Law Librarianship Commons^™

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 …

Resources For Work & Play: Gems From The Internet Archive, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Who doesn’t love the Internet Archive? As one of the longest running vehicles for capturing content generated online, it also serves as one of the primary databases for Public Domain and Creative Commons licensed media. Founded in 1996, the vast archive includes more than 430 billion web pages, but the fun doesn’t stop with the web. As a non-profit library, it also presents a broad spectrum of collections, from live audio to feature films, ebooks to software, and even patents and other government documents. In this post I wanted to share some favorites from the archive I’ve enjoyed recently, …

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, …

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 …