Archives Committee
The older materials continues to be stored on CD-ROM. All new materials are saved to both a Dropbox account and a jump drive. Should we ever exceed the capacity of the free account, alternatives will need to be investigated. We also maintain three boxes of physical items including photos, cassettes, awards and the like.
Respectfully submitted by Bev. Butula, Chair
Government Relations Committee
The Government Relations Committee continues to monitor and share developments in legislation which could have an impact on the legal information profession. Notably, the Open Courts Act of 2021 (S. 2614), also known as the Free PACER bill, went to the full Senate for consideration in December 2021, but died in committee in 2022. The bill would have modernized the federal judiciary’s case management system and made access to court filings free for all Americans. Also notable in the state of Wisconsin were introduced proposals SB10 and AB15, which relate to pupil or minor access to harmful or offensive material in public schools and public libraries, as well as SB305, which relates to protection from prosecution for employees of libraries and educational institutions possessing obscene materials.
Respectfully submitted by Jess Moore, Chair
Grants Committee
Grants from LLAW are offered in two categories: attendance at the AALL Annual Meeting, and professional development events. Updated application forms were posted to the LLAW web site, and notifications and reminders were periodically emailed to the membership.
The Grants Committee met in early April to consider applications for grants to attend the AALL Annual Meeting in Boston in July. The 2022-23 year was an unusual one, since the Grants Committee received a total of three Annual Meeting grant applications from very deserving candidates. We strongly considered support from each applicant’s employer; additionally, two applicants will be presenters at one of the programs at the Annual Meeting. Because we had three very stellar candidates and also since the end of the LLAW fiscal year was approaching, we decided to exhaust the Grant Committee budget in order to provide a total of three awards for the AALL Annual Meeting.
Annual Meeting grants were awarded as follows:
- Carol Hassler – Wisconsin State Law Library: $1,000
- Bev Butula – Reinhart, Boerner, Van Deuren: $800
- Jim Mumm – Marquette University, Eckstein Law Library: $200
Also, as incoming President, Liz Manriquez automatically receives a grant for $1,000 to attend the Meeting.
Since the Grants budget was exhausted, the membership was alerted via email that no more funds would be available until next fiscal year. These three applications for grants for the AALL Annual Meeting were the only applications received; although events continue to return to being held in-person this year, the Grants Committee did not receive any applications for grants for other professional development events.
Many thanks to Grants Committee members Elana Olson and Candace Hall Slaminski, for their advice and assistance in the decision making process.
Respectfully submitted by Diane Duffey, Chair
Membership Committee
For the 2022-2023 membership year, LLAW membership saw a decline of 1 member from the previous membership year. Total members ship was 61. The online form made the renewal process and the creation of the directory very easy. Membership did a comprehensive review of 10+ years of non-renewal lists and created a complete master list of non-renewals that will be updated annually. Related to this, membership continued to identify and reach out to members still active in the Wisconsin law librarian community but who were not LLAW members, in the hopes of gaining members. Membership also continued to monitor the listserv subscribers to ensure that subscribers were LLAW members and noted any additions and deletions in a timely manner. And last, but not least, membership continued to be involved in discussions regarding membership and recruitment .
LLAW membership for 2022–2023-year by the numbers is as follows:
Breakdown by member level
Active: 55
Associate: 3
Student: 0
Sustaining: 3
TOTAL: 61
Down one member from 2021-2022
Breakdown by type of library/organization
Academic: 21
Firm: 28
Gov: 6
Other: 3
Vendor: 3
Total: 61
Other membership numbers to note
AALL Members: 42
Non-AALL Members: 19
New members: 5
Non renewals from previous year: 4
Membership by payment type
Number paid by PayPal: 44
Number paid with check : 17.
Respectfully submitted by Carol Schmitt, Chair
Nominating Committee
This year, the Nominating Committee successfully located candidates for each of the open officer positions for the 2023-24 year. The Nominating Chair contacted several potential candidates for the Vice President/President elect and Secretary positions. Wendy Smith (Marquette University) and Katie Dunn (UW Madison) agreed to run. Angela Henes (Foley & Lardner) agreed to continue in the position of Treasurer again this year. The LLAW membership voted using a Google Forms poll open from April 1st to April 21st. Wendy and Katie ran unopposed and were selected as Vice President/President elect and Secretary, respectively.
Respectfully submitted by Maureen Burns, Chair and Past President
Placement Committee
In June 2021 I took over as chair of the placement committee, I have sent out eleven job announcements from June 2022 – May 2023. Placement Committee Job announcements are distributed through the LLAW listserv. Job announcements are received by emails from employers or from postings across several library job websites. Jobs were in Milwaukee, Madison & Chicago.
Respectfully submitted by Sarah Kober, Chair
Programing Committee
At the final 2021-2022 business meeting, it was decided that the upcoming meeting structure would be:
- 1 meeting at lunch hosted at a firm in Madison and Milwaukee
- 2 meetings virtually (Zoom or Teams) at lunch
- 1 in-person meeting
At the first meeting, held virtually in September, we celebrated our 40th anniversary and hosted a discussion with current and past Presidents Amy Crowder, Bonnie Shucha and Carol Bannen. We focused on access to justice for our second meeting held at the Milwaukee and Madison offices of Reinhart. Programming consisted of a panel presentation: Bridging the Access to Justice Gap: Connecting Public and Law Librarians. Our speakers were Carol Hassler (WSLL), Jeff Brown (Wisconsin Access to Justice Commission), Mary Ferwerda (Milwaukee Justice Center), and Liz Manriquez (UW Law
Library). Our third meeting was held virtually and we were joined by Hallie Bongar White and Brenna Hanley of the National Tribal College. We wrapped up the 22-23 Term with an in-person LLAW Happy Hour at Delafield Brewhaus where we enjoyed Law Librarian Pictionary.
Thank you everyone who attended the various programs.
Respectfully submitted by Elizabeth Manriquez, Co-Chair
Public Relations
LLAW submitted a poster for the 2022 AALL annual conference and will submit a poster again for 2023 AALL annual conference. We continued to submit articles to the Wisconsin State Bar monthly and our contributions expanded to the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine in 2022. LLAW membership contributed to the Water Law Series. LLAW authors received a commendation for excellence in writing from the Wisconsin Bar’s Communications Committee for our contributions to this series. See, https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/WisconsinLawyer/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=96&Issue=5&ArticleID=29797
Attorneys in Wisconsin continue to value LLAW members Inside Track articles, published monthly at the Wisconsin State Bar’s online newsletter. LLAW membership contributes 101 legal resource articles on a variety of legal topics for InsideTrack. We have a full calendar of authors and topics for 2023.
Respectfully submitted by Jenny Zook, Chair
Treasurer’s Report
Submitted by Angela Henes