The Law Library hosted a farewell party yesterday (Thursday Aug 13) for circulation librarian Paula Seeger, who is leaving after three years with the Library. Paula will be starting with the Office of Classroom Management August 17. Here are some photos from the event.
An occasional feature, "Law Library Staff Recommend..." highlights books that Law Library staff members have read for enjoyment and now recommend that others consider for inclusion on their own reading lists. If you have any comments or questions about any of the titles presented in this feature, feel free to email lawlib@umn.edu or stop by the library.
Today we highlight Dangerous Games: the uses and abuses of history by Margaret MacMillan (Modern Library, 2009). A 2008 edition is available at Wilson Library at Call Number D13 .M33 2008.
View a description of the book, an interview with the author and more at the Modern Library website.
This book "reveals how a deeper engagement with history in our private lives and, more important, in the sphere of public debate can guide us to a richer, more enlightened existence, as individuals and nations." Check it out!
Johnnisha Williams has been working in the Law Library and Law Clinics office since the middle of June. Here are her thoughts on her work:
LexLibris: You've been working at the law school for a few weeks now. How do you like the work? Is it what you expected?
Johnnisha Williams: The law school is everything I expected and more. I like working here. It's a very good place for me to learn and experience what I'll be doing if I choose law as a career, and/or where to go for the things I'll need in college.
LL: What kinds of duties do you perform in the law clinics? In the law library?
JW: In the law clinics, I've learned their filing system, copying, making hard copy files, helping with labeling and organizing, things an assistant would help with so there I am like everyone's helper, which is a great experience. In the library, I've learned to shelve and shelfread, file and clean books, which helps me better understand where things are and how the library is organized.
LL: What do you think you are learning about legal education or legal information/research?
JW: I've learned so far where everything is, and who to go to if I would ever need legal advice or things like that. In the clinics, I learned that if I really become a lawyer, it would be very hard work and a lot of reading so they're helping me get a better understanding of what I want to become for the rest of my life.
LL: What interests you about a legal career?
JW: Everything! I love to help people to fight for what they believe in. Also, I love just to help people in need. I see a lot of things happening to people and nobody can help or they don't know who to go to. I want to be that person who can help.
LL: Anything else you'd like to share at this point in your job? We'll check back in toward the end of the summer.
JW: This placement was everything I was hoping for. I love it here. It teaches me a lot and I would love to come back anytime.
Many U of MN Law Librarians are off to Portland, OR, for the annual conference of the American Association of Law Libraries to be held July 12-15. Rest assured, the Law Library will remain staffed and open while they are away. We will offer reports from their Portland activities when they return.
For more information about the conference, see: http://www.aallnet.org/events/
Peggy Hall has been added as a new member of the Reference Office staff, working part-time at the reference desk. Peggy has come out of retirement to work at the law library, but she is not unfamiliar with the environment. "I worked at the law library for three years back when it was in Fraser Hall. I was in Cataloging and Acquisitions then." Peggy next moved to the Hennepin County Law Library, working there for nearly 30 years.
Peggy likes gardening in her free time, as well as yoga and reading. She is an active member of the Falcon Heights Human Rights Commission, enjoying her work with that group. Peggy holds a BA and MA (Library Science) from the U of MN, and has completed coursework toward an MA in American Studies.
Peggy regularly works Tuesday and Friday morning shifts, as well as Sundays. Welcome Peggy!
Vicente (Vic) Garces has worked at the law library since 1996. His primary areas of responsibilities include reference, web site administration, collection development (mostly selection but also electronic resources management), and legal research instruction. Vic is the point person for coordinating Westlaw and Lexis access for the law school, and finds that the most enjoyable part of his job comes from the personal satisfaction he gets from a job well done.
Vic says, "I’d like to have lunch in the Kitchen Stadium with the one and only Chairman Kaga of the Iron Chef (Food Network). We would have a 7 course meal prepared by the 7 Iron Chefs, aka Iron Men of Cooking. Their culinary creativity knows no bounds." Vic coaches his son (baseball & football) & daughter (softball), and keeps up with current events, especially politics. He also enjoys getting out to hear live music when he can.
Ed Gale is a Library Assistant III and has worked at the law library since 1978. There's little he doesn't know about the library! Ed supervises the collection, watching for shelving problems, training student stacks workers, and calculating growth and shifting. In fact, Ed's favorite part of his job is measuring for moving the collection.
In his free time, Ed enjoys coin collecting. He would have liked to have lunch with Albert Einstein if he had the chance. The library is lucky to have Ed around!
Suzanne Thorpe is Associate Director for Faculty, Research, and Instructional Services at the Law Library. She has worked at the library since 1987, directing the staff in delivering reference, circulation and interlibrary loan services to the law library’s patrons. A significant portion of her job involves assisting law school faculty members with their research. She also participates in legal research instruction and collection development. The most enjoyable part of her job is being able to help find needed information, (She adds: "It’s tough when I have to admit I can’t find it") and being challenged by the ever increasing amount of information there is to find.
Suzanne loves spending time in Scandinavia, as well as gardening, cooking, reading, and water aerobics. She is currently owned by two sweet kitties (see photos: Sonja (a tortie/tabbie) and Mia (black & white)), and has also been adopted by a neighbor cat named Schmitty (smoke colored and looking lion-esque above). "He waits for me on my doorstep every day, even in the rain." Suzanne's personal motto is: "Be dependable and do a great job."
Angela Hedlund is a recent addition to the law library staff. She is a Library Assistant II, working half in circulation and half in administration for the director of the library. Angela began her staff position August 13, 2007, but had worked since 2005 as a student employee. Her favorite part of her job is handling the wide variety of tasks that come her way each day. Angela traveled to Spain, England and France earlier in the summer, speaks Spanish, and can sign (though not fluently).
Angela enjoys reading, biking, camping, hanging out with friends, movies, shopping, swimming, cooking (and eating :), and traveling. A new thing she's interested in trying is kayaking. Angela's motto is Carpe Diem, and says "it sounds cliche, but I aspire to live it."
Mary Rumsey is the Foreign, Comparative & International Law Librarian. She has been at the law library since 2000 and finds that the most enjoyable part of her job is teaching people how to find information for themselves.
Mary spends her time away from the law library walking the dog ("Seamus the Yellow Lab with Expensive Medical Problems"), reading, admiring her children, and "fretting." She would love to have lunch with Richard Dawkins, holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair in the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, because Mary finds him quite interesting.
Piper Walters is a Library Assistant II in the Inter-library Loan/Document Delivery department. She also works on the ASAP Faculty Services and retrieval service. Piper has worked at the law library since Fall 2005. She loves that her job doesn't tie her to her desk. She needs to pull items from the stacks, retrieve books from other libraries on campus, and deliver materials to faculty offices.
Piper enjoys photography, reading, and swimming. She just finished her first year of an Interior Design degree at Dakota County Technical College. http://www.dctc.edu/prospStudents/programs/intDesign.cfm
Piper loves to travel and visit new places. In fact, her dream is to have lunch with her parents and sister while in Italy, where they would "sit outside, eat margherita pizza, and drink wine." Piper is originally from Idaho and went to school in Oregon. While she misses the Pacific Northwest, she loves living in Minnesota.
Julie Dorn is a Library Associate II, working in the Cataloging Department. She's worked at the law library since October 2005. Julie's favorite part of her job is cataloging the materials that go into the LART Collection (Law, Literature and the Arts Collection located in the Hedin Alcove on 2nd floor).
Julie enjoys her feline friend, Squeak (pictured below), as well as art, food, walking, reading, movies, and traveling when she can. If she had a super-power, Julie's would be either mind-reading or being able to instantly absorb knowledge (like suddenly being fluent in Portuguese or playing the piano without a lesson).
Tae Kidd is a Library Assistant II, working partly at the circulation desk and partly as assistant to the Director of the library. She started in 2003. The most enjoyable part of her job is helping the patrons at the circ desk.
Tae recently completed her MS degree in library and information science from the University of North Texas. She enjoys reading, crafts, board games and playing with her two dogs. She also will be getting married soon!
Tae is leaving the library to take a faculty position at the Chungnam National University in Daejeon, South Korea as an English Instructor for both their university and their language institute. Her last day here will be Wednesday, August 15th and she leaves for Korea on August 20th.
If Tae could have lunch with anyone in the world, she would pick J.K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter books) because JK "has done amazing things with her Harry Potter books in getting the world to read and bringing people into libraries."
Meet Theresa Strike, part-time reference librarian. Theresa works Sundays, Mondays 11-4 and Tuesdays 9-Noon.
Theresa attained her Masters degree in Library Science in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. She also holds a bachelors degree in Anthropology from Beloit College (Beloit, Wis., 2002).
A self-described "foodie," Theresa loves gourmet cooking when she has time. Even her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving "because of the food!" In her downtime, Theresa spends time with her cat Cleo, reading, and enjoying classical music.
Welcome, Theresa!
