Zoraida Michaud
AALL Annual Meeting, Baltimore, 2018
Thank you to the NJLLA Board for awarding me the very generous Founder’s Grant, which made it possible for me to attend the 111th AALL Annual Meeting and Conference in Baltimore, Maryland last month.
As in previous years the conference was a marathon of programs, meetings, networking activities, but best of all, it afforded me and my fellow librarians an opportunity to meet in one place with our many colleagues from around the county and other parts of the world to share our collective knowledge. This year’s conference was especially memorable to me because I’ve had the good fortune to work as a law librarian in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, New York and New Jersey. Baltimore proved to be the perfect location to get reacquainted with former colleagues and reignite lost connections.
But I digress. Let the marathon begin…. First up, the PLLIP SIS Summit, titled “Being The Change: The Power of Process” led by keynote speaker Catherine MacDonagh, founder of Lean Six Sigma, a consulting firm that uses a model that relies on collaborative team effort to improve performance and removes waste to increase the value of a department . The summit focused on the idea of the power of process within our organization with the implicit goal of reducing defects in project management. Mrs. MacDonagh discussed various scenarios and during the breakout sessions, we were invited to come up with examples and possible solutions to a challenging project management issue.
Day two of the conference (marathon) and in my opinion, the most memorable moment of the entire day, was listening to this year’s Opening Session Keynote Speaker, Baltimore’s very own, the amazing John Waters. Words cannot begin to describe my absolute giddiness and the complete fan-girl geek moment I experienced. Mr. Waters took us on a journey through his childhood and his film career, which started in the early 60’s after being kicked out of NYU for smoking pot. He moved back to Baltimore and started making films not deemed politically correct, that were self-written, self-produced and self-financed. His flamboyant cast of characters, such as Divine, became a huge cult sensation. Today, his films are made into plays and television shows, Hairspray being one of the most memorable.
Now back to reality and day three or as I called it “Mile 17.” As I came down from my John Water’s high from the previous day, I decided to focus on my main goal of the conference and that was to consume as much AI (artificial intelligence) information as I could gather. So for the next two days I set out to do just that. Along the way I picked up a small heaping spoonful of “library marketing” to add to my information gathering plate. I figured the two could somehow work together.
So what did I find out, you ask… Well, there was “Powered by AI, Built in the Library” which had the promise to be the most instructive and I was so ready for it. Unfortunately, the panelist could not really discuss in detail the specifics of building their particular Chatbot except to say what is required to build one some with no programing, how to maintain it so that it is responsive to patrons needs, and how to evaluate their performance.
Next there was “How AI is Both Changing and Fooling The World” presented by Thomson Reuters, developers of the new platform called Westlaw Edge. The speakers, Mike Dahn (Project Management SVP) and Khalid Al-Kofahi (Head of the Cognitive Computing Centre) led an hour long discussion on the impact of AI, how it works, how it is transforming the legal profession and our everyday live, and how to evaluate AI claims and not get caught up in the hype.
Finally, the third program I attended, titled “From Concept to Deliverable” Build Your Own Law Library Chatbot” led by a panel of law firm and academic librarians who discussed the various AI tools they’ve created and implemented to enhance the way they deliver legal research to their patrons. My favorite idea was that of the library “ChatBot.” This innovation can be used internally by library patrons to get answers to frequently asked questions. The “ChatBot” can answer questions 24 hours a day and can direct the patron to other sources should it lack the knowledge to answer immediately.
In between my consumption of all things AI, I also managed to get a side of “marketing your library services” in the form of two programs. The first one titled “Reaching the Invisible Customer’ and “It’s All about the Relationships: Marketing to Your Library’s Stakeholders” respectively were guides on how to reach people in your organization that you would not normally consider patrons and developing relationships outside of the typical email conversation to market the services the library provides. This can be done in the form of presentation in practice group meetings or by having informal conversation with your “stakeholders” and asking what the library can do for them. The idea is that being approachable is the key to marketing as long as you do not become a nuisance. You want to attract customers in a way that is memorable and effective. Some of the examples used were providing candy or having pop-up tutorials, attending practice group meeting or volunteering for special event in which you may have the opportunity to engage with the patrons.
Overall, It was an extremely successful conference and I came away with the knowledge that I had acquired some very valuable information to share with my colleagues. I look forward to the next opportunity to attend.