Category Archives: Law Libraries

AALL 2022: Visit Us at Booth #901!

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Next week Practising Law Institute will be at the 2022 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Denver, Colo., celebrating our profession and the experts who provide meaning to our organizations. We know with all the interesting sessions and networking events taking place, your conference schedules may get booked fast—so be sure to save some time to visit us at the PLI booth!

You’ll find us at booth #901, where you can see a live demonstration of the recently redesigned PLI PLUS and learn about new additions to the PLI Press catalog. And be sure to enter our raffle to win a gift certificate to a spa near you — PLI PLUS got a makeover this year, so we figured one lucky winner should too!

Find us at booth #901 at the Colorado Convention Center Exhibit Hall.

If you’d like to arrange a time to meet with someone on our team while at the conference, please contact your dedicated library relations manager or email libraryrelations@pli.edu.

Happy National Library Workers Day!

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Today is National Library Workers Day 2022. To mark the occasion, we decided to interview one of PLI’s very own inhouse librarians. Meet Elizabeth Beller, PLI’s Taxonomy Application Manager.

What led you to becoming a librarian?

EB: A few years before I started my studies in Library Science, I had been taking post-graduate classes in Asian art history with the intention of applying for PHD programs. The professor I was studying with wasn’t convinced I was the best candidate for a PHD program, but my Japanese language skills were at the time still quite good, and he suggested I look into Library Science. It took me a few more years to get there but I did enroll in Pratt’s program for Library Science after those conversations. And then this whole new world opened up to me that I hadn’t even been able to envision when I started looking into the MLIS and the field of librarianship. For instance, I entered then program with the goal of becoming an Asian language librarian in an academic setting and here I am working with Taxonomies for a CLE provider and legal publisher.

What is one thing about being a librarian you wish more people knew?

EB: It’s so much more than books! Librarians today fill this very interesting space between a glut of information and people seeking that information. This role can happen in so many ways: we can be reference librarians; we can work with information architecture or user experience; or we can work with taxonomies!

What is taxonomy and why is it important?

EB: Taxonomies are structured (hierarchical) lists of an area of human knowledge or experience. Their organizational structure makes them incredibly well suited to digital information. So instead of a card catalog, today we can “tag” or “index” content with taxonomic terms and then create organization through this tagging. Every time you shop online and use filters to hone down to the specific type of shoe or shirt or pants you want – you’re using taxonomy!

What is your favorite part about your job?

EB: Aside from the people – because the people at PLI are one of it’s most incredible assets! I like that at PLI I am able to role up my sleeves and really dive into some complex and exciting projects. I’ve been working with PLI’s taxonomy since 2016 and I’ve gotten to see the project evolve and grow from just us tagging content to the tags now being displayed and used across multiple public-facing PLI websites.  We’re big and ambitious enough that we take on large projects but small enough that I get to be involved in many steps and areas of these projects.

What are you currently reading?

EB: Right now I’m reading Caliban’s War by James. S. A. Corey – the second book in the series the tv show The Expanse was based on. I had a baby on Thanksgiving and I need to ease myself back into serious reading. I do love Sci-fi though. My stack of books to be read is pretty big and varied…The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel, The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doer…

Meet Our AALL 2021 Raffle Winner: Annie Mellott

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At AALL’s 2021 Virtual Conference in July, PLI raffled off a one-year membership to MasterClass. This year’s winner is Annie Mellott, acquisitions librarian at William M. Rains Library at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Annie graciously agreed to be interviewed about her career in law librarianship for this blog.


Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you become a librarian?
I’ve always been drawn to learning and education throughout my own studies. While getting my MA in Religious Studies, I started working in the library. I realized it was a perfect fit for me career wise because it allowed me to be in an educational environment while helping the community of students, faculty, and staff during their own research projects.

What do you like most about your job as acquisitions librarian at Loyola Law School?
I love working in the background of the library to provide everyone with what they need. It feels really useful to be able to make information accessible to our patrons so that they have the smoothest experience possible while at Loyola Law School.

Which PLI publication do you most frequently recommend to students and/or faculty?
Honestly, I don’t do much recommending as an acquisitions librarian! We have the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic here and make sure to keep Fragomen on Immigration Fundamentals on standing order so it’s always available for their reference.

What did you think of this year’s conference? What was the highlight for you?
I thought this year’s conference went really well. I’m impressed with the online format working pretty seamlessly and loved the pre-recorded sessions and transcripts that I could revisit. It was also fun visiting the vendors in a safe way this year. I do miss the social and networking opportunities an in person conference allows us, but I’m glad we could convene safely.

PLI Chronicle: Special AALL Edition

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Dear Readers,

PLI launched the online journal the PLI Chronicle in September 2020 with a simple mission: to present engaging and timely discussions about the legal industry from a diverse range of perspectives. Chronicle editor Alyse Greer explains, “Since everyone offers value to their fellow industry associates, all legal and accounting professionals are encouraged to submit articles. The publication gives authors a platform to educate others and the freedom to write in their own voices.”

We compiled this “special edition” of the Chronicle from articles published in previous issues as a way to familiarize librarians with this new content type. The selection reflects what we identified as themes running throughout this year’s American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) conference: 1) Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession; 2) The future of legal technology, education, and research; and 3) Mental health for legal practitioners.

In the articles below, you’ll find wellness tips from an attorney who overcame depression and addiction; a two-part look into the Internet of Things and open source software; musings on the role of curiosity in fostering inclusion and diversity initiatives; and more. You don’t need a subscription to read these articles. Everything published in the Chronicle is available for anyone and everyone to read. All you need is a PLI account, which is both free and easy to set up.

Our hope is that this curated edition will enhance the conference experience and perhaps even inspire some of our colleagues in law libraries to publish with us.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Fiore, J.D., M.A.
Associate Legal Editor, Publishing and PLI Plus

Happy National Library Week from PLI!

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Greetings from our weekly department meeting.

It’s our favorite time of the year—National Library Week! We use this week to celebrate libraries and the people who work in them. As the team of librarians behind PLI PLUS, we are enormously proud to be apart of this innovative profession and grateful to get to interact regularly with our brilliant and dedicated counterparts at law firms, law schools, courts, and other organizations.