Back in July, a few staff members from the Law Library of Congress had the chance to attend the 2024 American Association of Law Libraries conference in Chicago, Illinois. The informative weekend was filled with great panel discussions, and the opportunity to network with other librarians, meander through the exhibitor hall, and present on the Law Library and the many services we offer. It was not all work and no fun though; we were able to explore the city of Chicago, take in the architecture, and of course, experience all the great cuisine that the city has to offer!
I reached out to staff that attended the conference to see what some of their favorite parts were and they responded with the following, below.
Jennifer Gonzalez: At this conference, I learned how much our amazing colleagues around the country are working to make this profession more accessible and diverse. From the Community Youth Internship Experience in California and the Fellows Program at the University of Arizona to continued support of diversity in career counseling and mentoring at the Harris County Law Library and the University of Colorado Boulder, law librarians have devised different ways to increase visibility and diversity of law librarianship at all levels. I was honored to be included on the panel to discuss the role our internship program has had in increasing the visibility of the profession too!
Sarah Friedman: This was my first time attending the AALL conference and it was a great opportunity to connect with law librarians from around the country and learn more about recent developments in the profession. I especially enjoyed getting to see my Library of Congress colleagues participating in panel discussions throughout the conference. Jennifer Gonzalez’s conversation about professionalism in “Changing Dynamics in the Workplace: Redefining What Is ‘Professional’ in the Law Library” and Louis Myers’ discussion about the Law Library’s new report on book banning in the program “Obscenity, Authoritarianism, and Blasphemy: The Global Context of Book Banning” were standouts for me. Both programs were engaging and spoke to current questions that law librarians are facing. I am so glad I had the chance to attend the conference this year and I am looking forward to other opportunities to participate in the future.
Jennifer Davis: Sunday’s program included the interesting presentation: “Hachette Book Grp. v. Internet Archive Means Controlled Digital Lending Is Off the Table for Libraries, Or Does It?” It talked about the ongoing legal battles that the Internet Archive (IA) is having and its relation to digital rights management (DRM) for libraries. There were great offerings related to AI, DRM, and collection management. Jennifer Gonzalez made a presentation on project management. She gave an engaging example of applying project management to home life—how to buy birthday presents for your children’s birthday parties in a batch, thus saving time and visits to the department store.
Taylor Gulatsi: This was my first AALL as an attendee and an exhibitor. I had a great time networking with the other exhibitors who were located close to the Law Library of Congress’s table and thoroughly enjoyed speaking with attendees about the Law Library of Congress. While many were familiar with our resources, it was nice to hear how our amazing staff can assist with research through our Ask A Librarian service, to provide a more in-depth overview of certain aspects of our services, and to connect attendees with the staff on-site who could assist with any specific questions they had. We handed out more than our fair share of the fan-favorite gavel pencils as well which is always a plus!
We look forward to attending again next year! Did you attend AALL? We would love to hear what you enjoyed about the conference as well!
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https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2024/08/a-law-library-recap-from-aall/?loclr=eaiclb
