The New Jersey Law Librarians Association had a productive year, offering educational programming for our members, increasing our membership, and maintaining our financial health.
Our Program Committee presented several interesting events this year, including a substantive presentation on tax research, “Secrets of Tax Research”; and “The Changing Face of Family Law” presented by a seasoned family law practitioner. Both programs were well received by the attendees. We had our annual brown bag luncheon in February, “Tips, Tricks and Questions”. For the first time, this event was hosted in two locations, connected by video conference. Since this was very successful, the committee hopes to use video conferencing for more programs in the future. We also had our always enjoyable holiday party. The association year started off with a visit from AALL Past President, Holly Riccio at our 2016 Annual Business Meeting.
The Community Service Committee actively solicited donations at events throughout the year in support of different causes including: non-perishable food items for the Interfaith Food Pantry; books and pajamas for the Pajama Project; pet supplies for Marty’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary; and supplies and gift cards for the Ronald McDonald House, New Brunswick.
The Government and Legal Affairs Committee continued to monitor the Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (UELMA). However, there was no progress forthcoming from the Law Review Commission during this year.
The Grants and Awards Committee selected the recipient for the NJLLA Founder’s Grant. The Committee also awarded the AALL Annual Meeting Chapter Registration Award (given to our Chapter once every three years).
The Outreach Education Committee, along with LibraryLinkNJ, presented a full day program, “How to Find the Law: Introduction to Basic Legal Reference”. This program is designed to teach legal research basics to non-law librarians who are then better able to assist their patrons in researching the law. The class covers court systems and case law, statutes and legislation, administrative law, secondary sources, and internet resources. The program was well-received and the attendees were very appreciative of the information provided during the session. The Committee hopes to be able to present a revamped version of the “Bridge the Gap” program for law school students in the coming year.
The Guidelines Committee continued to update sections and delete obsolete procedures from the NJLLA Manual of Policy and Procedure.
The Public Relations Committee continued to post photos from all programs/events on NJLLA’s Facebook page and the NJLLA Website. The Committee also submitted a photo of the Executive Board (taken at the Annual Business Meeting) to the New Jersey Law Journal.
The Technology Committee continues to update the NJLLA website, listserv, and social media with the association’s news, reminders and photos. The Committee works diligently to keep our website running problem-free.
The NJLLA officers for 2016-2017 were Joanne Murphy, President; Sheryll Rappaport, Vice President/President-Elect; Dianne Oster, Past President; Anne Shulman, Treasurer; Rebecca Kunkel, Secretary; Johanna Bizub, Member-At-Large; and Leigh DeProspo, Member-At-Large.
Respectfully Submitted,
Joanne Murphy, President 2016-2017