THE NORTHEAST REGIONAL LAW LIBRARIES MEETING: A HISTORY

During World War II, there was a popular series of movie musicals starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland as teenagers whose answer to whatever trouble came there way was always the same: Hey, kids, let's put on a show! With nothing but their own talent and whatever was at hand (or so one was to believe), they would put together an incredibly professional tour-de-force. These movies were an affirmation in troubled times that with an entrepreneurial spirit (aka spunk or pluck or chutzpah) and a willingness to work hard, something wonderful could be achieved. It is with that same sort of spirit that the Northeast Regional Law Libraries Meeting came to be and continues today, allowing us to collectively examine the challenges that face us as law librarians and to draw on the expertise and talents of those in our own and related professions to provide guidance and solutions.

Following is a brief history of the meetings. Be prepared for a plethora of acronyms...

NE 1987 -- Information: The Lawyer/Librarian Connection

The first NE Regional was hosted by the Association of Law Libraries of Upstate New York (ALLUNY), a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) in 1987, in Albany, New York. It ran from Thursday, October 8 to Saturday, October 10. Registration was a mere $75 for members of any one of the participating chapters ($85 for non-members) and included 3 continental breakfasts, 3 lunches, an opening reception, tours of two major Albany law libraries and the final banquet! Other participating chapters were the Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries (ORALL), the Michigan Association of Law Libraries (MichALL), the Law Librarians of New England (LLNE), the Southern New England Law Librarians Association (SNELLA) and the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY).

For a first conference, the agenda was an ambitious one, involving over 75 speakers (almost half of whom were academic law librarians and only 2 of whom were Canadian) and 21 sessions, most of which were offered concurrently.

What were the hot topics in 1987?

• Managing library services
• Improving research and reference services
• Regional interest in the law relating to pollution and acid rain
• Filming projects for court records

The highlight of local arrangements was a visit to Saratoga Racetrack for harness racing and a dinner at the clubhouse. A race was named in honor of the meeting and a blanket presented to the owner and winner by chapter representatives.

NE 1991 -- Rights, Privileges, and Ethics: Issues for the Nineties

The second NE Regional was held from Thursday, November 7 to Saturday, November 10, 1991 in Philadelphia, hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Law Libraries Association (GPLLA). More chapters became involved : the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC (LLSDC), the New Jersey Law Librarians Association (NJLLA), the Law Library Association of Maryland (LLAM) and the Western Pennsylvania Law Library Association (WPLLA). The theme of the meeting was borne out by an agenda that focused on bioethics and ethics in government and in librarianship, access to information, and a session on the recently implemented The Americans with Disabilities Act. Other sessions involved teaching legal research, the future role of librarians, practical advice on cataloguing, serials management and surviving a library move. Registration was double that of 1987 at $150.00. The highlight of local arrangements here also involved a gambling venue: the casinos in Atlantic City. Organizers of both meetings were clearly determined to jettison the image of the introverted, conservative librarian!

NE 1996 -- Libraries Without Borders: Legal Information Partnerships in the 21st Century

The third conference was held in Toronto from October 17-19, 1996 and hosted by the Toronto Association of Law Libraries. Attendees (450 of them!) paid $125 to register. At any given time, one might attend any one of 6 concurrent sessions. As one would expect, there were sessions on Canadian legal and business research for the American librarians and sessions on U.S. legal and business research for the Canadians. It is fascinating to see that 10 years ago there were programs on the use of the internet that appealed to both the novice ("A Beginner's Guide to the Internet") and the expert ("Building and Maintaining a Library Website"). The impact of technology on libraries was a major focus of the agenda, with sessions on the use of scanners, how to catalogue internet resources, how to determine which materials to trash and which to keep as electronic versions became available, and how to preserve those books that were kept. The final banquet was held at the Royal Ontario Museum which, incidentally, in the past few years has been undergoing a major expansion that is scheduled to be completed before ...

NE 2007 -- Libraries Without Borders II

The fourth NE Regional Meeting will again be held in Toronto, October 17-20, 2007. Our Judy and Mickey this time around are co-chairs Connie Crosby of TALL and Steve Weiter of ALLUNY. Committees have been struck and have been hard at work for months to build yet another successful conference. New for this meeting is its own website. Please explore and return over the course of the year as we add more information about the exciting and educational programs and events planned for the meeting (as well as the attractions of this beautiful city) adding yet another chapter to the history of the NE Regional Meetings.