Saturday, April 18, 2020

8:00-10:00am-Breakfast, Business Meeting, and Keynote Speaker

Pamela D.C. Junior, Director, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

Motivational speaker, historian, and women's activist, Pamela D.C. Junior is the newly appointed director of the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson, Mississippi. As the former manager of Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, Pamela fought passionately and tirelessly to make the museum a first-class place of interpretation, bringing the museum from financial struggles to features across the nation, most notably, one of CNN’s “50 States, 50 Spots.” After seventeen years of service at Smith Robertson Museum, Pamela became the inaugural director of the first state-sponsored civil rights museum in the nation, the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, where she welcomed more than 250,000 visitors in her first year. Today, she is at the helm of the Two Mississippi Museums where she continues her tireless work to share the stories of Mississippi with audiences all over the world. Pamela believes the stories told in the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum should be used as an educational tool for students. In her words, “If we teach children about the history of Mississippi—sharing the events that give us hope and bring us despair in a public space, where we see examples of people who never gave up, whose strength and tenacity can now give us hope and inspire us all to see others as we see ourselves— you will secure a twinkle in the eyes of many that will last a lifetime.” 

Pamela has been honored over the years for her professional work as well as her community work. In 2015, she was awarded the Margaret Walker Center’s coveted For My People Award, in 2018 she was selected as Visit Jackson’s Hometown Hero and the Magnolia Bar Association’s Harriet Tubman Award, and most recently, she was honored with the 2019 Association of African American Museums Leadership Award for her work in the museum field.

Pamela continues to serve her community with her recent appointments as board member for Visit Jackson and advisory board member for the Mississippi Book Festival. She is also an active member of Women for Progress of Mississippi, where she is a champion for women’s rights. As a woman who knows that she did not get to this position without standing on the shoulders of many women whose vision for African Americans lives on today, she gives homage to the great women of her life such as her grandmother, mother, and mentors.

Pamela is a native of Jackson, Mississippi, and earned a B.S. in Education, with a minor in Special Education from Jackson State University. 

10:15-11:00am-Session F

Teaching Track: Effectively Updating Your 1L Legal Research Curriculum: We Did it, and You Can Too!

The Vanderbilt Law Library recently revamped its 1L legal research curriculum. In order to make sure the revamp was effective, the librarians utilized backward design, which requires that instructors formulate a set of teaching objectives prior to creating course materials. In this session, the 1L teaching librarians will walk attendees through the process, including both the pitfalls and successes of it.

• Meredith Capps, Foreign and International Law Librarian and Head of Faculty Services, Vanderbilt University Law School, Alyne Queener Massey Law Library  
• Sarah Dunaway, Research Services Librarian and Lecturer in Law, Vanderbilt University Law School, Alyne Queener Massey Law Library
• Mariah Ford, Research Services Librarian and Lecturer in Law, Vanderbilt University Law School, Alyne Queener Massey Law Library
• Katie Hanschke, Head of Instruction and Access Services and Lecturer in Law, Vanderbilt University Law School, Alyne Queener Massey Law Library

Service Track: Survey Says: An Interactive Dialogue on the Future of Law Library Services and Resources

Law Libraries are initiating various new services and changing the types of resources they offer. It is beneficial to know what initiatives other law libraries are starting or ending. Using a fun, game-show style format, this session will poll participants to reveal how law libraries are positioning themselves for the future. Teams will compete to become the 2020 SEAALL Visionaries Champions. 'Let's play the Law Librarian Feud!'

• Thomas “TJ” Striepe, Associate Director of Research Services, University of Georgia School of Law, Alexander Campbell King Law Library
• Wendy E. Moore, Associate Director for Collection Services, University of Georgia School of Law, Alexander Campbell King Law Library

Diversity Track: More than a Backup Plan: Diversifying the Profession by Marketing Law Librarianship as a Primary Career Choice

In order to grow the law library profession, we must begin treating law librarianship as a primary career choice, and not simply an alternative to a career that fell short. This program will discuss strategies for marketing law librarianship to local undergraduate and MLIS programs with a specific focus on outreach to minority populations. Outreach will include ideas on where law librarians should target outreach efforts, types of events law librarians can create and/or participate in that will increase the visibility of the profession, and materials and tools to educate and encourage interest from more diverse audiences in the law library profession.

• Itunu Sofidiya, Reference Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Edward Bennett Williams Law Library
• Tara N. Long-Taylor, Faculty Research Librarian and Legal Research/Lawyering Process Instructor, Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law Library
• Kristina J. Alayan, Law Library Director and Assistant Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law Library

11:15am-12:00pm-Session G

Teaching Track: Using Universal Design Principles to Improve Access to Legal Research Instruction for Visually Impaired Students

At Boston University School of Law, legal research instruction is fully incorporated as part of the Lawyering Skills (aka Legal Writing) program. Over the past year, we have updated our legal research lessons to be more accessible for visually impaired students. We have intentionally incorporated the Universal Design principles of equitable use, recognition of space, flexibility, and tolerance for error, to adapt every aspect of our teaching, including instructional video/quizzes and 'active classroom' lesson plans. In doing this, we have discovered that incorporating Universal Design principles to meet the needs of a specific population ultimately benefits all learners.

• Brian Flaherty, Instructional Services Librarian, Boston University School of Law, Fineman and Pappas Law Libraries
• Shira Megerman, Senior Legal Information Librarian, Boston University School of Law, Fineman and Pappas Law Libraries

Ted Talks

Civic Literacy and Boy Scouts Law Merit Badge

The 2019 American Bar Association Survey of Civic Literacy exposes many gaps in the public’s understanding of law and government and highlights a trend in declining knowledge of civic affairs. Less than half of those surveyed identified John Roberts as the chief justice of the United States Supreme. All types of law libraries can engage in community outreach to provide civic education. This Teddy Talk session will examine the survey and its findings and look at one model for outreach, the Boy Scouts of American Law Merit Badge.

• Edward T. Hart, Assistant Dean for the Law Library and Assistant Professor, UNT Dallas College of Law Library  

Law Student Use and Perception of Video Captions/Transcripts

This talk will describe a research project in progress at the LSU Law Center based upon a nationwide study of undergraduates designed to address the following research questions: Why do law students use captions/transcripts? How does this use support student learning? Which groups of law students use captions/transcripts? What barriers to use of video with captions/transcripts can be identified? The primary source of data will be a survey consisting of multiple-choice and open-ended items. Preliminary results will be discussed. The background for the study will be summarized. Resources for replicating the study at other institutions will be provided.

• Will Monroe, Assistant Director for Instructional Technology, Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center Law Library

So You Got a Bad Teaching Evaluation, Now What?

A bad teaching evaluation, or sometimes even just bad comments on an otherwise okay evaluation, can really ruin your day. This program will discuss ways of dealing with those comments, how to separate the justified from the unjustified comments, and how to use the justified comments to improve future teaching.

• Melissa Strickland, Associate Director for Public Services, Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center Law Library

Service Track: Hindsight is 2020: Lessons Learned from Planning SEAALL 2021

Tips, hints, lessons learned, and insiders' view from our work on SEAALL 2021 will be shared on how to plan local arrangements for an upcoming conference.

• Eve Ross, Reference Librarian, University of South Carolina School of Law Library
• Candle Wester, Associate Director for Faculty Services and Administration, University of South Carolina School of Law Library