The Legal Division is proud to feature Joan Ogden in its October/November Profiles in Law Librarianship feature:

A Little Bit About Joan:

Joan Ogden is Supervisor of the Chicago Office Library of McGuireWoods LLP, an AmLaw 100 law firm based in Richmond, Virginia. Joan has been with McGuireWoods since 2000. Prior to that time, she spent three years as an Information Specialist in the Health Law Division of the American Medical Association, and sixteen years working at the law firm Sidley & Austin in Chicago. Prior to working in law libraries, she worked for six years at the Newberry Library, a world-renowned research library in Chicago.

She has been active in the SLA Legal Division, the SLA Illinois Chapter, and the Chicago Association of Law Libraries, her local chapter of AALL, having written articles and served on a number of committees. Most recently, she has agreed to be the Chair of the SLA Legal Division’s Mentoring Committee for 2012-2013.

A Few Questions for Joan:

What brought you to the legal information industry?

I began my career in law librarianship in 1981. That year, I began working full time in the law library of Sidley & Austin. I also began law school at IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law, attending classes at night. The early 1980’s was an exciting time to be working in the field of law. LexisNexis and Westlaw were just beginning to offer their online services to law firms. I immediately appreciated the value of doing legal research electronically, as opposed to using books exclusively for legal research.

I graduated from law school in 1985 and passed the Illinois State Bar that same year. While interviewing for positions as an attorney, I began to realize that I would be much happier if I stayed in the field of law librarianship. Since I had a great deal of experience working in law libraries, but no degree in information science, I decided to return to graduate school and get that degree. In 1990, I earned my master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Rosary College, now Dominican University, in River Forest, Illinois.

Soon after I completed my master’s degree, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to begin working as a professional law librarian with Sidley & Austin. In 1998, I decided to try something new, so I took a job as an Information Specialist in the Health Law Division of the American Medical Association. Then, in 2000, I returned to the world of large law firms when I took a job as a librarian with McGuireWoods LLP. I am still with that firm today.

Where do you see our industry in 10 years?

Honestly, I have no idea. When I think about how much the legal information field has changed just in the last few years, I find it very hard to imagine where our industry will be next year, let alone 10 years down the line. I’m sure technological advances will make accessing information easier and easier. I can only hope that publishers will catch up with the technology. I’d like to see more consistent and realistic pricing models for online resources someday.

As many law librarians, including myself, begin to retire, the legal information field will be made up of a much younger demographic. Having worked with some of these young professionals, I am confident that they will have the same enthusiasm and dedication that my generation has had over the years. They will be prepared to overcome obstacles that we cannot even begin to imagine today.

What are you doing to get Future Ready?

I think that the key to being Future Ready is to keep in touch with your colleagues and to stay on top of the latest trends influencing your profession. Of course, I try to keep current on trends affecting the legal information world and the legal profession by browsing national legal publications such as the National Law Journal and American Lawyer. I also review legal and business publications specific to my locality, such as Chicago Lawyer and Crain’s Chicago Business. As part of my job, I regularly review articles from websites such as CNET, ComputerWorld, InformationWeek, ArsTechnica, and TechDirt, which makes it easy for me to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in technology. I share articles that I think might be of interest to my co-workers and colleagues. I also attend local professional association meetings on a regular basis, to network with colleagues and make new friends.

Do you have any advice for people looking to break into the legal information industry?

Embrace change and new challenges, even if you have to go outside of your comfort zone. Stay in touch with what is going on around you. Make sure you understand how your organization works, and how your library and/or department functions within the organization. Always keep your resume up-to-date. Stay active within your professional associations, and add your achievements to your resume. Cultivate a sense of humor. Be positive, creative and enthusiastic!

Congratulations to SLA Legal Division member and former Chair, John DiGilio, for having been elected as Treasurer of the 2013 SLA Board of Directors!

The election for the Special Libraries Association (SLA) 2013 Board of Directors drew to a close on Wednesday, 26 September with 2,108 SLA members casting their votes. The voting resulted in four new members being elected to the association?s governing body:

• President-Elect: Kate Arnold
• Treasurer: John DiGilio
• Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect: Kama Siegel
• Division Cabinet Chair-Elect: Tara Murray

The four new board members will begin their terms on 1 January 2013, and will meet in-person at the SLA Leadership Summit, 6-9 February 2013, in Dallas, Texas. They will join eleven current members of the SLA Board of Directors whose terms continue through 2013.

Source: SLA Press Release – 1 October 2012

Whether you are faced with a move of your collection or a downsizing, SPACE MANAGEMENT is an essential skill to have.

Here are some things I’ve learned about space management…

LIBRARY TRUTHS:

• Library space is prime real estate.
• If you give up space today, you likely will need that space tomorrow.
• What you cancel and toss or recycle today, someone probably will want tomorrow.

PREPARING FOR A COLLECTION REDUCTION:

• Always keep a list of possible cancellation candidates, even if you haven’t been told to downsize.
• Try to keep tabs on what is and what is not being used.
• Compare what’s available online versus what you have in print.
• Get the most bang for your cancellation buck – look for larger sets and/or expensive sets that aren’t being used.
• Don’t immediately toss/recycle cancelled or obsolete material; use it as a place-holder on your shelves.
• If you find out that you do need something that you have cancelled, accept the fact that you may have to reorder it.

PREPARING FOR A MOVE:

• Be an active participant in the planning process for the new library space.
• Get accurate floor plans of your new library space.
• Measure your shelving needs in terms of “linear feet” – one linear foot might hold 6 books that are 2″ wide, but remember that not all books are the same width.
• If you have a shelf that is only half-full, count that shelf as an entire shelf.
• Incorporate room for growth into your calculations, especially for periodicals and for sets that tend to add new volumes on a regular basis.
• Incorporate empty shelf space throughout the collection, in the event that you need to shift or if you want to offer some open shelves for your patrons to use.
• Keep in mind the depth and the height of the shelves – if you have a shelf that’s 10″ high, and you have 3-ring looseleaf binders that are 12″ high, you just lost an entire shelf.
• Ideal shelving dimensions to accommodate most print materials: 36″ wide X 12″ deep X 12″ high.
• Make sure you know how to adjust your shelves and that you don’t need extra tools, like a screwdriver, to do so.
• If possible, adjust the shelves before the books are moved.
• A handy tool to have on hand is a metal tape measure that you can lock.
• Find out if the movers you are using have any experience moving books.
• If possible, be around when the movers are working, so you can spot and correct any problems that may arise.

Joan Ogden
SLA Legal Division Mentoring Committee Chair

October is Depression Education and Awareness Month.  Depression and other mental health issues cut across all demographics and aspects of society, so it is no surprise that they also figure prominently in the legal field. The following is a short list of resources on the subject of mental health and the law:

 Westlaw

• Law and Psychology Review (Database Identifier: LPSYR)

This annual periodical covers multiple topics in the fields of law and psychology, including the death penalty, juror selection, and juvenile rights.

• Psychology, Public Policy, and Law (Database Identifier: PSYPPL)

The editorial board of this journal is composed of psychologists and lawyers, so it is especially suited for the task of analyzing the intersection of law and mental health.

Lexis

• Mental Disability Law: Civil and Criminal (File MDLCC)

This treatise addresses mental illness and law in several aspects, some of which are: involuntary committal; rights to treatment (or to refuse it); and competency issues of the mentally ill in a court of law, including the insanity defense.

• Larson’s Workers’ Compensation (File LARSON)

Larson’s covers mental health issues in terms of workplace safety and compensation claims.  It is special for its focus on differences in state law.

 Books

• Crime, Punishment and Mental Illness: Law and the Behavioral Sciences in Conflict by Patricia and Steven Erickson (ISBN 0813543371)

The Ericksons delve into the problem of the mentally ill in prisons, and the issues that arise therein: the standards use to determine competency in court; the lack of mental treatment in prison; and the special questions of sex offenders and mentally ill juveniles.

• Legal Aspects of Mental Capacity by Bridgit Dimond (ISBN 9781405133593)

For the layperson, this book helps to make practical sense of the Mental Capacity Act of 2005, which details the procedures for making decisions on behalf of those who cannot give informed consent.

• Evaluation of Capacity to Consent to Treatment and Research by Scott Y.H. Kim (ISBN 9780195322958)

Kim’s book evaluates the foundations, history and use in court of an individual’s competency to submit to treatment and research.

 Websites of Interest

• Information about Insurance Coverage for Psychological Services: Resources on the Mental Health Parity Law (http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/parity-law-resources.aspx)

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act equalizes insurance coverage of mental health visits to those of physical health visits, eliminates the cap on annual visits to mental health professionals, and extends coverage to more Americans than were covered previously.  The American Psychological Association has other valuable and informative links on this page as well.

• International Academy of Law and Mental Health (http://www.ialmh.org/template.cgi?content=index.html)

IALMH holds a congress every other year, bringing together experts in social sciences, health and law, in order to bring a comprehensive look at the issues that are unique to the legal and mental health fields.  They also publish a quarterly journal in order to disseminate research more quickly.

• International Journal of Forensic Mental Health (http://www.iafmhs.org/publications/journal-ijfmh.html)

This journal focuses on comparative forensic practices on an international level, especially in the areas of criminal responsibility, competency issues, risk assessment, and treatment.

Join me in honoring Depression Education and Awareness Month.

Jennifer Dismukes Vail
Diversity Committee Chair, SLA Legal Division