Volume 21, Number 3 May/Junel 2004 Riva Laughlin Selected HALL From Volunteer of the Year 2004 the President... Dina Dreifuerst, Jones McClure Publishing, Inc. One of the highlights of this year's Business Meeting was the announcement of the 2004 Volunteer of the Year: Riva Laughlin, law librarian for the Houston office of Haynes & Boone. Over the years, Riva has worn many hats for HALL, including Bethany Bletsch, ExxonMobil Law Library President, Vice President, Publications Chair, and even entertainment for our HALLiday Party! She is also a willing It has been an honor and a privilege to have served as your speaker at HALL seminars and business meetings. President over the past year. During that time, I have learned more about HALL as well as AALL and have had a chance to As I sat down to write this piece, I began to think about just how interact more with the members. Thanks to the support and long I've known Riva, and what an enduring asset she is to our participation of the members, HALL had a successful year – organization. from the outstanding programs planned by both Trisha & Colleen to the hosting of the SWALL conference. I am confident A few (ahem!) years ago, I was a wet-behind-the-ears part-time that Trisha and her corps of officers will have an equally library assistant at Hutcheson & Grundy and Riva was the successful and fun year! librarian for Baker, Brown, Sharman & Parker, just two floors above us. My old boss, Alsa Cotner, jokingly referred to Baker A special thanks to my colleague Paula Howe, who introduced Brown as our auxiliary library and, as the junior member of our me to HALL and encouraged me to accept the nomination for firm's library staff, I made many trips up and down the elevator Vice-President/President-Elect. Without her support and to borrow and return materials from the always-cheerful Riva. assistance, I doubt if I would have done this. However, I'm glad that she did encourage me to take this step because I have Riva, honey, you haven't changed much! benefitted so much from the experience. Fast forward about a decade. Hutcheson & Grundy was gone, I am looking forward to serving on the board for one more year, Baker Brown had evolved into Thompson Knight's Houston but in a less-active role. What I am looking forward to the most branch, and Riva was thriving at Haynes & Boone. I remember is continuing my friendship and interaction with you! when she moved over to her new job (again, in the same building as me, just a few floors up!), she talked about how much she was looking forward to increasing her involvement with HALL. She continued on page 3 Scholarship and AALL Grants Awarded Inside This Issue At the May annual business meeting, Judith Jackson, Chair of the HALL Scholarships and Grants Committee, announced that Member News / 2004-2005 HALL Board ..............2 Nicole Evans, Electronic Services/Reference Librarian, and Peter Egler, Reference Librarian, both from the University of Houston, Thanks to HALL / SWALL Reports ..................3 will receive a scholarship to attend AALL. Patti Curtis, Library SWALL Reception / Placement .....................14 Assistant at Andrews & Kurth will receive a scholarship to attend Library School. April Executive Board and General Meeting Minutes....15 May Annual Business Meeting Minutes ..............16 The HALL Scholarships and Grants funds are supported through the profits from the fall and spring seminars that HALL presents. Metro Downtown Trolley and Rail Changes...........17 Recipients of AALL Grants are required to submit a report of Recent Acquisitions in STCL Special Collections .......22 their AALL experience to the July/August issue of the HALL Newsletter. A Chapter of The American Association of Law Libraries May/June 2004 HALL Newsletter Deadline for the next issue 2004-2005 HALL Board Set (July/August 2004): At the May annual business meeting, the following were elected Sunday, August 1, 2004 to serve on the HALL Board for 2004-2005: President Trisha Fabugais Gardere Wynne Sewell, L.L.P. Member Vice Pres./Pres. Elect Kimberly Serna News... Jones Day Secretary Mary Ann Wacker Andrews & Kurth, L.L.P. Treasurer Caren Luckie Bob Grundy writes: “I will be starting as a Reference Librarian Jackson Walker L.L.P. at Prairie View A&M University on May 1st. I am excited about the job since it will give me a chance to do what I love and do Member at Large Maggie Crowley best (research and reference work) and also to teach in both 2003-2005 Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw undergraduate and graduate level classes. In many ways I am returning to my academic reference work “roots” without the Member at Large Tracy Timmons budgetary and administrative hassles. For the next few months I 2004-2006 Texas Southern University expect to be on a very steep learning curve as I learn and adjust to all the new-to-me resources that a well-endowed university Past President Bethany Bletsch. library has to offer.” ExxonMobil Paula Howe, Law Librarian, ExxonMobil, received Citizens for President Trisha Fabugais will be seeking interested persons to Animal Protection's highest honor at its recent Volunteer Awards serve as Chairs of the various committees. If you are interested event. She was selected as their Volunteer of the Year for 2004. in serving, please contact Trisha at [email protected] . Paula has been a volunteer with CAP for 16 years and has contributed in many ways over these years, such as working in the Happy Trails Pet Supply store, representing CAP at public events, fund raising and assistance with CAP events, pet-assisted therapy, and mobile adoptions at Pets Mart. Helping animals is a passion for Paula and she is very honored to be acknowledged with this award. Congratulations to Pamela Jenkins, Law Librarian, ConocoPhillips, for winning a copy of O’Connor’s Federal Rules * Civil Trials in Jones McClure’s NLW Trivia Contest back in April. Mon Yin Lung has accepted the position of Associate Director of the O'Quinn Law Library, University of Houston Law Center. Mon Yin is currently Acting Director of the Florida International University College of Law Library, and worked for a number of years at the University of Kansas School of Law Library. The HALL Newsletter, published 6 times a year by the HALL Publications Committee, is the official publication of the Houston Area Law Librarians. The purpose is to communicate information to its members. Send contributions, comments, news items or advertising queries to Barbara Szalkowski, Editor, The Fred Parks Law Library, South Texas College of Law, 1303 San Jacinto, Houston, Texas 77002-7000; fax: (713) 659-2217; email: [email protected] ; or call (713) 646-1724. All contributions submitted for publication are subject to editorial review. HALL does not assume responsibility for the statements of contributors. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Houston Area Law Librarians. The HALL Newsletter is not copyrighted, however, permission should be sought from the authors and credit given when quoting or photocopying material from this publication. Membership dues for HALL are $25.00 a year. For membership information, contact Susan Spillman, Computer Instructional Services Librarian, The Fred Parks Law Library,South Texas College of Law, 1303 San Jacinto, Houston, TX 77002-7000. HALL home page: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/hall Page 2 HALL Newsletter May/June 2004 Thanks to HALL SWALL/HALL Conference Reports April 29, 2004 HALL hosted the joint SWALL/HALL Conference at the Magnolia Hotel, Thursday-Saturday, March 25-27, 2004. Here Dear Bethany, are a variety of reports from the Conference as a whole, and also reports on specific programs. I would like to extend to you, and to all HALL members, my thanks for all the kind expressions of sympathy received during my recent bereavement. SWALL Impressions from a First-Ever The warmth and kindness expressed will always be Attendee Bethany Bletsch, ExxonMobil remembered. Wow! Wonderful! Fantastic! Sincerely, Fred Riemann These were my impressions from the minute that I checked into Chevron Texaco Law Library my room at the Magnolia Hotel until the last Saturday session. From the gracious greeting upon check-in from the hotel staff to the beauty and comfort of the room, I was positively impressed. Actually, the good feeling began the moment that the hotel courtesy car picked me up in front of the office building. Being Volunteer of the Year . the independent person that I am, I had planned on taking the continued from page 1 light rail to the hotel. However, a co-worker mentioned that I might check with the hotel to see about the availability of a was already one of the core members of the Internet Buddies courtesy car. I was certainly glad that she did since it had begun group, when many of us were still trying to figure out how to get to rain about the time I went out for my ride. Thanks, Eleanor our firms to agree to let us have Internet access! Then came her Delton-Rogers! excellent tenure as HALL's Vice President and President. As Vice President, Riva provided us an excellent variety of After checking in to my room, I was graciously greeted at the programs, including the day-trip to Rice's patents research center Registration Desk by Mary Lippold, who, with her usual smile and the Texas Medical Center Library. And it's nice when the and charm, welcomed me to the conference and gave me a nice President of the State Bar just happens to be a partner at your conference bag provided by LexisNexis.