A Chapter of The American Association of Law Libraries

Inside This IssueMember News / HALL 30th Anniversary Preparations . . . . 2Vendor Relations Forum / AALL Continuing Education. . . 3AALL Report: St. Louis Tootle-oo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4DALL/HALL/SWALL Reception Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9AALL Report: Fresh from St. Louis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Editor’s Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10HALL Officers, 1973-2007. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Volume 23, Number 4 July/August 2006

Fromthe President...

Susan Spillman, South Texas College of Law

I’m excited about beginning a new HALL year! I attended thefull day AALL Chapter Leadership Conference in St. Louis. Ourown Blythe McCoy presented two great sessions. One on “NeedsAssessment” and another on “Marketing the Program.” In caseyou didn’t know, Kim Serna was also elected as the Chair ofCouncil Presidents for AALL this year. HALL was very wellrepresented! It was a great program to help with planning andrunning meetings. I’d really recommend it to our future officers.

Speaking of AALL … Mark Lambert prepared a wonderfuldisplay for HALL in the Organizations Area of the Exhibit Hall.We gave away rulers, Hall’s cough drops and HALL brochures.We also had a daily drawing for HALL t-shirts. Our winnerswere:

Patsy Bourke, LibrarianMiddleton Reutlinger, Louisville, KY

Mark Podvia, Associate Law Librarian and ArchivistPenn State University, Carlisle, PA

Enza Klotzbucher, Reference/ Interlibrary Loan LibrarianWidener University, Wilmington, DE

We will have the display at our August meeting for everyone tosee. Thanks, Mark!

Mary Ann Wacker has been working hard this summer and hassome great programs lined up for us. I think everyone will bepleased! If you have any ideas, please give her your input so wecan try to give you the kind of programs you need and willenjoy.

I am in the process of filling our Committee Chair positions. Iwould like to thank everyone who has devoted their time toHALL. Are you interested in serving as a chairperson orcommittee member of any of our committees? Most of our chairsdon’t mind continuing, but would probably be glad to letsomeone else take over. So, let me know if you are interested!

Continuing EducationTentative CalendarMary Ann Wacker, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

Here are the tentative plans for the first half of our 2006-07program year. This year we are considering having an eveningevent for our HALLiday party as we have had a luncheon thelast few years. Please let me know your thoughts.

If you have any topics or speakers that you would like to see at aHALL meeting or our spring seminar, please contact me atmaryann.wacker@bracewellgiuliani.com.

September Law Firm Economics, Part IIBlythe McCoy, Librarian Relations Manager

Thomson West

October Half Day Seminar - Polishing Your ImageSpeakers: Nancy Wilfong (Dress for Success),Tracy Everett (Working a Room/The Art of SmallTalk), Pat Strobel (TBD), and Catherine Whitney(Train With Confidence)

November Houston Public Library Downtown Renovation

December HALLiday Party

January Special Guest and Date - Tuesday, January 9th

What's New in Downtown HoustonMayor Bill White

July/August 2006 HALL Newsletter

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The HALL Newsletter, published 6 times a year by the HALL Publications Committee, is the official publication of the Houston Area LawLibrarians. The purpose is to communicate information to its members. Send contributions, comments, news items or advertising queries toBarbara Szalkowski, Editor, The Fred Parks Law Library, South Texas College of Law, 1303 San Jacinto, Houston, Texas 77002-7000; fax:(713) 659-2217; email: szalkow@stcl.edu ; or call (713) 646-1724.

All contributions submitted for publication are subject to editorial review. HALL does not assume responsibility for the statements ofcontributors. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Houston Area Law Librarians. The HALLNewsletter is not copyrighted, however, permission should be sought from the authors and credit given when quoting or photocopying materialfrom this publication.

Membership dues for HALL are $25.00 a year. For membership information, contact Laura Edstrom, Accounting Assistant, The Fred Parks LawLibrary,South Texas College of Law, 1303 San Jacinto, Houston, TX 77002-7000.

HALL home page: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/hall

2006-07 Membership DuesLaura Edstrom, South Texas College of Law

Please get your membership forms and your check for dues sentin ASAP, if you haven't done so already. Membership forms forthe June 2006-May 2007 membership year are available on ourwebsite http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/hall/dues06.pdf.Members who have not renewed by September 1 will beremoved from the Membership Directory, so please renew yourmembership today!

HALL Prepares for 30th

AnniversaryMark Lambert, HALL Archivist, South Texas College of Law

Our 30th anniversary is fast approaching in 2008! At the end ofthis issue is a listing of HALL officers historically that wascompiled from sources available in the HALL Archives. The listgoes back to 1973 to include persons before HALL became anactual functioning non-profit organization in 1978, in order togive credit to the early founders. If anybody finds any mistakesin the list, or can supply any additional information, pleasecontact me at mlambert@stcl.edu.

MemberNews...

Former HALL member Karl Gruben, Law Library Director andAssociate Professor of Law, St. Thomas University Law Library,Miami Gardens, FL is a candidate for AALL 2007-2008 VicePresident/President-Elect.

Patricia Huntsman, Catalog Librarian, Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.,attended the SydneyPLUS National User Group meeting inMinneapolis, April 27-28. There were 52 registrants representing4 corporations, 12 law firms, 4 Federal Reserve Bank offices,and 3 government agencies. SydneyPLUS is library softwaredesigned for large special libraries.

Mon Yin Lung, Associate Director, University of Houston LawLibrary, served on the 2006 AALL Nominations Committee.

Monica Ortale, Faculty Services & Reference Librarian, SouthTexas College of Law, is a candidate for member of the2007-2008 AALL Executive Board Member.

Kim Serna, Library Services Manager, Jones Day, was elected2006-2007 Chair of Council of Chapter Presidents at AALL inSt. Louis.

Welcome New Members!

Michael Daniels, student, University of Kansas School ofLaw/University of North Texas SLIS

Chris Dykes, Reference Librarian, University of Houston LawLibrary

HALL Newsletter July/August 2006

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AALL San Antonio Audio CDsAvailableHeather Waltman, South Texas College of Law

As a thank-you from AALL for HALL's spear-heading the localarrangements for last year's annual meeting in San Antonio,HALL received a complete set of the audio CDs containing theprograms and plenary sessions from that meeting.

South Texas College of Law will house this set in their maincollection and make it available for borrowing by HALLmembers through regular ILL channels for all HALL members,including individual HALL members who may not be affiliatedwith an institution. The set is cataloged in the STCL databasewith many alternate title access points, including the title"Strategize!," and all of the sessions are searchable by both titleand keyword.

The set consists of 6 CD boxes containing multipleCDs/programs. These boxes will be checked out, not theindividual CD/programs. If you are interested in borrowing anyof these CDs, you may do so by

1. Emailing your request to STCLILL@stcl.edu 2. Faxing your request to (713) 659-2217

Once your request has been received and processed, we willcontact you and make the CD available for pick-up at the PatronServices desk. As with all interlibrary loan requests, pleaseallow twenty-four hours for processing. ILL service is notavailable on weekends or college holidays.

If you have any questions or need any further information, pleasedon’t hesitate to contact me at hwaltman@stcl.edu.

Fall Vendor ForumsColleen Pincumbe, Thompson & Knight L.L.P.

Please mark your calendars for a couple of upcoming FallVendor Forums featuring “A Tour at Jones McClure Publishers”on Sept. 27 and “A HeinOnLine Update” on Oct. 25. Details areto follow on each of these events.

Vendor Forum presentations are provided for HALL Members toreview products and learn about services of legal and businesspublishers we interact with today. The content of thesepresentations may or may not be specific to the needs of all ofour libraries but these presentations help you evaluate just that.This platform is a valuable service of HALL as it not only givesyou the opportunity to view a product or learn about a new trendin library research or library management, but it also helps youstay on top of the nuances of the on-line products and serviceswe already utilize. More importantly it gets you connected with anetwork of product representatives and marketing individualsyou might deem necessary to invite to do a presentation for yourusers or your library administration.

AALL Continuing EducationGrants Program

The American Association of Law Libraries is pleased toannounce the AALL Continuing Education Grants Program(CEGP), designed to encourage program development andpromote sharing among AALL entities. The AALL grantsprogram will make available funding to chapters, SIS's, memberinstitutions, and individual AALL members to assist in providingongoing quality continuing education programming outside ofthe annual meeting.

Applications for Continuing Education Grants will be acceptedfor any amount and for the following purposes (including but notlimited to):

• Start up funds for an innovative format such as a webinar orpodcast

• Funding a partnership program between an SIS, Chapter, orCaucus

• Specific shortfall in program planner's budget for an alreadyplanned program for 2006-07

• Program content development of varying lengths

An online form for requests for educational programming fundsis available on http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/grant_program.aspGuidelines for program proposals and program evaluationcriteria are included. The deadline for receipt for the first roundof proposal requests is Friday, September 8, 2006. This is justthe first round of what will be many opportunities to requestfunds for continuing education programming.

The CEGP is a year-long program and grant proposals will beevaluated on a revolving basis throughout the year. The deadlinefor the second round of proposals will be announced later thisyear.

For further information, please contact any of these members ofthe Continuing Professional Education Committee:

Gretchen Van Damgretchen_van_dam@ca7.uscourts.gov

Susan Sieberssusan.siebers@kattenlaw.com

Tim Cogginstcoggins@richmond.edu

Celeste SmithAALL Education Managercsmith@aall.org

July/August 2006 HALL Newsletter

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St. Louis Toodle-ooPatricia Huntsman, Vinson & Elkins LLP

Each official program at the AALL meetings is identified withone of AALL’s Competencies of Law Librarianship. Compulsivecataloger that I am, I’m always interested to see whichcompetencies are designated for the programs I attended, so I’veorganized part of my report according to these. To review all thecompetencies, see p. 417 of the 2005-06 AALL Directory andHandbook, or go to http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/competencies.asp. Where noted, audio CDs of programs are available forpurchase at: http://www.mobiltape.com/.

Core Competencies for Law LibrarianshipDred Scott in St. Louis: Freedom Pioneer. Paul Finkelman,Albany Law School professor and 1986 recipient of AALLJoseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award for his book Slaveryin the Courtroom: an annotated bibliography of American cases(Library of Congress), was our first speaker. He provided us withthe legal background for the Supreme Court’s Dred Scottdecision. In 1846, Dred Scott was a slave who sued in the St.Louis federal court for his freedom on the basis of his travelswith his owner, and the differing state laws regarding slavery.

All of the nine justices wrote an opinion in this case, which wasquite unusual for this period in Court history. The opinion byChief Justice Taney was shocking in its conclusions that thefederal government did not have power to regulate federalterritories and that, under the Constitution, slavery was protectedproperty, which no government could free without justcompensation. The decision played a direct role in raisingtensions that led to the Civil War.

Lynne Jackson, services manager for Bryan Cave LLP, anddescendant and historical researcher of Dred Scott, gave apersonal view of her family and what she has found indocumenting the life of her great-great grandfather. Shereviewed the authentic depictions of her ancestor, and shared thecircumstances of her family’s life and times.

Very interesting program for American legal history. Availableon audio CD.

Pioneering Toward a New Cataloging Code: RDA – ResourceDescription and Access. To begin with, AACR2 is slated to bereplaced by Resource Description and Access (RDA). RDA isbeing developed as a web-based product that is especiallydesigned for description and access for digital resources [andstill works for trusty analog]. Where AACR2 was anarrangement of rules based on the format of the item described,the focus of RDA is to be a standard for describing contentrather than a display standard. RDA is being developed by theJoint Steering Committee of representatives from the U.S., U.K.,Canadian and Australian library communities.

The terminology of AACR2 is being revised, but many of theconcepts are being retained. For example, instead of “heading,”which harks back to the catalog card, RDA will use “access point.” The concept of “main entry,” which still has some utilityin the bibliographic universe, becomes “primary access point.”“Uniform title,” which has not been a rigorously defined term,will be retained as “citation access point.” The rules forpunctuating elements of the bibliographic record will beeliminated, since those related to record display rather thanrecord content. Data will be transcribed to match the resource,including inaccuracies and capitalization.

After reviewing these general changes, the program shifted todiscussing those special rules for legal publications that dealwith access points for laws, regulations, constitutions, courtrules, treaties, etc. The RDA draft retains many of the moregnarly provisions of these rules, and some law catalogers in theaudience expressed particular dismay that the rules proposed forcataloging reporters and treaties have not been simplified tomake the court the primary access point for a reporter, and titlethe primary access point for treaties. With globalization, thesefiner cataloging points have become non-academic, as librariansconsider how to enable successful searching for non-scholarlyusers who seek primary foreign and international law sources.RDA is projected to be released in mid-2008. Drafts of RDA areavailable at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/isc/rda.html. Aprototype of the online version of RDA can be viewed athttp://www.rdaonline.org/.

This program is available on audio CD. Visuals from the generalportion of the program are available athttp://programmaterials.aallnet.org/ ; I can provide a copy of thevisuals for the specific law portion by email:phuntsman@velaw.com.

Library ManagementCovering the Cost of Information: Time for Change? I’m not alibrary manager, but I think it’s important for any law firmlibrarian to understand the basis for treating information-relatedexpenses either as overhead or as billable. This programexamined the underlying rationale for both, the practicalconsequences of either option, and the ethics rules which mustbe considered in billing clients. When costs of usage are billed toclients, it creates pressure to select a lower cost resource, whichmay be deficient for the task, resulting in lower quality researchor inefficient use of time. When costs are treated as overhead, itcan be too easy to use a resource without evaluating its worth forspecific tasks, including the time used.

continued on page 6

Differences that matter.

I’m here tohelp you.Librarian tolibrarian.Blythe McCoyWest Librarian Relations ManagerSouthwest Division

Blythe McCoy is your West Librarian Relations Manager.Law librarians are very important to West. Which is why I’mhere – to provide you with personal, locally based service for:

• Advanced practice-area and non-legal training on Westlaw®

• Continuing education

• Cost recovery solutions

• Professional development

• West account support

• Scholarships for working and future law librarians

I understand the work you do – and know the challenges you face.I genuinely look forward to hearing from you and personallyworking with you.

Please let me know how I can help you. Call 713-332-7103, e-mail me at

blythe.mccoy@thomson.com or visit ourWeb site: west.thomson.com/librarians

© 2006 West, a Thomson business L-317090/1-06

July/August 2006 HALL Newsletter

Page 6

St. Louis Toodle-oo . . .continued from page 4

Ethics rules require that billed costsbe reasonable, that bills must belimited to actual costs, and thatoverhead costs should not becharged in addition to fees, exceptby prior disclosure in advance ofengagement. Librarians need toknow what is stated re onlineresearch in their firm’s standardletter of engagement. And whereasonce it was simply print = overhead,and online legal databases =usage-based, today’s new resourceschallenge that simple division andrequire us to consider each productin terms of how it’s used, whatpractice areas it serves, what it mayreplace, and how practical it is totrack usage.

Whatever the policy, it must be customized to the firm, equitablefor clients, and periodically reevaluated. On a side note, onespeaker shared an interesting means of producing more data onnon-billable research, which has been adopted in her firm. Inconjunction with required client number validation for onlineresearch, they implemented a by-request policy for generatingvalid numbers to use for non-billable online research. This wasdone by creating an intranet page with a simple request form tobe completed documenting the purpose of the research; when theuser submits the form, a time-limited valid number is generatedautomatically. Cool!

Available on audio CD; visuals & text materials at:http://programmaterials.aallnet.org/.

Survey skills: Asking the Right Questions. This was one of thequick 30-minute programs which AALL is now using for thefinal afternoon of the conference. The first half dealt with theplanning needed for a survey – good advice in these times ofdo-anything-on-the-fly-on-the-Web. Defining what you want tolearn from your survey, and what actions will be taken based on results, are important for determining the design of your survey.

The second half of the program was a quick demo of Websurvey tool SurveyMonkey.com. Given the very simple nature ofthis tool, this portion seemed rather lightweight for even the10-15 minutes allotted to it. Comparison/contrast with anotherWeb survey tool would have better rounded off the program.

The Survey Monkey screen shots and directions are available athttp://programmaterials.aallnet.org/. Program available on audioCD.

Collection Care & ManagementDeveloping Foreign, Comparative and International LawCollections: Sources, Strategies and Techniques. Heavy-dutyprogram with 5 solid speakers. I was listening for guidance onreplacing print materials, particularly treaties/agreements, withelectronic resources. In other words, my director and I werehoping to be told “this online product is good, easy andsufficient for most needs; hence you do not need to obtain orkeep this print resource.” Not surprisingly, it wasn’t that simple.

This was a comprehensive course on developing a policy/plan,identifying the sources to consult, guidelines to determine thoseneeded items, obtaining what you need, and yes, even reducingwhat you have when space, usage, or user needs have changed.Chock-full handouts at: http://programmaterials.aallnet.org/ ;audio CD available.

Reference, Research and Patron ServicesThe Virtual Frontier: Developing and Delivering TrainingUsing Web Meeting Software. Speaking solely as a participant,not a trainer, I like over-the-Web training. 30 minutes or an houris easy to fit into the workday, and I think it really facilitateskeeping up with new features or learning particular uses ofelectronic products. This 30-minute program presented both thecriteria for choosing among the software available for web-basedtraining, and the elements of any good training program: needsassessment, instructional goals, instructional strategies, materialsdevelopment, and evaluation. The speaker spoke from herexperience as a county law librarian who has trained publicreference librarians in handling legal reference questions.

Handouts/visuals at http://programmaterials.aallnet.org/ ; audioCD available.

Information TechnologyCopyright Implications of Digital Archives. Peter B. Hirtle,Intellectual Property Officer for the Cornell University Libraryand a member of Library of Congress Section 108 Study Group,was the speaker for this very full hour. Peter previously servedas Director of the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections, and heoutlined the copyright considerations for creating, preserving,and generating revenue from digital archives. His flow-chartpresentation aided in following the analysis of law in this area,with a brief mention of licensing and related contract law. Aprogram mantra was that digital archives involve risk assessmentconcerning copyright.

He then reviewed the work of the Section 108 Study Group(http://www.loc.gov/section108), whose purpose is to formulatefor the digital world a balance for copyright law between therights of creators and copyright owners and the needs of librariesand archives. The general consensus of the group is that“allowing libraries and archives to preserve and provide accessto our written cultural heritage, is important and should befacilitated.” (Peter Givler). The group includes AALL membersLaura Gasaway and Bob Oakley, and will be issuing its reportlater this year.

continued on page 8

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July/August 2006 HALL Newsletter

Page 8

St. Louis Toodle-oo . . .continued from page 6

Copyright Implications of Digital Archives (continued)

One startling item mentioned by Peter was a statementconsidered by the Study Group on denying interlibrary loan tofor-profit institutions. In a follow-up query from a HALLmember [not yours truly!], Peter shared that the rationaleexpressed within the Study Group for this is that it isn’t fair for afor-profit to profit off the work of another for-profit {that beingthe publishers}. Hmmm.

Program visuals and handy copyright term chart athttp://programmaterials.aallnet.org/ ; audio CD available.

SIS programs

PLL-SISCreating New Best Practices through Law Firm Expansion :How to Avoid Having to Circle the Wagons. ElizabethChiapperi of Nixon Peabody LLP, a veteran of 4 mergers since1999, led off by outlining a formal Best Practices Effort whichshe used with her staff based around their ideas of what theywanted their group to be able to do, not limiting themselves onlyto what they had been doing. Ronda Fisch of Reed Smith LLPrecommended a seamless carryover of routing of publications[accomplished at her firm with Oxmosyshttp://www.ozmosys.com/ ], which earned a very positiveresponse for the library during a trying time for the firm. JeanO’Grady of WilmerHale recommended personally meeting thecorresponding staff of the offices in other cities for the firm’smerger partner. Also discussed was the possibility for librarystaff “specialists” to develop from a merger.

The Butterfly Effect : the Future of Law Firm Libraries. Afast-paced program as a panel of law firm librarians gave theirinsights into what’s ahead. From my notes: Carolyn Ahearnsuccinctly phrased the future of the physical library as “FromShowplace to Knowplace.” And in some respects, “no place” astelecommuting and virtual reference takes hold. Mark Estes seesa greater role for librarians as evaluators of content, inconjunction with growing low-cost publishing that allows morepractitioners to promote themselves by producing legal works.Bob Oaks sees personnel needs shifting to needing staff ascontent providers both for the technology platform and formarketing functions. Nina Platt sees adaptive technology forlearning styles. Linda Will sees the law firm library aligningstaff with firms’ practice areas, just as marketing departmentsdo. A comment from an attendee brought up the effect ofbusiness continuity plans, resulting in librarians being providedmore technology [laptops, BlackBerrys, etc.].

PLL-SIS Technical Services Group met for a presentation onlibrary software implementation and migrations, which provideda handy checklist of questions for use in evaluating librarysoftware systems and their vendors. If you don’t mind myscribbles on it, I’ll share it (phuntsman@velaw.com).

TS-SISCataloging at the Crossroads : LC’s Series Decision and itsNew Role in National Cataloging Policy Will Library ofCongress Subject Headings Be Discontinued? OK, that’s a bitof a National Enquirer-lead, but it was definitely a subtext to thislively program. The Library of Congress announced in April adecision effective June 1 to no longer provide authority controlfor series titles, and to class separately each distinctly titledvolume published as part of a series. LC’s rationale for thisdecision was to free up time and staff to focus on otherbibliographic control needs, and that indexing and keywordsearching provide adequate access to the series titles normallyincluded as part of the bibliographic record. The decision hasbeen a controversial one, not only for its content, but also for theprocess by which this decision was made and promulgatedwithout advance notice to the law cataloging community [eventhose within Library of Congress].

Marie Whited of the Law Library of Congress spoke on theLLC’s successful request to LC for specific law title exceptionsto the “class separately” practice. Jolande Goldberg of Libraryof Congress reported that Library of Congress RuleInterpretations pertaining to series are being redrafted. GlenPatton of OCLC spoke on the changes OCLC is making that willfacilitate use of controlled series titles for those libraries whichchoose to continue the practice. Bob Oakley, AALL WashingtonAffairs representative, reported on conversations he had with LCrepresentatives regarding law librarian views. The Association ofResearch Libraries had supported the decision when consulted,and Bob surmised that LC considered this view representative oflaw libraries as well. LC has indicated that they are committed toa consultant process for future decisions that will include AALL.

continued on page 9

(L-R) Mary Lippold, Jessica Alexander, Kathryn Fitzhugh (UA-Fayetteville) andEvelyn Beard spend time with Mark Twain at the West Customer AppreciationEvent. – photo courtesy of Heather Waltman

HALL Newsletter July/August 2006

Page 9

Just a reminder!Publication deadlines for the

HALL Newsletter are:

September/October 9/15/2006November/December 11/15/2006January/February 1/15/2007March/April 3/15/2007May/June 5/15/2007July/August 8/1/2007

St. Louis Toodle-oo . . .continued from page 8

TS-SIS, Cataloging at the Crossroads (continued)

In regards to LC authority control work, Bob specifically noted arecent study LC commissioned on the changing nature ofcatalogs (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf)which included a recommendation that LC abandon subjectanalysis with LCSH in favor of subject keywords. Followingthese reports, moderator Rhonda Lawrence facilitated an intensecomment session with as many audience members allowed toparticipate as possible. Several attendees expressed a need forcontrolled series authority access for use themselves inacquisitions and collection development, particularly withresources from another country.

Other mentionsALM [formerly American Lawyer Media] held a briefing on the2006 ALM Library Management Survey which was reported onin the AmLaw Tech section of the July 2006 issue of AmericanLawyer [also available athttp://www.law.com/jsp/tal/librarians.jsp] Aric Press, ALMeditorial director, discussed the survey group: of the top 200 lawfirms from Am Law’s survey of law firms, 96 participated. 15-18participants were selected from each of several market areas. Forsome market areas, any firm in the top 200 participated; for otherareas, a selection had to be made from those firms who ranked inthe top 200 (New York, for example). Questions included arequest for a regular law librarian column; Aric indicated that apossible forum for it might be ALM’s Law Firm, Inc. newsletterhttp://lawfirminc.law.com/, focusing on information foradministrative/executive law firm officers.

One product-in-development that I found interesting isInternational Law in Domestic Courts, an online reportingservice from Oxford University Press that will focus oninternational law issues in domestic courts around the world. Setto launch in Sept. 2006, OUP says the service will have full textof all decisions, plus translations of all non-English languagedecisions. Information and sample screen shots are available at:http://www.oup.com/online/ildc/.

HALL Parties with DALL andSWALLphotos by Joan Stringfellow, Texas Wesleyan Law Library

Jones McClure sponsored the DALL/HALL/SWALL Reception at AALL. JonesMcClure representatives (L-R) Dina Dreifuerst, Leslie Rodriguez, and DougRosenzweig.

(L-R) John Eichstadt, Mary Lippold, Heather Waltman, Susan Spillman, TrishaFabugais and Monica Ortale visit at the DALL/HALL/SWALL reception.

(L-R) Jessica Alexander, Kathryn Fitzhugh, (UA-Fayetteville), Yvonne Chandler( U. North Texas SLIS, Tracy Timmons, and Katherine Green, (U. Kansas).

July/August 2006 HALL Newsletter

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Fresh from St. LouisKim Serna, Jones Day

Don’t you just love the rush you get when you return from theAnnual Meeting; rejuvenated with fresh ideas and anxiouslyanticipating the release of new products and enhancements. Thenyou return to the office after being gone a week and wham, notime to implement those new ideas, you’re too busy catching up.The program handouts get placed in a binder, if you’re luckyenough to be that organized, which gets placed on a shelf forfuture use. I’m hoping that the binder will not sit on the shelf toolong. I went to some really great programs and I can’t want toincorporate the many ideas and suggestions into my workflow.

The first program I attended was “Competitive Intelligence:Transitioning from Librarians to Analysts.” The presenters did agood job of defining the firm librarians’ role in businessdevelopment efforts. More and more librarians are becominginformation analysts, rather than just information providers. Aslibrarians we are verse on obtaining information from a varietyof sources. It is our role to take this information and work withmarketing to analyze the data and present it in a usable format.Two firm librarians that presented gave tips on delivering usableinformation to enhance business development efforts.

• First, draft a process involving attorneys, library staff,marketing department and technology support. It needs to bea team effort.

• Monitor RSS feeds, headlines, companies, people,industries, etc…

• Develop web pages and/or reports that are user-centric,easy-to-read, and visually appealing.

• Track firm use of the information to determine the value andneed of the service provided.

The key to competitive intelligence is to be proactive andforward thinking. “The amount of importance you place insomething is indicated by how you resource it.”

It seemed like every program I attended addressed tracking theuse of information provided by librarians and determining ourvalue. One tool to measure our services to attorneys, lawstudents, public constituents, etc. … is conducting a survey. I’mnot sure if Librarians hold stock in SurveyMonkey, but it isdefinitely the survey tool of choice. “Survey Skills: Asking theRight Questions” addressed the need for surveys, asking theright questions, and the tools to use, or should I say tool to use.Listed below are steps to consider when creating a survey:

• Know your survey objectives. • Ask yourself if conducting a survey is the right tool. • Focus your time and energy on the design. • View the survey from the participants perspective. • Use what and how questions, rather than why. • Visualize the actions you’ll take with completed survey. • Limit open ended questions to those with comment boxes. • Limit the use of abbreviations. • Make sure questions flow.

SurveyMonkey is free to use, however, it is limited to 10questions and 100 responses. A subscription costs $19.95 /month or $200.00 / year. It is very easy to use and providesflexibility with skip logic. It also offers 17 different types ofquestions. For more information visithttp://www.surveymonkey.com.

Editor'sComments...

I hope that everyone had a great summer – it’s hard to believeit’s over already! I’m not sure where the time all went, but fall isjust around the corner, as is the start to another year in HALL.

I want to especially thank Patricia Huntsman and Kim Serna fortheir excellent reports on programs at AALL, and HeatherWaltman and Joan Stringfellow (Texas Wesleyan) for theirphotos from AALL. Perhaps those of you who did not contributea report on AALL might send something for the next issue.Please note that there isn’t a report from our AALL GrantRecipient this year as the grant was returned when the recipientwas not able to attend AALL after all.

Mary Ann Wacker has already planned a number of really greatprograms for 2006-2007! I hope that more members can attendthe monthly meetings and take advantage of these opportunitiesfor learning and networking. If you have any additional ideas forprograms, topics or speakers, please don’t hesitate to contact her.

Laura Edstrom will be purging the membership list of anymembers who have not renewed their membership by Sept. 1, soplease send in your dues check and information form to her assoon as possible. The form is available on the HALL websitehttp://www.aallnet.org/chapter/hall/dues06.pdf.

I hope that everyone, especially those of you who have beenaround a long time, will look over the historical list of HALLofficers at the end of the issue. Mark has worked very hard tocompile this list and would like it to be as complete and accurateas possible. Please send him any corrections, additions orchanges that you find.

Susan Spillman “lucked out” in that almost all of the CommitteeChairs were willing to serve again, however, the NominationsChair is still open, and many of the Chairs would be also bewilling to let someone else take the reins. I’m continually tryingto give away my jobs of Publications Chair and Editor of theNewsletter, but never seem to get any takers. Seriously, though,if you are interested in taking over the newsletter, or even just apart of it – layout, design, content – please give me a holler! I’vebeen in charge of this publication for almost 14 years, andcertainly would be more than open to some help or suggestions.

—Barbara Szalkowski

Houston Area Law Librarians (HALL) Officers, 1973-2007

1973-1974 No officers identified in August 1, 1973 Membership Directory. Directory produced by Catherine A. Porter, Vinson & Elkins. 1974-1975 No officers identified in August 1, 1974 Membership Directory. Directory produced by Catherine A. Porter, Vinson & Elkins. 1975-1976 No officers identified in August, 1975 Membership Directory. Directory produced by Sandra Young, Bracewell & Patterson. 1976-1977 No sources available. 1977-1978 No officers identified in July, 1977 Membership Directory. Directory producer not indicated. 1978-1979 No officers identified in July, 1978 Membership Directory. Directory produced by Fulbright & Jaworski. 1979-1980 No officers identified in June, 1979 Membership Directory. Officer positions identified in the By-laws: Chairperson Program Coordinator Membership Officer Finance Officer 1980-1981 Chairperson: Martha Nash Program Coordinator: Roberta Shaffer Finance Officer: Margaret Carteron Membership Officer: Sally Langston Placement Officer: Jane Holland (Source: January 1981 Membership Directory) 1981-1982 President: Roberta Shaffer VP/Pres.-Elect: Susan Mims Secretary: Donna Joity Treasurer: Margaret Carteron (Source: January 1982 Membership Directory)

1982-1983 President: Susan Mims Yancey VP/Pres.-Elect: Melissa Colbert Secretary: Jo Kovach Treasurer: Paula Nordin (Source: January 1983 Membership Directory) 1983-1984 President: Karl Gruben VP/Pres.-Elect: Helen Burwell Secretary: Sally Langston Treasurer: T. L. Maulsby (Source: January 1984 Membership Directory) 1984-1985 President: Helen Burwell VP/Pres.-Elect: Everdeen Leverenz, Tree Secretary: Lea Black Treasurer: Loretta Pitts Members-at-Large: Genel Moran, Alice Flusser (Source: 3 HALL NEWSL. 1 (May/June 1984)) 1985-1986 President: Everdeen Leverenz, Tree VP/Pres.-Elect: Linda Will Secretary: Genel Moran Treasurer: Nano Scherrieb (Source: August 1985 Membership Directory) 1986-1987 No officers identified in April 1987 Membership Directory. President: Linda Will (Source: 5 HALL NEWSL. 3 (Fall/Winter 1987)) 1987-1988 President: T. L. Maulsby VP/Pres.-Elect: Jane Holland Secretary: Genel Moran Treasurer: Nano Scherrieb Past President: Linda Will Members-At-Large: Carolyn Korkmas, Colleen Pincumbe (Source: April 1988 Membership Directory) 1988-1989 President: Jane Holland VP/Pres.-Elect: Paula Howe Secretary: Alice Flusser Treasurer: Cynthia Montalvo Past-President: T. L. Maulsby Members-At-Large: John Eichstadt, Monica Ortale (Source: March 1989 Membership Directory)

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1989-1990 President: Paula Howe Pence VP/Pres.-Elect: Monica Ortale Secretary: Alice Flusser Treasurer: Cynthia Montalvo Past President: Jane Holland Members-At-Large: Diane Lindenberger, Ching-cheng (Tina) Ting (Source: July 1990 Membership Directory) 1990-1991 President: Monica Ortale VP/Pres.-Elect: Donna Marie Joity Secretary: Alice Flusser Treasurer: Cynthia Montalvo Past President: Paula Howe Pence Members-At-Large: Virginia Davis, Nan Dubbelde (Source: June 1991 Membership Directory) 1991-1992 President: Donna Joity VP/Pres.-Elect: Wendy Crowdus Secretary: Margarita Bull Treasurer: Patricia Huntsman Members-at-Large: Joan Englander, Charles Gibson Past-President: Monica Ortale (Source: 8 HALL NEWSL. 2 (June 1991)) 1992-1993 President: Wendy Crowdus VP/Pres.-Elect: Virginia Davis Secretary: Margarita Bull Treasurer: Patricia Huntsman Members-at-Large: Lynn Corbett, Linda Dodson Past President: Donna Joity (Source: 9 HALL NEWSL. 2 (June 1992)) 1993-1994 President: Virginia Davis VP/Pres.-Elect: Robert Grundy Secretary: Elizabeth Black Berry Treasurer: Sara Jankiewicz Members-at-Large: Lynn Corbett, Mary Lippold Past President: Wendy Crowdus (Source: 10 HALL NEWSL. 12 (June/July 1993)) 1994-1995 President: Robert Grundy VP/Pres.-Elect: Elizabeth Black Berry Secretary: Nan Dubbelde Treasurer: Cathryn Bowie Members-At-Large: Mary Lippold,

Marcine McCulley Past President: Virginia Davis (Source: October 1994 Membership Directory) 1995-1996 President: Elizabeth Black Berry VP/Pres.-Elect: Mary Lippold Secretary: Riva Laughlin Treasurer: Lynn Corbett Members-At-Large: Nan Dubbelde, Tina Ting Past President: Robert Grundy (Source: October 1995 Membership Directory) 1996-1997 President: Mary Lippold VP/Pres.-Elect: Caren Zentner Secretary: Lynn Kumaraswamy Treasurer: Lynn Corbett Members-at-Large: Nan Dubbelde, Richard Pravata Past President: Elizabeth Black Berry (Sources: 13 HALL NEWSL. 15 (July/August 1996), 14 HALL NEWSL. (March/April 1997)) 1997-1998 President: Caren Zentner VP/Pres.-Elect: Nan Dubbelde Secretary: Martha White Treasurer: Lynn Kumaraswamy Members at Large: Richard Pravata, Anna Stavinoha Past President: Mary Lippold (Source: November 1997 Membership Directory) 1998-1999 President: Nan Dubbelde VP/Pres.-Elect.: Lynn Corbett Secretary: Martha White Treasurer: Lynn Kumaraswamy Members-at-Large: John Eichstadt, Anna Stavinoha Past President: Caren Luckie (Source: 15 HALL NEWSL. 23 (July/August 1998)) 1999-2000 President: Lynn Corbett VP/Pres.-Elect: Riva Laughlin Secretary: Catherine Whitney Treasurer: Joan Englander Members-at-Large: Holly Cook, Karen Mayfield Past President: Nan Dubbelde (Source: 1999-2000 Membership Directory)

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2000-2001 President: Riva Laughlin VP/Pres.-Elect: Dina Dreifuerst Secretary: Catherine Whitney Treasurer: Joan Englander Members-at-Large: Violanda Fabugais, DeCarlous Spearman Past President: Lynn Corbett (Source: 2000-2001 Membership Directory) 2001-2002 President: Dina Dreifuerst VP/Pres.-Elect: Holly Watson Secretary: Judith Jackson Treasurer: Caren Luckie Members-At-Large: Tricia Fabugais, Jessica Alexander (Source: 18 HALL NEWSL. 14 (May/June 2001)) 2002-2003 President: Holly Watson VP/Pres.-Elect: Bethany Bletsch Secretary: Kimberly Serna Treasurer: Caren Luckie Members-At-Large: Jessica Alexander, Mariann Sears Past-President: Dina Dreifuerst (Source: 19 HALL NEWSL. 17 (July/August 2002)) 2003-2004 President: Bethany Bletsch VP/Pres.-Elect: Trisha Fabugais Treasurer: Caren Luckie Secretary: Kimberly Serna Members-at-Large: Mariann Sears, Maggie Crowley Past-President: Holly Watson (Source: 20 HALL NEWSL. 13 (May/June 2003)) 2004-2005 President: Trisha Fabugais VP/Pres.-Elect: Kimberly Serna Treasurer: Caren Luckie Secretary: Mary Ann Wacker Members-at-Large: Maggie Crowley, Tracy Timmons Past-President: Bethany Bletsch (Source: 21 HALL NEWSL. 2 (May/June 2004)) 2005-2006 President: Kimberly Serna VP/Pres.-Elect: Susan Spillman Secretary: Michelle Lucero Treasurer: Caren Luckie Members-at-Large: Tracy Timmons, Peter Egler

Past-President: Trisha Fabugais (Source: 22 HALL NEWSL. 11 (July/August 2005)) 2006-2007 President: Susan Spillman VP/Pres.-Elect: Mary Ann Wacker Treasurer: Caren Luckie Secretary: Michele Lucero Members-at-Large: Peter Egler, Caralinn Cole Past-President: Kimberly Serna (Source: 23 HALL NEWSL. 6 (May/June 2006))

Houston Area Law Librarians

2006-2007 Executive Board

President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susan Spillman . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 646-1718Vice-President/President-Elect . . . . Mary Ann Wacker . . . . . . . . . . (713) 221-1249Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michele Lucero . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 546-0591Treasurer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caren Luckie . . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 752-4479Members-at-Large . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Egler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 743-2318

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caralinn Cole . . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 654-7617Past President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kim Serna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (832) 239-3609

Standing Committees

By-Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Gibson . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 226-1442Continuing Education . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Ann Wacker . . . . . . . . . . (713) 221-1249Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laura Edstrom . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 646-1716Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VacantPlacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pamela Jenkins . . . . . . . . . . . (281) 293-3056Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Szalkowski . . . . . . . . (713) 646-1724Scholarships/Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . Judith Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 755-5649

Special Committees

Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Lambert . . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 646-1720Government Relations . . . . . . . . . . . Tracy Timmons . . . . . . . . . . . . (713) 313-1108Library School Liaison . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Whitney . . . . . . . . . (713) 546-5125Vendor Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colleen Pincumbe . . . . . . . . . (713) 653-8765