AALL 2022 Recap: Teaching FCIL Research Roundtable

By Meredith Capps

On Monday, July 18^th during the AALL annual meeting, the FCIL-SIS held its first in-person roundtable discussion in several years (hip hip hooray!) to discuss teaching FCIL research.  Meredith Capps of Vanderbilt University Law School introduced the featured speaker, Janet Kearney of Fordham University Law School.  Janet spoke about her efforts to enhance her own FCIL resource course, which she described in brief in the February 2022 FCIL-SIS newsletter article, Work-in-Progress: A Research Framework in FCIL Teaching?, for which she received the SIS’s Newsletter Article of the Year award. 

Janet described the first iteration of her 2-credit course as “disparate.”  In considering how to better organize the course, she considered the four-step research process upon which she relies in her first-year legal research course: 1) research planning, 2) secondary sources, 3) statutes and regulations, and 4) cases.  To adapt this framework for FCIL research instruction, Janet opted to reframe steps 3 and 4 and collapse them into a single category of primary sources.   Approaching each week’s content with this framework, Janet encouraged students to first plan their research, then identify secondary sources that might answer their question, and then locate relevant primary authorities.  Janet asked students to consider which sources of law might govern their problem, which would be binding, and in what way they would be binding (or persuasive).  Her students responded positively to the new framework, and as of this writing Janet is drafting a longer article discussing her experience in designing the course – stay tuned!

 

Breather breather, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

            As is typical in a roundtable format, after discussing the initial topic of utilizing process frameworks in instruction, participants explored a number of other topics, questions, and concerns informally for the balance of the time, including:

• The needs of JD v. LLM students, and whether and when to teach separate JD and LLM research courses,
• How to better incorporate private international law problems into our courses, including utilizing trade and family law hypotheticals,
• How many sources to cover in a typical class, and how best to organize those sources for student reference,
• Encouraging students to first consider the subject before the jurisdiction,
• To what extent we utilize niche databases in our courses that students may not have access to in practice,
• Challenges associated with students’ variable knowledge of international law upon enrolling in an FCIL research course,
• Addressing student confusion in distinguishing between primary and secondary authorities…

…and more – it was a busy hour!

Introducing…Traci Emerson Spackey as the February 2021 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a small town outside of Portland, Oregon called Canby. I was born and raised there. The town is very typical, rather quaint, and unremarkable except that it is known for its world-class dahlia farm. Very random.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
I actually didn’t know law librarianship was a thing until law school. I went to law school knowing I wanted to pursue the law, but not necessarily in what capacity. At my law school, during 1L year the law librarians co-taught legal research and writing with adjunct professors and that’s how I learned that law librarians existed. However, it wasn’t exactly “love at first sight” with terms and connectors and The Bluebook, etc. But, not far into 1L year our class’s law librarian announced that the library was hiring RAs to work some evening shifts. My immediate thought was “I want to work at the library!” I have ALWAYS loved libraries and books. 

Well, I loved working at the law library. I would pick up extra shifts when I could, and the library director or the law librarians would sometimes give me extra projects because they saw my interest. Over the next year and a half I asked questions and got to know them all. I was shocked to learn they all had law degrees AND library degrees. I was also struck by the fact that they all seemed very happy, were very well-respected within the law school, and were just generally wonderful/knowledgeable people. However, it wasn’t until my 3L year when it was manifestly clear to me that I really dreaded a) the adversarial nature of practicing law, and b) the pressure of billable hours. So, I seriously began to consider other options. 

It sounds kind of cliché, but I literally had an epiphany one day. One particular afternoon I was perusing blogs about law librarianship as a potential option and I realized that I had considerably less angst about getting a whole new graduate degree in MLIS than I did taking the bar exam. I figured I should probably listen to that. So, I marched into the library director’s office, announced my decision, and asked what I needed to do. She asked how I felt about Seattle–because she recommended the University of Washington program–and I said “great!” (since I was from the PNW). Next, I requested a book on law librarianship from ILL. I read all about all kinds of different areas of law librarianship and when I read Mary Rumsey’s chapter on FCIL librarianship my mind was blown…and set. That was it! I did end up taking a year off between law school and library school, taking the bar exam, and practicing a bit, but my goal stayed the same (was even more solidified, actually): FCIL librarianship.

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
My interest in FCIL was really just an extension of my general life interests. I have always been drawn to “other”: other languages, other cultures, other places…food! So, when I started law school I naturally wanted to take international law. After that first class, I ended up taking every international law class I could–all my electives were somehow related to international law or things. I studied abroad in Rome both rising 2L and 3L summers, and I did one clinic that went to the United Nations for a week. I also did immigration law clinic where I got to help someone from the Democratic Republic of Congo apply for asylum–to this day this is still one of the most meaningful things I’ve been able to do with my legal education. During law school I also became friends with my international law professor (I’m still in contact with him), and I joined the board of the International Law Association at my law school too. I’m so grateful for all my international experiences that gained from my legal education. 

4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
I work for the Jacob Burns Law Library at The George Washington University Law School. I started here in September 2019.

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?
I speak French most fluently. I majored in French and then lived in Paris for a year teaching English. I also speak Italian (I’m in love with the place), and I can read Spanish enough to find materials in it. I also took advantage of being a university employee last semester and took a beginning course in Latin. While I am unable to continue at the moment, I hope to carry that on at some point. I also have a life goal of learning Russian.

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
This is more of an “opportunity” than achievement, however I had the opportunity to intern at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations in New York for a few weeks at the end of library school. It had been a dream of mine and I’m still so grateful that I was able to do that. In terms of actual achievement I’d have to say two things. As previously mentioned, I’m very proud of being involved in getting our client granted asylum in the US in immigration clinic in law school. I was humbled and grateful to be able to use my legal and language skills to impact someone’s life so meaningfully. Second, in library school my colleague and I wrote a piece on Ghost Guns that got published in ALA’s Documents to the People. I’m early on in my career, so it’s the first I’d seen my name in print. I can’t wait to reflect on this question in years to come! This is…three things–whoops!

7. What is your biggest food weakness? Tortilla chips. It’s a funny one but I can literally eat almost any size bag of tortilla chips (salted, of course) in a sitting. Costco size might be pushing it, but I’m not going to test that one.

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance? Boston’s More than a Feeling. It’s one of those “stop where you are, lip sync, and air guitar right now” kind of songs for me. 

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
I wish I could play a musical instrument! I would love to be able to play the cello, or viola, or jazz piano. My husband is an amazing saxophone player so it would be incredible to be able to join him in that. Maybe someday. 

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without? Maybe this falls under the “basic necessities” category, but I’m going to surprise myself by saying: Tea. Being from Portland, I was once such an avid coffee drinker that it was a common joke among my family and friends. Health problems required me to quit that habit and I found solace in black tea a few years ago. It feels weird to say, but I now actually prefer tea! I start every day with a pot of English Breakfast Tea. (What a lame thing to say–maybe I should think more on this.)

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
1) For anyone considering law librarianship and is still deterred by the student loan burden, the vast majority of government and academic law librarian positions make you eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. It was a law librarian that told me about this in law school, and I am passing this along to any prospective law librarians still trying to figure things out. It was this fact that pushed me over the edge to take the dive into this career, and I haven’t looked back.

2) Less importantly, this photo is my first “shelfie” that I ever took…last week. I don’t know how I never knew a shelfie was a thing, but when I learned the word of course I had to. The mug was a gift from a dear friend in Italy that clearly understands what makes me tick.

Introducing…Renu Sagreiya as the August 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

Renu Sagreiya

1. Where did you grow up?

For the first five years of my life, I bounced around various cities due to the medical residencies of my Asian immigrant parents, ranging from Queens in New York City to the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville and Cherokee in North Carolina. However, I spent most of my childhood in the Philadelphia suburbs, in particular, a town called Ambler.  I attended undergraduate at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, and law school at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, PA. 

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

During my Juris Doctor program, I was solidly set on a career in public interest law, such as public defense or working in legal aid for the indigent.  My internship and pro bono experiences during law school, such as my clinic at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, reflected this desire.  I ended up taking several advanced legal research courses taught by dual-degreed law librarians, which I found to be my absolute favorites due to their practicality, as well as a fun course in Anglo-American Legal History, which included a field trip to a rare book collection!  I found that I had a knack for legal research. This sounds nerdy, but finding an obscure legal source brings me so much personal satisfaction.  Lifestyle concerns influenced my decision too, as well as a strong desire to teach and publish. I have yet to publish, however, from 2018 to 2019, I developed and taught a multi-session Continuing Legal Education (CLE) course called “Spanish for Lawyers” for a county bar association in response to the growing need for Spanish-speaking attorneys and support staff.  The course covered commonly used Spanish words and phrases in courtrooms and law offices, and students actively participated in exercises pertaining to vocabulary and grammar. In addition, my course discussed how to bridge cultural gaps with Latin American clients, who come from a civil law system.  This course helped students communicate with Hispanic clients regarding legal matters including domestic relations, immigration, criminal law, etc. Students received comprehensive glossaries of technical terms, and each session included an improvisational element, allowing students to interview mock clients in Spanish.  I am passionate about increasing access to justice.  My course assisted attorneys in providing linguistically and culturally competent services to Latino clients.  In addition, it bolstered my pedagogical skills, which are very pertinent for my goal of academic law librarianship. 

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?

My pre-law internships and volunteer work in human rights non-profit organizations abroad sowed the seeds of my passion for foreign, comparative, and international law.  For instance, in summer 2008 through the NGO, Cross-Cultural Solutions, I interned in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India at an anganwadi (“courtyard shelter” in Hindi), a governmental child welfare and public health program for youth of low socioeconomic status and/or caste.  In India, I also tutored Tibetan exile monks, nuns, and laypersons through small group English conversation classes at a then up-and-coming NGO called Tibet Hope Center, which piqued my interest in refugee work.  My coursework during law school, such as Refugee & Asylum Law taught by an Immigration Judge, also fed this interest.  In addition, I performed especially well in a course called Immigration Legal Research, which included units on foreign, international, and comparative law and hands-on experience searching foreign law databases, such as Légifrance. The law librarian who taught that class has been a true inspiration and still provides me mentorship and guidance as I switch gears to law librarianship. Lastly, during law school, I served as a keynote speaker for a student organization event called “Buddhism & the Law”, and I really enjoyed researching for my talk.  

4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?

I am presently clerking for the Superior Court of New Jersey in Elizabeth, NJ.  During my time there, I have dealt with fascinating family law cases implicating the Hague Convention against international child abduction. I am pleased to announce that in October 2020, I will begin a Reference Librarian position at Western State College of Law in sunny Orange County, California. 

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

Yes! I am trilingual at the moment. My native language is Hindi, which I learned simultaneously along with English.  My experience growing up bilingual led to a facility with picking up languages. I began learning  Spanish in elementary school, and continued studying it through middle school and high school, and minoring in the subject in college.  I started learning French in 2019, but I am very much a beginner at this point. I’ve heard French referred to as the “language of diplomacy”, so I figured learning it would be useful in foreign, comparative and international law librarianship.  

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

Winning AALL’s George A. Strait Minority Scholarship to fund my library science graduate program at Rutgers University. 

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Ma Po Tofu. I like it on the spicy side!

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

“Just Like Heaven” by The Cure fills me with jubilation.  

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

Astral projection, or in other words, the ability of a person’s spirit to travel to distant places. It’s gotten stronger during the pandemic, for sure! 

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

 Journaling-I find it so therapeutic!  

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

During summer 2019, I lived as a nun at the Southern Shaolin Temple in Fujian Province, China through the Woodenfish Foundation’s Humanistic Buddhist Monastic Life Program.  I spent my days meditating, practicing martial arts, chanting, completing coursework on Buddhist and Daoist philosophy, and painting calligraphy.  The program culminated in a pilgrimage tour at Mount Putuo, a holy site on an island dedicated to Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of compassion.

Introducing…Melissa Hyland as the July 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in South Florida, but I moved to North Carolina for college and ended up staying! I really love that you can visit both the mountains and the beach, but never actually have to leave your home state.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

While I was in law school, the law librarians really mentored me. I worked as a reference desk assistant during my 2L and 3L years, and I was fascinated by the types of services provided by the law librarians. I just knew it was the type of work that I would enjoy doing. After law school, I practiced litigation for a couple years, but I always kept in the back of my mind the thought that law librarianship was an awesome option. When the opportunity to return to UNC to get my MSLS and work as a graduate assistant popped up, I jumped on it!

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?

I developed an interest in FCIL research pretty early into my MSLS program. Once I started full-time as a reference librarian, I volunteered for every FCIL-related opportunity that came up and started to develop my skills in this area. I really enjoy the challenge of FCIL research, but I also love that you get to learn about the countries, their histories, and a bit of their culture, through FCIL research.

4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?

I currently work as the Reference and Faculty Research Services Librarian at the University of North Carolina School of Law. I’ve been in this position for 3 years.

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

I’m working on improving my Spanish language skills. I’m much better at reading in Spanish than I am at speaking, so I’ve been trying to find more ways to practice my communication skills with friends and language partners. I also have this mini-goal in mind to study Japanese – mostly because I love the culture and hope to visit there one day soon.

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

I manage our law library’s Faculty Research Service program, and I’ve tried to be very intentional about building relationships with our faculty and ensuring that we provide them with stellar work product. I’m so pleased with the growth of the program over the past three years, and I’ve also loved getting to know our law faculty better through it.

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Chocolate chip cookies! I will order a chocolate chip cookie whenever it is on the menu, even at a fancy bakery. I’m probably missing out on lots of other amazing baking creations, but you just can’t go wrong with a good ol’ chocolate chipper.

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

My nerdiness is going to be so obvious here, but I love Disney movie soundtracks. Maybe I can blame this on growing up in Florida and spending a good part of my childhood at Disney World. I can go toe-to-toe on song lyrics with the best of Disney fans – but I find myself singing “I’ve Got a Dream” from Tangled a lot lately.

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

I think many people on this blog talk about improving their language skills. I agree – I’d love to improve what little skill I currently have, and I’d like to study new languages.

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

Books! It’s a good thing that I work in a university law library, because I have a library card that allows me to get my hands on so many out of print and older titles. It’s amazing.

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

I’m excited to be here!

Introducing…Sabrina Sondhi as the June 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?

I was born in the Midwest, but we moved to Southern California when I was nine.  I was so miserably homesick all through fourth grade!  But now I can’t imagine having grown up anywhere else.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

Random chance!  No, really.  I was working in Sacramento as a litigator and I was both flirting with burnout and suspicious that my firm’s parent company was going to be bought out.  I was too scared to quit without a plan, so I thought I’d hide out in graduate school (of any kind) for a year and then return to practice elsewhere.  When I looked it up online, the University of Washington’s Law Librarianship program application deadline was about a month away and they didn’t require the GRE, just my old LSAT score.  It took me about six months into the program to realize that I wanted to switch careers after all.  (And I’d been right; the company was bought out and almost everyone in my old office got let go.)

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law

I was lucky enough to get hired by Columbia University’s Diamond Law Library straight out of library school.  Their FCIL print collection is amazing — both in terms of breadth and depth.  I spent 10 years there fielding questions from journal students, faculty, and major law firms (via Columbia’s Fee-Based Services).

4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?

I’m now at Cornell Law Library and I’ve been here since August 2018.

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

Not well at all.  I studied Spanish in junior high and high school, and studied French in college.  I started studying Japanese during law school and continued for a couple years after.  For a while I could read manga and converse at a tourist level, but that’s mostly gone now.

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

People keep electing me to leadership roles in AALL SISes!  I’m glad because it shows that people think I’m doing a good job at it.  I chaired LHRB-SIS (2014-2015), was Secretary/Treasurer for FCIL-SIS (2017-2019), and now I’ll get to chair ALL-SIS starting in July.

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Bread.  Both chewy sourdough and squishy breads like Hawaiian egg bread or challah are really hard to resist.

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

I listen to very little music these days.  When I owned a car (see above in Sacramento) and drove several hours a week that was my music space.  I made lots of J-pop mix-CDs and switched between them and KROQ on the radio.  Due to the magic of repetition, I could sing along with almost every song (and I did).

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

A greater aptitude for learning languages.  To build on what I mentioned above, I can use French and Spanish written materials still, but I’ve found it harder and harder to acquire new languages as I’ve grown older.  While at Columbia I tried to learn German and Latin but with no great success.  Due to lack of practice, my ability to speak foreign languages has also degraded (vocabulary, accent, etc.) from the level I once had.

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

Something to read.  I’m not picky though; a book, my iPad, my phone, anything works.  I can’t watch TV for more than an hour or two without getting restless.  But put a good book or series of articles/longreads/blogs in my hands and I can spend a whole day on my couch.

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

Thanks for inviting me to do this!

Introducing…Marcelo Rodriguez as the May 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

I’ve always been interested in the law and legal research without ever wanting to be a lawyer. Law librarianship seems like the perfect fit.

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?

My upbringing and language skills have always seemed a natural fit for any FCIL research questions. I’d like to think that my open mindedness and keen observations also play a part.

4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?

I currently work as a Research and Training Librarian at the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit located in New York, NY. I have been in this position for the last two years.

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

Spanish is my mother tongue. Besides English, I also speak French very fluently. And I have some reading fluency in Hebrew and German.

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

In the last two years, I have managed to coordinate 4 panels for the AALL Annual Meetings. This coming summer, I may be coordinating 4 more. Not only it has been a significant professional achievement, it has also been a transformative experience to network and exchange ideas with people equally passionate on the rule of law and legal information.

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Pizza. I can eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and even in between meals. Please do not share this questionnaire with my mother or my doctor.

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

Si tú te vas by Juan Luis Guerra. It’s the best thing ever! It reminds me of Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, friends and family gatherings.

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

American Sign Language (ASL). I would love to one day begin classes and become somewhat fluent.

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

Coffee. No sugar, no milk, no nothing, just pitch black coffee. I can always drink coffee and for all kinds of reasons either because I have to stay awake or even after a meal to just soothe myself.

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

If anyone is interested in Puerto Rican literature, I’m happy to recommend the following: Macho Camacho’s Beat by Luis Rafael Sánchez, Sirena Selena by Mayra Santos Febres and/or Eccentric Neighborhoods by Rosario Ferré and in Poetry: anything by Julia de Burgos.

Introducing…Maggie Adams as the April 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?

Newark, Delaware where I continue to live today.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

 

I  have always enjoyed doing research and have several family members in the legal field so I applied to the law school library when I was looking for my first library job.

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?

 

Part of the fun of being a law librarian is the breadth of topics you get to research. We have several faculty members who research and write on foreign and international law topics and their projects are always challenging and interesting to work on.

4. Who is your current employer? How long have  you worked there?

 

I work for Delaware Law School, Widener University. I’ve been here for 20 years, starting as a library assistant.

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

 

Unfortunately not.

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

 

Helping to develop the curriculum for and teach legal research labs to our first year students has been very rewarding.

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Pastries! 

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

Any pop music from the 80s [Here’s a YouTube compilation!]

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

 

The ability to sing well. I’m married to a musician so it would be nice if we could sing harmonies together but I cannot carry a tune to save my life.

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

 

Coffee!

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

 

I really enjoy being a part of a profession that is so willing to help, teach and collaborate.

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Introducing…Errol Adams as the March 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1.  Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Georgetown, Guyana – a country located in South America.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

I selected law librarianship as a career after a former supervisor at the New York Civil Courtreferred me to a full MLS scholarship (law focused) at St. John’s University. She told me to apply for a scholarship. I had been working as a Senior Law Librarian at the Civil Court of New York City without a MLS degree. I successfully completed the program and received my MLS.

3.  When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?

I developed an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law when I was hired as a law librarian at the College of the Bahamas, now University of the Bahamas in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas. I attended the Caribbean Association of Law Libraries Conference and that propelled me into this arena as most of the countries in the Caribbean follow/ed the UK legal system.

4.  Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?

My current employer is Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University Law Library.  I have worked there for six months, but prior to this position, I was at Pace Law School Library for three and a half years.

5.  Do you speak any foreign languages?

Not really. I do understand some French and Spanish, though.

6.  What is your most significant professional achievement?

Graduating law school almost immediately after migrating to the U.S.

7.  What is your biggest food weakness?

Almost any kind of lamb…

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

Too many to list.  I do like a variety of music, including Bollywood music…[editor’s note: here are some Bollywood music listicles :)]

9.  What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

The ability to fly a plane.

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

Actual sugar.

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

Yes. I love to travel. I am very passionate about diversity initiatives. I created the first diversity & inclusion committee at the Law Librarians Association of Greater New York. I will be leading a panel discussion on cultural competence at AALL’s upcoming conference in New Orleans.

Introducing…Anne Abramson as the February 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?

Chicago

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

I attended a career change course at NYU and librarianship was one of the careers recommended.

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law? I have always had an interest in all things international, starting with foreign language studies before and during college and majoring in International Relations at Stanford.

4. Who is your current employer? How long have  you worked there?

UIC John Marshall (fka John Marshall) since 1997

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

French, Spanish, some German

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

I am proud of my International Legal Research LibGuide, which I am in the process of updating, as well as the International legal research class that I developed and taught for three years. The LibGuide is like a textbook for the class.

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Popcorn. I can’t stop eating it!

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

“Happy” by Pharrell Williams

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)? There are so many, but I would say music (ability to read and play and instrument and/or sing) and math/science skills just for starters.

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without? Getting outdoors & yoga or some form of movement/exercise.

11 Anything else you would like to share with us?

I am a home cook and yogi. I love international travel especially if it includes cooking and/or yoga classes. I also love birds and nature and am trying to find ways to experience even in a big urban environment like Chicago.

Introducing…Bianca Anderson as the January 2020 FCIL-SIS Member of the Month

1. Where did you grow up?

I grew up three miles from where I work now, in Miami.  I count myself very lucky to be able to be able to not only work at my alma mater but to live in a community in which I have deep roots.

2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?

I practiced immigration law mostly in a non-profit setting for almost ten years focusing mainly on deportation defense.  While I felt it was deeply important work that made a real impact on a personal level for my clients,  I became increasingly frustrated by inefficiency and inequity in the immigration system.  I decided it was a good time to make a career change.  My brother and sister-in-law were already librarians, and I always admired their dedication to the needs of their patrons and the contribution they as librarians could make on their patron’s lives.  I viewed law librarianship as an opportunity to use my legal education and knowledge while still in service of others, the aspect I found most appealing of my immigration practice.  The last two years, I have had the opportunity to teach an Introduction to Legal Research course tailored to non-native English speakers in our LLM programs, in addition to Foreign & International Legal Research.  Teaching is an entirely different aspect of law  librarianship, with a  whole new world of challenges and opportunities that continue to present themselves.  I am truly enjoying this new role and am more certain than ever that I made the right choice all those years ago.

3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?

As a natural consequence of my immigration practice, I often had to research foreign and international laws, particularly in regards to international human rights norms, country condition information, and foreign laws related to marriage and family.  In the years that I have been the Foreign & International Law Librarian here at UM, I have developed a deep fondness for the field.  The field is so diverse and rich, my work is never boring, and I love learning something new with every project I assist on.  I can’t deny that I also love the thrill of the chase, and I very much enjoy finding obscure materials that a student or faculty member regarded “unfindable.”  It’s a superpower!

4. Who is your current employer? How long have  you worked there?

I am Librarian Assistant Professor & Lecturer in Law at the University of Miami.  I have worked here a little over seven years.

5. Do you speak any foreign languages?

As the child of Cuban immigrants, I speak Spanish fluently.  My knowledge of Spanish deepened in my immigration practice as it was invaluable to communicate with my clients in their native language.  I have a reading fluency of French, having studied it for five years in high school and university.  Unfortunately, I have not had as much opportunity as I would’ve liked to improve my spoken French, but it does remain a goal of mine.

6. What is your most significant professional achievement?

I am probably proudest of my role in designing the Fall research workshop series for our library.  We found ourselves without an Instructional Services Librarian one Fall, and I was asked to design and run the workshop series.  In the past, the workshop series covered mostly substantive topic research sessions based on course offerings specifically for that semester.  I designed a Fall workshop series structured around basic skills needed to conduct legal research, based on AALL’s Principles and Standards for Legal Research Competency.  I called it the Legal Research Toolbox, and offered the following workshops: Creating a Research Plan, Keyword Selection, Terms and Connectors, Citators, Using Annotations Effectively, and Weight of Authority.  I was astounded and delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response.  In  the first semester we presented the Legal Research Toolbox Series, we had 63% increase in attendance to the year before and a 127% increase to the year before that. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider that in we only offered six workshops, whereas in previous semesters we offered an average of nine.  I once again planned and coordinated the workshop series the following Fall, and our attendance levels continued to increase.  The coordination of the workshop series returned to the Instructional Services Librarian once the position was filled, and the new librarian in the role has continued to employ the structure and topics that I implemented for the Fall workshops, with the additions of workshops on Evaluating Sources, and Artificial Intelligence in Legal Research, which I have co-taught with him.  The attendance levels still continue to increase each Fall.  I am so glad to have been able to contribute to a service that students seek out and find helpful as they develop and improve their research skills.

7. What is your biggest food weakness?

Dessert!  I definitely have a sweet tooth and to me, a meal feels incomplete without a touch of something sweet at the end.  I have a particular weakness for lemon desserts- lemon cake, lemon cookies, lemon soufflé.  I can’t say no!

8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?

I struggled way too long contemplating this, so I’ll break the rules and name a few.

My obsession over the last few years has been cast recording of the musical Hamilton.  I think Lin-Manuel Miranda is a true genius. Among my prized possessions are copies of the Hamilton and In the Heights librettos, signed by Mr. Miranda.   I’ve been lucky enough to see the show in Chicago  and on tour in Fort Lauderdale, and I have tickets to see the tour again in Miami in March! Much to my children’s shame and embarrassment, particularly my teenager, I like to break out into song, and lately, it is usually a song from Hamilton.  One of my standards at karaoke is “My Shot.”  I’ve been told it is truly an experience to witness!

Besides that I love all sorts of music- some favorites in no particular order- the Beatles, Beach Boys, Phoenix, Adele, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Iron & Wine.  There are a few songs I just can’t resist dancing to, a couple recent ones are “Uptown Funk”by Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson and “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift.

9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?

Can it be a make believe skill?  I wish I could teleport.  Just snap my fingers and be where I need to be in an instant.  I have a 4 year old and a 13 year old, and, well- most parents know the drill- there are dance classes, art classes, soccer practices, baseball practices, school events, parent teacher conferences, PTA meetings, homework, and projects, that all need to be attended to- and that’s just your typical Wednesday!

10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?

I am a bit ashamed to admit this, but I feel like I am missing a limb without my phone.  My entire existence (and my family’s!) is kept organize on that little device- calendars, reminders, to do lists, maps, notes, photos, emails, chats, all of it!  I do try to be aware of how much I use the phone and set rules for myself that I hope my kids will emulate- 1) no phone at the dinner table- the person sitting in front of you is more important than the screen, 2) not every minute of every day needs to be captured by a photo- I’d rather experience the moment than capture a picture of it, and 3) do only one thing at a time- no driving and cell phone, no watching television and cell phone, no walking and cell phone.

11. Anything else you would like to share with us?

I very much appreciate this group and my colleagues in the FCIL-SIS.  I never fail to be awed and inspired by the work all of you do, and I count myself fortunate to part of such a collaborative and supportive community.