Monday, January 25, 2010

Call for Nominations AALL New Product Award - Deadline Feb. 1, 2010

Call for Nominations! AALL New Product Award


Have you discovered any great new library products this past year? If so, let us know! It is time to nominate these products for AALL’s New Product Award.

The New Product Award honors a new and innovative commercial legal information product that enhances or improves existing law library services and/or procedures. New products may include, but are not limited to, printed material, computer hardware and/or software, or other products or devices that aid or improve access to legal information, the legal research process, or procedures for technical processing of library materials. Any product that has been re-introduced in a new format or with substantial changes is also available. A new product is one that has been in the library-related marketplace for two years or less.

All AALL members are encouraged to think about the exciting new information products being used in their libraries and to send us their nominations for this award. Recipients of the New Product Award need not hold membership in AALL. Nominations for this award may be made by any AALL member and by vendors nominating their own products.

To Submit a Nomination for the 2010 Award


Nomination forms can be found on the CRIV website under the New Product Award tab or at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/criv/news/newproductform.pdf. The deadline for receipt of submissions is February 1, 2010.


Librarian Nominations

If you are a librarian nominating a product, please give as much information about the product as possible. The New Product Awards Subcommittee will contact the publisher of the product for any further information required.


Vendor/Publisher Nominations

If you are a vendor or publisher nominating a hardcopy product, please submit the form along with a sample product, if available. If you are nominating a Web-based or online product, please submit the form with all necessary contact information, including URL(s) and temporary login and password information.

For hardcopy products, brochures, and/or any other materials, we recommend that you send eight copies for the New Product Award Subcommittee and the AALL Awards Committee.

Please send completed forms and documents to:

Michelle Cosby
Reference Librarian
University of Kentucky College of Law Library
620 S. Limestone Street
Lexington, KY 40506-0048
859-257-1578 (Office)
859-323-4906 (Fax)
Mcosb2@email.uky.edu


The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2010.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Help AALL and SNELLA Save Connecticut Courthouse Libraries

Help AALL and SNELLA Save Connecticut Courthouse Libraries

Help get the word out. Although only Connecticut residents can sign, it will help to get the word out so members can contact friends and family they know in CT. Thanks.

AALL has been working closely with the Southern New England Law Librarians Association (SNELLA), to oppose the announced closure of six of the 15 courthouse libraries in Connecticut. They are jointly sponsoring online petitions to save the courthouse libraries in Bridgeport, Hartford, Litchfield, Milford, and Norwich. The sixth library, at the Willimantic Courthouse, is not staffed and its small collection will likely be moved to the local public university. Each petition includes a compelling statement by a leader of the local bar association, whose members stand ready to join forces with us. Attorneys and pro se litigants will be deprived of local access to current and historic legal materials, as well as the knowledge and expertise of professional librarians, if we do not stop these proposed closures.

The petitions are open to all residents of Connecticut, so please help spread the word so that our efforts are successful in quickly getting as many signatures as possible to keep these public law libraries open and staffed.

In addition to the petitions, on December 23, AALL and SNELLA sent joint letters to Connecticut's Governor Rell and to the leadership of the Appropriations Committee strongly opposing the decision, which was announced by Judge Barbara M. Quinn, chief court administrator. The closures became necessary, according to Quinn, after the executive branch cut $12.9 million from the budget for the judicial branch.