We’re deep in the heart of Texas in San Antonio for the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference.
We’re busy hosting advisory breakfasts and talking to our fellow librarians about Practising Law Institute Discover PLUS but make sure you stop by our booth, # 218!
We have a raffle prize you won’t want to miss.
PLI has moved! After forty years at our previous location, we’ve moved into a new office just down the street. Our new space, located in the Americas Tower at 1177 Avenue of the Americas, features a 68,000-square-foot Conference Center with state-of-the-art digital HD video and audio recording and processing equipment, iPads pre-loaded with program materials at each seat, WiFi availability in the lounge, a faculty “ready room,” and an on-site business center.
“The move will be a tremendous development for both PLI staff and seminar attendees. Access will be easier for our customers as there will be a dedicated lobby entrance for our attendees and our new space has been designed to maximize their experience,” says PLI President Victor Rubino.
We’re excited to announce that PLI will be moving a few blocks downtown later this year! In December, PLI will open the doors to our new conference center and offices at 1177 6th Avenue, between 45th and 46th Streets. This new space will feature a PLI-only entrance on 45th Street, which will make program attendance even easier.
Check out our new landlord’s rendering of PLI’s building entrance:
PLI recently released a newly updated mobile app to make accessing our programs and published content easier than ever!
If your firm or organization subscribes to PLI Discover or Discover PLUS–our eBook libraries–you can access our books from your mobile device.
To start accessing our publications, first, download the app for free from the iTunes store. After you have downloaded the app, you will be asked to log in. Use your PLI username and password.
Once you’re logged in, click on the magnifying glass icon along the navigation panel at the bottom of the screen, then click the “Books” tab. From the Books screen, you can narrow the results list down by practice area, or search for specific titles or topics using keywords. After you’ve selected a title, you can read an individual chapter by selecting it from, the chapter list screen, and you can search through the chapter text by clicking on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen and entering your terms.
Selecting a chapter to view will automatically download the chapter to your device. You can delete chapters from the “Downloads” screen by clicking on the red “x” to the right of the chapter title. Be sure to delete chapters after you’ve read them to save room on your device!
In just a couple of weeks, PLI will be going to Boston for the AALL annual meeting!
Stop by our booth (#323) to say hello and watch a demo of our brand new eBook library, Discover PLUS.
We’re also doing another “New Yorker”-style caption the cartoon contest this year and the winner will receive the New iPad! We’ll accept caption submissions at the booth. Click here to view the cartoon and start thinking of your best caption–you can also submit your caption online if you won’t be at SLA or AALL.
So stop by, learn about Discover PLUS, and submit your most clever caption for our cartoon to win a new iPad.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Last year, PLI asked you to caption a cartoon featuring a PLI treatise and be entered to win an iPad. Ms. Sherry VonBehren of Drake University Law Library was our winner (click here to see her caption) and below, Sherry answers some questions about libraries, librarians, and how technology is changing our field.
Tell us a little about yourself:
I’ve been working at the Drake LawSchool Library since August of 1985. When I started, my daughters were nine and twelve years old (almost). Now the older daughter works in the financial industry and has a Masters degree from Drake while the other is a registered nurse.
I’ve done many jobs at the Law Library, from labeling new books, filing cards into the obsolete card catalog, and making thousands of pages of photocopies of court cases to using a computer program to interlibrary loan items around the country, providing legal material from our electronic databases, and preparing library displays on such varied topics as the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, visits from Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, and U.S. soldiers getting their wrongful WWII era convictions overturned just a few years ago.
What is a typical day like for you? :
First, I process the library’sinterlibrary loan and document delivery requests. I may need to put out anothercollection of “new books” or add recent faculty publications or student publications and awards to the large display cases.
I’m always developing new displays for the law library. The displays draw attention to library resources, give information on a law school subject, give tips on how to manage final exams stress, highlight law school lectures by visiting legal experts, law school symposiums, other law school activities, etc.
Why did you choose this career? :
I’ve loved libraries since I was achild. I had enjoyed my volunteer work at a public library and I liked the idea of doing the detailed work that keeps a library functioning. I had no idea of learning about legal resources when I started at the Law Library, it happened as my responsibilities changed over the years.
How do you feel technology has changed the field of law and/or librarianship? :
Technology has certainly changed how legal professionals do their research. Having legal resources available electronically has changed how fast legal sources can be found and has added tremendously to the number and variety of resources we can now access. Libraries must keep up with ever changing methods of finding answers to legal questions.
Helping law students, law faculty, attorneys and members of the public use electronic legal sources requires the skill to use electronic databases and especially the ability to advise patrons on how to conduct efficient, cost effective, and successful legal research.
What do you like most about your job? :
Most of all, I like being able to help people. I feel that providing the legal materials they need is an important job.
I also like developing informational displays. I’m very fortunate that I have a good amount of freedom to be creative and develop the displays in the manner I think will work to further the mission of the Law Library and the entire Law School.
How do you think the field of librarianship is changing? How is it staying the same? :
As ways of accessing legal materials have changed due to our use of computers, so have the options on how librarians must be able to connect with library users and the research skills they must learn. Those research skills must also be continually updated.
Librarianship is a helping profession. Most library workers are very service oriented. Our sincere desire to help people has stayed the same.
Do you use your iPad for anything work related, if so, for what? :
I have not used the iPad at work yet, but other people at the law school do use iPads at work and love them. Several people were quite excited about my winning the iPad.
Thank you again for such a wonderful gift. I was certainly surprised and excited to get it as well as very appreciative.
Wish you’d won an iPad? You’re in luck! We’ll be having another caption the cartoon contest this year so stay tuned for the details on how to submit your caption via the website or stop by our booth at SLA (# 153) or AALL (# 323)!
If you’re interested in finding out more about PLI Discover, check out our new quick reference guide.If you have any questions, please contact PLI Library Relations at libraryrelations@pli.edu.
Listed below are the PLI Course Handbooks that were published during the month of September 2011.
Corporate Law and Practice Series:
Tax Law and Estate Planning Series:
Intellectual Property Series:
Commercial Law and Practice Series:
Please write libraryrelations@pli.edu if you have any questions or would like to order a title.
As National Pro Bono Celebration Week gets underway, how can we engage in more pro bono service? How can we leverage core competencies and collaborate strategically amongst non-profit organizations, in-house counsel, and law firms?
Please join David P. Hackett, Partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP and Editor of Pro Bono Service By In-House Counsel: Strategies and Perspective, Madeleine Schachter, Partner/Global Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Baker & McKenzie LLP; Bret I. Parker, Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Elizabeth Arden, Inc.; and Kwanza R. Butler, Senior Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at TimeWarner Inc. in a one-hour briefing about engaging in strategic collaborations in pro bono service.
This free PLI briefing will cover:
October 20, 2011, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm (E.D.T.)
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Please note this program has expired. If you are interested in current PLI Library Programs, please visit www.pli.edu/libraryaudiobriefings
In August PLI added two new publications to our growing catalog of Answer Book titles, the Intellectual Property Answer Book 2011-2012and Medical Device Law & Regulation Answer Book 2011-2012.
In addition, the following titles were also updated. If you are on standing order, these releases have already been shipped. If you would like to place an order, please write libraryrelations@pli.edu.