Lightning Talks at the Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2017 Conference

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) finished its 2017 annual conference in Ottawa earlier today.

I will report on some of the educational sessions later this week but I want to draw attention to a conference favourite (aside from all the social events and get togethers where legal information professionals from across Canada and abroad can network and exchange info).

I am referring to the so-called Lightning Talks, a series of quick presentations on an issue, a technology, or a project (maximum of 7 minutes).

In a hour or an hour and half, attendees are offered an overview of the creativity and passion of their colleagues, a very busy bunch of professionals indeed.

There were 8 Lightning Talks this year :

• John Kerr (Wellington Law Association) talked about Raspberry Pi as Public Access Terminal: Raspberry Pi is a low-cost computer the size of a deck of cards that is Linux-based, network-ready, and low-energy that can be used as a cheap public terminal.
• Alan Kilpatrick (Law Society of Saskatchewan) described library Access to Justice projects in that province. These include expanded access to the province's caselaw on the free CanLII website; the Pro Bono Librarians group that provides free research assistance to pro bono lawyers; a weekly free family law clinic in Regina (now starting in other cities); and a partnership between libraries and public legal education associations to ensure that the public can access reliable up-to-date legal information.
• Hannah Steeves (Dalhousie University) talked about the use of a flipped classroom model to teach legal research and writing classes. In a flipped classroom, students read or watch lecture materials beforehand and then spend classtime in active hands-on work.
• John Miller and Josee Daris of DOCIP (the Indigenous peoples’ Centre for Documentation, Research and Information, Geneva) described the structure and services of their institution.
• Fiona McPherson (Justice Canada) introduced attendees to "The Neutral Zone" style of meeting described as "a safe haven, a place to comment, talk, question and unload, which will carry no repercussions after the meeting is over."
• Channarong Intahchomphoo (University of Ottawa) showed the emojis the university law library created as a way of engaging in a more fun way with students on chat and other social media apps.
• Greg Wurzer (University of Saskatchewan) explained how he worked with an instructional designer to create online modules to teach Canadian legislative research. 
• finally Veronika Kollbrand (University of British Columbia) explained how the CALL Special Interest Group for library students, the Student SIG, transformed into the New Professionals SIG with a broader mandate and an already growing membership including both students, law librarians in the early stages of their career and mentors.