Category Archives: AALL

AALL Meeting: Aloha from Cleveland! 

Flights cancellations and inclement weather couldn’t keep the PLI team away from this year’s AALL Annual Meeting! In July our team of librarians and membership reps ventured to Cleveland to engage with the law librarian community and share exciting new updates to PLI PLUS, including new publications, podcast updates, and more.  

Each year, AALL’s Annual Meeting and Conference brings together information professionals across the field of law and legal research, providing interactive learning experiences and allowing participants to connect and engage in a collaborative environment.  

Inspired by the city’s ties to rock & roll, PLI leaned into the rhythm with the theme “don’t miss a beat,” emphasizing PLI PLUS’s ability to support every stage of legal learning and practice, from the classroom to the real world. In an homage to the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we created a visual PLI Author Hall of Fame, honoring authors who have been with us for 25 years or more. We also helped attendees “Pump up the volume” on legal research with our raffle, giving away a Bose Bluetooth speaker. 

At our Lunch & Learn, we hosted over 100 librarians for lunch and to showcase some upcoming changes involving the redesign of our research platform launching in 2027. We also highlighted some new publications, such as 

Our team thoroughly enjoyed our time in Cleveland and are already looking forward to next year in Philadelphia! 

AALL 2026: Come Visit Us at Booth #501 in the Exhibit Hall! 

In just a few short days, our team will head to Cleveland for the 2026 AALL Annual Meeting and Conference. We’ll be showing attendees how to Pump Up the Volume on legal research with PLI PLUS—be sure to stop by if you’re attending! 

You can find us at Booth #501 near the entrance of the exhibit hall (see arrow on the map below), where we will be sharing updates on platform enhancements, new content added, and hosting a raffle to win a Bose Wireless Speaker—so you don’t miss a beat in your legal research endeavors! 

Finding Your Joy on PLI PLUS

This year’s National Library Week theme, “Find Your Joy,” features Mychal Threets as an honorary chair. Threets reminds us of the important link between the care for our mental health and the joy we can discover in library usage. Below is a roundup of practical and popular resources on PLI PLUS to help users nurture their well-being, thrive, and find joy personally and professionally.

Beyond the Courtroom: Proven Strategies from the Legal Field for Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and Well-Being in the Modern Workplace is a practical, evidence-based leadership book that translates the lessons, pressures, and interpersonal dynamics of legal practice into universal strategies for stronger leadership, management, emotional intelligence, communication, and well-being across all professions.

Taking Control of Your Well-Being: Mental Health and Wellness for Attorneys is designed to help attorneys manage their mental health by providing resources, techniques, and strategies for navigating the unique obstacles within the legal profession.

PLI PLUS also features transcripts tackling this topic, such as:

PLI PLUS also offers open access to periodical publications on the topic of mental health, such as the following articles included in the PLI Chronicle:

For more content on wellness and mental health for attorneys, browse the Attorney wellness practice area here: Attorney wellness

We’ve also compiled a research guide on the topic of wellness, which can be accessed here: Research Topic Guide on Wellness and Mindfulness. This includes sample searches and highlights even more helpful results.

Meet Our AALL 2025 Booth Raffle Winner: Iain Barksdale

At the 2025 AALL Annual Conference in Portland this summer, PLI raffled off a coffee gift set. We are pleased to announce this year’s winner is Iain Barksdale, Technical Services Librarian at University of Alabama School of Law! Read on to learn about Iain’s path to librarianship, and his PLI favorites.

Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you become a librarian?

I had worked as a part-time librarian before law school while I was an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at two Kentucky community colleges. During law school I worked in the law library and then later was the library manager for the Legal Aid Society in Louisville. In my third year of law school, I decided that I did not want to practice law but rather move back into academia and teach. Since I enjoyed librarianship and research, I made a plan to earn an MLS and enter into law librarianship full-time.

What do you like most about your job as a Technology Services Librarian at Alabama Law?

I enjoy educating others in the use of technology in order to be more effective and efficient in the work they need to do in law school and later on in practice. 

Which PLI product do you most frequently recommend to students or faculty?

I am a big fan of PLI practice guides and checklists. Our students receive plenty of quality doctrinal instruction, so I like to guide them towards practice-oriented sources that can save them time by not “reinventing the wheel.”

What did you think of this year’s AALL conference? What was the highlight for you?

I thought it was a good conference this year with plenty of forward-looking sessions. The highlight for me was reconnecting with fellow colleagues, as I have not been to a conference since the first conference cancelled due to COVID, and talking about what they are doing in their libraries, particularly regarding access to legal data and legal research instruction. Nothing can really replace being physically present with friends and colleagues.

PLI Librarians in Portland: Highlights from AALL 2O25

Another memorable AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in the books! In July our team of librarians traveled to Portland, Oregon, to connect with the broader community of law librarians and share the latest updates from PLI. This year we were excited to introduce Season 3 of the Practising Law Librarian Podcast, hosted by PLI’s own Karen Oesterle, Director of Legal Research. It was wonderful to participate yet again in this impactful event for the legal informational community.

The AALL Annual Meeting & Conference serves as the premier gathering for legal information professionals, offering customized learning experiences and invaluable opportunities to connect, collaborate, and share innovative practices across the field.

Following AALL’s theme of ” Be Bold!” PLI encouraged participants to “Fuel Your Practice with Bold Coffee and Bold Insights from PLI!” We also asked visitors to join our raffle to win coffee beans from Portland’s own Stumptown coffee.

Over the conference weekend, PLI hosted our annual Lunch & Learn. Over a delicious meal we were able to promote the latest developments from PLI, including new enhancements to PLI PLUS. We also promoted our new publications from PLI Press including: Sanctions and Export Controls Practice Guide, Multidistrict Litigation and Decrypting Crypto: Digital Assets and Web3 Explained.

It was a wonderful visit to the City of Roses! We’re already looking forward to next year’s conference in Cleveland.

AALL 2025: Visit Us at Booth #701 in the Exhibit Hall!

In a few days, we will make our way to Portland to attend the 2025 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference, where we will show you how to power up your practice with bold coffee and bold insights from PLI! If you plan to attend, be sure to visit our booth!

You’ll find us at booth 701 in the exhibit hall, where you can learn about the exciting projects we have been working on in the past year, including new content from PLI Press.  Be sure to enter our raffle for a chance to win a Coffee Gift Set featuring beans from Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

Save the Date: PLI’s Lunch & Learn @ AALL Portland

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Are you attending the 2025 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Portland this summer? Join us for a luncheon to fuel your practice with bold insights from PLI and learn about our recent enhancements to PLI PLUS.

The luncheon will take place on SUNDAY, JULY 20 from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.

Email us at libraryrelations@pli.edu to RSVP if you will attend, and we will include location details in your confirmation email. 

PLI Librarians in Chicago: Highlights from AALL 2O24

The 2024 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to Celebrate Librarians!  Our team of librarians traveled to Chicago and enjoyed meeting with you.  This year we were excited to launch Season 2 of the Practising Law Librarian. It was great to see many of the podcast guests in Chicago and to talk with our fellow librarians about this fantastic resource.

We were delighted to answer any questions you had about our books and PLI PLUS.  We hosted a lunch and learn, and one of the highlights was our PLI PLUS Hacks, which focused on features to make your research easier. 

PLI continues to publish new titles and Knowledge Management & Innovation: A Manual for Law Firms and Other Legal Services Organizations received high marks from librarians.  It is included in the PLI PLUS library as well as for individual sale. 

We can’t wait to do it again next year in Portland!  And of course, our concierge service is available to you all year round, so reach out to us at libraryrelations@pli.edu

AALL 2024: Visit Us at Booth #400 in the Exhibit Hall!

In a few days, we will make our way to Chicago to attend the 2024 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference, where we will celebrate the librarians and the experts who provide meaning to our organizations. If you plan to attend, be sure to save some time to visit us at the PLI booth!

You’ll find us at booth 400 in the exhibit hall, where you can learn about the exciting projects we have been working on in the past year, including new enhancements to PLI PLUS as well as new publications from PLI Press.  To help us celebrate librarians, be sure to enter our raffle where you can grow your knowledge with PLI PLUS while growing your garden with a new succulent each month!

Save the Date: PLI’s Lunch & Learn @ AALL Chicago

Are you attending the 2024 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Chicago this summer? Join us for a luncheon to celebrate librarians and learn about what’s new at PLI and recent enhancements to PLI PLUS.

The luncheon will take place on Sunday, July 21 from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.

Email us at libraryrelations@pli.edu to RSVP if you will attend, and we will include location details in your confirmation email.