President's Message
From the President’s Desk
November 2011
As an association, CALL/ACBD benefits immensely from the willingness of our members to sit on various committees. The Executive, as a Board and as individual liaisons to the committees, determines policy, approves budgets and provides guidance; however, it is our standing and special committees that carry out the important business of our Association and ensure maximum benefits to our members. In this column, I want to highlight the work of some of our committees during the last five months. The efforts of our unsung heroes advance us in our mission of developing and supporting legal information specialists now and into the future.
New Website
On October 14, we launched our new website. The site integrates great new features, including blog space, news updates, RSS and newly revised and updated content. Many of the new features are only available if you are logged in, so if you have not yet looked at the new site and signed in as a member, I encourage you to do so now. (If your user identification and password does not work the first time you log in, click on “Request new password” in the top right User Login box on the Home page). A webinar for CALL/ACBD members, to demonstrate the new site and its functionality, is being planned for the near future.
I am pleased that Michel-Adrien Sheppard has agreed to chair the new Website Editorial Board. Michel-Adrien, well known as blogger Library Boy, brings a background in journalism, in addition to his knowledge of law libraries, to the newly created position of Website Editor. The website will continue to evolve and be enhanced under the direction of a newly appointed Editorial Board who will be responsible for developing policies and guidelines about the use of the website and for ensuring that members are keeping the content current. A copy of the Board’s mandate is available on the website.
The dream of a new website was made a reality due to the perseverance and direction of Rosalie Fox, who made the website her mandate when she became President; to the endless hours spent by Connie Crosby, who applied her technical knowledge, social media expertise and organizational abilities to every aspect of the website planning and design; and, to the able assistance of Liana Giovando, who was instrumental in moving the information on the old site to the new platform and arranging it according to sound principles of content management. The Website Planning Committee also benefitted from the involvement of Susan Jones when she sat on the Executive Board as the liaison to the Communications Portfolio and of staff at National Office who act as our website administrator. Special thanks to all the members who tested the site pre-launch and filled out the forms for corrections. The correction forms remain active on the new site, so if you encounter a glitch, fill out the brief form and let us know.
Vendor Liaison Committee
The newly appointed chair of the Vendor Liaison Committee, Agathe Bujold, has found herself in the middle of the controversy created when Carswell informed customers that the company would no longer sell replacement contents only for loose-leaf subscriptions. Agathe, together with fellow CALL member, Laurel Murdoch, who chairs the TALL Publisher Liaison Committee, met by telephone with representatives of Carswell to articulate the concerns of members, to pose previously drafted questions of clarification and to discuss options. Following the meeting, a copy of the questions and answers was posted on the website. The Vendor Liaison Committee is continuing to discuss ways of proactively and effectively responding to the impact on collection development and budgets that this announcement will have for members. We expect to hear more on the topic in future. In the meantime, you are encouraged to voice your concerns to Doug Chaulk, Director, Customer & Corporate Services, doug.chaulk@thomsonreuters.com and copy Agathe, abujold@mccarthy.ca.
Scholarships and Awards Committee
Under the able leadership of Ann Marie Melvie, the Scholarships and Awards Committee has taken a serious look at criteria and timing to try and link the various awards administered by the committee to better serve the membership. The nomination process for the Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship has been amended:
- The nomination requires the support of five CALL/ACBD members.
- Only two of the nominees need to write a letter of support.
The deadline for nominations is the end of November, so submit your nomination for a current member of CALL/ACBD who has provided outstanding service to the Association and/or enhanced the profession of law librarianship in the recent past.
Education Committee
The Education Committee, chaired by Jennifer Walker, continues to be active through the work of various subcommittees. Daniel Perlin is coordinating the visits of CALL/ACBD members to colleges and universities across Canada offering library programs. The visits are an opportunity for students to hear about law librarianship and ask questions about the profession. It is also an opportunity for members to talk about the benefits of belonging to CALL/ACBD.
The webinar subcommittee, chaired by Liana Giovando is offering a second season of informative presentations. Two webinars have already been held: The New Collaboration Tools: Let's Work Together! (Speakers: Connie Crosby & Kathie Sullivan) and Legislative Tips & Tricks: Researching Federal and Ontario legislation (Speakers: Rick Sage & Caroline Hyslop). We invite you to join us for the following upcoming webinars:
- November 16th - Yahoo Pipes: Slicing and Dicing RSS Feeds for Legal Practice Groups. Speaker: Michel Gamache
- January 19th - Building an RFP: How to Identify Your Needs. Speakers: Paul Berry and Deirdre Grimes
- March - Special presentation by Lexis, topic to be announced. This session is an entitlement of the Platinum sponsorship Lexis provided at our annual conference in Calgary. It will be offered free to CALL/ACBD members only. Not a sales presentation, this will be an opportunity for LexisNexis to share the expertise of its organization in an area of interest to the membership. There is an upper limit of 95 open lines but you can have as many individuals with you in the room as you want. This is a great opportunity to get together with fellow members to hear the presentation and to invite non-CALL members to join you.
KF Modified Committee
Although the number of CALL/ACBD members who work full time in technical services may be few, their contribution to the Association is mighty. Tim Knight chairs the KF Modified Committee which has responsibility for quarterly updates to the KF Modified classification schedule, a publication of CALL/ACBD. Recent enhancements to Environmental Law (KF3775) and Labour Law (KF3300) were developed by Humayun Rashid and Alain Rochefort, reviewed by Committee members and revised for inclusion in the 4th Quarter update. Tim communicates committee activities through the KF Modified blog. Readership continues to be steady with a total of 1,676 page views this year with an average of about 167 views per month. A more regular posting schedule is planned including some exercise based posts to assist KF Modified users with their application of classification numbers.
As CALL/ACBD’s representative to the Canadian Committee on Cataloguing, Tim has been monitoring the implementation of RDA in libraries throughout North America. He provides reports to the CALL/ACBD membership whenever possible and wrote a short overview on
Conference Planning Committee 2012
Plans are well underway for our next annual meeting and conference in Toronto, May 6 – 9, 2012 at the Fairmont Royal York hotel. Wendy Reynolds, CPC Chair, and her committee members are excited about welcoming us to their city. Expect to hear more about “Where’s CALL-DO” soon. Mark your calendars to arrive in the city early to attend a pre-conference workshop or regional tours on May 5.
Join a Committee!
This is just a brief overview of some of the work some of our committees do. A full list of committees is available on the website. The links on the new website also provide more detail about the mandate and activities of each committee. Is there one in which you would like to become involved? Send me an e-mail; e-mail the committee chair, or fill out the information in your profile under “My Account” on the new website. Working on a CALL/ACBD committee enhances your resumé, introduces you to new colleagues, provides networking opportunities and gives you a chance to show yourself to be an engaged and dynamic legal information specialist.
Cyndi Murphy
President
cmurphy@stewartmckelvey.com
902.490.8573
