AALL2go Pick of the Month: Federal Regulatory Information and Where to Find It

AALL's Continuing Professional Education Committee presents the AALL2go pick of the month: Federal Regulatory Information and Where to Find It.

In this one-hour video, David Pritzker of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Regulatory Information Service Center provides a handy tutorial on the federal rulemaking process, including where the public can find access to federal regulations. The GSA Regulatory Information Center publishes a semiannual unified agenda on regulatory actions under development. The fall publication of the agenda includes a regulatory plan identifying current regulatory priorities and highlighting significant regulatory actions expected in the coming year. The center also helped establish Reginfo.gov to provide a “regulatory dashboard” of current information on the regulatory process, which includes handy FAQs on the regulatory process and hyperlinks to government sources for the regulations.

Pritzker's presentation explains the evolution of public access to regulatory information (including the genesis of the Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register), how the Administrative Procedure Act creates a legal framework for the adoption of regulations in a manner allowing for public input, and where to find regulatory information, including new, free web-based government resources.

Find this and more than 80 other free continuing education programs and webinars for AALL members on AALL2go!

Renew Your AALL Membership Early for a Chance to Win a Free AALL Webinar Registration

In May the second round of AALL dues invoices for 2011-2012 will mail out to all library directors for their institutionally paid memberships and to all other individual members. The deadline for membership renewal is May 31.

This year, when you renew by May 31 you'll be entered in a drawing for a free AALL webinar of your choice in 2011-2012. Following is the 2011 membership renewal schedule:

• May: Second dues invoices mailed out.


• June: Final dues invoices mailed out.


• July: Expiration notices emailed to all members—individuals and those paid by institutions.


• August 1: Expired members deleted from the AALL membership database and access to the AALLNET members only content and Law Library Journal and AALL Spectrum subscriptions discontinued.

For more information or to renew your membership online, view the application form on AALLNET. If you have any questions about your membership renewal, contact AALL Headquarters at membership@aall.org or 312/205-8022.

Learn to Create a Quick Strategic Plan When You Don’t Have Time to do it Perfectly

Strategic planning is one process for setting goals and priorities. However, it is easy to become distracted by unwieldy and repetitive processes, jargon, and arguments over whether something is a goal, outcome, principle, or strategy. Join the June 9 webinar, The Five-Minute Strategic Plan: When You Don't Have the Time or Resources to Do It Perfectly, from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. CST, to learn a simple, proven model that translates strategic planning into four basic steps (plus one that repeats). It allows for effective design and execution when time is short, and you need to move ahead quickly—without driving yourself and other people crazy.

This webinar will discuss how to:

• Effectively sample qualitative and quantitative research about past, current, and potential users


• Distill leadership-level concepts (mission, vision, values) in a "where are we going, and why" statement


• Tie strategic planning goals into project management execution


• Evaluate plans based on users' criteria


• Prevent micromanagement

Register by June 2.

Unleash Your Inner Leader October 28-29

New law librarians in the early stages of your career—achieve your leadership potential by attending the 2011 AALL Leadership Academy, October 28-29 in the Chicago area. Designed as an intensive learning experience aimed at growing and developing leadership skills, the academy program will help you discover how to maximize your personal leadership style while connecting with other legal information professionals.

The program will feature speakers Gail Johnson and Pam Parr. Johnson is a widely regarded leadership and communications expert and holds a Master of Arts in Communication Studies. Parr has extensive business management and customer service expertise. They have conducted many leadership programs for library organizations and will speak at the 2011 American Library Association Annual Conference.

The application period starts April 1, and applications are due by June 30.

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Law Firm Marketing Department

How much do you know about the marketing department in your firm? What does your chief marketing officer (CMO) envision as the biggest challenges and opportunities in this tough business climate? And most importantly for you, what is your role in helping your firm win new business and sustain longstanding and profitable client relationships?

In this installment of the Private Law Libraries (PLL) Change as Action Summit, you will hear from Joe Calve and Kelly Brown of Morrison & Foerster. Calve is MoFo’s chief marketing officer, and Brown is the director of client relations. For the past year, the MoFo Research and Intelligence Group (the library) has reported to Calve and Brown in the Marketing Department. Calve and Brown bring a deep understanding of the capabilities of the MoFo Research and Intelligence team, and they are in a unique position to share their thoughts about how libraries can position themselves to become active participants in the practices of their firms by providing research at the highest level, both for business development and for client work.

This program will be videotaped and posted on the PLL website and will be available for free beginning on March 28 on AALL2go. It can be viewed by individual members or by groups. You may want to suggest that your chapter or SIS plan an educational program around the video. For example, tap a marketing director from a local firm to attend a brown bag lunch and watch the video with you; then, follow-up with a Q&A session.

This is the third in a series of five programs moderated by PLL members to provide a primer in law firm management from the view point of firm managers and administrators. The series is part of a two year program undertaken by the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Section (PLL-SIS) of AALL. The goal is to identify significant changes taking place in the legal world, to understand how these changes provide opportunities for assuming leadership roles, and to develop concrete plans for librarians to become leaders within their organizations. The culmination of these efforts, the Change as Action Summit, will take place in Philadelphia on July 23.

RIPS Teach-In Kit Now Available

The AALL Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS) is proud to announce the release of the 19th Annual National Legal Research Teach-In Kit. Each year in conjunction with National Library Week, RIPS creates a Teach-In Kit containing fresh materials for use in your institution's promotional and instructional activities. This year's kit includes PowerPoint presentations, research assignments, lesson plans, syllabi, and more on a variety of topics including health law, animal law, and Google Scholar.

The 2011 Teach-In Kit is available now on the RIPS-SIS web page. A kit overview and previous Teach-In Kits are also available at that location.

AALL2go Pick of the Month

AALL's Continuing Professional Education Committee presents the AALL2go pick of the month: Glass Half Full? Explore Techniques for Putting Optimism to Work as a Management Tool in Difficult Times.

If you missed this excellent program at the 2010 AALL Annual Meeting in Denver, now is the time to give it a listen. Even if you did experience it live, now may be a good time to revisit the concepts presented by Gail Warren and Jean Holcomb about the effects of optimism and pessimism on our working lives and how we manage change.

Far from a Pollyanna take on optimism, Warren and Holcomb discuss how our explanatory styles affect how we receive and cope with challenges both mundane and profound. How we choose to view and approach problem situations determines not only our own outcomes but also our leadership abilities and the anxiety experienced by our followers and can extend even to our physical health. Warren and Holcomb provide strategies and tools for developing more optimistic approaches, and you will find an excellent list of resources in the handouts. In addition, a self-diagnostic helps identify where you fall on the pessimism-optimism spectrum. At just under 55 minutes, this recording is worth a lunchtime listen for inspiration, encouragement, and re-thinking your responses to problems large and small.

Find this and more than 80 other free continuing education programs and webinars for AALL members on AALL2go!

Renew Your AALL Membership Early for a Chance to Win a Free 2011 AALL Annual Meeting Registration

In March, AALL dues invoices for 2011-2012 mailed out to all library directors for their institutionally paid memberships and to all other individual members. The deadline for membership renewal is May 31.

When you renew early—by May 1—you will be entered in a drawing for a free 2011 AALL Annual Meeting and Conference registration. If you renew on time—by May 31—you'll be entered in a drawing for a free AALL webinar of your choice in 2011-2012. Following is the 2011 membership renewal schedule:

• March: First dues invoices mailed out.
• May: Second dues invoices mailed out.
• June: Final dues invoices mailed out.
• July: Expiration notices e-mailed to all members—individuals and those paid by institutions.
• August 1: Expired members deleted from the AALL membership database and access to the AALLNET Members Only Section and Law Library Journal and AALL Spectrum subscriptions discontinued.

For more information or to renew your membership online, view the application form on AALLNET. If you have any questions about your membership renewal, contact AALL Headquarters at membership@aall.org or 312/205-8022.

Get a Free Year of AALL Membership with Nonmember Annual Meeting Registration

AALL offers nonmembers a complimentary one-year membership when they register for the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference, to be held July 23-26 in Philadelphia. The membership includes:

• Career resources, such as the online Career Center and continuing education to help you learn new skills to advance in your career
• Access to specialized information created just for law librarians, such as the Biennial Salary
• Survey and the Price Index for Legal Publications
• Subscriptions to the monthly magazine, AALL Spectrum, and quarterly journal, Law Library Journal, to help you keep up on the latest trends in law librarianship
• The opportunity to network and connect with other law librarians from across the country who share similar interests and are facing the same challenges
• Discounted rates on all AALL products and services, such as publications, webinars, and online job postings

Annual Meeting registration is now open. Register by June 1 at the early bird rate and save $100. Be sure to take advantage of this special offer for nonmembers.

May AALL Webinar: Copyright issues in Distance Education and Training

Join Tomas Lipinski, professor and executive associate dean at the Indiana University School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University-Purdue University, on May 5, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. CST, for Copyright Issues in Distance Education and Training as he answers common copyright questions that arise in virtual classes and training sessions. Issues covered during this webinar will include handouts, video usage, participant comments, and post-virtual session issues. Due to the expansion of distance learning to both the academic and commercial realms, the webinar will look at situations that arise in nonprofit academic institutions as well as law firm online trainings and online professional development sessions. Learning objectives:

• Discuss how to determine which aspects of U.S. copyright law apply to your institution


• Learn types and amounts of materials that can be circulated to virtual session attendees


• Learn permission requirements and limitations for continued use of recorded online sessions

Register by April 28.

AALL Webinar: Learn to Collaborate and Find Common Ground with Your IT Department

Law firm library and information technology professionals share similar goals and struggle with many of the same issues. As we are all asked to do more with less, the skills that both of these groups bring to the table can be leveraged to increase value and produce results that are not only more effective but also more efficient.

Please join Scott Preston, CIO with Fulbright & Jaworski, and Sarah Clark Kavanagh, CEO of Cable & Clark, for Technology and the Law Firm Library: Finding Common Ground, on April 28, from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. CST.

This webinar will discuss:

• Perceptions of the law firm technology (from the firm’s library point of view)
• Perceptions of the law firm library (from technology’s point of view)
• Discussion of barriers between groups, common goals, and needs
• Discuss methods of effective collaboration

Register by April 21.

A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest: February 2011

Once again, it's time to get your entries prepared for the AALL A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest. The contest is open to any member in good standing with AALL, and entries must be submitted by 28 February 2011. Winners will be featured on AALLNET and announced at the AALL annual meeting in Philadelphia. For full contest rules and guidelines, click here. You might just see your library featured in an upcoming issue of AALL Spectrum!

Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition

The second annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition, sponsored by the Legal History and Rare Books Section (LH&RB) of AALL, is open until 31 March 2010. Anyone interested should go here for an explanation of the contest and an application. Good luck!

News From AALL: Learn How to Provide Excellent Reference Services

Achieving reference services excellence in a rapidly changing environment requires adding new skills to your current arsenal. Join AALL for the August 3 webinar, Pushing the Boundaries: Excellence in Reference Services, at 12 p.m. EST, as Marie L. Radford, Ph.D., teaches you how to push the boundaries in providing reference services. Radford is an associate professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers and a library consultant with expertise in reference services, management, retrieving and evaluating electronic resources, online searching, and school media.

Register by July 26.