July/August 2006 issue

AALL Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) held its 2006 meeting July 9-12 in St. Louis. The annual meeting provides law librarians from around the country the opportunity to attend numerous educational programs, as well as business meetings of chapters, committees, and special interest sections. This year was the Association’s centennial celebration, and there were over 2000 attendees!

Educational programs covered topics such as legal publishing, digital preservation, digital copyright, podcasting, the Cobell v. Norton case, new search engines and new technological gadgets. Summaries written by library staff can be accessed here.

Judges Limbaugh, Hamilton, Perry and Noce all participated in various parts of the AALL meeting as speakers or “VIP” guests. Circuit library hosted two events in the Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse. The evening of July 10 we hosted a reception and meeting of the federal court librarians, which included a discussion of book budgets and the court compensation study. The evening of July 11 we hosted a reception on the 28th floor for the State Court County Law Libraries Special Interest Section. Library staff provided tours of the building throughout the evening.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Circuit Librarian Ann Fessenden took office as vice-president of the Association. She will serve as vice-president until July 2007, then President from July 2007 to July 2008. She will then continue one more year on the Executive Board as immediate past-president. Next year’s meeting will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana!