PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By Holly Riccio
Holly Riccio the Library/Calendar Manager for Northern California at
O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
She can be reached at .

In September, we held our Business Meeting in Sacramento. Over 30 NOCALL members were in attendance and enjoyed networking with each other and also got to hear three different speakers discuss various aspects and concepts around animal law. Thanks to Julie Davies, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Ron Wheeler, Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law Dorraine Zief Law Library and Suzi Johnston from WOOF (Welfare of Our Furry Friends) for sharing their thoughts and insight on a topic that, in some way, touches all of our lives.

In early November, the Education Committee put together another timely and interesting Fall Workshop. The theme this year was Going Virtual - Thriving in the New Paradigm. Attendees were treated to a half day of programming that included the following segments: How To Be Competitive in Today’s Economy, Working in Virtual Environments: The HP Experience and Virtual Reference Teams – Best Practices for Demonstrative Value. The speakers gave attendees lots of ideas about how to adapt and be thought leaders in their organizations in this new normal. And, in fitting with the workshop theme, one of the panelists was not even physically present, joining us by phone and web. The workshop was followed by informal networking lunches so that attendees could continue the discussions that started during the workshop. Thanks to Donna Purvis and her committee for putting together such a great program! And for those members that were not able to attend, there are two articles summarizing the workshop in this issue.

As December rolled around, our Networking Committee was busy putting together our Four Corners Holiday Gatherings once again. NOCALL members in Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco and the South Bay gathered with their local colleagues to enjoy food, drink and celebrate another successful year for NOCALL. This year, our Community Service Committee joined forces with the Networking Committee and provided an opportunity for our members to give back to the community as well. NOCALL supported Sleep Train’s Secret Santa Toy Drive for Foster Kids and members were encourage to bring a new, unwrapped toy to their Holiday Gathering. Over 50 toys were collected and other members also made donations online. Thanks to Jessica Brasch and Tricia Lee for organizing this – hopefully, this will become another new annual NOCALL tradition.

Looking forward to 2012, some of the activities and events that will be coming up include the following:

• The January Business Meeting will be held in the South Bay on Tuesday, January 24th at Santa Clara University. Details about the schedule and program will be coming soon.
• The Nominations Committee is finishing up their work to find another strong slate of candidates to run for office for NOCALL. Look for the slate to be announced soon on the NOCALL listserv.
• NOCALL Vice President/President-Elect Chuck Marcus has been working with his counterparts from SCALL and SANDALL on the 4th All-California Joint Institute. The Institute will be taking place on March 9-10, 2012 in San Diego and the theme is The State We’re In: California Law Libraries in Unprecedented Times. The web site is up and running now - go to http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/sandall/scheduleofevents.htm for all of the details and to register to attend.

As the calendar year is about to come to a close and the NOCALL year is half over, I think it is an appropriate time to both reflect on all of our successes so far and also look towards what we can still accomplish and achieve in the coming year. It has been an honor and pleasure to serve as NOCALL President so far and I can’t wait to see what else is in store in 2012!