Information in Motion

SWALL 2006 Blog is Now Closed

2006-04-17T09:48:00.000-05:00

The "Information in Motion" blog for the SWALL 2006 Annual Meeting is now officially closed. A HUGE thank you to all that participated in helping produce a great blog for our historical archives. Photos of the event will be posted at our website http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/swall/meeting2006/.

Attendees' List

2006-04-10T14:55:00.001-05:00

We are working on updating the attendees' lists for the recent SWALL annual meeting. We'll be sending it out via e-mail by the end of the week.

Thank you.

Speakers, Powerpoints and Handouts

2006-04-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

The speakers powerpoints and handouts will soon be available on the SWALL website. I'll keep you posted when they are ready for viewing. Thank you.

Executive Board for 2006-2007

2006-04-10T14:51:00.000-05:00

Introducing the new Board members:

Barbara Fullerton, President
Anna Teller, Vice-President
Peggy Martindale, Secretary
Caren Luckie, Treasurer
Yvonne Chandler, Past President

Last entry

2006-04-10T13:37:00.000-05:00

I'd like to thank the Academy - oops, wrong organization.

Seriously, I'd like to thank Terri Wilson and the grants committee for selecting me for the Coco-Miller grant, which allowed me to come to SWALL for the first time in nine years. I'd also like to thank Barbara Fullerton for encouraging me to apply for the grant, and I'd really like to thank my firm for allowing me the time off to attend the meeting. It was a wonderful meeting, and every session I attended exceeded my expectations. I might even catch up on my sleep one of these days.

I hope to be able to attend SWALL again in the future. Cross your fingers!

Most sincerely,
Jennifer Stephens

T-Shirts

2006-04-10T11:29:00.000-05:00

Peggy Martindale said she had several people ask her where she got the "I'm a Librarian. Don't make me shush your *" t-shirt. Here's the link!
http://www.cafepress.com/curmudgeony

Peggy says this holds the secret of how to obtain the t-shirt and much more.

Birthday

2006-04-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to KUMAR!!!

Sponsors & Exhibits

2006-04-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

Just a HUGE THANK YOU to all our Sponsors & Exhibitors! With your support, we had a GREAT conference.

Gold Bracelet

2006-04-08T10:33:00.000-05:00

If you found the gold bracelet in your gold box from NBI, Matt Mickelson needs to hear from you!

Contact him at matt.mickelson@nbi-sems.com

Search engines

2006-04-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Just one word: wow. Sabrina and Barbara blazed through the world of search engines in record time. You can catch the pdf on LLRX.com

Last day

2006-04-08T07:24:00.000-05:00

Last day of the conference and I'm wondering why SWALL is addicted to 7:30 breakfasts. No matter, it should be a good early morning presentation. Sabrina and Barbara are doing a program on search engines beyond Google and Yahoo! I'll either post a summary after or when I get back home.

The Harry Ransom Center was a great treat, I loved seeing the old books. I had forgotten than the Muslim books from centuries ago were beautifully illustrated with vivid colors. It was also pretty wild seeing an actual Guetenberg Bible, as well as the dictaing equipment that Erle Stanley Gardner used when he was writing his 80 some odd Perry Mason novels.

It is very cool this morning (54 degrees), a nice change from the other mornings.

Visual motifs

2006-04-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

I am finding the visual motifs at the SWALL conference to be quite appealing. First of all, the Driskill Hotel is simply beautiful! It is a living slice of an earlier more elegant (idealized) time. But in addition to a general admiration for the fin de siècle architecture, I'm finding Texas motifs everywhere! And of course, as an incurable shutterbug, I took pictures of it all.

Texas, as the lone star state, has adoped the five-pointed star as one of its symbols. And in the Driskill, you can see those stars everywhere. They are on the lamps and chandeliers. You can see them in the upstairs carpeting and the downstirs carpeting as well. Stars are in the windows, the elevators and the inlaid marble flooring. They shine above the cafe, and in stained glass over the great reception hall.

And who has not heard of the yellow rose of Texas? While not as prevalent as stars, yellow roses also appear throughout the Driskill. They are in the carpeting outside my door, and on the lamps and the wall sconces as well. And of course, there were yellow roses to welcome us SWALL-ows to the conference.

Perhaps most amusing is the food shaped like the state of Texas. I saw the shape of Texas in a colby-jack cheese at registration on Wednesday. On Tuesday, I saw the state formed out of biscuits and chocolate dipped shortbread cookies. (Perhaps it is a good thing that my sister is wrong, and chocolate is not, in fact, destiny, else Texas would have just annexed parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma!)

I don't suppose that star or rose (or Texas-shaped cheese) spotting at the Driskill will ever catch on the way searching for Hidden Mickeys has caught on at Disneyland, but it does add an extra element to the conference. It is nice to see such attention to detail in a world that is so often filled with a 'good enough' ethos.

Lunch and legislative history

2006-04-07T16:44:00.000-05:00

Since my laptop suddenly decided it was blind after lunch ("Wireless network? I don't see no stinkin' network!) I wasn't able to beat Terri to the punch this time. Such is life.

Anyway, Darla Agard from New Products at Westlaw did a very informative presentation of StatutesPlus and RegulationsPlus. Hearing how the West editors slaved over millions of headnotes to put in the final 250K+ headnotes in the CFR made me appreciate the sheer scope of the project.

Seeing how Westlaw does legislative and regulatory history was a nice introduction to the program presented by:

Kristina Niedringhaus - Arizona
Kathryn Fitzhugh - Arkansas
Alan Pannell - Colorado
Eileen Cohen - New Mexico
Kay Schlueter - Texas

The panel was moderated by Barbara Fullerton.

It was interesting to hear the similarities and differences in the approach to legislative history in the five states. All started out with "look at the annotated statute, find the session law, get the bill numbers, and away we go!" All reported varying degrees of depth and breadth of information available electronically.

The funniest was Eileen Cohen who said that there is no legislative history in New Mexico. You get the bill and that's about it.

Up tonight: reception at the Harry Ransom Center & Museum.

PS: The answer is Caddo Lake.

Health Law

2006-04-07T13:21:00.000-05:00

I attended this morning's "Health Law Research Online: Good for You or Hazardous to Your Health?" by Beth Schneider and Spencer Simons. A tremendous number of links to a variety of health law topics. I hope they will be posting their PowerPoint on the SWALL website so I can link to it. It is a great resource for research into Medicare/Medicaid, Bioethics, Elder Law, Nursing Homes, and Health Law in general.

Austin trivia

2006-04-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

Dina Dreifuerst here, posting under Barbara's account.

In response to Barbara's question about the streets of Austin, it is true that the downtown north-south streets are named after the rivers of Texas, in order. So the eastern-most street is Red River; the western-most, Rio Grande.

As a native Austinite, I learned that tantalizing tidbit in Texas History class :)

Of course, there is no "Congress" River in Texas!

And speaking of the second-largest employer in Austin (after UT), aka "politics," Texas' capitol building is one of the only domed state capitols in the nation, and the only one *taller* than the one in D.C.

That's Texas pride for ya!

Final bit o' trivia: here at the Driskill, we're just a few blocks from Town Lake. Town Lake, Lake Austin and Lake Travis are the three lakes in the Austin area. None are real lakes. They're dammed up sections of the Colorado River. In fact, all but one of the lakes in Texas are man-made with dams on our numerous rivers.

Librarians, start your engines! What is Texas' only natural lake?

Library Raid Jacket

2006-04-07T10:34:00.000-05:00

For those of you who keep asking about my jacket, you can find the Library Raid series (jacket, t-shirt, cap) on http://www.unshelved.com/. It also has the daily cartoon on library life in a public library - I highly recomment it.

Raid collection http://www.unshelved.com/store.aspx. Scroll toward the bottom - choose which you want to look at.

Sabrina

2006-04-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

Wow.

If you missed Sabrina's session on competitive intelligence, you missed a tremendous session. I felt like it was a two hour session crammed into one. You can, however, get the presentation from LLRX.com - and the bibliography is located here.

SWALL Business Meeting

2006-04-07T09:09:00.000-05:00

The business meeting/breakfast/AALL Chapter Visitor meeting concluded just a few minutes ago. We had the minutes from previous meetings approved, heard that Tempe, AZ will be the 2007 site, and most excitingly, heard that the 2008 meeting will be a cruise! 2008 will be SWALL's 50th anniversary year, so the Board decided that a cruise departing from Galveston would be the best way to celebrate with food, beverages, and programs.

In other news, Amy Hale-Janake announced that New Orleans is slowly but surely coming back, and that liquor and food are definitely available. She encouraged us all to come to the 2007 AALL meeting, which will be held in New Orleans, saying we would have a fantastic time.

Lyonette Louis-Jacque, AALL Executive Board member, gave us a quick summary of what the board discussed at their recent meeting. This may be summarized as AALL is pushing for more educational and leadership initiatives, and is willing to put up the money in form of grants to make it happen.

Yvonne Chandler did her usual fine job of making a speech, giving us a run down of her mentors, and thanking us all for helping her as SWALL President for the past year. Barbara Fullerton took over the mike (in lieu of a gavel) as her transition from president-elect to president, and presented Yvonne with some fine crystal and a silver tray with SWALL President 2005-2006 engraved on it.

It's almost time for Sabrina Pacifi to present on Competitive Intelligence Report. This should be good.

Pass the coffee

2006-04-07T09:08:00.000-05:00

Whoever invented the 7:30am breakfast meeting deserves a special place in hell. That said, welcome to Friday and SWALL's full day of conference activities. We kicked off with our business meeting. Lots of things covered. A special shout-out to Mike Beaird who was voted a lifetime membership to SWALL. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy! How many more days to retirement, Mike?

The passing of the presidential torch from Yvonne Chandler to Barbara Fullerton. Thanks, Yvonne! And good luck, Barbara!

Our speaker from AALL was Lyonette Louis-Jacques. Learned lots of new things about AALL events and activities.

And how many people out there thought Angela Kubala was kidding about the 2008 SWALL conference being on a cruise? I'm still in shock! :-O

Evening activities

2006-04-06T22:19:00.000-05:00

We were bussed over to the Tarlton Law Library tonight and had a lovely, relaxed time just chatting and taking tours of the library. We got to see the art collection and the rare books room.

Afterwards, a group of us decided we were still hungry and went down 6th Street and stopped at the Iron Cactus for dinner, where we chatted and watched the denziens and tourists trooping up and down the street.

Next up: the breakfast business meeting waaaay too early.

What I learned about Austin

2006-04-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

I was told last night that the streets in Austin are named after the rivers in Texas and in order of? Please help me on this!

I hope I have this correct...Dina??

Tomorrow's Schedule

2006-04-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

Don't miss:

1. Sabrina Pacifici's session on Competitive Intelligence Research
2. Searching for Health Law Online
3. Find out about XML
4. Learn about Statutory and Regulatory Products
5. Discover Legislative History Research
6. Find Tools for Addressing the ABA Section 605 Instructional Mandate

Students, don't forget the roundtable chat with our AALL Representative, Lyo. And Lisa Rush is coordinating the Formation of the Texas County Law Librarian Chapter.

First Day

2006-04-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

It was a fantastic first day and I second everyone's motion on how great the Bar & Grill Singers' performance! Our speakers for today were wonderful and I heard many great comments about all the programs. It was nice to get an update on the U.S. Patriot(sp) Act, hear strange but true reference questions, open source journals, and find foreign and international laws. Thanks to all the speakers and moderators that made this possible!

A special thank you to the local arrangements committee and the volunteers for keeping the registration desk going, picking up our speakers from the airport, handing out evaluations, and just making sure everything is running smoothly.

See you tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. Boy, that is early for some of us!

Interesting patrons...

2006-04-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

Amy Hale-Janeke and Peggy Martindale gave a wonderful, funny, and somewhat sad program on those interesting patrons in public situations who you are not sure whether or not they are quite sane. They had lots of funny stories, acted out situations, and gave practical tips on how to handle the problem patrons of the world. The best piece of advice: don't ever belittle anyone, even if they are talking to invisible people.

Next up: jumpstarting foreign/international research.

I've been Grilled!

2006-04-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

I second Jennifer's take on The Bar & Grill Singers! They were great! So funny! This is the first time that I've ever seen/heard them, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Check out their website. You can buy their CDs and check their schedule to see if they will be coming to a town near you.

http://www.barandgrillsingers.com/

First program and opening luncheon

2006-04-06T13:29:00.000-05:00

I went to the preconference program on cataloging, presented by Joni Cassidy of of Cassidy Cataloging. It was a swift look at some of the interesting problems that face law library catalogers.

More on this later.

The opening luncheon had the Bar & Grill Singers, who are practicing attorneys and judges, changing words to (law)suit the strange legal world. It was great, and they donate a percentage of their sales to pro bono.

Supper

2006-04-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

Eight of us hiked over to 2nd street to Taverna Pizzeria and Risotteria for a nice Italian supper. It was tasty, not too crowded, and we had a great waiter. Nice way to start off the conference.

Driving to Austin

2006-04-05T15:13:00.000-05:00

Barbara wasn't kidding about the drive - but I didn't run into construction, I ran into a wall o' cars in Round Rock and took about 45 minutes to crawl 2 miles. Turns out it was a disabled vehicle in the right lane. I felt like I was back in the Dallas area ;-).

Need something to do in Austin?

2006-04-05T09:08:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the local newspapers and found a few interesting events for this week in Austin.

1. Express Yourself. The Madonna Sing-Along. Audience participation necessary. Thursday, April 6th at 9:45 p.m. at the Alamo Downtown

2. Into martial arts films? "The Magic Blade" is showing at 7 p.m. at the Downtown Alamo on Thursday, April 6th.

3. "Deep Sea 3D" is showing at the IMAX Theatre at the Bob Bulock Texas State History Museum at 1800 N. Congress Ave.

4. Want a tattoo? Try Custom Tattoos from the Soul. Located at 516 E. 6th St. and open until 2 a.m.

5. Hungry for a hamburger or veggie burger? Try Hut's! Voted the Best Hamburger for 18 years and Best Veggie Burger for 3 years. Address: 807 W. 6th St.

The Driskill

2006-04-05T07:18:00.000-05:00

I've arrived early to Austin and I must say I'm impressed with The Driskill Hotel and I think everyone will also be impressed. It is a beautiful historical place with high ceilings, great decor, and comfortable beds.

Friday Night Dinner & Music

2006-04-04T00:08:00.000-05:00

Friday evening's dinner at the Harry Ransom Center promises to be a delightful evening. For those who haven't had the pleasure of visiting the HRC yet you are in for a wonderful experience. The permanent exhibits include items such as one of the few complete copies of The Gutenberg Bible. Current exhibitions include Technologies of Writing which explores forms of recorded human thought from thousands of years ago to the present. For a sneak peak, take a look at the online exhibitions. See you Friday night!

Weather

2006-04-03T10:05:00.000-05:00

Looks like it's supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's in Austin this week. If you want to track it, go to the Weather Channel web site.

Define Information in Motion

2006-04-01T11:37:00.000-06:00

According to a UK website, information in motion is defined as data that is involved in producing movement.

Business Cards

2006-04-01T11:34:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder: remember to bring your business cards!

Texas Wildflowers

2006-03-27T16:11:00.000-06:00

Texas is famous for its spring wildflowers, and early April is a prime time to see them. The Austin/Travis county area has some good places to see wildflowers, including (I am told) Route 290, Interstate 35, and Route 360. Wildflower tourism has become so popular that the Texas Department of Transportation maintains a wildflower hotspots information web page and wildflower hotline (800-452-9292, option 2). Private listings of wildflower sightings are also available.

In addition, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which is in Austin, has sixteen gardens (including a garden designed to attract and support butterflies), which are seeded with Texas wildflowers such as the famous Texas bluebonnet. SWALL's annual meeting coincides with the Center's annual wildflower days festival and spring plant sale. During this time, the Center also offers a reduced admission fee and extended operating hours.

As a newcomer to Texas and amateur photographer, I am definitely planning to get out and take a look.

SWALL Welcome Reception

2006-03-27T14:51:00.000-06:00

If you are arriving on Wednesday evening, April 5th for the SWALL annual meeting, you are invited to the "Early Arriver's Welcome Reception" at the Driskill Hotel in the Governor's Suite (SWALL President's Suite) from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. This reception is sponsed by the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Science.

Please RSVP by April 3rd to Charlotte Thomas at 877-ASK-SLIS or via email at cthomas@lis.admin.unt.edu or chandler@lis.admin.unt.edu.

Come by the President's Suite to pickup your registration materials for the SWALL conference and to visit with friends, classmates, and colleagues!

Guess the identity of this person

2006-03-27T14:11:00.000-06:00

There is a certain person who will be attending next week's SWALL annual meeting. And sad to say, this librarian is retiring! But what makes this individual so unique is that he/she attended their first SWALL meeting 30 years ago in Austin, TX and his/her last SWALL meeting before retirement will be this one in Austin!

Who is this person? Find out at SWALL!

Gas prices in Texas

2006-03-26T11:11:00.000-06:00

Just in case you are driving in from a surrounding state and are wondering what the typical gas prices are, the government is here to help. The DOE has a handy little chart showing gas prices from regions and individual states. The general page is here and the Texas specific page is here.

National Library Week

2006-03-24T12:31:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder! SWALL is during National Library Week which is April 2-8, 2006.

Jumpstart your Foreign and International Research

2006-03-24T09:50:00.000-06:00

Join Speakers Anna Teller and Lyonette Louis-Jacques as they offer tips on where to start your research and will focus on materials that are available through the web. Sites will include EISIL and WIPO. This program is aimed at librarians who do not specialize in international law but who are occasionally asked international research questions.

Thursday, April 6th
3:30-5 p.m.
Jim Hogg Parlor

Preservation & Open Access

2006-03-24T09:48:00.000-06:00

The speaker will discuss the movement toward open access to scholarly information, as colleges and universities struggle to gain more control over and retain more rights to their scholarly output, and the consequences of not doing so.

Speaker
Michelle Rigual

Thursday, April 6th
3:30-5 p.m.
Maximilian Room

Negotiating with the Bizarre: Real Life Experiences at the Reference Desk

2006-03-24T09:46:00.000-06:00

This program will discuss how to deal with wierd questions, what has worked and what hasn't worked and why. Don't miss Sharon Blackburn's "Pyramid of Insanity!"

Speakers
Sharon Blackburn
Amy Hale-Janeke

Thursday, April 6th
1:30-3 p.m.
Jim Hogg Parlor

Update on USA Patriot Act & Beyond

2006-03-24T09:45:00.000-06:00

Join speaker Leah Sandwell-Weiss as she discusses the passage of the USA Patriot Act and the history of government advocacy by the ALA and AALL. She will also discuss the loss of government information, copyright, permanent public access to information and changes at the GPO.

Thursday, April 6th
1:30-3 p.m.
Maximillan Room

Thank you Note

2006-03-23T14:29:00.000-06:00

I would like to express my sincere thank you to the SWALL Committee and donors for awarding me the Kate Mara Award. This will be my first time attending SWALL and I look forward to the experience.

Thank you.
Charlotte Thomas

Movers & Shakers: Congratulations to Sabrina Pacifici

2006-03-17T11:23:00.000-06:00

WOW! Congratulations to Sabrina I. Pacifici!

She is listed in the 2006 "Movers & Shakers" section from ALA's Library Journal. Sabrina is the editor and publisher of LLRX.com and beSpacific.com.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6312497.html

And, you can catch Sabrina's presentations at SWALL and TLA in April. At SWALL she will be speaking on Competitive Intelligence and Search Engines.

SWALL Meeting Travel Grant Recipients

2006-03-17T10:57:00.000-06:00

The SWALL Grants Committee is pleased to announce the recipients of the travel grants to the SWALL meeting in Austin.

Kate Mara Award - Charlotte Thomas, student, University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences

Marian Boner Award - Jason Springman, Instructional Services Librarian, Young Law Library, University of Arkansas School of Law

Coco-Miller Award - Jennifer Stephens, Attorney Services Librarian, Haynes and Boone LLP

We were fortunate to have several qualified candidates apply for grants this year. It was definitely a tough decision.

On behalf of the SWALL Grants Committee,
Terri Wilson, chair
Michele A. Lucero
Joan Stringfellow

All roads lead to Austin

2006-03-16T13:07:00.000-06:00

Well, at least several southbound highways in Texas lead to Austin. Anyway, if you forget what the link for the Driskoll Hotel is, it's http://www.driskoll.com/.

I'm a blogger, she's a blogger, he's a blogger...wouldn't you like to be a blogger too!

2006-03-14T14:29:00.000-06:00

The SWALL Blog is now open!
The blog will be available for SWALL members and conference attendees from March 14th to April 15th. Check it out daily for new information. RSS Feed is also available. Photos will also be seen on our SWALL website and on Flickr.

Bloggers
Sharon Blackburn
Kris Niedringhaus
Jennifer Stephens
Terri Wilson
Barbara Fullerton

The SWALL Blog will feature short articles, announcements, room change notifications, pictures, reviews of programs and events, and comments. The blog will also serve as a source for articles that may be included on the SWALL website.

If you would like to blog throughout the meeting or simply post an occasional article or picture, you must:

1. be a member of SWALL

2. request a login password by e-mail from Barbara Fullerton at bfullerton@10kwizard.com

3. agree to the blogger guidelines, which will be sent to you in an e-mail with your username and password

Anyone will be allowed to comment on posts.

Barbara Fullerton

Driving from the North to Austin

2006-03-14T11:44:00.000-06:00

If you are driving to Austin from the North, please watch out for major construction on I-35. There is quite a bit from Dallas to Georgetown. I would allow yourselves some extra time or try some other alternative routes like Highway 377. I hear the bluebonnets will not be as abundant as last year because of the Texas drought, but there should be some to see and photograph, including other wild flowers.

Barbara Fullerton

And now a word from...

2006-03-14T10:33:00.000-06:00

Hello, I'm Jennifer Stephens, and I'm one of the grant winners. I'll be posting on the SWALL blog before and during the conference, as well as providing a written summary via the SWALL Bulletin after the conference. The last SWALL conference I attended was in Tucson in 1997, so I'm really looking forward to seeing my fellow SWALLers again.

Cheers!

InForMAtIoN in MoTIoN

2006-03-14T10:03:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Information in Motion! This is our theme for our 2006 annual meeting in Austin, TX on April 6-8. Please join us for some great programs and wonderful speakers.