Transcript
Speaker: This episode is sponsored by LexisNexis, supporting information professionals as leaders in AI innovation. Explore resources and tools designed specifically for your role at lexisnexus.com, backsplash community, backsplash info pro.
Speaker: This episode of the All In Podcast was recorded live and on site at the annual meeting in Cleveland. We were trying new things, but due to a series of difficulties, our audio required extensive editing and repair. So please forgive any odd sounding audio.
Speaker: And we do thank you for listening. All right. Welcome everyone to the annual meeting version of All in I'm very excited here to have a couple of guests and these are actually the very first people that I'm speaking to here at our annual meeting. going to have you guys introduce yourselves and just let us know where you work. you.
Speaker: Hi, I'm Meg Kribble. I am at Skadden Arps in Boston. Hi, I'm Christine Dulac. I'm the director of the Law Library at the University of Maine School of Law in Fortland. And I will say that this is near dear to my heart because I am originally a Mainer, so I've got my two East Coast people here with me. it's gee So I wanted to ask you all, i it is I always love coming to the annual meeting. I know I see both of you every year, almost every year at the annual meeting.
Speaker: So why do you all keep coming on to the annual meeting?
Speaker: Well, I just learned I've been in the association for 27 years, which is shocking and I'm still not over it. um And I've come to several, I i come back um for networking to see my friends like Meg and and kate Katie here. And then ah the programs are always um really good. They're always sort of um talking about what's happening, in the cutting edge things, the issues in law librarianship, and um that's always ah been beneficial for me. So that's why i keep coming back.
Speaker: I love it. I love it. So was there anything on the program that you saw that you were like, I definitely want to go see that? Or if there was there anything as you were looking at the program and you're like, I just want to avoid this. I'm going to preempt this because I know Megan and had little conversation about it. So What were you thinking when you were looking at the Pro-Trance? So, to be completely honest, totally. I'm a little AI'd out at this point. A little bit of a fair. I want to learn about other things. AI is doing what it's going to do, and I am going to learn about it in the course of my job and the course of being a human being at this period in time where it's permeated everything.
Speaker: And so I just want to take a little break and learn about some other things. um i Honestly, I have to look at the schedule again to see what, but I know there a few things that I'm excited too to learn about. so But I thought it was great that you mentioned that because one of the things that I know that they did a conscious choice of is like doing a little bit of a balance with the program. I myself noticed this when I was looking is that it isn't. I've looked at and gone to a few other conferences this year where it's like everything is AI.
Speaker: And I know that's been the same way for... a couple of years now, but this year it seems like it's 100% AI. let's get confused So I will say I appreciate the fact that they've done that at this conference and got a little bit of balance. Yeah. and right I appreciate that. um Thank you, AMPC committee. And I know you and I have both been AMPC chair, and we know that the AMPC works really hard to keep a balance and try to make sure that there's something for everyone, whether it's academic or firm or government or you know different levels of your career and those different phases that we go through about you know change and personal development. So, yeah, but I appreciate that about this conference.
Speaker: ah There's such thing as AI fatigue. yeah that all experienced it in the last couple of years. Uh, but I think there is a good mixture just based on what I've seen, when I was organizing my schedule, all just a good mixture of programs that it's not so much a AI focus, which um AI is good, but there are definitely, uh, other really fascinating programs that, uh, you'll experience at the conference cell.
Speaker: I think we're going to get plenty of AI with the vendors, presentations and things like that. So, you know because they're all incorporating that into their platforms and things like that. And so it may, eat ah that's a valuable, but I haven't had a chance really to dig into some of like what, you know, the new changes that Lexus is bringing to, with protege or ah with co-counsel and ah Thompson Reuters and things like that. Obviously I'm still calling it co-counsel, which for sure it's not co-counsel. Who knows? And so, you know, so I think we're going to get plenty of that um AI, what's happening stuff. And um yeah i I like to see some of just your traditional management programming and um teaching programming and and things like that. And so,
Speaker: Yeah. Um, but the whole AI fatigue too. I'm a, I'm a fan. Don't get me wrong, but I've had enough programming. Excellent. Thank you all. Appreciate All right. We are back all in and we're very excited to have another guest speaking with us on day two at the annual meeting. And we have Michelle. Michelle, please introduce yourself and tell us where you're from.
Speaker: I am Michelle Cosby. I am the Assistant Dean of Legal Information Services at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Excellent. And so, you know, we've been talking with a whole lot of people about the annual meeting and what brought them here to the annual meeting this year.
Speaker: So why did you feel like you wanted to come here to Cleveland? This year, i was very much motivated by the fact that I was a member of the Connell Committee. you So i came came early so that I could participate in that. um This was my first year serving as a member on the committee. we were led by Brian Huffman this year.
Speaker: And so I did one of the dinearounds at Nouveau Modern Mexican restaurant on Friday, met a lot of great people. And then Saturday, we um had all the new librarians join us.
Speaker: So for people who don't know maybe what Cornell is, can you explain what that is? Yes. So it stands for a Conference of Newer Law Librarians, I believe. Yes. So, um, When you come to a big conference like this, it can be overwhelming if you've never been to anything like this. So it helps orient you to the conference, helps you make a couple of friends that you can hang out with, save people to ask questions to with the committee members and the volunteers, and just help you get your bearings, but also help you navigate the field of law labor and ship because ah it's new to most of them. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I could see where if you were brand new and had never been to a conference like this, it might be a lot. Lots of personalities, right? yeah Lots of personalities, lots of things to do.
Speaker: um You know, all the demands on your time, you want to go to three sessions all at the same time and have to navigate that. Yeah. So, uh, Michelle is a past president of AA double a w l and so it's, uh, interesting to get your perspective from being a past president and see how AA double L has evolved over time and continue to evolve. So what what are your thoughts on this year's conference so far?
Speaker: This year's conference, I thought I really liked the space we're in. I really like how this exhibit hall is set up and I really like how our conference spaces are set up. um Easy to find everything. You still always have a gazillion steps at a conference, but I feel like it's manageable gazillion steps versus like, oh my gosh, someone like Garcon, get me a golf cart. I need to get over here in two minutes.
Speaker: um So I really like how it's set up. um I like that there's, I really like ribbons. So I like that you can just peruse the ribbon space after you check in and get your conference tag and get that. I like that we have new vendors this year. That's exciting. You know, um i really, I saw c Cleo is here. I've been working with them in my class. So it's nice to see them at a law librarians conference. And i several other new vendors too. So I just think that's great in addition to our, you know, what would you call them? Our old staples. We have our Lexus, Westlaw, Bloomberg. They're always there holding it down for us, but bringing in the new blood is great too.
Speaker: So, yes, I presided over the very first all virtual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries. ah and And Katie was navigating that with me. So we did get to have our in-person Chicago meeting of picking the programming and meeting. So that experience was still there.
Speaker: um And then I don't think we had. too many changes to the schedule because of it pivoting to COVID. Yeah, no, I would say overall people were willing to to do what they could to modify things to be virtual as best as possible. With this year's annual meeting, ah is there some programming that you have gone to that sort of been standout or some programming that you're looking to go to?
Speaker: Yeah. So yesterday I went to the session on strategic planning. um It was organized by Annalie Hickman and who was on the panel?
Speaker: The person, I'm bad with names, the person that does All Star, she was on the panel. Catherine Dunn, she's a director, was on the panel. And I'm sorry, I don't know the third person, but they all gave really great information. I took a lot of notes on that one and to jot it down, some books that I'm going to um get when I get back home. So yeah.
Speaker: As a manager, strategic planning is something I'm in denial that I need to do, but I thought they presented it in a very um good way. And I learned about racy charts. I didn't know that was a thing.
Speaker: We're day and a half in. Is there anything else that you're looking forward to before the conference closes? um ah I actually am really looking forward to the past president's reception. um You know, it's a it's a way to celebrate all of the accomplishments of Jenny during this year and then to get back together with folks that, you know, some of these people, we only see them this time of year. And um when you're a year old and on the board, you know what kind of work goes into this. So just, you know, celebrating those accomplishments. i am looking forward to that.
Speaker: And just reconnecting with colleagues. And I keep saying that because I live in the middle of nowhere, Virginia, and we are the only law librarians there. So, you know, it is great to connect with other people, to get ideas from other people, to hear what other folks are doing so I could steal those ideas. I'm a getter done person. Yes. Like, you tell me. don't get her done. Yeah. Well, I think that's really great that that you mentioned that about the annual meeting. And we do hear that a lot about the networking and how important that is.
Speaker: But we've talked to a bunch of different people. We've talked to some firm folks. We've talked to some different people and how important it is, you know, with sometimes you are the only person at your library or in your your case, obviously, you're not the only person, but you're the only law school.
Speaker: And having that interaction with colleagues And yeah, you can Zoom people in, but it's not always the same thing, right? And so to be able to have those conversations in person or in person are so important. Yeah.
Speaker: You know, we we we don't get those chances to have those conversations. So to be able to see people and talk to them and hear what's going on and just learn and connect with people, it's it's really AALL. It's really, conference is great for that. So, yeah.
Speaker: Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Lucia. Thank you for having me. All right. Thank you for going all in. Every great era of transformation has architects behind it. Today's information professionals are doing more than managing knowledge. They're helping shape how AI is adopted responsibly across legal organizations.
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Speaker: Explore resources, best practices, and the latest AI innovations at lexisnexus.com slash community slash info pro. LexisNexis, private, secure, authoritative, legal AI.
Speaker: Hello and welcome back to All In at the annual meeting. So we actually have a tag team today of two guests and I'm going to allow you all to introduce yourself because you have a special relationship.
Speaker: But first, hey, I'm Cindy Bassett. I am the director at the University of Missouri School of Law Library. And my name is Victoria Mantell. I'm the foreign comparative and international law librarian at Vanderbilt University.
Speaker: And I am an alum of the University of Missouri School of Law. All right. So does that mean that you were in her class? um So Cindy has been a tremendous friend and mentor to me since the very start of my... Before the very start. Yes. um Since ah the very, very, very start of my ah journey into law school when I was touring. law schools. and So i knew I wanted to be a law librarian. and From the time I was about a college senior, i went to the University of Arkansas um in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I'm from Bentonville, Arkansas, if anyone is familiar. And and and
Speaker: I only applied to schools that had JDMLIS dual degree programs, which Mizzou offers. m And I applied to Mizzou kind of late in the cycle. I was kind of a late, I made a late decision about going to law school. um I took the LSAT kind of at the last time they offer it. I applied late in the cycle, but I was fortunate enough to get into Mizzou.
Speaker: And my parents and my sister took me from Northwest Arkansas to ah Columbia, Missouri, which is where the School of Law was situated. And Mizzou, the law school, their admissions team, which is wonderful, they um they put me together with Cindy. So I had like the normal tour of the law school that they offer um students. But Cindy, and this just tells you right away,
Speaker: how generous of a spirit Cindy has. Cindy took two hours out of her time over the summer, which I think we can unanimously agree is the busiest time of the year for a law librarian, inexplicably. yeah she took two hours of her time out of her summer or on the day my mom and I were visiting the law school.
Speaker: to sit with me, to talk with me, to explore what my options were, and just to help introduce me um to like the basic preliminary steps of becoming and being a law librarian.
Speaker: Now, I graduated from college during the pandemic. I'm one of those people whose senior year of college was um canceled by COVID. So at this point in time, i had spoken with some people who were law librarians over Zoom. And a lot of, as we all know, this is a very kind profession. People were very happy to speak with me.
Speaker: Yes, exactly. but Cindy was the first person I had had the chance to sit down and speak with in person. um And she really is no joke the reason why i decided to attend Mizzou for law school.
Speaker: Well, and as you can imagine, there are not and very many people who show up at your door saying, I want to be a law librarian, right? So Victoria was different just from the get-go. So that meeting, um i remember very clearly because we were sitting in the rear book room. Yes. And she's looking around, and and she looked around the rear book room, and it was like heart eyes. like um It was just such a fun conversation um to guide someone to the profession that was already interested because it seems like that is kind of not the normal pathway. So I never taught Victoria, and don't think.
Speaker: No, she was in a different, different sections and I wasn't teaching the sections that she was in So and here I have to shout out the entire Mizzou Law Library. um I felt so poured into in law school. Like, I truly felt like the law library team at Mizzou, headed by Cindy, so thoughtful and so intentional about giving me the experience and the opportunities I needed to go out and get my first job in a law library after I graduated.
Speaker: So I was super fortunate. um I worked the circulation desk. I worked at our reference desk. I worked in our archives. I helped with ah digital resource projects, created a timeline for our ah our law school website.
Speaker: and I created a book display for when I i was the 149th class, but the class after me was the 150th class. We had a huge anniversary party. i created a book display for that. So like I had so many opportunities, so many amazing experiences.
Speaker: Cindy even brought me as a law student to double a double L in 2023. She made it possible for me to go, which I have to imagine is out of the norm. um But she she was, you know, she said, you need to come to this conference and start meeting people and interacting with people and see if this is really what you want to do.
Speaker: When I was in Boston in 2023, there was no doubt about it in my mind that I had made the right decision about the profession i was getting ready to enter into. Sydney, I know that with, um you know, at your school, at it does sound like you have a formal law librarianship program, but it really does sound like you're helping to address this pipeline problem that we have.
Speaker: um But you're adding a little bit of extra spice there with your own mentorship. Are there other ways that you think you're helping to to foster this next generation within the library to to get people excited about it beyond just this sort of formal program? Yeah.
Speaker: I am. um Yes. The answer is yes. I learned in law school. Answer the question and then tell why. So, yes, um i I do. We have had a JDMLIS program for a long time, um but it's not been terribly well advertised or well supported. And that was something that I really wanted to change.
Speaker: And I'm a firm believer that um you're not going to get a change unless you invest. So the money that we can put into bringing people into the program is going to be key for making more new law libraries because Victoria is like an exception, not a rule.
Speaker: So with that in mind, when I had the opportunity, created really our first graduate professional assistantship. And so we're in our second year. We just sent our first assistant out into the world, and we've hired our second. And I'm hopeful with that, because we have at Mizzou JD program and a library program, that I'm going to be able to help address some of those pipeline issues By actually supporting people so they can afford to get the degrees. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Because i think that is one of the big challenges, right? It isn't just about the getting the potential degrees or things like that. It is also the the ongoing support, be it the mentorship that you need, be it the financial support, or sometimes even being able to get the projects yeah behind you.
Speaker: Because if you just have the piece of paper, sometimes you don't have the the building skills, right? Yes. ah Yeah. So you might be applying for jobs, but you might not have the the experience enough to get the job.
Speaker: Yeah. And that's one of the things that I think, like Victoria touched on going to AALL with the um latest folks that I'm bringing into the profession. I have the graduate professional assistantship. I also have a position that I filled with a staff member that I'm ah providing support to go to library school. So i'm that's kind of a different pathway that I've created. And I took recently both of those people to CaliCon.
Speaker: um because I wanted them to meet new people. um My graduate professional assistant was moving to Ann Arbor with a partner who's in residency there. And so we loaded up and we went to Ann Arbor um for the conference. and And I think having that exposure to other people um And other parts of the profession are going to help excite them about things. Like, for example, at CaliCon, we went to a program on vibe coding, which was new to me.
Speaker: And um my graduate professional assistant, who is much more tech savvy than I was, was professor. sat behind me, vibe-coded through them through the meeting, and then brought those ideas back to the library. We got a lovely 350 links out of Springshare that were broken, and they were working on it, and they said, oh yeah, i vibe-coded it, and i ran i you know I ran it through this, and I checked the links using vibe-coding. I'm like...
Speaker: That's rocking. Never would have thought of that. Never would have thought of that. But so there's benefits for both when you support people in this way. so Yeah, it's so great that you're talking about, because I know in our episode four, we were talking about mentoring new employees. And, you know, it hasn't aired yet, so y'all wouldn't have heard it. um But this is a new sort of stage to mentoring that we didn't talk about in that episode, which is you can actually pick up and take these people ways to conferences. You don't always just have to do it there at the workplaces. If you have the opportunity to, like, get them in a van and take them to a conference, do it. Right.
Speaker: i um I did want to say that, you know, all of the really thoughtful work that Cindy is doing to bring more people into law librarianship.
Speaker: I remember one day in law school, we took a walk around campus. It was probably October. It was a beautiful day. and Cindy was in the process of um getting going through basically the hiring process for moving from her position as our electronic resources librarian to um becoming director of the law library, which I know was a tremendously stressful time for her. and it was kind of stressful for like us as the students, too. Because we wanted her to be the director of the law library, right?
Speaker: um You know, as a law student, you don't have the insight into the hiring process. ah You have an idea of how things should be. And you think, well, the way I think things should be is how they should be, right? And in this case, i I stand by that. But... um I remember walked around the campus. It was beautiful.
Speaker: Mizzou has a gorgeous campus and ah all the trees were in their gorgeous fall foliage. And Cindy talked through all of her plans for this graduate professional assistantship.
Speaker: all of her hopes and dreams for making this a reality. And i cannot tell you the joy it brings me that she's been able to implement it at the law library because being a law student at Mizzou and learning, that's really where I learned. to become a law librarian, was working as a student in that law library, it was as important, if not more important, than my legal education.
Speaker: and And I'm just so happy that other people are getting the opportunity to work there, to learn there, and especially to be with the team of people that, you know, are employed there, headed by Cindy, of course.
Speaker: So in our episode four, when we were talking about sort of the things we learned from our mentors, one of the things that was brought up in that episode were the things that we learned from those original mentors that we bring them to our new places.
Speaker: So I know you are working at a new library now. Are there any things that any of those, ah you know, tips or tricks or things that you are finding yourself now bringing to your current employee?
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I got to Vandy, was amazed by the fact that I basically knew everything. but or i knew how to do everything that they were asking me to do, to work with faculty members, to find resources, to track stuff down. Now, there has been a learning curve, especially with the foreign and comparative materials, which um I've been learning more and more about.
Speaker: um But I was amazed at how well prepared I was because I wasn't necessarily expecting that. Even though I got so much wonderful experience, I was like, well, this is my first professional role, right? And and I'm sure that there are gaps in my knowledge. but And that is true.
Speaker: and But I really did feel so incredibly well prepared. I think the biggest thing that, well, in a very practical sense, Cindy taught me of the importance of documentation and writing things down. um I have the type of brain that is moving 100 miles a minute. I can go from one thought to another thought 10 thoughts away in five seconds.
Speaker: um It just all happens all at once. And She showed me the importance of making sure your projects are well documented, breaking them down into discrete parts, goals, sections.
Speaker: That's what really makes those difficult, large scale projects manageable, completable on ah a timeline and a deadline. And then in ah in a different sense, I think Cindy showed me how much creativity and compassion you can bring to the field and what that can mean for the people you're working with, whether that's students, that's faculty members.
Speaker: and public patrons, right? and And so, you know, i think we like a lot of times you you're doing the same things over and over again.
Speaker: and so like, well, I have a way I have a routine, a method of doing this. Sometimes you are faced with a research problem. You're faced with the student question that demands that you think about creative ways of navigating it. Your routine, your method, it might not work in that ah that exact situation. um And I was always amazed by...
Speaker: Cindy's really creative ways of problem solving. So when I'm in that situation, I think to myself, I'm like, what do I know? What can I do? How can I creatively work around this issue? And i think there's a lot more of that creative ideation involved in being a law librarian than people necessarily expect.
Speaker: um And that's something that I really learned working ah under Cindy. yep And I just want to trace a through line here. um We do not have like foreign international comparative law at Mizzou.
Speaker: um So Victoria has taken that area on and really grown in that area at Vandy. And I'm so glad that they've supported her in that way. um And I knew from giving Victoria projects and watching her do presentations that she would do an amazing presentation. So I brought her into my ALR class for the first time this year.
Speaker: so that she could expose my students to an area of the law that I don't know very much about. i don't have those, you know, a lot of those resources. And so she was able to come, like, zoom in and have a great um conversation with my students and expose them to an area of legal research that they wouldn't have otherwise gotten to see. So so now we're helping each other in more of a collegial way. that's a teacher i to becomes the student correct that the crack i learned a lot. They learned a lot. Well, welcome back to All In. And we have some amazing guests here with us on today.
Speaker: ah we have LaJuan Pringle, who I just met at the conference. This is his first AA00 conference. so We was at Clodell. I just learned. I'm not going to share it. Awesome. Plug, Carnell.
Speaker: And then we have ah my library twin, ah Daisy DeAnda, who's here. She is in the house. well Hotnik off a presentation she just did. So welcome to AALL All In.
Speaker: Happy to be here. Thank you. Thank you for the end. I'm excited. And so one of the things that we've been asking is if you all not only could, when you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself and where you are, where you're working. My name's Luan Perinvo.
Speaker: I am currently at Robinson Bradshaw in Charlotte, North Carolina. I've been um law librarian for the last two years. um I retired from the public library system in Charlotte after 26 plus years, and I ended up being lured into this job by a friend who needed some help ah with downsizing the library at the firm and ah was a temporary job initially, but two years later, still here. yeah Awesome. It's been great.
Speaker: I love it. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. ah My name is Daisy DeAnda, and I've been in the legal profession for 22 years this summer. I've been primarily in AMLA 50 and 100 firms as of, know, those two decades. But most recently, I just jumped ship the HIPAA.
Speaker: makeo take So I'm on the vendor side of things now. So I'm a customer success manager at Lexus Next. And also the proud founder and owner of Days of Co, which is what I just came off the panel, speaking on entrepreneurship panel and how we can leverage our skills as librarians to monetize on that bill. So build our brand. and then You do something with our passion and something that's going to grow independently of what a we're doing in the profession. So yeah, a little bit about me.
Speaker: And I'd also like to mention LexisX just happens to be our current sponsor for the Solid Modcast. Sponsor, Candice. Thank you, Lexis. So, LaJuan, we were talking, we met yesterday, and and it's really interesting. How have you been enjoying your first AAOOL conference?
Speaker: It's been awesome. of It's been really great to just like attend sessions and just see the structure. One of the things that I just absolutely raved about is Cuddle. And that's because like it was such a great introduction to like the structure AAL.
Speaker: Before I left it, I kind of had ideas of what the caucuses were like, what the different round tables were like. oh And comparing that to years of attending ALA, which is just massive, I just and just have a better understanding of how this association works. And I think that's in large part due to cuddle. right It was just really great.
Speaker: That's awesome. I attended my first ALA just this last month in Chicago. in It is massive, over 15,000 plus librarians as well.
Speaker: And so I can, I get that, you know, you don't, it's a little more tight knit and Connell is is amazing. I actually sent two of ah our newer law librarians to Connell as well. So.
Speaker: Huge shout out to Connell because even though I've been in the profession for two decades, I've only just recently started coming to the comforts. um That opportunity was itll finally available to me, but Connell was the greatest experience. I feel like that cohort that you create and that camaraderie and that friendship that you build with that cohort at that class,
Speaker: kind of goes with you along the way. Right. So I make new relationships and friendships, but also new mentors and, you know, um just people on the way that we can pour back into with all of our knowledge.
Speaker: I know you and I were chatting a little bit earlier today when we first met and you had mentioned that you felt because you had been working a few years coming in and talking to vendors, it was a little bit different experience going through the exit call. I don't know if you would feel comfortable sharing that with the folks on the podcast. Absolutely. Um, you know, I, I think when I first started working at the law firm, ah suffered a little bit of that imposter syndrome where it was like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? or what do I, you know, who are from the public library space, I get it. Yeah. Well, I ever learned this, uh, you know, I,
Speaker: There's so much to learn. And um I felt like the way that ah I kind of learned just general things at the law firm really prepared me for this conference in that I was gradually able to like be exposed to some of the resources that we use, like Lexis.
Speaker: Westlaw, ah of CNS, just pretty much all of the legal resources that we utilize at our firm. And I was able to like actually come in and have coherent conversations with the exhibitors. Whereas like if I had like come to this conference maybe two months after joined the firm, would just be like, what in the world are you talking about? What is happening here? Why am I here? It's that kind of thing. but ah Really having that two years of experience at the firm, getting to learn the resources, getting to learn how firm works itself ah was really, really helpful. And and now i feel like I can have somewhat of a coherent conversation with the exhibitor. There are still some things that go over my head a little bit, but...
Speaker: I think, again, this whole AALL conference is really a great educational opportunity, particularly for newer law librarians like myself, who are just always interested in learning how other people operate and what it is that you can bring to the table at your own firm.
Speaker: and recently You know, LaFouane, you just mentioned something so important, like this continued learning. yeah Right. And the fact that like, no matter where you are, like whether you're on the vendor side or the private sector or in government or, you know, on i've been of the law school side, there's always learning happening.
Speaker: Having, you know, ventured onto the vendor side of things, this is a whole 360 for us, right? Because now I have that whole nother experience of like, oh, but how you're going to stretch me in parts that I had no idea i could be stretched.
Speaker: Right. That's like, I didn't know that now, um, there's, there's so much room for growth. I feel like a newbie on the vendor side of things and learning things also from ground zero. um that's That's awesome perspective because I i did a switch a couple of years ago. I was a long time law firm librarian and then coming in, i think that was in Boston.
Speaker: um i I was interviewing for the job I'm currently at and I got the opportunity to talk to some people. I went to the GLL, the government law library at lunch and I got to talk to some people and they gave me, as Daisy talked about, perspective that I didn't have and questions that I had. I was able to get and ah I mean, it's good to do that virtually, but to be able to do it in person is is super important. And that's what I love about the AALL Conference. And I think also one of the other big things is like, how much can others will gain from the knowledge and experience that we have, right?
Speaker: Like pouring into the next generation. um or pouring into the next sector that we're moving ourselves into right we can be chameleon like in that sense that we can pick up and learn i think that's one of the most beautiful things about our passion and being librarians that we can pick up knowledge but then decimate that information so beautifully um to our network to the people that we know to different agencies um i think that's been also Oh, I didn't recognize that. I was actually a thought leader in this space, right?
Speaker: When you took a look at the sort of the programming, are there anything that were sort of standouts, either ones that you haven't been to or ones that you're coming up that you're thinking, oh, I really want to go and take a look at?
Speaker: there I did want to like gear some of the the sessions towards the work that I already do. So I just left one about searching for private companies, usually member records. And that was a great one.
Speaker: The one that I'll tell you just kind of blew me away and left me like awe in my feels was the baseball caucus program on what's in the name that talked about like how the They talked about the legal fight, if you will, to get the Guardians team to stop officially using their logo. And and just je the, of I think, the fight that the Indian community here in Cleveland went through, really having to explain themselves, really having to explain their humanity.
Speaker: And like, you know, getting people to understand how offensive like that mascot was to them. That just kind of blew me away. And I like i left that session almost kind of like teared up because it was just really impactful.
Speaker: Getting to see the historic figures who played a role and finally getting that change up. it was It was awesome. I still say it's like one of the best library conference sessions that I've ever attended. And I've attended lots AI sessions. Amazing.
Speaker: Yeah, I was just that moved by it. And I love the fact that you can come to the annual meeting and you can have the full gamut of types of programming. Yeah. Right. You can go to a session like that and you can go to a session that is sort of more of a practical, like I can take this back to my job. We have the full gamut at the end. yeah Yeah. You would have never told me that I would have been able to find like a great social social justice program aligned with the baseball caucus. and it' It was fantastic. I mean, it really, for me, the the power of law library. So one of the things that I was really looking forward to is the Cool Tools Cafe. um I haven't been able to because I've been manning the booth at the Lexis desk, but that is always one that I recommend to either a newer librarian or anybody who's been around for a minute because you're able to learn new tools that are making a difference that are very practical in your everyday, you know, workflows and everyday kind of work that you're doing. So that's always been one that I really look forward to. For me, I think anything also on mental advocacy, mental wellness, mental health. um I know that there is, we have a a caucus. So it's interesting that you say that because, you know, I think with law librarians, we all, we have the full game, out right? You have introverts, you have extroverts, you have, and when we come here, there's always a lot of stimuli. I love it.
Speaker: And so I know that Some of the law librarians that I work with who have come to conferences in the past, and I always like to be there to mentor them, but last year I actually had a law librarian who came with was who is an introvert, and so some of the advice that I gave her is I said, it's okay to not always go to things. And so I love what you're saying about the mindfulness, because I said, if you, you know, if you get through a day and you're tired and you want to just go back to the hotel room and order some food in and not go out and see anybody, that's okay too. Like you need to ref refresh ah so that you can go to programming the next day. So no, it's okay. You don't have to go to everything you're invited to. I will say ah with this being my first at double a double L conference, like that's been ah over all resounding, like kind of message theme. Then that's heard from people. Take your time, relax, like pace yourself, get your breaks when you need it.
Speaker: And I love that. Like, i feel like that's, That's a message that everyone needs to hear, no matter what efforts they go to. byke Pace yourself. like you know Enjoy yourself. yeah Don't get too... Don't do too much. Right. And I think I've taken my hip advice. and I don't know if y'all heard the goat story last year, but...
Speaker: That's for another podcast episode. That's for another podcast officer episode. But no, being able to be present in the moment. So I'm not going from event to event. I'm going to one event and I'm taking it all in and getting a chance to meet good people. So that's really good advice that I've taken poor a change.
Speaker: And that was All In, live at the annual meeting. Thank you to everyone who participated in the recording, and thank you to all of our listeners. We do hope you enjoyed it, and we'll see you all next time on All In.
