| July 2003 |
William S. Hein & Co., Inc. published the much-awaited Language and the Law: Proceedings of a Conference with Marlyn A. Robinson as editor and entries from most of the conference participants including an introduction by RMM and a chapter by Mike Widener. This beautifully-printed book includes a number of illustrations and a color-plate reproduction of one of the pages of the Rastell dictionary. The book is a great reflection on Marlyn's outstanding editorial skills and will no doubt be a significant contribution to the field of legal literature.
Kelly M. Booker joined the Serials and Collection Management staff as a Library Assistant I. With a name like BOOKer, working in a Library obviously must be fate.
Kumar Percy taught an Advanced Legal Research Class in the Law School in June and July 2003.
Jeanne Price brightened up the summer with an irresistible invitation to all Tarlton staffers:
Think of it as drive-in movie time at the Library this summer - but rather than Texas Chain Saw Massacre or I Know What You Did Last Summer , you will have such choices as Online Legal Information! or Government Documents! or Texas State Government and Legal Information! (or a host of others) - all suitable for family viewing. And, rather than loading into the family sedan, you will simply have to stroll to different parts of the Library. The only problem is popcorn ...
In any event, please find attached to this email a schedule of this summer's very informal, Library-staff-oriented legal research classes. Attend one, attend all - it is completely up to you (of course those of you who attend all will be the inaugural recipients of the esteemed, highly sought-after, and certain-to-increase-your-earning-potential (yeah, right) Tarlton Law Library Certificate of Legal Research Expertise).
We want these classes to be fun and something that you might actually look forward to attending. But, we'd also like to make sure that you get useful information out of them and that any expectations you have are met. To that end, if there is something in particular that you would like to see addressed in any one class (or just somewhere in the entire slate of classes), let me (or whoever is teaching the particular class) know.
Also, anyone who would like a Lexis, Westlaw, or Loislaw password (and who doesn't currently have one - or has forgotten whether or not one exists), let me know that as well and I will get those for you.
If these classes work out, I figure we could make these maybe a once-a-month feature - we could ask Cathy M-R to talk about space planning, Tobe to talk about copyright and intellectual property and why (or if) it matters to us, Brian to talk about bandwidth and viruses, Marlyn on movies and literature and the law (or Shakespeare and the law), Mike on one or more of the special collections, Holly on collaboration with other libraries and associations, etc., etc. .....
Okay, enough, I will continue to work on the popcorn issue...
After much consideration and planning, Cathy Mantor-Ramirez began undertaking an ambitious project to redress shelving problems in the Library. Her regular updates to the staff give an impression of the scope of this project and also reflect her tremendous organizational skills and outstanding communication with the staff during this whole adventure:
We have a total of 2297 shelves of materials to move down from the 6th floor, to be integrated with 479 shelves of materials that were in the Reserve Room. Still lots to do ... ! Thanks for your great help bringing stuff down from 6.
First, I want to thank those who volunteered to help with shifting the KF materials to the 4th floor Reading Room and with all of the other related activities. If others would like to volunteer, please feel free to do so. If you find you have a few minutes or hours to spare, let me know. There are a variety of tasks involved in the project. Also, the faster we are able to move materials down to 4, the easier it will be for all to find the titles they're looking for!
The following range of materials has been moved to the 4th floor: KF 1 to the beginning of KF 240
Anyone looking for materials with a call number within the range above should be advised to check the 4th floor, rather than the 6th floor.
All of the Oversize KF materials have also been moved to the 4th floor.
Phase II:
The next phase of the Collection Reorganization plan involves shifting materials on the 6th floor into the space created when the KF materials were moved to the 4th floor and then moving A-H from the 2nd floor to the 6th floor. The attached map shows the proposed floor plan for the 6th floor.
If we proceed with this plan, shifting on the 6th floor will take place during the fall 2003 and, if necessary, spring 2004 semesters. Moving the A-H materials up from the 2nd floor will be scheduled for summer 2004.
Before we proceed with this phase of the Collection Reorganization plan, however, are there any questions, concerns, and/or issues that you feel should be addressed? Are there reasons for not moving A-H to the 6th floor? Should the space created by moving the KF materials from the 6th floor be used for something else? etc., etc., etc.
The Tarlton Law Library was sorry to say good-bye to Reference Desk Supervisor Eric Glass, but upon his graduation from the ISchool at UT with a Master's in Library and Information Science degree, Eric insisted on venturing off to New York City where he had landed a job as serials librarian at Columbia Law Library. It is truly our loss and their gain, but at least Eric does stay in touch, and he has such good things to say about Tarlton's cataloging that it bears repeating:
Here's a tidbit you will enjoy. I was in cataloging training last week and our Anglo-American Cataloger told me that when cataloging from copy, it is best to use UT-Tarlton records whenever Library of Congress records are not available, as they are typically the best he has seen.
Mike Widener added pages on Mayan and Aztec legal structures to the Library web site. These pages were featured in the July 04, 2003 issue of Scout Report with the following description:
Law in Mexico Before the Conquest
http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/rare/aztec/Home.htm
While first-hand accounts of legal practices within Mayan and Aztec society are almost non-existent, this fine online exhibit produced by the Tarlton Law Library staff at the University of Texas documents some of what is currently known about the law in Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. The exhibit draws on several well-known sources, such as the History of the Things of New Spain (written by the Franciscan missionary Fray Bernardino de Sahagun) and the Codex Mendoza, a report to the Spanish crown about its new land holdings in the New World . The topics covered by the exhibit include the practice of tribute, property law, slavery, and, of course, punishment. Each section features a brief overview of the featured theme, along with illustrations from documents such as the Codex Mendoza. The exhibit concludes with a selection of relevant links, including an excellent bibliography of resources on Aztec and Mayan law compiled by Mike Widener, head of special collections. [KMG]
Jeanne Price and Tobe Liebert taught a basic legal research class for 10 people from the People's Law Center of Austin today. This is a group that assists local attorneys who are doing pro bono work on various causes, and they showed great appreciation for the class.
RMM delivered a paper entitled "The Evolution and Impact of Legal Dictionaries" at the 6th International Conference on Language and the Law in Sydney, Australia, July 11, 2003 .
Thanks to the hard work of Jeanne Price and Kathy Bartsch (and the input of many others) the Tarlton Intranet now has monthly calendars to display Library activities.These calendars, in theory at least, reflect all Library-sponsored activities; they also include notations of when the Library is and is not open (e.g., holidays!!) and when Library hours change. Most importantly, the Intranet is an excellent tool for keeping track of the many receptions and parties hosted in the Library. Under Jeanne's directive, the Intranet and the Library web site continue to expand and flourish and become increasingly important to us all.
Barbara Bridges shared her insights with the staff in thelegal research session on government documents.Barbara also shows a flair for PR with her promotional email to Jamail-Center:
Don't miss your chance to be initiated into the mysteries of government documents. Learn how to follow Congressional actions and find regulations that affect us all. Hear the story of disappearing documents... and much more.
| August 2003 |
Kumar Percy announced changes in course reserve procedures to the faculty in the following email, which serves as a great introduction to the changes that became effective in August of 2003.
How to Request Items for Course ReserveWe are now creating course reserve collections for fall 2003. Starting this year, course reserve materials will be limited to those items specifically requested by faculty. In order to place materials on course reserve, please complete a request form and return it to Holly Lakatos, Access Services Librarian. Please complete one form per course. You may also place items on course reserve by completing the online form available at: http://www.law.utexas.edu/reserve/rrrequest.htm
Please complete a form with all course reserve materials, including those that are already on permanent course reserve.
Physical Location of the Course Reserve Collection
As you know, there is no longer a reserve collection on the 4 th floor of the Law Library. The Library has relocated the course reserve collection to the Circulation Desk on the 2 nd Floor of the Library. Multi-volume sets of more than 3 volumes will, however, remain in their normal location in the Library, but will not circulate. Study aids, such as Hornbooks, will be shelved together with all U.S. legal materials on the 4 th floor. However, study aids will be limited to 24 hour circulation periods, just as they were during previous semesters.
Required Readings from the Booklist
Beginning this semester the Library will not automatically purchase required course books listed on the Booklist. Only those items specifically requested by faculty members will be added to course reserve. The Library requests that you attempt to obtain a publisher's complimentary gift copy for any course book that you place on course reserve.
Permanent Course Reserve
Permanent course reserve procedures will be handled slightly differently than in the past. We will be happy to maintain a list of items that you want on course reserve each time you teach a specific class. However, the items will be physically housed in the course reserve collection only during the semesters in which you are teaching the course.
Photocopies and Personal Copies
All of the other course reserve procedures stay the same. As in previous years, please submit three copies of any photocopies of articles that you would like placed on course reserve. The Library will place two copies on course reserve and keep the third as a master copy, in case the course reserve items are lost or damaged. As always, you may place your own personal property on course reserve. We will return all personal items at the end of each semester.
Gloria Griggs joined the staff as an accounting technician. Gloria gave the following bio-sketch exclusive for the Brief:
I started working at The University of Texas in 1987 in the Civil Engineering Department, Center for Lifelong Engineering Education (aka, Continuing Engineering Studies.) We offered short courses, master's degree programs, in-house conferences and online courses to professional engineers. It was rewarding working with the students, professors, guest lecturers and participants who were from different countries. It was interesting to open courses and conferences because you were informed of new technology and even got a chance to see lightning demonstrations and how to mix asphalt for airport runways.
In August 2003 I started a new position at the Law School, in the Tarlton Law Library, and work with a wonderful staff. I'm an accounting technician and process payables for book purchases and subscriptions. The huge volume of books purchased speaks for itself. When I first started I was totally freaked out when I saw an invoice with 20 PAGES! THAT WAS A BIG CHALLENGE and one learning experience. I've been on a short tour of the library, and am amazed at the volume of books. There are so many interesting books and my goal is to read a book once a month. I enjoy my work and hopefully I will continue to grow in knowledge and contribute to this department.
I have two children and my four grandboys are the joy of my life. I finally got enough nerve to go on a cruise this summer, and did not see one fish, except what the restaurants were serving. My goof off time is watching westerns, tennis, cooking shows, Discovery, history channels and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
In August 2003 Kumar Percy taught a citation workshop for journals, and began teaching Advanced Legal Research in the Law School, a course which ran through October.
Mark Holman taught a class to the staff on finding and evaluating health information on the Internet, which he cleverly entitled “Information Prescription.” Mark prepared an extensive pathfinder of useful resources, which he would no doubt be happy to send you electronically if you're interested. You can contact Mark at .
Jon Pratter offered his expertise on foreign and international law in #6 of the legal research series for staff members.
Andrew Dillon, Dean of the School of Information, appointed RMM a professor in the School of Information . RMM is tasked with working closely with School of Information faculty in developing a law librarianship specialty for Master's candidates. Toward that end, RMM has begun organizing a law librarianship summit to have law librarians from around the country meet with Dean Dillon at Tarlton this fall to discuss how best to design and implement academic programs for law librarianship. With this appointment, RMM will become more involved in teaching at the School of Information, which ideally will result in increased interaction between Tarlton and the ISchool.
Gwyn Anderson and Fita Coronado presented a BBQ feast to the Library staff in celebration of their birthdays (Fita, August 21; Gwyn, August 10) and in honor of their retirements, which start on September 01, 2003 .Gwyn sent out an invitation saying: “We want an opportunity to thank each of you for the happy days that you have given us at Tarlton” and it was a great time to reminisce, say goodbye, and hear about all their retirement travel adventures. During the party, RMM announced that the staff lounge would be officially renamedthe “Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge” in recognition of her many and varied contributions to the Library over the last few decades. Gwyn plans to return as a part-timer later in the fall after she takes a driving tour of the United States and enjoys a taste of retirement freedom. Fita didn't express any interest in returning, and she was last heard talking about her upcoming cruise…one suspects she might not miss us every single day…
A final farewell to Gwyn and Fita over strawberries and champagne in the Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge.
| September 2003 |
Rhonda Hankins, Jeanne Price, and Kumar Percy collaborated on preparing a faculty services brochure.
Beth Youngdale and Jeanne Price collaborated on preparing a student services brochure.
Rhonda Hankins and Jeanne Price collaborated on preparing a UT community services brochure and a legal community services brochure.
Kumar Percy organized a welcome reception for new and visiting faculty and taught 2 bibliographic workshops for journals.
Kumar Percy taught class on immigration research for Immigration Clinic
Beth Youngdale and Jeanne Price introduced the resources and services of the Library to freshlaws.
RMM and Michael Horn hosted a Hyder Collection tour and wine reception for winners of the First Edition Literary Gala Silent Auction, which is fund-raising support for the Texas Book Festival.
The Documents Staff spent a large percentage of their time this year responding to the increasingly large amount of material being converted to electronic format by the government. These conversions have required changes to shelf list and online records and web pages. In light of these many changes, the staff has also examined all still-existing Kardex titles to determine their present status. This has involved online research and correspondence with the various publishing agencies and GPO. This is an on-going project. Meanwhile, Mark Holman started spending six hours a week in Government Documents learning tricks of the trade.
New titles for Tarlton staff members: Jeanne Price becomes Director of Public Services and Tobe Liebert becomes Director of Special Projects.
ISchool students toured Tarlton and learned about the collection from Tobe Liebert, about rare books and archives from Mike Widener, and about the ever-popular Hyder collection from Michael Horn.
| October 2003 |
Thanks to the efforts of Michael Widener, Tarlton is pleased to announce the fourth publication in its legal history series, Corwin W. Johnson: An Oral History Interview :
PROFESSOR RECALLS INTEGRATION, GROWTH OF U.T. LAW SCHOOL
IN ORAL HISTORY PUBLISHED BY LAW LIBRARY
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- When Professor Corwin W. Johnson joined the law faculty at The University of Texas in 1947, the school was embroiled in a legal battle over racial integration, and striving for national stature in legal education. Johnson gives a lively account of his experiences in an oral history interview just published by U.T.'s Jamail Center for Legal Research.
Johnson is lauded as "an institution, the genial authority" in the Foreword by his former student, James A. Baker III, the former U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury.
In the interview, Johnson tells about teaching in the "separate but equal" law school created by the State of Texas in response to Heman Sweatt's lawsuit challenging the exclusion of African Americans from The University of Texas. A product of integrated universities, Johnson said, "I was repelled by segregation."
Johnson, co-author of a leading textbook on property law, also discusses the Law School 's rising reputation under deans Charles McCormick and Page Keeton, as well as the social life of law students and traditions such as the annual Assault & Flattery musical review.
The interview was conducted by Sheree Scarborough, a professional oral historian who has conducted hundreds of interviews for oral history projects in Texas .
This publication (and all other Jamail Center publications) can be ordered on the web at http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/pubs/ , or by contacting the Publications Coordinator (Publications Coordinator, Jamail Center for Legal Research, University of Texas School of Law, 727 East Dean Keeton St., Austin, TX 78705-3224; phone 512/471-7726; fax 512/471-0243).
###
Tarlton Law Library Legal History Series, No. 4:
Scarborough, Sheree. CORWIN W. JOHNSON: AN ORAL HISTORY
INTERVIEW. Austin, Tex. : Jamail Center for Legal Research,
2003. vi, 36 pages. ISBN: 0-935630-57-0. Price: $15.00
(*Sadly, Corwin Johnson passed away July 29, 2004 at the age of 86. He had been with the UT School of Law for 57 years.)
Recovered from her Herculean stack shift project during the summer, Cathy Mantor-Ramirez headed up a reorganization of the basement. This email message from Cathy:
This semester, Kelly and 2 of our student workers (Judith and Justin) have been shifting materials in the basement in an effort to free up space in the red and blue compact shelving units.
The older Supreme Court Records & Briefs shelved in the basement have been shifted from the blue compact shelving unit to the front of the first section of the green compact shelving unit. [More recent Supreme Court Records & Briefs continue to be shelved in the Faculty Library.]
Superseded Code of Federal Regulations volumes are also being shifted from the blue to the green compact shelving unit and are being shelved at the back of the first section of the green unit. [Current CFR volumes are shelved on the 5th floor.]
Materials remaining in the blue and red units will be shifted and/or reorganized over the next few months. End panels will be updated to identify the materials shelved in each section.
Kumar Percy taught 3 classes for faculty research assistants and 2 citation workshops for journals.
Kumar Percy taught class on legal research for Wayne Schiess's section of LW&R classes.
Holly Lakatos arranged for Tarlton Publications to become part of the UT Online Store. Visit Tarlton's online store by going through our home page ( http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu ), and clicking on Publications—(the actual URL is ridiculously long so better not to even attempt reproducing it here.)
Mike Widener served as a panelist at the meeting of the Western History Association, in Fort Worth . The organizer of the panel, Bradley Williams, is editor of Western Legal History and executive director of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society. The panel of archivists and librarians spoke on source materials for research in the legal history of the Western U.S., with Williams chairing the session. Mike talked about Tarlton collections as well as other special collections at UT and around the state.
In preparation for this conference, Mike prepared a handout which is now available online. The description on the web is as follows:
Web Sources for the Legal History of the American West - Prepared for the rountable session, "Boundless Opportunities: Researching Western Legal History," at the annual meeting of the Western History Association, Oct. 10, 2003, in Fort Worth, Texas, by Mike Widener.
Under the tutelage of Mike Widener, two students from Dr. David Gracy's Archives class, Lisa Boettrich and Melissa Bailey, began processing the William O. Huie Papers for their class project.
Brian Quigley oversaw the installation of Phase 3 of Release 2002 on TALLONS today, miraculously managing to keep the system available for normal searching and input except for a brief shut-down period in the early afternoon. Thanks to Brian's ingenuity, the technology of the Law Library just keeps getting better and better.
The First Annual Texas/Mexico Bar Association Student Conference was held today in the law school, and Jon Pratter gave a tour of the Library to some students from Mexico attending this conference.
The Law School hosted a book-signing party for Joe Jamail's new autobiography: Lawyer -- My Trials and Jubilations. The spirited reception in the UT Club served lots of food and drinks to celebrate the occasion, all UT 3Ls and all faculty members received a free copy of the book, and Joe Jamail and Dean Powers said a few remarks to the throngs of people who came out to celebrate. Lots of Library staff members joined the festivities, and it was a great occasion to actually leave work promptly at 5 p.m. !
Members of the Jamail Center took a tour of the newly renovated facilities of the Harry Ransom Center . Jim Stroud, Head of Conservation, and Rich Oram, Librarian, gave a behind-the-scenes look at the gallery, the theater and the reading room. The transformation is nothing short of amazing as are the stories of how things were done, what went wrong, what went right, and what was surprising. Tarltonites also got a sneak preview of the impressive exhibit on Modernism that was to open to the public the next week. Though the HRC now owns the Bernstein and Woodward papers, none of us got the inside scoop on the identity of Deep Throat so clearly we have to go back.
Beth Youngdale and Tobe Liebert substituted for Michael Horn and gave a Hyder tour for the UT SAGE group. It must have been a big hit because the organizer of the event wrote that the Hyder collection is much larger than she had been told and that she is highly recommending the tour to members of the UT Museums Walking Tours group.
Beth Youngdale gave 1L tours of the Library collection on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Technology update: the new Canon copier in 2.206E ("The Hub") will soon also function as a networked printer. Beginning today, CIC will be installing software that will allow you to print to the Canon the same way you currently print to the networked HP LaserJet printers in 2.206E and 2.210 (Cataloging). Once the printer drivers are installed, you may see a pop-up window indicating that software is being installed. You may also see a prompt to accepting a digital signature (in which case the correct response is "yes"). The addition of the new printer will not change your current default printer. The Canon will appear as "2-206E-Canon-5020.law.ut" in your list of available printers.
Since the Canon printers are supplied under a contract that covers the cost of toner, please send all print jobs that you normally send to the LaserJets to the Canon printer. If you do not have an attached printer on your desktop, the Canon should be set as your default printer. With the cost of a single toner cartridge at more than $100, this will result in significant savings.
A second Canon copier/printer is located in 4.201AA (ILL room). That unit will be added as a backup to your printer options in the near future.
Marlyn Robinson opened her exhibit on Shakespeare and the Law in the atrium of the Law School . It focuses on the actual legal documentation of Shakespeare's personal and professional life, as well as those of family members and friends. It includes facsimile copies and transliterations of wills, land conveyances, lawsuit records, and birth and death records, as well as portraits, maps and photographs.
In an effort to involve ISchool students more in Tarlton events, Jeanne Price sent the following invitation to ISchoolers:
Interested in legal research? Law librarianship? Practical online research in general?
On Thursday, October 30, from 7 to 9pm, the Jeanne Price and Tobe Liebert of the Tarlton Law Library will offer legal research instruction to practicing attorneys as part of The University of Texas School of Law Continuing Legal Education program on products liability and personal injury law. The program takes place at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Austin . Students from the Information School are invited to attend this presentation at no charge.
This is an opportunity s to learn from lawyer-librarians about resources available to practicing attorneys and to the public, and to get a sense of the types of research law librarians undertake. Part of the evening class will be taught by a lawyer representative from LexisNexis, who will focus on materials available in the LexisNexis databases and cost-effective ways of accessing that information.
Questions? Planning to attend? Please contact Jeanne Price, Director of Public Services for Tarlton Law Library.
While Jeanne and Tobe taught attorneys, law librarians, and a few ISchool students legal research in the evening, the Tarlton web site underwent a dramatic transformation. The new look, the new organization, and the new URL (http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu) took effect during the course of the evening and by morning a new and improved version of the Tarlton Law Library web site was available. Jeanne Price organized and orchestrated this massive project with the much appreciated support of June Liebert and Sally Emrick in the Law School .
Barbara Bridges organized a ghoulishly fun Halloween party, with some of the best costumes and best food Tarlton has seen in years. The pumpkin carving was taken to a new level, truly impressive craftsmanship.
The prize-winners included:
Costume Contest -
Best - Holly
2 nd place – Carolina
Decorations:
Best decorated department* - (not every member of the decorating team received the prize, but only those in department who actually worked on decorating)
Best - Serials
Best decorated desk -
Best - Stephanie
Pumpkin carving (teams of 2) - (each member of the team received the prize)
Best - Laura/Stephanie
Halloween Trivia Contest -
Winner - Kumar
2nd place - Holly/Leticia
Most Innovative Food Contest -
Winner - Kathy B.
2nd place - Stephanie
| November 02, 2003 |
Tobe Liebert gave a tour of the Library to 20 participants in the Hochschule St. Gallen--Master of Business Law (HSG-MBL) program.
Carolina Hardigree worked her last day at Tarlton, and headed to greener pastures over at PCL. Cathy Mantor-Ramirez, her supervisor, put some cake and fruit in the Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge so that we could say good-bye to Carolina and wish her luck in her new position.
Abigail Schultz joined the circulation staff and the special collections staff as an LA1 today. Earning her MLS in May 2003 from UT's School of Information, Abigail has been working at the Center for American History as head page and archival assistant. When she is not staffing the Circ Desk, Abigail will be working on special projects with Holly Lakatos and Mike Widener.
The Bardie Wolfe Memorial Ice Cream Party took place in the Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge the afternoon of November 13, 2003 . This email from Gwyn announcing the ice cream party gives some background on this special event:
As I mentioned before, a couple of years ago during one of Peyton Neal's visit to our library, he sponsored an ice cream party in memory of Bardie Wolfe. Peyton is attending the Law Librarianship Summit, and it's a time that he can be here to host the party again. Peyton is a former academic law library director, and now has a private firm in DC. For those of you who are newer staff members, Bardie is deceased. He was a member of our staff (Circulation Supervisor) in the early 70s, a great supporter of our library and staff, a frequent visitor, and a good friend. His last position was the directorship of the St. Thomas Law School Library in Florida ; he died in 2000. Peyton was also a special friend of Bardie's and he hosts the ice cream party as a time to celebrate Bardie's life.
The Law Librarianship Summit kicks off with an informal reception in the Sheffield Room. RMM invited more than 20 leading law library directors from across the country -- including those from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley -- for a summit to discuss law librarianship and legal research. The goal of the summit was to develop standards and consider an appropriate curriculum that will challenge graduate students and produce members of the profession who will meaningfully contribute to the scholarship of our discipline. The Library will work with the School of Information to create a course in law librarianship.
Tobe Liebert gave a tour of the Library to the Texas Devils Advocates today. The members of this relatively new pre-law student organization on campus members are interested in gaining admission to law school (either here or elsewhere) so they were an especially eager and enthusiastic group.
Aladin Rahemtula, Librarian for the Supreme Court of Queensland, was the guest of the Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas at Austin, Nov. 17-19, 2003 . The Tarlton Law Library was Rahemtula's last stop of a research trip to the United States funded by a prestigious Churchill Fellowship. Rahemtula is studying court historical programs in the U.S. and will apply his research to the ambitious historical programs he has pioneered at the Supreme Court of Queensland.
"It was a great pleasure to host Mr. Rahemtula and his charming wife, Mary," said Professor RMM, director of the Tarlton Law Library. "I believe we learned at least as much from Mr. Rahemtula as he learned from us," Mersky added. "His entrepreneurial spirit and his innovative public programming were an inspiration to our staff."
During his stay, Rahemtula visited at length with Mike Widener, the Tarlton Law Library's Head of Special Collections. They reviewed Tarlton's active oral history program, its public exhibitions, the Tarlton Law Library Legal History Series publications, and acquisition policies for rare books and manuscripts.
Rahemtula also spent a day with Bill Pugsley, the executive director of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, reviewing the Society's administration and its project to publish a two-volume history of the Texas Supreme Court.
At the conclusion of his visit, Rahemtula gave an informative talk to the Tarlton staff on the Supreme Court of Queensland Library and its public history programming.
Brian Quigley announced that ten new laptops were ready to be checked out to students. This is a very popular service to law school students that will probably continue to expand.
Some basic information about the new laptops-- these are Dell Latitude D600 models running the Windows XP Pro operating system (same as the lab computers) and Microsoft Office 2003. They all have CDRW-DVD drives, so students can burn their own CDs on the laptops (or watch a DVD movie, for that matter), as well as floppy drives that go into the same bay as the CDRW-DVD drive. All are equipped with built-in Ethernet (wired) and wireless network cards, as well as 56K modems. The default printer is the lab printer located next to the circulation desk. Students can also use one of the extended-life batteries with the laptops.
The old C600 laptops were put out to pasture as staff laptops after years of faithful service.
Brian Strauss returned as Collection Management Assistant on November 24, 2003 . Brian first worked for Tarlton from August 2002 to January 2003. He received his MA in English from UT in Spring 2002. Brian's return allows Kelly Booker to assume Carolina 's responsibilities as the Processing/Bindery Assistant.
| November 30 – December 19, 2003 |
The Library co-sponsored a food drive with the Public Interest Law Association Nov. 30 through Dec. 19. For each can of food a student donates, 50 cents will be deducted from their fine bill (up to $5.00). All food will go to the Capital Area Food Bank.
R.D. Rucker of Dallas (UT Law 1985) suddenly passed away and the Tarlton Law Library received a collection of the books he wrote. In addition to his J.D., Mr. Rucker had a Ph.D. from the U. of Iowa . He published a number of books while practicing law in Dallas, including several with Vantage Press. His generous donation to the Library included:
The making of the Russian revolution : revolutionaries, workers, and the Marxian theory of revolution / by R.D. Rucker. 1981. Ph.D. dissertation. ii, 306 leaves, bound : 28 cm.
Drugs, drug addiction, and drug dealing : the origin and nature of, and the solution to, the American drug problem / R.D. Rucker. 1st ed. New York : Vantage Press, c1991. x, 65 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0-533-09334-1.
Eros and the sexual revolution : studies in the psychology of the human mind / R.D. Rucker. 1st ed. New York : Vantage Press, c1991. ix, 94 p. ; 21 cm.
Abraham Lincoln's social and political thought / R.D. Rucker. 1st ed. New York : Vantage Press, c1992. ix, 147 p. ; 21 cm.
Jesus Christ and the origin of Christianity / R. D. Rucker. 1st ed. New York : Vantage Press, c1993. 108 p. ; 21 cm.
Marriage, love, and the family : an investigation into the role of the Black woman in the African-American family / R.D. Rucker. Dallas ( P.O. Box 222167, Dallas, Texas, 75222-2167 ) : Appelate Press, c1998. i, 63 p. : ill., port. ; 22 cm.
Sweet land of liberty : a poetical journey through America, 1996-1998 / R.D. Rucker. Dallas, Tex. : Appellate Press, c1998. vii, 100 p. : port. ; 22 cm.
A team of students from Prof. Don Turnbull's Information Architecture class met with Mike Widener to submit their work on the re-design of Tarlton's "Guide to Legal History on the Web."
Mario Ruiz, his mom, and his brother hosted a wonderful good-bye/graduation party for the Library staff. This message came from Mario to the staff:
Even though I don't officially leave Tarlton until Dec. 17th, I wanted to throw my "Thank You Tarlton" party next week with my mom present. This party is to thank everyone for their kindness in making me feel part of the Tarlton family these past couple of years.
As many of you know, I will be graduating next Friday with a government degree and will be moving back home to teach high-schoolers in the Valley. Although I am leaving I want you to know that this is not a goodbye. Gwyn told me that we don't say goodbye at Tarlton just farewell until the next time. Furthermore, RMM has graciously notified me that I accidentally signed a life contract with him and this "time away" is really my sabbatical. So that's that.
So without further adieu, please join me at my "Thank You Tarlton" Party on Fri., Dec. 5th at 2:30 pm in the Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge. Hope to see all of you there!
Sincerely,
Mario Ruiz
It was beginning to look like Christmas at Tarlton as Beth and Kumar organized a holiday party with much fanfare. The food was delicious, the gift exchange entertaining, and the spirit delightful (and, no, it was not just the prospect of an extended vacation upcoming….or was it??)
Release of the farewell issue of Law School News:
LAW SCHOOL NEWS
Vol. 13, No. 28 Dec. 17, 2003
Tarlton Law Library
Jamail Center for Legal Research
School of Law
University of Texas at Austin
FAREWELL ISSUEThis is the last issue of LAW SCHOOL NEWS. The Law School 's Office of Communications is developing an innovative new means of publicizing the scholarly and professional accomplishments of our faculty, and will soon announce the details to the faculty.
The Jamail Center for Legal Research will continue to publish notices of the latest publications of our faculty, in a monthly newsletter to be called WRITINGS OF THE FACULTY, UT LAW. Look for the first issue in January 2004, and continue to notify Mike Widener about your latest publications.
In the 13 years since the Jamail Center for Legal Research began publishing LAW SCHOOL NEWS, a total of 314 issues have come out, containing close to 2,800 citations of faculty publications and 4,200 news items. These figures are clear evidence of the outstanding scholarship and rich intellectual life at The University of Texas School of Law.
-- RMM
FROM THE EDITOR
I wish to thank all the members of the Law School community, both faculty and staff, who have helped me compile the material for LAW SCHOOL NEWS during my 11 years as editor. A very special thanks goes to Barbara Washecka, Head of Cataloging, for her conscientiousness and skill as a proofreader.
-- Michael Widener
Editor, LAW SCHOOL NEWS
Every year on his birthday, December the 20th, David Pratter-Avila celebrates by donating books to update the Jamail Center for Legal Research's collection on children's rights. The books, carefully researched by Pratter-Avila's father, lawyer/librarian/lecturer Jonathan Pratter, provide valuable resources to those interested in the topic of children's rights.
"We're delighted to have such a young person give books to our library. David's donation provides benefits to our patrons and helps David develop his social conscience early," said Roy Mersky, who holds the Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and directs all aspects of the seventh largest law library in the U.S.
In past years Pratter-Avila has donated such books as For Every Child: The rights of the child in words and pictures (Unicef, 2001), The Disappearance of Childhood (Neil Postman, 1994), and The State of the World's Children 2003: A Child's Right to Participate (Unicef, 2003). This year he donated Children as Equals: Exploring the Rights of the Child (U. Press of America, 2002), and The Rights of All Our Children. A Plea for Action (Evans Clinchy, 2002).
Gloria Avila, David's mother, commented, "his yearly gifts help him start exercising rights to participate and be heard in society, as well as through other projects on which our family has worked in contributing to children's rights. Also, the gifts invite UT Law to enhance its important role on means to prevent harm to children, and provide them with the finest environment to be themselves, knowing that they are loved, and their rights are honored, and respected."
| January 01, 2004 |
Brian Quigley returned to the Law Library on a full-time basis. For the past three years, in addition to his responsibilities as Director of the Law Library's Information and Technical Services, Brian managed the information technology infrastructure of the Law School . Effective January 1, 2004, Brian relinquished his law school technology supervision responsibilities and will devote his time solely to the Law Library. He felt that the Law Library needed his undivided attention, and I certainly supported his decision. The Law School accepted his resignation with regret, with the stipulation that he will continue to work closely with the Law School's Computer Information Center, Associate Dean for Students and Technology and the Director of Internet Initiatives.
In summary, Brian is the Director of the Law Library's Information and Technical Services and manages the information technology infrastructure of the Law Library, with administrative oversight of Tarlton's Technical Services departments and the Law Computer Learning Center.
RMM and Jeanne Price left for the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in Atlanta.
Among other events, RMM and Rich Leiter (a Tarlton alum and director of Nebraska 's law library) will present the Spirit of Law Librarianship Award to Joan Howland. Joan is the director of the Minnesota Law Library and attended our summit conference.
An anonymous donor made possible the acquisition of Flores Legum.
Members of the Jamail Center toured the Legislative Reference Library of Texas, which is the premier resource for Texas legislative history research. The tour included technical and public services, and gave us some insights into how other libraries serve their patrons.
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz visited RMM and the Law Library, and RMM arranged a meeting of Law School clinicians in the afternoon. Prof. Dershowitz was in town as the inaugural speaker for KLRU-TV's 2004 Distinguished Speaker Series where he discussed his perspectives on civil liberties and justice with a rapt audience at the LBJ Library Auditorium.
Rick Garza announced the long-awaited renovation of the elevators. Lest anyone think this is a simple task, Rick's initial email is reproduced below:
The work on Elevator #1 (Atrium Elevator) is complete.
Elevator #2 (right-most public elevator) will be taken out of service today.
Elevator #5 (staff elevator) will be taken out of service tomorrow.
It's hard to predict how long each elevator will be out of service -- anywhere from 2 to 4 months. When Elevator #2 is completed, then Elevator #3 (middle public elevator) will be taken out of service. When the Elevator #5 (staff elevator) is completed, then work on Elevator #4 (left-most public elevator) will begin.
Please be aware that the noisiest part of each elevator renovation is at the beginning. So those of you located near the elevator shafts should expect some very difficult working conditions. The elevator guys have promised to keep it down as much as possible -- but there's only so much they can do with that.RMM, in cooperation with Jeanne Price and Beth Youngdale, began teaching the first in a series of law librarianship courses for ISchool students. The initial response was quite positive with more students than space, and a steady stream of Tarlton staffers providing first-hand accounts of cataloging, reference, and management issues is sure to make for a unique and worthwhile class.
Tobe Liebert taught an advanced legal research class on intellectual property in the spring semester.
The Library has been awarded a grant of $15,375 from the UT Knowledge Gateway initiative (to be renamed the UTopia project). The grant will fund the digitization of a large portion of the working papers of US Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark, and the incorporation of those papers into a newly created online resource, Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Cases of the US Supreme Court: the Papers of Justice Tom C. Clark. Justice Clark, a graduate of The University of Texas School of Law, is the only native Texan to serve on the US Supreme Court. The digitization of his papers will enable scholars and students from around the world to research and understand the workings of the Court in such high-profile cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, Sweatt v. Painter, and Mapp v. Ohio.
Professor Don Davis of the ISchool brought the 17 students in his Rare Book and Special Collections class (388K.5) to the Rare Book Room. Mike Widener spoke to them about our collections in general, and on our collection development activities.
| February, 2004 |
Tarlton acquired the papers of Harold J. “Tex” Lezar (UT Law Class of 1976) as a gift from his widow, Merrie Spaeth. Mr. Lezar was editor-in-chief of the Texas Law Review and prominent in Texas Republican politics. The papers relate to his work as:
• speech writer in the Nixon White House – 12 boxes
• vice-chair, Meese Commission on pornography – 3 boxes
• U.S. Department of Justice official – 1-2 boxesJeanne Price and Kumar Percy taught a program on teaching legal research in CLE programs, given during the midyear ACLEA conference in San Antonio.
Kumar Percy taught a class on Immigration Research for Immigration Clinic.
Jeanne Price taught a legal research class to Norma Cantu's graduate education school class (and in an email Professor Cantu expressed her appreciation to Jeanne by writing: “The students were very impressed with your level of preparation and your professional delivery. As you could tell from their questions, they saw you as a recognized expert in the field of legal research and scholarship.”)
The Rare Book Room of the Law Library was the setting for the installation ceremony for new members in Chancellors, the highest honorary organization at The University of Texas School of Law. Membership to Chancellors is extended to the 16 students with the highest grade point averages after two years at UT Law. Included in this illustrious group is Shweta Gera, who worked as a research assistant for RMM in the Administrative office her first two years of law school.
Jon Pratter taught a legal research methods class to Inga Markovits's seminar on Comparative Family Law.
Two new part-time ISchool students joined the Access Services staff: Hollie Fulkerson and David Bennett. Hollie and David, both in their first year of the ISchool Master's program, are taking the law librarianship class taught by RMM, Jeanne Price, and Beth Youngdale and have been hired for the semester, another example of greater cooperation between Tarlton and the ISchool.
In support of the Texas Developing Nations Project for their Livres Sans Frontières (Books without Borders) program, Tarlton librarians compiled a list of essential books for a law library. In addition, the Library supported the student organization's efforts to collect law books by placing a bin prominently in the lobby throughout the week. Donations will be given to a Cambodian law school and the Cambodian Senate library.
Tobe gave a tour to 40 engineering students in Professor Borcherding's construction law class.
Tobe gave a tour to 10 students in Professor Rawlin's Environmental law and policy class (architecture students)
The inaugural Tarlton Law Library rare books lecture was delivered today in the Eidman Courtroom on “Subscription Publishing & the Sale of Law Books in Antebellum America.” Michael H. Hoeflich, John H. & John M. Kane Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law, gave this talk. He is an internationally-recognized authority on legal history, Roman law, and the history of the legal profession, and one of the few legal scholars working in the field of the history of the book. He holds degrees from Haverford College, Cambridge University, and Yale Law School, and served as dean of the law schools at Syracuse and Kansas .
The Georgia Chadwick King Cakes arrived! Barbara Bridges decorated the Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge in honor of this much anticipated annual event, and Gloria Griggs “found” the first baby. Barbara also prepared a Mardi Gras Trivia Contest for the true aficionados.
This report from Barbara:
Six brave souls participated in the Mardi Gras Trivia contest. There were 15 possible correct answers and 2 tie breakers. Scores ranged from 1 to 6 1/2 (and I scored pretty liberally). First prize winner is Pierrette and second prize goes to Marlyn. (John R. and Kumar were banned from participating because of their New Orleans connections.)
Trivia questions/answers were:
What is the significance of twelfth night in relation to Mardi Gras ? Begins the Carnival season - which culminates in Mardi Gras. First ball of the season is held on 12th Night.
What is a krewe? A social club that sponsors a Mardi Gras ball or parade or both.
Which is the oldest one? Comus
Who is the King of Carnival? Rex
What is the person who leads a carnival parade called? The Captain
Mardi Gras has it's own language. What is the use of each of these words at Mardi Gras?
Den - the warehouse where floats are made
Float - What krewe members ride on in the parades
Call Out - a special invitation to come to the floor of the ball to dance during the "callout" dances - before general dancing
Favor - souvenir of the ball usually given to the person "called out"
Flambeaux - torches traditionally carried by white-robed black men to light the parade
What are New Orleanians most likely to yell while watching a parade?
a. Please may I have some of your beads?
b. A beer and popcorn please
c. Throw me something, mister
At what parade would you most likely get a coconut? Zulu
Who pays for Mardi Gras? The Krewe members
What is the official Mardi Gras anthem? If Ever I Cease To Love
Where must the Queen of Barkus have resided at some point in her life?
She's always a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals adoptee
Tie-breaker I:
What significance does the School of Design have to Mardi Gras? It's the official name of the Krewe of Rex
Tie-breaker II:
What is the significance of Bacchus in the history of New Orleans Mardi Gras? First krewe to have a Hollywood celebrity - instead of a New Orleanian - as its king and which anyone could pay to join (instead of being invited).
Emma Dowell visits the Library!
Jeanne Price gave library tours for attendees of the People's Law School.
| March 2004 |
Laura Young, Serials Assistant in the Serials and Collection Management Department, has been voted Employee of the Month for March 2004. Laura got tremendous compliments from colleagues for her significant contributions to the Library and her positive attitude.
Kumar Percy coordinated three programs during the SWALL meeting in Houston namely, Mexican Legal Research (presented by Jon Pratter); HIPAA program; and the Network Security program (former Tarltonite June Liebert was a panelist).
One of our alums, Leslie Kanter-Polott was selected this year as a Mover and Shaker and there is a short profile of her in the March 15th edition of the Library Journal's Movers and Shakers supplement 2004.
A group of Moldovan librarians visited Tarlton to meet with RMM and take a tour of the collection. Jonathan Pratter, Tobe Liebert, and Michael Horn gave the tour to Eugenia Bejan, Deputy Director of the National Children's Library; Mariana Harjevschi, Director of the Municipal Public Library Public Law Library; and, Lidia Kulikovski, General Director, President of Library Association.
Results are in for the 22nd Annual Joyce Saltalamachia Memorial Oscar Sweepstakes. Leticia Garcia is the stellar Tarltonite this year, with former Tarltonite Bob Nissenbaum not far behind. Rosemary Bunnage Mersky has her best showing yet, and Gwyn Anderson holds her own. Holly, Holly, Holly, what happened… even RMM beat you this year!!
Pam Landberg 17+
Gloria Groover - AALS 17+*
Barbara Lovelace 16+
Sean Kirby 16+
Elisa Gerontianos 15+
Carolyn Grimes 15+
Leticia Garcia - Tex. 15+
Kitty MacLeod 14+
Bob Nissenbaum 14+*
Sean McAloon 14
Kalyca Lee 13+
Marie Newman 13+
Natalya Polushkin 13+
Gretchen Feltes 13+
Savio Figaro 13
Sommer Rimar 12+
Paula Pescaru 12+
Michael McCarthy 12+
Egbert Isaacs 12+
Rosemary Bunnage - Tex. 12+
Gwyn Anderson 12+
Kevin Koel 11+
Rosalie Sanderson 11+
Joyce Saltalamachia 11+
Keith Ann Stiverson 11+
Bill Mills 11+
Louis Monburn 11
Camille Broussard 10+
Antonietta Tatta 10+
Deborah Paulus 10
Joe Molinari 10
Mary Cullen - AALS 9+
Michael Roffer 8+
RMM - Tex. 8+
Roy Basit 8+
Holly Lakatos - Tex. 7+
Joanne Scala 7
Ping Tian 7
Caroline Susta 7
RMM, with the assistance of Kumar Percy, organized a showing of the Fredrick Wiseman film La Derniere Lettre – ( The Last Letter for those who are Frenchless). This free event was open to the public, and ISchool students as well as Law School students were invited to attend.
The University of Texas launches its UTopia site and Tarlton is well represented.
Mike Widener's Law in Mexico before the Conquest is highlighted on the law and politics page, and LPOP and the Texas Constitutions are listed there as well.
Jeanne Price's Texas Constitutions pages are highlighted on the law and politics/Texas page.
Rodney Buhrsmith, the new Senior Director, Academic & New Attorney Segment Marketing for West, paid his first visit to the Library on March 11.West has many pilot projects that might enhance Tarlton operations, and RMM encouraged staffers to find out how we could become involved in some of these new undertakings.
Many Tarltonites took a tour of the State Law Library of Texas to learn more about this important institution.
Chela Metzger of Preservation & Conservation Studies brought students from her Book Lab 2 class to clean the white powder off some of the leather bindings in the Rare Book Collection. The students used soft brushes to carefully clean these books. This was a learning exercise for the students, Tarlton derives great benefit from their work.
In addition, Chela Metzger took samples of the white powder--known as "bloom" or "spew”--and will run tests to determine if it is caused by the original tanning process for the leather, or by leather dressings applied in the last 20-40 years. Leather dressing used to be popular because it improved the appearance, but research has shown no long-term benefits and many long-term problems. Conservators now discourage its use for leather bindings. Click here for more information.
RMM introduced the winner of the annual Scribes Law Review Competition at a special dinner in San Antonio during the National Conference of Law Reviews. Each year, Scribes, The American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects, sponsorsits law review competition to identify and recognize an outstanding note or comment written by a law student associated with a student-edited law review. This award has the dual distinction of being the
only award presented at the National Conference of Law Reviews and the only national award for student law review authors which places no limitations on subject matter. RMM is an active member of the Scribes Law Review Competition Committee.
| April 07, 2004 |
The staff of the Jamail Center was pleased to give the staff of the UT General Libraries a tour of the Tarlton Law Library.
Tarlton co-sponsored a presentation by Helen Shenton, Head of Collection Care for the British Library, called “Caring for the British Library's Collections in the 21 st Century.
As part of the activities for Law School Alumni Weekend, Mike Widener gave a presentation on book collecting.
Holly Lakatos bids Tarlton a fond adieu today as she heads off to become the Director of Public Services at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Downtown Campus Library. Holly will report to former Tarltonite Keith Ann Stiverson, director of the Library, and we are all invited to stay with Holly whenever we are in Chicago.
Just to recap a bit: Holly started work at Tarlton in 1994 as a student assistant in the computer lab where she worked her way up to a computer operations specialist, eventually taking over the day-to-day operations of the computer lab, then moving to the Administrative Office as an Administrative Associate, then moving to Circulation as a Circulation Assistant. She left for two semesters in 1999/2000 to attend the University of North Texas in Denton where she earned an M.S. in Information Science. Since her return, Holly has assumed the responsibilities of the Access Services Librarian, responsible for circulation, interlibrary loan, document delivery, and Tarlton publication sales.
| May 04, 2004 |
The 2004 Staff Recognition Program and President's Reception was held from 2-4 p.m. in the Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Special Events Center.This annual ceremony formally recognizes staff service awards. Pierrette Moreno was honored for her 30 years of service, and Cathy Mantor-Ramirez for her 10 years of service.
George Peek began work today in the Administrative Office. George has been with the University in the ITS department administering voice mail and long distance for the past 2 1/2 years.
Holly Lakatos and Abigail Schultz prepared an exhibit on Brown V. Board of Education for the 5th Circuit Judicial Conference at the Renaissance Austin Hotel . The exhibit was on display in the arboretum of the hotel during the conference and in the atrium of the Law School during the months of May and June.
Scott Webel started work at the library. He will be doing web and publications work (publications in the sense of working on brochures and other types of promotional materials) and assisting in the administrative office.
Scott graduated from UT-Austin this past December with a Master's degree in Anthropology and he is the co-founder and co-curator of Austin's own Museum of Ephemerata.
Today is the last day for Hollie Fulkerson and David Bennett, both ISchool Masters students working part-time in the Library.
| June 2004 |
The 1846 Auction Catalogue of Joseph Story's Library, with introduction by Michael H. Hoeflich and index by Karen S. Beck was the latest addition to the Tarlton Law Library Legal History Series.
Tobe Liebert is one of a group of librarians who received the 2003/04 SCALL William Rohan Chapter Service Award. The Rohan Award recognizes outstanding service and contribution to the profession of law librarianship. Tobe contributed to, and developed a bibliography for, the AALL Academic Law Libraries SIS Academic Marketing Toolkit.
With all of A-H moved to the 6th floor, we had an opportunity to rearrange materials on the 2nd floor - to spread out some materials and to organize things in maybe a more logical (and, we hope, more easily explainable) arrangement (not that there was anything wrong with the old arrangement - we just have more room now and that gives us some opportunities).
A major virtue of the new arrangement is that we will be able to say that all state materials are located on the bank of stacks closest to the reference desk and that all federal materials are located on the 'far' bank of stacks (nearest the Popular Reading Room). Secondary authority will also be located on that far bank of stacks; classified reference materials (including Tex Jur) will be on the 'near' bank of stacks.
The award committee is pleased to announce that Kimberli Morris, Program Manager for Library and Information ( Baghdad ) of the International Human Rights Law Institute at the College of Law, DePaul University, is this year's recipient of the Spirit of Law Librarianship Award for her work with law schools in Iraq as they strive to rebuild their legal education system.
From her residence/office in Baghdad, Kim has been traveling to three law schools in Iraq and meeting with the deans and staff to assess their respective collections and begin the process of rebuilding their law libraries. Kim has been memorializing her work in a web-log. A good description of her motives can be found at the April 3, 2004 entry.
This award is given to a law librarian, or group of librarians, who have used their position and skills as a law librarian to make a meaningful contribution to a social cause, or used their professional training in service to others in some significant way. The award was established by Roy Mersky and Richard Leiter, in lieu of royalties from their book, The Spirit of Law Librarianship. The publisher of the first edition of the book, Fred B. Rotham & Co. (now William S. Hein & Co., Inc.) also participated in the founding of this award. Alert Publications, Inc., the publisher of the second edition, now participates in the continuance of the award.
Ana (Lety) Esparza, a library student at Texas Woman's University in Denton, undertook her practicum project at the library in June and July, 2004. Lety is currently an elementary school teacher in Brownsville, but is very interested in law librarianship and hopes to be employed in the profession after her graduation from library school. Lety's interest in law librarianship dates back to her experience as a paralegal in a law firm specializing in litigation. Lety worked on a number of projects during the summer, primarily focusing on public services functions.
Adrienne (Addy) Sonder joined Tarlton as a circulation assistant in June 2004. A recent graduate of the University of Texas School of Information, with a specialization in electronic records management, Addy was formerly employed as a graduate research assistant at UT's Latin American Network Information Center. She had also worked with Mike Widener, head of rare books and special collections at the Library, in completing her master's project, "Converting FileMaker Pro Records into EAD Finding Aids." Addy has a BA in anthropology, with a minor in Spanish, from the University of Arizona.
A staff pizza party is held today, generously endowed by Jim McCue. Jim was a member of our staff in the 70s and is now a book dealer in Dobbs Ferry, New York .There was a Jim McCue tribute by Professor Mersky,some items of interest to us Tarltonites (nothing monumental, just updates) were discussed, and Addy Sonder gave a brief overview onthe School of Information project she worked on with Mike Widener about archiving finding aids for the Web. Also, it was a welcoming party for our newest staff members, Addy, George Peek and Scott Webel, and for our visiting practicum student from Texas Woman's University, Lety Esparza. But the main purpose of the luncheon was for us to have an opportunity to get together as a staff - to eat, drink, and be merry.
Abigail Schultz was named as the Library's new access services librarian. She's done an exemplary job in handling things (with assistance from Kumar) since Holly's departure and we'd like to now formalize her roles and responsibilities as access services librarian.
Addy Sonder gave a presentation in the Computer Lab classroom onthe School of Information project she worked on with Mike Widener about archiving finding aids for the Web.She talked about EAD (Encoded Archival Description) and about how she created a calculated field to generate EAD-encoded text. She gave a similar presentation at the Society of Southwest Archivists annual meeting in San Antonio, May 28, entitled "Migrating the Tarlton Law Library's Rare Books and Manuscripts Finding Aid to EAD." It's about the Capstone Project she did under Mike Widener's supervision. The program description follows:
Migrating the Tarlton Law Library's Rare Books and Manuscripts Finding Aid to EAD
Addy Sonder
School of Information, University of Texas at Austin
This paper will describe the conversion process to EAD from a locally-developed Filemaker Pro database of MARC fields used in the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas-Austin (for inclusion in TARO) by the use of the facilities of Filemaker to generate EAD tags automatically and by editing the results in XMetaL.
Professor Mersky hosted an ice cream party today in the Gwyn Anderson Staff Lounge. It was an opportunity for him to wish all of us a pleasant summer before he departed on a two-month trip to Australia.
The Library received an LPercy award from the Library Public Relations Council. The award was presented at the Council's annual dinner held at this year's conference of the American Library Association in Orlando . The LPercy award recognizes “outstanding publicity materials produced by libraries serving populations of different sizes” and was presented to the Library for the brochures developed by the Library and distributed to various patron groups. Betty Taylor, a professor at the University of Flordia and friend of RMM, accepted the award on Tarlton's behalf.