How Do You Use Technology? Agreeing to Disagree: Two Friends Everything is new at one point, but Take on Technology Today after a while it becomes a routine Jeffrey M. Nelson, Research & Reference Librarian, Groom Law Group,[email protected] , and part of daily life, Alicia M. Pappas, MLS Candidate, The Catholic University of America, [email protected] whether personal or professional, We are friends from the same hometown and of a single person’s idea of how to make one or and it frustrates we currently live in the same apartment in more aspects of daily life more efficient. From me that people WWashington, DC. We are both enrolled in the there it turns into marketing the appeal of this choose to reject School of Library and Information Science at new technology and how it can be applied to new developments The Catholic University of America, where we any user and his needs. Although I can see instead of will receive our Master’s degrees this summer. why some people may not jump on the embracing them. We are both concentrating in law librarianship bandwagon at first, I will never understand and share similar career goals. For the most part, their reflexive aversion to progress! Everything it is fair to say that we like a lot of the same is new at one point, but after a while it becomes stuff, right down to bad reality TV shows. We a routine part of daily life, whether personal or are your quintessential young professionals professional, and it frustrates me that people living, working, and studying in one of the best choose to reject new developments instead of cities in the nation. But there is one thing we embracing them. just cannot seem to ever agree on: technology. From a law librarian’s point of view there The technology adoption curve helps are many things to consider when evaluating illustrate this. Alicia fits nicely into the early whether new technologies would be beneficial adopter/early majority category, depending on or not. Legal professionals have always valued the technology at hand. Conversely, Jeff falls ways to save time and money, and as a result, are into the late majority/laggard category. Alicia usually at the forefront at picking up these new is always anxious for new technology and views programs and services. The creation of databases each new development as an achievement for like Westlaw and LexisNexis has radically innovators and our society; Jeff finds these changed the way information professionals do developments to be more distractions in an the majority of their legal research. Like with already frenetic world. Here are our takes on any new technology, it was not long before today’s technology and its impact on our lives people caught on to how efficient it was to and libraries. search user-friendly databases and retrieve comprehensive results. This is not to say that I Alicia: I Just Can’t Get Enough! think print resources will disappear entirely; as The concept of societies going through surges much as I love new gadgets, I still love being in progress in one aspect of development is able to hold a book when reading and have not hardly new, but when two or more phases of yet succumbed to the e-reader trend. There are intense advancement cross over, the divide still some research questions that require print, between enthusiasts and skeptics becomes more and for now that is fine by me. pronounced. Many inventions are created out continued on page 3 Volume 54, Number 3 • Spring 2011 1 FROM THE EDITOR Table of Contents FEATURES Using Technology Agreeing to Disagree: Two Friends Take on Technology Today Ripple L. Weistling, Reference & Electronic Ser- Jeffrey M. Nelson and Alicia M. Pappas 1 vices Librarian, American University, Washington College of Law, [email protected] A Law Library Blog That’s Generating Public Interest Yasmin Morais 5 Law Library Welcome to the spring issue of Why Rare Book Cataloging? WLights. The theme of this issue is technology: Robert O. Steele 7 keeping up with rapidly evolving technology, selecting the best technological tool for the task, Librarian 2011: Using Basic Library and, of course, the impact of technology on the Science Techniques to Manage Technology Requests profession of librarianship. Jill Smith 12 I recently attended Computers in Librar- ies, where I saw a number of presentations on 2011 LLSDC Election Candidates 14 incredibly innovative things libraries are doing Technology Tricks: with technology. Some of them were so excit- DOJ Librarians’ Favorites ing that I wanted to rush out of the conference Janice Fridie 19 and learn how to do them right away. I am rea- sonably technologically savvy; as an electronic A Law Librarian Learning and services librarian, keeping up with technology Teaching in Mozambique Tracy Woodard 21 is part of my job description. But these con- ferences always leave me impressed, and some- times a little overwhelmed, by some of the great COLUMNS things that technology allows you to do. Editor’s Column So welcome to the technology issue, where Ripple Weistling 2 we share some of our favorite technological continued on page 3 AALL News 6 President’s Column Christine Ciambella 11 Book Review LLSDC Dawn Bohls 25 Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, DC A Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries Tech Talk Roger V. Skalbeck 27 Deadline for If you would like to write for Lights, contact Ripple Submissions L. Weistling at [email protected]. For information regarding submission deadlines and issue themes, visit the LLSDC Web site at www.llsdc. org. Law Library Lights is published quarterly by the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C., Inc. 20009, ISSN 0546-2483. Beginning with Vol. 50, #1 (Fall 2006), Law Library Lights is now published in PDF format on the LLSDC Web site: www.llsdc.org. Notification of avail- ability of each new issue will be sent to the LLSDC listserv. If you would like to receive individual e-mail notification when new issues are published, please send an e-mail to Ripple L. Weistling at [email protected]. LLSDC LLSDC does not assume any responsibility for the statements advanced by Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, DC contributors to Law Library Lights. The views expressed herein are those of A Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries the individual authors and do not constitute an endorsement by LLSDC. 2 Law Library Lights From the Editor continued from page 2 Justice librarians about how they use their fa- vorite technological tools. And Tracy Woodard tools and how we use them to get the most checks in from Mozambique, where she is teach- out of our resources. Jeffrey Nelson and Ali- ing with the Peace Corps. cia Pappas discuss contrasting attitudes toward Roger Skalbeck writes Tech Talk on his new technology and find common ground be- iPad, testing it out as a tool for creating text- tween them. Yasmin Morais reports on creating based content. Dawn Bohls reviews Desk Set a law library blog. Robert Steele writes about and compares that 1950’s vision of reference using detailed cataloging to alert readers to the services with her experience as a 21st Century sometimes remarkable histories of rare books; reference librarian. Jill Smith describes using reference interview As always, if you would like to be a part of techniques to manage patrons’ technology re- Lights, please let me know. I welcome article quests. Janice Fridie interviews Department of ideas as well as offers to write an article. LLL Agreeing to Disagree not a convenience. On the other hand, without continued from page 1 the current digitization projects, much of what we access online would not be available. Social media usage has found its way into For me personally, it is hard not to get every corner of life and business through various caught up in the potential for cool new gadgets outlets and I think it should not be ignored. I or trends, and then when some creative actually find myself more intrigued by Twitter indivi-dual finds a way to integrate them and Facebook accounts run by organizations across disciplines and ways of life, I find them than those handled by celebrities, because as irresistible. However, I realize it is unrealistic we as a society become more accustomed to to expect that everyone thinks and feels exactly constantly updated information, the more like me. we expect organizations to keep us constantly updated on their current dealings and future Jeff: It’s Just Too Much! plans. Besides, now that everyone uses these In spite of being a member of Generation Y, I services, why remain behind the curve? We must consider myself to be a simple, private person. assume that everyone else is getting up-to-the- I am surrounded daily by peers who feel the minute information updates relating to their need to be connected to anything and everything, world at work and at home. but I find myself very much removed from so So is this all necessary? Did people not much of what drives our society today. And I manage before with daily newspapers and am okay with that. To me, much of today’s using the U.S. Postal Service as opposed to technology is intrusive and creates a clearer email communication? Of course, but why divide between the haves and have-nots. Sure, reject progress when it allows us to offer the it may make life easier, but was anything ever best possible services to clients? Businesses have that hard? always been competitive and are constantly I am not referring to innovations and looking for that upper hand, and for this to advancements in the health, energy, and happen you must first level the playing field! transportation industries, among others.