Prof. Clair M. Germain, law, the Edward Cornell Law Librarian, was recently elected as the vice-president/president-elect of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL).
The AALL is an association comprised of more than 5,000 members from law schools, law firms, courts, government agencies, and corporate legal departments. The association serves to provide leadership in the field of legal information and to promote the value of law libraries to the public and legal communities.
Duties
Germain, a member of the AALL since 1977, will begin her three-year term in July as vice-president and then will be the reigning president for the 2005-06 year. She will then continue to serve the association and help as the past president for the 2006-07 year.
“I was very excited when I found out I had been elected,” Germain said. “I am and always have been passionate about helping people.”
While serving her term as the president of the AALL Germain will be responsible for the organization’s strategy and planning, recruitment and advertisement of law librarians, and attending and overseeing conventions worldwide.
Susan Fox, executive director of the AALL, praised Germain’s accomplishment and demeanor. “The position (president) is the pinnacle of the field,” Fox said. “Colleagues certainly respect her as evidenced by having her elected,” she said.
Though Germain does not start her term until July, she already is planning an agenda of issues that need to be addressed. One of her main concerns is continuing the translation of print-based information and books into digital information and online data. By making this information digital, people will be able to access texts through the internet and will be able to view material that might not be readily accessible to them locally.
Germain also wishes to address the current pricing of books. Since much more information is now available digitally, book publishers have raised their prices since they sense a decrease in sales. These higher prices increase costs for the public and law librarians.
Convention
In addition, 2006 marks the centennial anniversary for the AALL, which was founded in 1906 in St. Louis. Germain expects a huge convention including hundreds of law librarians from around the world. This event alone will monopolize a good portion of the early 2006 year.
While Germain has a busy year ahead, her colleagues are confident and pleased to have her in charge. “We are thrilled to have her elected for this next term,” said Fox.
Archived article by Carl Menzel
Sun Contributor