April 2018: Ning Han

• Why did you join AALLc?

I felt it was a long time ago, probably the same time when I first joined AALL. But I definitely had became more involved since 2015. At the 2016 Chicago meeting, I co-presented Librarianship Across Asia and How It Impacts Us with Avery Le and Pushya Veeramachaneni as the Caucus’s unofficial program.

• What do you do as a law librarian?

My primary responsibility lies in Technical Services but because my library is very small and my office is conveniently  located in the middle of the library, I also do reference, research consultation, and teaching Legal Research Mondays, which is a series of librarians taught research workshops. Maintaining institutional repository and promoting faculty scholarship through their Selected Works profiles are also my job. In addition, I work closely with our Law Review to provide research support, most importantly, digitally publishing Concordia Law Review when new issue is ready.

I also love my other job by which I mean my committee work! I chaired WestPac’s local arrangement committee last year and successfully hosted close to 50 law librarians at Concordia School of Law for WestPac’s 50^th Annual Conference. For the next three years, I will be Treasurer and serving on the Executive Board for WestPac. CAFLL is also my secret love. I will be Co-Chairing the Program Committee with Vicki Szymczak for the upcoming 2019 conference. How exciting!

• What do you enjoy most about your job?

Being able to do a little bit of everything. I am still having the new law school mentality even though five and half years had passed. My library should be called room with books when I first started working there. We used to check out books on paper until I purchased and configured the library system, built the catalog, and many other fundamental library infrastructure. All of my work eventually made automated circulation, ILL, off-campus access, and many other library services a possibility. Looking back, I am quite proud of what I’ve done.

• What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Spending time with my 2-year old, traveling and exploring new restaurants or food spots.

• What is your favorite travel destination (Asia or otherwise!)?

Wherever there is ocean. Maui and Cancun are my recent favorites. I grow up in a coastal city. Living in Boise makes me miss everything about being close to ocean and beach. I would love to check out some Asian vacations spots like Bali and Maldives

• What one recommendation do you have for new members of AALLc?

Join a committee and get more involved. There are not too many of us. It is a great way to get to know more people who might be huge help to each other’s career at some point.