Last week I had the great pleasure and privilege of attending the Canadian Association of Law Libraries annual meeting in Montreal. The theme for the conference was “Multifaceted Professional” and I gave the opening plenary talk on “Thriving On Chaos: The Future of Law Librarians” with Jean O’Grady of DLA Piper. My slides and transcript can be viewed on my personal blog.
After that, I was free to enjoy the conference and learn from Canadian legal professionals. You’ve probably hear the famous feminist saying about Ginger Rogers that goes “She did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels…” Well, Canadian legal professional are facing all the same obstacles, challenges and opportunities that American’s are…but in English AND French. (I went to a session on Quebecois legal resources that had my head spinning.) ABS, Virtual law offices, practical legal educational, open/free law…all of the issues that we’re facing down here, our Northern Cousins are as well.
The final session of the conference was on ebook licensing. This was fascinating to me on two levels. First, one of the speakers was law firm librarian Bess Reynolds. As someone who has spent her career in academia, her presentation on the challenges of ebook in law firm settings – both in getting the information into the collection in an accessible way and it dealing with the technological needs of lawyers – is all very new to me. Secondly, another speaker was Christine Hiller, who heads up consortia book purchasing for Quebec universities. I am a big fan of consortia, as I believe that banding together and combining efforts is always the smarter path. I believe if libraries are going to survive the 21st century, more purchasing consortia must be formed.
Speaking of consortia, I was told several times that “We wish we had a Canadian CALI!” Well, guess what? You do! CALI is open to Canadian law schools and libraries and – I believe – all Canadian law schools are already members. I would love to see more Canadian content on CALI, both in lessons and eLangdell publications. I’m still drafting a more organized plan for doing this, so watch this space for details!
