The 2014 American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting has come and gone in San Antonio. It was great to meet up with librarians from all over to network, learn, and come away energized with new ideas for the coming year.
Some of the highlights for me personally were the thought-provoking keynote speaker, Andrew Keen, who challenged us to aggressively find a future for the vital skills in our profession; learning about some of the mysteries of law firm pricing from 3 Geeks’ Toby Brown; and exploring how to “bridge the gap” between law school learning and law firm research needs. Check out AALL’s Highlights page for more resources on what went on in San Antonio.
While the New Jersey contingent in San Antonio was small, many of us did manage to find each other at some point. It helped that NJLLA hosted this year’s joint chapter reception between our chapter, LLAGNY, and ALLUNY. Our own Sheryll Rappaport of McCarter & English came away the winner of the gift basket of goodies donated by NJLLA. I’m sure she will enjoy reading through the “Weird NJ” book while she munches on some Atlantic City salt water taffy.
Of course, this year’s NJLLA Founders Grant winner, Lusiella Fazzino, also attended the conference, and she shares her experiences here in her post-conference grant essay. One of the fun things about the annual conference is that there is something there for everyone, so Lucy’s experiences and educational sessions were totally different than mine. Take a look at her essay. And if you attended AALL, please share your thoughts in the comments section.
Next year’s AALL meeting is closer to home in Philadelphia, so we hope many more NJLLA members will be making an appearance there in 2015.
Enjoy what remains of the summer. We will be updating the membership soon with information about our first fall event.
Cheers,
Carrie Hayter
NJLLA President