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Hear from the Law Library at the AALL Conference

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This weekend several Law Library of Congress staff members will be traveling to Philadelphia for the annual conference of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL).  Below is a quick rundown of the panel discussions at which attendees will be able to hear about some of our work:

Janice HydeEffective Content Management for Improved Patron Service” (July 19, 1PM)

Photograph taken by Charles DoveJanice will be participating in this panel discussion along with representatives from two law firm libraries and one university law library. The panelists have been asked to consider nearly a dozen questions related to the type of content their law libraries are managing, their thoughts about what constitutes “an ideal” content management system, how to improve the patron experience, and best practices for handling content of different formats. Given the difference in scale and mission of the various institutions represented on the panel, Janice thinks it will be interesting to see if common themes emerge. She plans to emphasize the importance of good metadata for content management. She says that “successful content management requires more than an excellent ‘system’–it needs humans to develop taxonomies, add relevant metadata, and make decisions about content over its lifecycle.”

Andrew Weber and Jeanine Cali – “The Multi-Channel Event Marketing Cycle” (July 21, 8:30AM)

jcali-thumbAs readers of this blog will know, the Law Library of Congress hosts many events each year.  This past year in particular has seen the development and promotion of several large-scale events associated with our hosting of the Lincoln Magna Carta. Andrew and Jeanine will join with Cassie Rae DuBay from Southern Methodist University to discuss the marketing aspects of achieving a successful, well-attended event. Jeanine will detail the history, goals, and structure of the Law Library’s event marketing cycle. Cassie will discuss the approaches of an academic law library and how these contrast with those of a large, public institution such as the Law Library of Congress. Andrew will provide an overview of the Law Library’s multi-channel event marketing cycle using the symposium Conversations on the Enduring Legacy of the Great Charter” as an example. This cycle includes press releases, posting event information on social media channels, and live-tweeting the event itself.

Peter Roudik – “Law Library Interns: How to Make Them Work for You” (July 21, 2:30PM)

As you might have noticed from our recent interviews on this blog, the Law Library of Congress welcomes a number of interns from around the world to work with us during summers and other parts of the year. peter 1Peter joins with two librarians from academic institutions, and one from a state supreme court library, to discuss how to ensure internship programs work well for the law library and for the interns themselves. Peter will provide information about what we are doing here at the Law Library to turn internships into a rewarding experience for students and their mentors. He will share our experiences in building a strong internship program in partnership with various U.S. and foreign universities and NGOs and describe how students and recent graduates are mentored and involved in professional activities by Law Library staff. He will outline our targeted hiring practices and analyze specific projects initiated by the Law Library in order to utilize the skills of different interns.

David Mao – “Confronting the Future of Information Policy” (July 20, 2PM)

In this forward-looking panel discussion, presenters from the Government Publishing OfficeDavid S. Mao, Law Librarian of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Library of Congress, and two large academic law libraries will examine changes in how information is distributed, accessed, and preserved, and the implications of these changes for libraries and librarians. The discussion will include the ABA Standards for libraries, the rise of eGovernment, and the involvement of different entities in preserving and providing access to digital content. David will particularly highlight challenges related to digital content and collecting at the Library of Congress.

We hope to see and talk to many of our law librarian colleagues from around the country, and the world, at the various wonderful programs and meetings throughout the conference. If you see one of our staff please say hi!

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