PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By Diane Rodriguez
Diane Rodriguez is the Librarian at Hassard Bonnington LLP.
She can be reached at .

I want to thank the NOCALL membership for the opportunity to serve as your President this past year. It has been an amazing journey! I have enjoyed collaborating with all of you on our many goals, educational projects, and social events. As a friend once said, and I couldn’t agree more, law librarians are some of the most intriguing people I’ve met and I continue to appreciate working with this fine group. Big thanks to all of our Board Members, Committee Chairs, and Committee Members who have worked hard to accomplish our goals and keep our association vibrant and fresh!

This past year has been full of exciting opportunities. We started the Community Service Committee, chaired by Holly Riccio; created a Facebook presence (www.facebook.com/nocall); held amazing educational programs with our Fall Workshop on Social Networking in the Law Library, Sunshine Week programs, and the Spring Institute on Piracy; celebrated our 30th anniversary up in Harry Denton’s Starlight Room; recognized the wonderful work of Congressional Representative Zoe Lofgren on behalf of law libraries with our first Legislator of the Year award; and we began the NOCALL 4-Corners social events!

We have a lot to look forward to as Shannon Burchard takes the gavel as our new President. We will have two NOCALL sponsored programs at AALL in Denver this year, “Looking Up From the Bottom: Bankruptcy Law & Research,” a program offered at our 2009 Spring Institute with NOCALL members Shannon Burchard, Leslie Ann Forrester and Diane Rodriguez; and “Creating Your Own Breadcrumb Trail: Motivating Employees in Unique Library Settings” with NOCALL members Holly Lakatos and Coral Henning. Longtime NOCALL member Donna Williams is a new AALL Board Member, and incoming NOCALL member Ron Wheeler, new Director at USF Law Library, is also an incoming member of the AALL Board. We look forward to coordinating with WESTPAC as they come to San Francisco in the fall for their annual meeting in October. I am looking forward to working with AALL as the new Chair of the Council of Chapter Presidents. We also have more 4-Corners events to plan, educational opportunities to seize, and connections to make between us!

I’ve said this before, and it deserves repeating: I encourage all members to get involved in NOCALL in any capacity you can. NOCALL offers dynamic opportunities for education and professional growth. In addition to furthering your career, NOCALL fosters a community of law librarianship and camaraderie in the Bay Area and beyond. It’s easy to get involved in big and small ways. Give it a try… you’ll be happy you did!