Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2016 Conference Annual Reports

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is beginning its 2016 annual conference this weekend in Vancouver.

Annual reports of committees and special interest groups have been submitted in anticipation of the general meeting.

Here are summaries of some of them:

• Webinar Sub-committee
  The Committee held 8 successful sessions in the 2015 season with total net revenue reaching $1280.91. So far in 2016, the Committee has held 3 sessions with one more planned for June. The Committee’s estimated net revenue for 2016 so far is $1016.22. 
• Committee to Promote Research
  The 2016 research grant will be awarded to University of Toronto law librarian Sooin Kim for her research project “The Open Access Impact on Legal Scholarship” in which she will examine to the impact of open access on the use of law journals for research. This study will gather information which evaluates the value of the provision of free access to resources in a stable digital environment. 
• Membership Development Committee
  The Membership Development Committee (MDC) continued the Educational Visits program in 2015-2016. The program’s goal is to have CALL members promote law librarianship and the value of CALL to library and information students during in-person visits. This year, CALL members visited nine institutions in 5 provinces.
  
  This year, there were 15 mentoring partnerships established through the Mentorship Program. Thirteen of the mentees are students and two are professionals.
  
  The MDC also publishes profiles of CALL members on the CALL website as a way of reflecting the many job responsibilities Canadian law librarians have. 
• Scholarships and Awards Committee
  Aside from the many traditional awards and scholarships handed out every year by CALL, two new awards have been created to honour former CALL members:
  
  
  • The first Michael Silverstein Prize (value $1500) will be awarded at the 2017 conference. It will recognize significant contributions to scholarship in primary law and/or legal taxonomy.
  • The Gisèle Laprise Prize (value $1500) will be awarded to the nominee(s) who have made a significant contribution to understanding and appreciation of the civil and common law in Canada. The first of these awards will also be given at the 2017 conference.  

• KF Modified Committee
  The committee oversees the development of KF Modified (the subject classification for use in Canadian and Common Law Libraries).
  
  Chair Knight Chair and Sarah Sutherland (CanLII) are in the process of completing their work on the KF Modified Linked Data Project that was initiated in part by a grant received from the Association.
  
  In November York University emeritus librarian Judy Ginsberg’s writings were made available on the Osgoode DigitalCommons. These articles provide a wonderful window into the history and application of KF Modified by one of the original creators of the classification scheme. 
• Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR)
  The CLLR is now published on the ISSUU platform which allows for the gathering of usage statistics for each issue of the CLLR. Cumulatively the six issues available on this platform have had 1970 views. This statistic does not show the whole picture as the CLLR is also accessible from CALL's website (Members-only section) and on HeinOnline. HeinOnline shows that the CLLR is accessed regularly by readers outside the association. The editors want to revisit the idea of making the CLLR freely and openly available to act as both a resource for librarians and legal researchers and a publicity vehicle for the association. 
• Vendor Liaison Committee (VLC)
  The VLC has exchanged a correspondence with Thomson Reuters (Westlaw) about various issues including format, value, pricing models, usability – and proposed solutions. The letter was endorsed by six regional law library associations: Vancouver Association of Law Libraries, Edmonton Law Libraries Association, Calgary Law Library Group, National Capital Association of Law Libraries, Ontario Courthouse Libraries Association, and Halifax Area Law Libraries.
  
  Association members primarily from central and eastern Canada contacted VLC reporting problems with reconciling invoices, proving payments, correct order fulfillment and obtaining feedback from LexisNexis Canada. The VLC also sent a letter outlining concerns to the company’s representative tasked with exploring customer service issues that arose with the Wolters Kluwer integration and software-related changes.
  
  The VLC will update CALL's last comparative content analysis of Westlaw and Quicklaw building on a methodology developed by the Department of Justice Library, and is seeking volunteers.
  
  VLC will also seek input from the membership on what materials they would value being available on the CALL website: best practices, guides, checklists, vendor price forecasts, other resources? 
• Canadian Abridgment Editorial Advisory Board
  The Canadian Abridgment is a topical compilation of Canadian case digests produced by Carswell Canada. The Board meets at least once a year with the editorial staff of the Canadian Abridgment. It is also responsible for ensuring comprehensive and timely indexing of all published secondary material in Canada in the Index to Canadian Legal Literature (ICLL), which is a cooperative effort of CALL and Carswell.
  
  Abridgment: 2016 will see the reconsolidation of the Canadian Case Citations, which had originally been slated for 2017. Right now the CCCs have 23 main volumes and 40 supplements. In the reconsolidation, each volume will have only one supplement. There is also some newly-available legacy material from Quebec that will be included in the reconsolidation. The regulations volumes of the Canadian Statute Citations will also be reconsolidated.
  
  ICLL: New, updated guidelines for the ICLL data collection network are now complete and posted on the CALL website. This will help to raise the profile of the ICLL and to encourage more participation by librarians in the data network.