Join me in congratulating three of our Legal Division members who are the 2012 recipients of travel grant awards!  We received many outstanding applications from exemplary candidates.  Thank you to all who applied!  The Grants Committee had to make some difficult decisions and I thank them for their service.

Also, please recognize our fantastic vendor partners who sponsored these awards: LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters Westlaw and Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.  We are grateful for their support.

Now, without further ado, your 2012 Legal Division travel grant winners!

Thomson Reuters Westlaw U.S. Law Librarian New Member Travel Grant Award ($1,500) :

• Joseph Keslar, Electronic Services Technician at Blank Rome LLP in Philadelphia, PA

LexisNexis U.S. Law Librarian Veteran Member Travel Grant Award ($1,500) :

• Elizabeth M.C. Scheibel, Librarian at Lindquist & Vennum PLLP in Minneapolis, MN

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Non-U.S. Law Librarian Travel Grant Award ($3,000) :

• Amanda Adams, Librarian at Nipissing Law Library in North Bay, Ontario, Canada

Tracy Z. Maleeff
SLA Legal Division Chair

If you are travelling with a smartphone that allows for web browsing, the Legal Division has scheduler designed for you. You can now take the list of our 2011 programs with you in your pocket, thanks to the 2011 Legal Division Mobile Planner.

Simply click on the link for the day in question and you will get a list of all Legal Division events with their times and locations. It is that simple.

Point your mobile browser to:

http://slalegal2011.wirenode.mobi

The Mobile Planner is optimized for the iPhone and Android units, where the link can be saved as a desktop app. It will, however, also work with Blackberry phones and others that allow for mobile web browsing.

Check it out today!

With just five weeks to go before SLA descends upon the City of Brotherly Love, your Legal Division is hard at work putting the finishing touches on its great slate of programs.  We are pleased to be bringing back an annual conference favorite again this year – 60 Sites in 60 Minutes!

For the last few years, Gayle Lynn-Nelson and John DiGilio have sharing their top picks with standingroom only crowds.  From the fascinating to the fun (and even the ridiculous), John and Gayle bring you the best of what the Web has to offer.  This year, in honor of the Future Ready theme, they are putting a twist on their formula.  For 2011, 60 Sites in 60 Minutes is going collaborative!

Collaboration is key to being Future Ready and finding success in the workplace of tomorrow.  Gayle and John are eager to share with you their favorite sites for collaboration in work and play.  We expect another full house, so get there early and get your collaboration on!

Gayle Lynn-Nelson is a Senior Librarian Relations Consultant for the LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group, serving librarians in New York City,  New Jersey and Philadelphia.

John DiGilio is the National Manager of Research Services at Reed Smith LLP in Chicago.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, PA, and a freelance writer.
This session is generously sponsored by Fastcase and ProQuest Dialog.

The deadline for the Early Bird Registration discount is just days away. After Friday, April 8, the prices go up! If you want to lock in the best rate, go to SLA’s registration page  and take advantage of this now!

Not sure whether you want to join us in Philadelphia? Well, allow us to whet your appetite a bit. The Legal Division has planned some fantastic sessions for this year’s conference. From strategies to raising your profile to making the most of social networking, we are getting FUTURE READY IN PHILLY! Watch our site and our Twitter feed (@SLALegal) all week for previews of what we have in store. We will be posting about our programs and that awesome presenters who will be bringing them to you.

We want to see you in Philadelphia. Join us as we give you a week of reasons to make the trip!

Best Wishes,

John J. DiGilio, MLIS, JD
Chair, Legal Division of SLA
National Manager of Research Services
312-207-3902
jdigilio@reedsmith.com

The Board and the 2011 Awards & Grants Committee of the SLA Legal Division are pleased to announce the recipients of the Division’s 2011 SLA conference travel grants:

1. Veteran Member Grant: Joanne C. Kiley

Joanne is Manager of Information Services at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in Chicago IL. She has been working part-time at MB&F for a few years while her children were young, and is now able to get more involved in SLA, to give back to the profession and to focus on professional growth. She is on the local arrangements committee for the SLA 2012 conference in Chicago and looks forward to attending the Philadelphia conference with an eye to making the Chicago conference a success. Joanne dedicates some of her volunteer time to MLS students and new graduates, and always mentions the benefits of membership in SLA.

2. New Member Grant: Amy Levine

Amy Levine is Head of Research and Reference for the Circuit Library at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver CO. She recently moved from Arizona to Colorado for a career change, from academic law library to court library. Amy is eager to get involved in SLA and specifically the Legal Division – to further her career, gain knowledge she can use on the job, and share what she has learned with her co-workers. Among sessions she is interested in attending are programs on moving from research to analysis, and on creating an institutional repository. This will be her first SLA conference. 

3. Non-US Member Grant: Laura Woods

Laura is Information Services Advisor at Addleshaw Goddard LLP in West Yorkshire, UK. She has recently moved into a more senior role at her firm. At Addleshaw, she has been tasked with analyzing the information needs of two business development and practice groups, and hopes to gain advice and insight from fellow DLEG members who have undertaken this type of strategic service review. After attending SLA in 2009, she knows what a stimulating, inspiring experience it is. In addition to valuable Legal Division sessions and networking, she “came away completely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, drive and commitment” of all attendees.

Congratulations to our three winners, and we look forward to meeting you in Philadelphia!

See the hundreds of reasons you must attend SLA 2011 in the conference preview program.

With the digital conference preview program you can:

• Search events and sessions (look for links to the online session catalog)
• Bookmark pages of interest
• Add notes
• Print only the information needed
• Send the program to your boss or colleagues
• Save the brochure to your desktop
• View the program on your mobile device

Visit the conference Website for additional details about SLA 2011.

See you in Philadelphia!!!

The SLA Legal Division is pleased to offer three professional grants to attend the 2011 Annual Conference in Philadelphia June 12-15, 2011. The deadline for applications is March 16, 2011.

The grants are:

• U.S. Law Librarian Veteran Member (Legal Division member 12 months or longer) – US$1,500
• U.S. Law Librarian New Member (Legal Division member less than 12 months) – US$1,500
• Non-U.S. Law Librarian – US$3,000

Only actual eligible expenses up to and not exceeding the grant amount will be reimbursed.

REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES

• Full conference registration
• Transportation costs, including air/rail/bus and ground transportation to and from the hotel
• Cost of a standard room and taxes at conference hotel rates

NON-REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES

• Meals
• Continuing education courses, other ticketed events and tours

The applicant must be a current member of SLA and of the Legal Division. Current Legal Division Executive Board members are not eligible.

RECIPIENTS’ OBLIGATIONS

Grant recipients are expected to volunteer to serve the Division, and are also required to write a brief report of their conference experience for Legal Division Quarterly.

HOW TO APPLY

Please complete the application form and submit it with your essay and resume (see application form for instructions) to me by email or fax by March 16.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: MARCH 16

AWARD NOTIFICATIONS: ON OR BEFORE MARCH 25

CONFERENCE EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION DEADLINE: APRIL 8

For further information please contact me directly.

Marilyn Bromley

Chair, Awards & Grants Committee, SLA Legal Division BNA Library Director

703-341-3307

fax 703-341-1636

mbromley@bna.com

The 2011 SLA Conference is just months away. From June 12-15, thousands of Special Librarians will descend upon the “City of Brotherly Love” for four days of networking, education, and fun. It promises to be an excellent event for all! Will we see you there? Your Legal Division has been preparing its programming for over a year now and we are excited to show you what we’ve got.

From Cost-Prevention to Social Media Strategies, we are looking towards tomorrow and rising to SLA President Cindy Romaine’s call to be “Future Ready”. Your Division has set a fabulous slate of cutting edge programs and secured a line-up of thought-provoking speakers and experts. We are also digging in our heels to have some fun and celebrate you, our members. The receptions and unconference we have planned are perfect opportunities to network with fellow Legal Division members and to make your voices heard by the Division’s Board. We just about have everything set on our end. Now all we need is you!

In the months ahead, what this site for information on the sessions we will be offering and the luminaries who will be bringing them to you. We will have information on grants too that could help you get to the Conference. We are excited for Philadelphia and to have the chance to meet you all in person. Grab a soft pretzel or a cheese steak and join us!

Are You Future Ready?

At SLA 2011, you’ll have an opportunity to break free from “old way” thinking and walk away empowered, energized, and ready for what’s next!

Begin making your plans today. Housing and conference registration are now open. You can register here.