Law Librarianship Commons^™

Your Wfh & Office Gear: From The Basics To Puttin’ On The Ritz, Aamir Abdullah, Havilah Joy-Steinmen Bakken, Rachel Evans, Valerie Horton, Jason Tubinis

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

A quick guide to effective gadgets and work-from-home (WFH) essentials to help you succeed in any work environment.

Lisp – An Historical Reminiscence, Heather Simmons

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Reflections on the history of the Legal Information Services to the Public group of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Outreach From Your Laptop: Virtual And Hybrid Library Orientation, Brittany Persson, Catherine Biondo, Rachel S. Evans, Geraldine R. Kalim

Presentations

Reach more students by designing a virtual orientation. The speakers will be discussing orientation objectives, virtual orientation format options, and different technologies that can be used to design a virtual or hybrid library orientation.

On The Ground: Real-World Solutions: Taking The Best From A Bad Situation, Rachel S. Evans, Jason Tubinis

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

A review of collaboration apps that made 2020 more bearable.

Balancing Our Brains: Apps For Avoiding Bandwidth Overload, Geraldine R. Kalim, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Amidst the rush and worry many librarians around the world felt as we scrambled earlier this year to set up physical spaces to work from home, at the University of Georgia Law Library we were fortunate to have several task boards, project management spaces, and apps for communication already in motion. Individuals and small teams had been using various platforms for years to collaborate more effectively and track progress on longterm objectives, all while maintaining business as usual. In this article we put our recent and personal experiences to use, giving context for why and how four tools can be …

“Tech Is Easy, People Are Hard”: Philosophical Takeaways From Cat Moon’S Calicon Keynote, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

In this blog post for AALL's CS-SIS Evans shares her favorite bits of advice from the recent Computer Assisted Legal Instruction Conference keynote delivered by Caitlin "Cat" Moon, including design philosophies for making resources, services and workflows more user-centered and specific book recommendations.

Productivity Column: It Took Me Four Pomodoros To Write This, Geraldine R. Kalim

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Kalim shares specific productivity techniques in this blog post for PEGA-SIS. She talks about the upsides and downsides of teleworking, gives a brief history of the pomodoro technique of working full-focus for 25 minute increments, gives options for the classic and modern timers, and even notes the similar and highly compatible idea of the "power hour" to work against a clock to see how much you can accomplish during a set amount of time.

Best International Poster Presentations: Connectedness @ The Alex, Anne Burnett, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

The mission was to determine effective combination of apps to support both the workflows and the social connectedness of a collegial staff forced to pivot to working from home with one week’s notice.

The University of Georgia’s Alexander Campbell King Law Library has a staff of around 25 with a strong culture of face-to-face communication, collegiality and socialization. Our work is often team-driven, and small groups walk to nearby coffee shops nearly daily for informal meetings and camaraderie. When we transitioned rapidly to a work-from-home environment in mid-March, the library’s leadership was concerned not only that every staff member would …

Reprogramming To Unplug During Covid-19: My Never Ending Story, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

In this short candid article member Rachel Evans provides effective strategies for unwinding during COVID-19 including practicing more mindfulness and other activities to find balance while teleworking.

AALL's New Voices is for members to share insights on any aspect of law librarianship. Pieces in this series also appear on the Members Open Forum in addition to being published as part of the AALL monthly eNewsletter. Topics in the series include: starting a new role, insights on professional development, recommending a favorite resource, providing an overview of an AALL webinar, or your take on an article from AALL Spectrum, …

Top 5 Ts-Centric Webinar & Virtual Conference Highlights, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

The increase of wonderful, FREE programming being delivered virtually right now and available to audiences around the world is truly amazing. It can be overwhelming to sift through the options (especially if your inbox has exponentially exploded as mine has over the past 3 months). Take a trip back in time with me as I share below my favorite sessions that I feel offered the most valuable content to those of us in technical services positions.

TechScans is a blog to share the latest trends and technology tools for technical services law librarians. The official blog of the TS-SIS and …

Virtual Poster Exhibit: Connectedness @ The Alex, Anne Burnett, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

The mission was to determine effective combination of apps to support both the workflows and the social connectedness of a collegial staff forced to pivot to working from home with one week’s notice

The University of Georgia’s Alexander Campbell King Law Library has a staff of around 25 with a strong culture of face-to-face communication, collegiality and socialization. Our work is often team-driven, and small groups walk to nearby coffee shops nearly daily for informal meetings and camaraderie. When we transitioned rapidly to a work-from-home environment in mid-March, the library’s leadership was concerned not only that every staff member would …

Surving Covid With The Breakfast Club: Tools For Telework Task Management And Communication In A Multi-Generational Workplace, Carol A. Watson, Geraldine R. Kalim, Wendy Moore, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

As librarians around the world scrambled earlier this year to set up physical spaces to work from home, at UGA Law Library we were fortunate to have a few apps already in place. In this session we put our recent and personal experiences to use, as well as adding a newer tool into the mix, and successfully pivoted employees, teams, departments and services all online within a week. Individuals and small teams had been using various platforms for years to collaborate more effectively and track progress on long-term objectives, all while maintaining business as usual. Our library is also made …

Power Projects For Quarantined Librarians, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Some of us are approaching the two month mark of our library's closure to the public. Though it has definitely had ups and downs, I have found it has helped me better carve out time for professional development activities, dedicate more of my day to clean-up projects I have just not had time to follow through on, and even start new projects with the help of colleagues who found themselves needing a little more to do from home. I hope this post will elaborate on that topic to give specific project examples for those working in collection services, technical services, …

How To Hack Outreach: An A–Z Guide Of Ideas, Tips, And Tools, Rachel S. Evans, Marie Mize, David Rutland, Szilvia Somodi, Sharon Bradley

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

In this article librarians and staff collaborate to deliver an alphabetical list of tips, tools, tricks and other resources for how they effectively work inter-departmentally to promote their library and institutional resources, services and information. The piece includes specific examples featuring several ideas from past library events, exhibits and displays, and other efforts with nods to several other colleagues from UGA Law Library. This article served as written documentation of this group's fall 2019 panel presentation at the Georgia Libraries Conference.

Taking The Office Home: Telework With Trello & Slack, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Amidst the anxiety, fear and overwhelm we are all feeling, many of us across the country have been scrambling to figure out teleworking for our libraries while setting up physical spaces at home. Evans outlines the solutions UGA Law Library deployed as they transitioned during a time of rapid change.

Avoiding Bandwidth Overload: Apps To Maxamize Time And Accomplish More, Geraldine R. Kalim, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

Accomplishing goals and keeping to deadlines on both big and small projects can be challenging to balance with our recurring tasks. Making effective use of a few on-point tools can be the key to avoiding burnout and making sure your personal bandwidth doesn’t throttle. This session will use the two presenter’s preferred platforms to show specific examples of how to manage workflows using a selection of apps to tackle business as usual, short and long term work, and major special projects. You will learn which tool is best for generating documentation, collaborating with multiple individuals, syncing with other apps, and …

Cool Tools For Time & Project Management, Rachel S. Evans, Geraldine R. Kalim

Presentations

Student Services Librarian Geraldine Kalim and Metadata Services Librarian Rachel Evans shared their favorite web-based applications and smartphone apps. Tools included Kanbanflow, Google Suite, Trello, Slack, Moleskin Journey, and Voice Notes. Screen captures and specific examples of how each presenter uses the apps in their daily worklife in the law library as well as examples of special projects and best apps for team collaboration were given. There was also a short time for questions and discussion following the talk.

Conference Roundup: Workshop Report On Digitization For Small Institutions, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Evans reviews a recent Georgia Library Association (GLA) preconference workshop presented by the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG). Evans shares takeaways from the half-day experience including resources related to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and the Digital Library Foundation (DLF). The report also presents learning objective in the context of the author's own work responsibilities and details how they will be useful and relate to current projects. Topics discussed include metadata, digitization, archiving digital-born photographs, repository standards, cataloging standards, and more.

Technical Services Law Librarian (ISSN 0195-4857) is an official publication of the Technical Services Special Interest Section …

Timelords & Timelines: Four Web Apps For Storytelling In Libraries, Rachel S. Evans, Sharon Bradley, David Rutland

Presentations

From online embeds to interactive displays, timelines can serve many purposes and tell powerful stories. In this panel librarians discuss collaboration and how to bring history to life through displays, events and online platforms for engaging students and preserving community milestones. Four of our favorite tools for creating digital timelines and gathering content will be shared including Prezi, TikiToki, TimeToast, and Piktochart. Comparisons will be given based on cost, technical limitations, and general ease of use. Specific examples will also be shared and discussed.

How To Hack Outreach: An A To Z Guide Of Collaborative Ideas, Tips & Tools, Rachel S. Evans, Sharon Bradley, Marie Mize, Szilvia Somodi, David Rutland

Presentations

In an increasingly digital word, how do we communicate to library users? How can librarians and staff collaborate effectively on a variety of outreach efforts? In this session, panelists from UGA Law Library take turns sharing an alphabetically organized catalog of favorite tools, tips and general ideas including library displays, social media, and face-to-face offerings. At the close of the presentation attendees will have a chance to ask questions, participate in an open discussion about what has worked or not for them and why, and take a handout of our complete A to Z guide with resource links and examples.

The Future Of Security, Yesterday: All About Authentication, Authorization And More…, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Rachel Evans crafts a summary of useful terminology aimed at other new CS-SIS members and attempts to demystify by way of definitions and explanations the tangled concepts of authentication and authorization.

The CS-SIS Blog Committee is charged with providing CS-SIS members with timely and useful information through an official yet informal medium about relevant subjects for the membership, including the activities of the members, committees, and Executive Board.

Calicon Re-Cap, Jason Tubinis, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

Rachel Evans and Jason Tubinis shared takeaways with other law librarians from the annual Computer Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) Conference held in Columbia, SC in the summer of 2019.

Conference Recap: #Calicon19, Rachel S. Evans, Jason Tubinis

Presentations

Evans and Tubinis gave a quick review of their favorite sessions from the Computer Assisted Legal Instruction conference in summer 2019 to an audience of law librarians and special library association members.

Time Traveling With Timelines: Web Apps For Storytelling In Libraries, Sharon Bradley, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

From online embeds to interactive displays, timelines can serve many purposes and tell powerful stories. At the University of Georgia’s Law Library we have teamed up with faculty and staff to bring history to life, engage students, and preserve scholarly and institutional milestones. Through trial and error we have found a variety of tools for creating timelines digitally. In this article we share our four favorite web-based applications for creating timelines including Tiki-Toki, TimeToast, Prezi and Piktochart.

A Time Lord, A Timeline And Legal Instruction, Rachel S. Evans, Sharon Bradley, Eleanor Lanier

Presentations

From online embeds to interactive displays, timelines can serve many purposes and tell powerful stories. In this session librarians team up with an archivist and a clinician to bring history to life, engage students, and preserve the scholarly and institutional milestones. A variety of tools for creating digital timelines and gathering content will be shared including TikiToki, TimeToast, and Piktochart. Comparisons will be given based on cost, technical limitations, collaborative potential, and general ease of use. Potential applications for timelines will also be shared in the form of examples including:

• a TimeToast embedded timeline tribute for individual faculty scholarship as …

Of Mind Maps And Makerspaces: Technology Approach To Law Teaching, Sharon Bradley

Presentations

Mind maps and makerspaces are two potential approaches to instruction that might inject a little fun and zing into the classroom. Mind maps are a more visual or graphical tool for teaching analysis, problem solving, and decision-making. Makerspaces embrace Langdell’s model of the law library as the “laboratory” of the law school. A makerspace could allow students to experiment, create, and learn to evaluate the “benefits and risks associated with relevant technology,” as reflected in the recent change to Rule 1.1 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

The Changing Landscape Of Digitization And Preservation, Sharon Bradley

Presentations

Digitization and the preservation of digitized materials presents many complex legal questions, like ownership, copyright, and conflicting laws. Digital materials may be subject to many levels of legal restrictions like copying, storage, access, and modification of content. The speaker will probably confuse things even more by talking about some issues that are coming over the hill including legally enforceable duties of stewardship, loss of academic scholarship and legal authority, and arguments against strict enforcement of copyright law. It’s also time to move from collaborations, because they’re good idea, to legally established partnerships, because they have teeth.

From Print To Digital And Back Again: Lessons From A Library Newsletter, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

UGA Law Library’s longstanding newsletter Amicus Briefs first saw circulation in 1984. Over a period of more than 30 years the publication has changed hands, formats and styles many times. Today the newsletter is published both electronically and physically, and in 2017 is now further expanding its reach via podcasting. This session will trace one library newsletter’s journey, sharing lessons learned along the way about platform and content choices, marketing and dissemination, and measuring readership. The past and present technology used will also be discussed including HTML, Drupal, WordPress, MailChimp, Google Analytics, Facebook and Piktochart.

Lawyer ≠ Luddite, Jason Tubinis, Khelani Clay, Jim Henneberger, Zanada Joyner, Shannon Roddy

Presentations

Being a competent attorney means being a competent technologist. ABA Model Rule 1.1 (Competence) requires all lawyers to stay abreast of technology even if they still use a Dictaphone and typewriter and think “the cloud” refers to the fluffy white stuff in the sky. It can be malpractice to misuse or misunderstand technology, and this misuse can take many forms. Lack of familiarity with technology can lead to improper production of confidential information, delays in litigation, wasting time and client funds, ending up on Above the Law (and not in a good way), and more.

Legal technology courses are becoming …