On behalf of the Legal Division, it is with great pleasure to announce the recipients of our 2013 travel grants to the San Diego conference!

• Thomson Reuters Westlaw U.S. Law Librarian New Member Grant – Sonya M. Durney, Business and Government Team Leader at the Portland Public Library in Portland, Maine. Sonya is a member of the New England Chapter.

Sonya Durney is the Business and Government Team Leader at the Portland Public Library in Portland, Maine. She moved to Maine from Boston after completing her MLS at Simmons College in 2010. She currently serves as the Employment Chair for SLA New England. With SLA San Diego being her first conference, she looks forward to networking and learning as much as possible. She also hopes to sneak in a surf session in the warm California water!

• LexisNexis U.S. Law Librarian Veteran Member Grant – Jeffrey M. Nelson, Research Services Manager at Squire Sanders (US) LLP in Miami, Florida. Jeff is a member of the Florida & Caribbean Chapter.

Jeffrey Nelson is the Research Services Manager at the Miami office of Squire Sanders LLP. After accepting his current position less than a year ago, Jeffrey relocated to South Florida from Washington, DC where he had worked in law firms for five years. He currently serves as the South Florida Regional Contact for the SLA Florida & Caribbean Chapter. As a conference first-timer, Jeffrey is looking forward to meeting other SLA members and hopes to gain innovative ideas to share with colleagues at his place of work and in his local library community.

• Non-U.S. Law Librarian Grant – Samuel H. Wiggins, Information Officer at Norton Rose LLP in London, England. Sam is a member of the Europe Chapter.

Sam Wiggins is an Information Officer at Norton Rose LLP in London. Prior to taking up his current role, Sam completed his MA in Librarianship at the University of Sheffield.  He currently serves as the SLA Europe Chapter’s Events Chair, sits on the Chapter’s board, and is the Legal Division’s Ethics Ambassador. Sam also helps to run #uklibchat, a monthly twitter discussion tackling current issues affecting the library and information community. Sam hopes to both bring a UK perspective to the conference, as well as learn about solutions to problems affecting the information industry from North American and international delegates. Sam regularly blogs and tweets in a personal capacity on his thoughts about the issues facing information professionals.

We have a great many extraordinary SLA members, which makes the judges’ job very difficult.

Special thanks to Grants Committee members Jessica King (Pacific Northwest Chapter), Dagfinn Senturia (Rocky Mountain Chapter) and Past Chair Tracy Z. Maleeff (Philadelphia Chapter) for their work on this year’s awards.

Please join me in congratulating our 2013 recipients.

See you in San Diego!

Tricia Thomas
SLA Legal Division Chair

On behalf of the Legal Division, I would like to congratulate Joan Thomas, Samuel Wiggins, and Marilyn Bromley as winners of the Legal Division’s 2013 awards for innovation, new member contribution, and career achievement, respectively.

• Joan Thomas, Technology & Library Systems Senior Manager at Bryan Cave LLP in Kansas City, Missouri, is the 2013 winner of the Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Innovations in Law Librarianship Award.   She was selected because she has demonstrated innovation and creativity in solving problems or improving resources, programs, services, or operations for law library professionals and the clients they serve. The award is generously supported by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

• Samuel H. Wiggins, Information Officer at Norton Rose LLP in London, England, is the 2013 winner of the Bloomberg Law/Bloomberg BNA Outstanding New Member Contribution Award.  He was selected because he is in the early stages of his career and he has already made significant contributions to the SLA Legal Division.  Sam has shown outstanding potential for continued service and leadership within the Division and the profession. The award is generously supported by Bloomberg Law/Bloomberg BNA.

• Marilyn Bromley, Library Director at Bloomberg BNA in Arlington, Virginia, is the 2013 winner of the Thomson Reuters Westlaw Award for Career Achievement.  She was selected because she has provided significant service to the SLA Legal Division. The award is generously supported by Thomson Reuters Westlaw.

Please join me in congratulating Joan, Samuel and Marilyn.  They are all so deserving.  All three winners will be presented with their awards at the Bloomberg Law/Bloomberg BNA Breakfast and Legal Division Business Meeting during the annual conference in San Diego on Monday, June 10, 2013.

Additionally, I want to thank Sarah Mauldin, our Awards Committee Chair, for her work on this year’s awards.

See you in San Diego!

Tricia Thomas
SLA Legal Division Chair

The Legal Division of the Special Libraries Association is offering three travel grants to attend the 2013 SLA Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in San Diego, California from June 9 – 11, 2013. The deadline for applications is March 8, 2013.

The grant is intended to defray actual expenses but may not be sufficient to meet all expenses of attending the conference. The applicant is advised to plan and budget accordingly. The applicant must be a current member of SLA and the Legal Division, and meet the specific membership length requirements as listed for each award. Current Legal Division Executive Board members are not eligible to apply.

Only actual eligible expenses up to and not exceeding the grant amount will be reimbursed.  Please see the list of reimbursable and non-reimbursable conference expenses listed in this application. Membership will be verified with SLA headquarters. Expenses will be reimbursed to the winner after the conference ends, provided that the obligations and agreements outlined below have been satisfied to the Chair’s approval. SLA Legal Division reserves the right to deny reimbursement of expenses for failure to comply with the conditions stated herein. SLA Legal Division also reserves the right to not issue a travel grant award if there are no applicants or unsatisfactory applications, as determined by the Chair.

The 2013 SLA Legal Division travel grants:

• Thomson Reuters Westlaw U.S. Law Librarian New Member

(Legal Division member for a minimum of 12 months, not exceeding 24 months at the time of application) – USD $1,500

• LexisNexis U.S. Law Librarian Veteran Member

(Legal Division member 24 months or longer) – USD $1,500

• Non-U.S. Law Librarian

(Legal Division member for a minimum of 12 months at the time of application. Must live and work outside of the U.S. and not be a U.S. citizen.) – USD $3,000

The applicant must be a current member of SLA and of the Legal Division. Current Legal Division Executive Board members are not eligible.  Past Executive Board members may apply for travel grants one year after his or her term ended.  Past travel grant winners may apply for another award after five years have passed since his or her last bursary award. Recipients of the SLA Europe Chapter’s ECCA grant may apply for the Legal Division’s Non-U.S. award one year after receiving that bursary.

See the application for full information and details.

For further information please contact:

Tracy Z. Maleeff
SLA Legal Division Grants Committee Chair
Duane Morris LLP
30 South 17th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone (215) 979-1726 / Fax (215) 979-1020
E-mail: TZMaleeff@duanemorris.com

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

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!

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