving the true worth of librarians.

Librarians are frequently faced with budget cuts and stymied when needing more staff and resources to provide adequate services. Libraries are often targeted for reduction because management believes everything is online, and librarians fail to document needs with hard numbers. This program will show you how to compute the value of library staff, how to compare the cost and use of online research services, how to determine which services can be eliminated, and how to create more value for the law library. The speakers will demonstrate how to obtain the numbers needed to improve long-range planning and financial management, and will discuss how to use these measurements to proactively influence decision-makers.

Target Audience: All librarians who work at institutions with collections on indigenous law of the Americas

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to explain the structure and philosophy of the new indigenous law schedules.
2) Participants will be able to locate indigenous law topics in the new Library of Congress Portal for reference and resource classification.

Dr. Jolande Goldberg is working on the newest Library of Congress (LC) schedule, Law of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (Classes KIA-KIX), which is expected to be completed prior to July 2012. Throughout the schedule are links to primary sources in indigenous law. She will show how the indigenous law schedule can be utilized via ClassWeb, to support not just cataloging activities, but also collection development and reference services in exciting new ways. George Prager will then discuss his work at LC, reclassifying relevant parts of the collection into the new schedule.

Target Audience: Academic librarians or others who regularly welcome new patrons

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to compare different approaches in providing an orientation to the law school library.
2) Participants will able to locate resources on how to develop their own orientation activities.

Library orientation is always difficult: How do you get your patrons to learn about the library, while keeping them engaged? How do you introduce research to students who are more worried about getting their parking pass and financial aid figured out? How do you connect with new associates in a meaningful way so that they feel comfortable approaching you in the future?

Arming your librarians with different strategies for engagement is key to a successful orientation – and a valued library. From Battledecks-style presentations to balloon towers in the reading room, this presentation will provide in-class and in-library activities you can use to get to know your students and get them to know your library. It will also explore how to reach students through virtual tours using Prezi, creating videos to personalize the library, and other ways to include orientation activities in your library’s online presence. Law firms present their own challenges when it comes to associate, paralegal, and staff orientations. This presentation will also draw from experiences conducting orientations in a large law firm setting and demonstrate how early engagement leads to more valued firm librarians and firm libraries.

Target Audience: Librarians who provide services to pro ses or are interested in providing access to the courts

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to explain two examples of model programs to their stakeholders.
2) Participants will be able to compare federal, state, and county programs that assist self-represented litigants.

Federal courts assistance to self-represented litigants is relatively recent compared to efforts at state and county levels. This program will look at self-represented litigants in the federal courts, with an in-depth look at two pilot district court clerk’s office projects: the Pro Se Assistance Program in the Northern District of Illinois, which provides basic legal information and contacts with pro bono attorneys, and the Pro Se Pathfinder in the District of New Jersey, which is an electronic resource to help people determine whether they are eligible for bankruptcy and helps complete basic forms. Comparisons with state and county efforts will be made.

Target Audience: All AALL members interested in participating in the development of a portal to and repository of local, state, national, tribal, international, and transnational legislative information

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to summarize the relationship of collecting and making accessible digital content through the Law Library of Congress website, and the Law Library’s ongoing mission to collect and preserve print collections.

2) Participants will be able to interact with Law Library of Congress personnel, articulating options and opportunities for law libraries to collaborate in building a national repository and portal for law and legislation.

AALL supports the Law Library of Congress’s concept, effort to create, and management of Law.gov , a portal to and repository of local, state, tribal, national, international, and transnational legal and legislative information. Law Library representatives will provide an overview of Project ONE at the Library of Congress and the Law.gov access point; updates to THOMAS in 2012 and what's next; possible metadata standards for future search indexing in Law.gov; and future technologies for Law.gov. Emily Feltren, Director of the AALL Government Relations Office, will discuss the federal and state inventories of legal materials. Participants will be asked to provide input on what models for collaboration would be most effective to develop and sustain this exciting initiative.

Target Audience: Librarians who need to be aware of succession planning in their departments

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify and list issues, problems, and ramifications involved in successful succession planning.
2) Participants will be able to design and implement a successful succession plan for their departments and libraries.

As the professional and paraprofessional librarian population ages, new members must be recruited, hired, and trained to manage and continue to develop our public and technical services departments and operations. Staff may be retiring, or absent from work for extended periods due to maternity, medical, military, and other leave needs. Regardless of job titles or how jobs may have changed over the years, this program will focus on concerns, issues, and implementation plans as staff retires or takes extended leave and “passes the baton” to newer members of the law library community. How do you recruit and train replacements? How do you seamlessly return to work after an extended absence? What historical information do you impart about institutions and departments so that the library can continue to be responsive to its ever-changing patron community? Program speakers will address technology tools and communications necessary for smoothly managing succession to accommodate retirements and/or planned extended absences. The program will conclude with an interactive discussion among presenters and attendees.

Target Audience: Librarians interested in reference and research, client services, access services

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify how to put customer service ideas into action plans while getting library staff buy-in on a new customer service and marketing plan.
2) Participants will be able to list at least three creative ideas on how to shake up their image and create that corporate brand loyalty feeling.

Customer service, image, and marketing are important in gaining loyalty from consumers in the corporate world, but they are just as important in all types of law libraries. While certain companies automatically make you think of great customer service, others can be quite the opposite. Learn how you can create better customer satisfaction and loyalty in your library, while having a little fun along the way. Shake things up, get some new ideas, and put them into action!

Target Audience: Information technology librarians, technical services librarians

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will glean a comprehensive view of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographical Records (FRBR) family models, especially the third model for subject authority data.
2) Participants will be able to explain how the Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD) conceptual model can be applied to international and local subject authority data.

The Resource Description and Access (RDA) description standard incorporated the Functional Requirements for Bibliographical Records (FRBR) and Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) models, with plans to include Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD) in the near future. This program will use non-technical terminology to provide an overview of all three models and discuss how they may be harmonized to create one comprehensive model. The third model published in June 2011, Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD), provides a clearly defined, structured frame of reference for relating subject authority records to the needs of the users and to allow for the development of international sharing and data use of subject authority records both within and beyond the library sector.

Target Audience: Librarians who have some experience with patent research but need to progress to the advanced level to support their IP practice

Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to develop and execute comprehensive investigations on patent post-issuance information to support their IP practice.
2) Participants will be able to better discuss, assess, and execute searches related to patent documents to meet user needs.

Do you have experience with patent information, but lack confidence navigating the complexities of the post-issuance landscape? Join us for this session where the emphasis will be on research skills for post-issuance data, such as constructing a patent family tree, finding related litigation, checking legal status, and determining current ownership. The speakers will detail current tools and resources to help users find this information, as well as discuss the varying vocabulary used to represent these important legal concepts. This session will give a comprehensive answer to the question: “I have a patent number — now, what information can I find from it?”