All things the AALL should have been far more vocal about over the past 5 years.
Telling that it isn’t a law librarian who has to state the bleeding obvious to law librarians
That said not much will change when your conference is paid for by the same companies year in and year out
Anyway Bob writes…
In an often rousing keynote address at the annual conference of American Association of Law Libraries in Portland, Ore., yesterday, Roosevelt Weeks, director of the Fort Bend County (Texas) Library, urged law librarians to “be bold” as their profession faces unprecedented challenges and transformation.
Speaking to the hundreds of law librarians gathered for the conference, Weeks — himself a public librarian, not a law librarian — outlined four key areas where boldness is essential: supporting users, standing up for library values, facing challenges, and advancing careers. His message resonated particularly strongly given the current climate facing libraries nationwide.
Weeks, who transitioned from a well-paying technology career to librarianship after a transformative volunteer experience, delivered a keynote that was both passionate and pragmatic. He described leaving a seven-figure job in technology to join library staff making $27,500, motivated by his experience as a library volunteer, including helping a woman achieve her own career goals by training her to become certified in Microsoft Office.
“That did it for me,” Weeks told the audience, recounting how the woman brought him a blueberry pie after landing her desired job as an executive assistant. “I found out my needs. I found out what I wanted to do in life.”
Libraries Under Attack
Weeks did n0t shy away from addressing the elephant in the room: the current political climate surrounding libraries. “We are under attack. Would you agree with that or not?” he asked the audience, acknowledging that while some places in the U.S. remain “very welcoming” to libraries, others require more strategic approaches.
“You got to be strategic in what you do and be subversive in what you do,” Weeks said, urging librarians to own that characterization of themselves as subversive, but to be subversive for the right reason, which is to help others.
He stressed that intellectual freedom remains “non-negotiable,” regardless of political pressures. Drawing on both his prior experience in Austin and his current role in Fort Bend County, Weeks noted how librarians must adapt their tactics while maintaining their core principles.
Listen and Innovate
One key facet of Weeks’ message was the need for law librarians to actively listen to their users and innovate services accordingly.
“Sometimes being smart, we think we have all the answers,” he said. “But oftentimes when they come up and say, ‘I need this,’ we start formulating an answer in our mind. We can’t do that.”
He stressed the importance of serving users with empathy and creativity, recognizing that legal information users come from diverse backgrounds with varying resources.
“If you got money and power in this country, you can get access to anything you want,” Weeks said. “But what about those that don’t have that voice, that don’t have the resources?”
Embracing Technological Change
Addressing concerns about artificial intelligence and digital transformation, Weeks drew parallels to past technological disruptions. “When Google came out, people said, ‘That’s the end of libraries. We don’t need y’all anymore,’” he recalled. “But we still here.”
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