Post-AALL 2008 Discussion

[Sarah Glassmeyer]

What's the coolest thing you learned about at AALL 2008? I think for me it was either the YouTube downloader, as discovered in E4 OR the UM Map Mashup with links to electronic resources, as seen in H1.

[Lyonette Louis-Jacques]

I may have more (I haven't filled out the evaluation forms yet), but off the top of my head, I learned about Harvard's InfoAdvantage Research Pages. I learned that educational programs from years ago can still have impact. And I learned that Twitter is pretty cool for following friends even when you're at the annual meeting and not at home reading...:-)

[Rita Kaiser]

I liked the 30 Cool Technology Tools and the links from http://del.icio.us/techtelmechtel/aall2008-techtools for them.

[Katie Brown]

Sorry for the cheese...
I learned how great the Gen X Gen Y Caucus members are. Whenever I asked for assistance during the conference they stepped up.
Thank you !!!!
Katie

[Scott Frey]

I was intrigued by the prospective "Rise of American Law" product from Westlaw / Thomson West / Thomson Reuters / whatever-the-heck-they're-called. It sounds like a smaller (though still large), cheaper (though not cheap), and more useful (for non-legal-historians) alternative to "Making of Modern Law."

Also, Westlaw is testing a feature that allows you to customize a research page by drag-and-drop and other methods. Your research page, your way. Sweet!

But not to leave out Westlaw's main rival ... LexisNexis has Lexis Web, a legal-focused search engine that's free for the public. This is a smarter move than Westlaw WebPlus, which is available only to Westlaw subscribers.

(And for learning all of this and more, I got a cool/dangerous flashlight and yet another tote bag!)

[Jean Davis]

Like Scott, I can't wait for [Aug. 4] when I can customize Westlaw pages. My first effort will be a customized "international/foreign law" page that I want Stefanie Efrati to push to the Brooklyn Journal of International Law staff. (I post to their TWEN page.) On the customized BJIL page, I plan to include all of the WL indexes to legal periodicals that new members might want to use for topic development, such as CILP, LRI, LJI & ICLL. (Also, I will delete those links to sources that are not available through our law school license.)

[Scott Frey]

Has West published an announcement about the customization features? I'd be interested in a link that I could forward to my colleagues at work.

Jean Davis said:

Like Scott, I can't wait for [Aug. 4] when I can customize Westlaw pages. My first effort will be a customized "international/foreign law" page that I want Stefanie Efrati to push to the Brooklyn Journal of International Law staff. (I post to their TWEN page.) On the customized BJIL page, I plan to include all of the WL indexes to legal periodicals that new members might want to use for topic development, such as CILP, LRI, LJI & ICLL. (Also, I will delete those links to sources that are not available through our law school license.)

[Sue Mecklem]

I really liked the History of Beer program, and learned a lot for my personal life. I learned how to search for Twitter messages using Summize, and learned a lot more about competive intelligence tools.

As a new law librarian, I really learned a lot, met some great people, and reconnected with librarians who encouraged me while I was in library school.

[Jennifer Stephens]

I agree with Terri, networking with all sorts of librarians was wonderful. Where else could I talk with law firm, law school, court, corporate, independent, etc. librarians from around the country? The 30 Cool Tools and the Life on a Stick programs were my favorites as far as programs. I also learned quite a bit from Mike Lindsey's CSS presentation at the AALLNET Webmasters' Workshop. (See description and files at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/aac/workshops/speakers2008.htm.)

Terri Wilson said:

I was thrilled to see a real wifi detector tshirt at the Gen X/Gen Y meeting. LOLOL! I'm such a geek. :-P

But the coolest thing for me was the peeps! I know I meet great new people every year, but I really felt like I met lots of new folks (new to me) that I had a lot in common with. And I got to see almost everybody from my "old" friends groups.

Believe me, being a solo in the middle of nowhere really puts networking at the top of my list when it comes to conferences.

[Scott Frey]

Yippee! ... Westlaw has implemented customized tabbed pages! This feature is not available on every tab; for example, on my Westlaw set-up, it's only on "Librarians" and "California." But you can add customizable tabs -- even one called My Tab -- and tinker with them as you please.
Scott Frey said:

Has West published an announcement about the customization features? I'd be interested in a link that I could forward to my colleagues at work.
Jean Davis said:

Like Scott, I can't wait for [Aug. 4] when I can customize Westlaw pages. My first effort will be a customized "international/foreign law" page that I want Stefanie Efrati to push to the Brooklyn Journal of International Law staff. (I post to their TWEN page.) On the customized BJIL page, I plan to include all of the WL indexes to legal periodicals that new members might want to use for topic development, such as CILP, LRI, LJI & ICLL. (Also, I will delete those links to sources that are not available through our law school license.)

[Robb Farmer]

This probably sounds silly, but two of the coolest things I learned about were the souped up mouse thingy and combo keyboard/trakball/wrist rest thing in the exhibitor hall. Of course I can't remember what they were called or who made them, since they didn't have any swag to take home. They were the booth where you could play Solitaire

[Scott Frey]

I think it was Contour Design:

http://www.contourdesign.com/pmo/

http://www.contourdesign.com/rollermouse/

Robb Farmer said:

This probably sounds silly, but two of the coolest things I learned about were the souped up mouse thingy and combo keyboard/trakball/wrist rest thing in the exhibitor hall. Of course I can't remember what they were called or who made them, since they didn't have any swag to take home. They were the booth where you could play Solitaire