Legal Research

CALLing Out

By Wendy Reynolds

I think I’ve finally recovered from the CALL-MichALL conference in Windsor. Congratulations to Annette Demers and her team for putting on such a thought-provoking and inspiring event. I have pages of scrawly, incoherent notes to guide my thinking for another year (assuming I can make any of it out). I thought I’d share some of my favourite learning, in hopes of provoking discussion in the SLAW community. In no particular order, some of my favourite tid-bits from Windsor:

• tables on wheels make your library a more collaborative space
• Embed the content in the workflow, (not the librarian in the work team?). Unbundle information and present only what your clients need/want to see. Develop the reputation for being psychic.
• e-books are coming to legal publishing, but not yet to law libraries. The focus seems to be on providing digital content directly to the user. When will lendable versions be available? The public libraries are way ahead on this (not surprisingly).
• Apps to play with: WatchThatPage, Iterasi (personal wayback machine)
• There’s a difference between training (clicks) and learning (why you should care) – I suspect libs are training shops, and perhaps we should care more about learning experiences.
• Calculating your water footprint does not include just how long you shower, but also all of the products you purchase. Computer chips consume a LOT of water.
• “It’s a training issue” means you haven’t designed it right.
• Disruptive technologies look like a pain at first, but are worth following. They get better, and shouldn’t be dismissed.
• If you can’t afford to hire an anthropologist, think like one. Observe your clients “in the wild” to see how they use information. What are the barriers to access of your services?
• Do first, apologise later.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on May 17, 2010 (boomark / email).