Canadian Association of Law Libraries call for conference proposals

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to speak with members of the Toronto Association of Law Libraries about the synergies between knowledge management, law librarianship and process improvement.  I hope to speak on similar issues at the CALL Conference in May 2016.

Do you have a particular innovation or area of competence to share with your colleagues? Sharing is VERY rewarding.  Perhaps you should consider the next call for proposals that crosses your desk like this one:

2016 Conference Call for Proposals

We are currently accepting conference programming proposals that reflect the CALL Professional Development Pathways.

Even if you are part of a special interest group or committee, you are welcome to independently pitch your own idea! We look forward to reviewing submissions from across the spectrum of our membership until Saturday, October 31st.

Conference Session Submission Form

Lightning Talk Submission Form

We will notify you by December 1, 2015 if your program is selected.

Conference Website

More about the CALL Professional Development Pathways: First proposed in response to the 2014 member needs survey, CALL’s Board approved the Professional Development Pathways in August 2015 after extensive consultations with CALL members. Accompanying the PD Pathways is a Board-approved plan of action to implement this framework for professional development throughout CALL conference planning and regular educational offerings.

  
#CALLACBD

Survey: Alberta Law Libraries

Attention: Law librarians

The Law Society of Alberta is seeking input from the legal community on our future involvement in funding of Alberta Law Libraries. The consultation will solicit input from practicing lawyers, the judiciary, law librarians and other stakeholders on library usage patterns, emerging trends in use of online resources, and how the libraries support professional competency.

Please take five minutes to complete the following survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PKQ8TFR by Friday, June 27th. Your feedback is appreciated and will be used to inform future decisions regarding the governance and funding of the Alberta Law Libraries.

My perspective: As a law firm librarian, I rely on the expertise of the staff at Alberta Law Libraries, the currency and breadth of their collection, and their presence in Courthouses where my lawyer team members have immediate access to resources.  

There is no way that a law firm, even large firms, can maintain a 'just in case' collection.  Institutions like Alberta Law Libraries are an extremely important industry partner to law firms with in house library staff, just as they are to small and solo practitioners, self-represented litigants and the judiciary.

I hope that stakeholders will take the time to answer this survey.  

If you think that you only use your law firm collection, remember the times that your law firm library staff have "zipped over to the courthouse library" or "called the courthouse library" to retrieve an essential piece of the legal research puzzle. Perhaps you remember attending a Head Start event. Maybe you popped in to the Alberta Law Libraries to use on of the research tools that they license for your benefit. Perhaps you selected a research guide on their website. Maybe you follow their blog.

As for me, I will be hanging out at the Edmonton site of Alberta Law Libraries for the next two days as we partner, through the Edmonton Law Libraries Association, to offer the Head Start legal research training program to 48 articling students and use the essential expertise of ALL librarians and the collections and services they offer as a resource. 

Edmonton Law Libraries Association

I believe in active participation in professional organizations. Despite this firmly held belief, until recently I have only held appointed roles for the Edmonton Law Libraries Association. For the next two years I will fill the post of Chair of the Edmonton Law Libraries Association.  I am joined by the team of Gina Linden (Dentons) as Secretary-Treasurer, Julie Olson (Alberta Law Libraries),  Member at Large, and Melissa Hathaway (Dentons) our Web Manager.

September to October each year is our annual membership drive. I hope to see many familiar faces at our September 25th business meeting where we will be discussing an initiative to identify the 'last' local print copy of legal resource material and our newly relaunched website and blog.

Desirable personality traits in the legal industry

One of my favourite "To Read" sites is 3 Geeks and a Law Blog. Today they share
Elephant Post: What Is The Most Important Trait To Have In Your Profession?. I would highly recommend you read this whole post which has contributions by a wide variety of legal folk who chose to comment on one of a list of 24 personality traits that Greg Lambert and his blog colleagues identified from the book Character Strengths and Virtues by Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman.

The list of traits included:

Zest: approaching life with excitement and energy; feeling alive and activated
Grit: finishing what one starts; completing something despite obstacles; a combination of persistence and resilience.
Self-control: regulating what one feels and does; being self-disciplined
Social intelligence: being aware of motives and feelings of other people and oneself
Gratitude: being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen
Love: valuing close relationships with others; being close to people
Hope: expecting the best in the future and working to achieve it
Humor: liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people; seeing a light side
Creativity: coming up with new and productive ways to think about and do things
Curiosity: taking an interest in experience for its own sake; finding things fascinating
Open-mindedness: examining things from all sides and not jumping to conclusions
Love of learning: mastering new skills and topics on one’s own or in school
Wisdom: being able to provide good advice to others
Bravery: not running from threat, challenge, or pain; speaking up for what’s right
Integrity: speaking the truth and presenting oneself sincerely and genuinely
Kindness: doing favors and good deeds for others; helping them; taking care of them
Citizenship: working well as a member of a group or team; being loyal to the group
Fairness: treating all people the same; giving everyone a fair chance
Leadership: encouraging a group of which one is a valued member to accomplish
Forgiveness: forgiving those who’ve done wrong; accepting people’s shortcomings
Modesty: letting one’s victories speak for themselves; not seeking the spotlights
Prudence/Discretion: being careful about one’s choices; not taking undue risks
Appreciation of beauty: noticing and appreciating all kinds of beauty and excellence
Spirituality: having beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe

Not surprising to me, librarians who contributed identified curiosity (x3 if you include Greg), social intelligence, citizenship, hope, and grit.

I was surprised that open-mindedness made the list from a (clearly superior and clever) Helpdesk Supervisor.

One of the personality traits that isn't on the list is Self awareness. In my opinion, knowing your strengths and weaknesses and the things that motivate you or drive you to procrastinate is a crucial part of being good at your profession. If you are unaware of what is driving you, it is difficult to know what kind of road to choose. Perhaps self awareness is less a personality trait and more a learned or naturally acquired skill.

I look forward to next week's Elephant Post offering of the least desirable personality traits in 'your' profession. Check it out next Friday, or be brave and contribute.

CALL Conference 2011

Look out Calgary, the law librarians are descending.

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries conference and annual general meeting is being held May 15-18. Because the conference is in our backyard, all of the Field Library Staff will be attending, and thus we will not be in the office.

The Receptionists have my cell if you get stuck.