Career Paths to Law Librarianship
Pin-sheng Hsiao
After working nine years in Taiwan as a librarian at various institutions, I decided to take a break and visit the United States. I wanted to make the best of my break, so I thought about getting a degree at the same time. Since I already had a master’s degree in library science from a school in Taiwan, I wanted to do something different. Thus, I chose the Educational Media program at Temple University. The program was enjoyable and consisted of mostly production courses. I learned about computers and graphic design, which later became very useful. Toward the end of my program, I got married. Because my husband is not from Taiwan, I decided not to return to Taiwan.
I then decided to find a job in the field I know best. After graduating, I found a job at Temple University Library as a library assistant. Having been a library manager, a research associate, and a college adjunct in Taiwan, however, I soon became unsatisfied with the position. I realized that if I wanted to become a professional librarian in America, I would need an ALA-accredited degree. With this in mind, I enrolled in the library and information science program at nearby Drexel University the following year. When I was about two-thirds of the way through the library program, Temple University hired a reference librarian who formerly worked at ALA. He informed me that my degree from Taiwan entitled me to apply for an ALA-equivalent degree. I subsequently applied for and was granted an equivalent library science degree. Clearly, I was overjoyed and relieved; nonetheless, I was still determined to finish the degree at Drexel.
I soon found a job with the Philadelphia office of the law firm Reed Smith, LLP. The job was a newly created position due to the firm’s growth. Having little experience in the private sector, but great interest in library automation systems, I quickly adapted to the new environment. Within a short period, I was offered the position of firm-wide technical services librarian. Since then, our firm has grown from six offices to thirteen offices, and has become an international firm. Most recently, I was promoted to the position of head of technical services. This year, I just celebrated my fifth anniversary working for Reed Smith.
When I look back upon my career path, one thing in particular seems clear to me now: I am a technical person. I did not realize this until I became a law librarian.
Membership News
Robert Haibin Hu recently published a book, Research Guide to Chinese Patent Law and Practice (Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2002). This is Robert’s second publication, the first being a Guide to China Copyright Law Studies, also published by William Hein & Co (2000).
Employment Opportunities
I) Aloha from Swee Berkey at the University of Hawai’i!
We have a job opening here at the law library. Anyone want to work on a suntan? We are still accepting applications. See job description below or on our Web page at http://library.law.hawaii.edu/.
LIBRARIAN II-III,
Bibliographic Services/Systems Librarian, Position No. 083610, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, The William S. Richardson School of Law Library, full-time, general funds, tenure track position, available immediately. DUTIES: Oversees all aspects of the library’s bibliographic and physical processing functions, including cataloging and classification of the law library’s information resources using AACR2, MARC formats, and LC classification and subject heading schemes. Serves as lead system administrator/liaison on bibliographic and related systems matters with staff from the University Library System, OCLC, and Endeavor. Prefer work schedule of 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Saturday; schedule negotiable. Some evening and weekend work required. Engages in other library duties, as assigned. Minimum Qualifications: Librarian II: A master’s degree in library or information science from an ALA accredited institution or international equivalent. Librarian III: In addition to the Master’s degree, above, 24 post-baccalaureate credits of academic study; and at least three years of appropriate professional experience.
Desirable Qualifications: Cataloging or technical services work experience, including bibliographic systems administration, preferably in academic law library; government documents experience; J.D. from ABA-accredited law school or course work in technology-related disciplines; computer literacy; Chinese and/or Japanese language proficiency.
Salary Range: Librarian II: $35,316 - 52,248; Librarian III: $41,304-61,128.
To apply, send letter of application, resume, three letters of recommendation and three additional references to Associate Professor Leina`ala Seeger, Law Librarian, The William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, 2525 Dole Street, Honolulu, HI 96822.
Closing Date: October 7, 2002, or until position is filled.
II) Library of Congress
Vacancy Announcement Number: 020243
Position Title, Series, Grade: Foreign Law Specialist, GS-009511
Promotion Potential: 15
Salary: $46,469.00 - $60,405.00 Annual
Notes: This position requires a reading, writing, and speaking knowledge of the English language sufficient to provide advice and assistance to the members, committees and staff of the United States Congress, Federal agencies, and U.S. Courts on conventional foreign legal issues, questions,
or situations.
This position located in the Eastern Law Division of the Law Library, relates to the laws of Japan.
RELOCATION EXPENSES MAY BE AUTHORIZED FOR THE PERSONS SELECTED UNDER THIS VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT.
HOW TO APPLY:
To be considered for this vacancy, applicants may apply online at www.loc.gov or complete and submit an applicant job kit that includes the completion of an applicant questionnaire using a scannable form. The online process allows applicants to prepare an application that can be printed for personal use and saved and edited (if necessary) on the website for future use. The online application contains all of the data elements/fields that are required for submission of an application for federal employment. In order to use this online application system applicants must use a computer that is equipped with either Netscape 4.7 or Internet Explorer 5.0. Attempting to complete the online application with an incompatible browser could result in the submission of an incomplete application. If you experience difficulties, please direct all inquiries to jobhelp@loc.gov. The applicant job kit requires completion of
a scannable form. You can request a copy of the applicant job kit and scannable form by contacting the Employment Office at the address listed below (a facsimile of the scannable form cannot be accepted nor will hard copy applications be accepted without a completed scannable form):
The Library of Congress Employment Office - Staffing/Recruitment Group
101 Independence Avenue, SE, LM-107
Washington, D.C. 20540-2295
(202) 707-5627
Please be advised that due to security concerns on Capitol Hill, mail delivery from the United States Postal Service is experiencing significant delays. As a result, you are strongly encouraged to apply online. If you choose to submit a hard-copy application, we recommend that you send it via Fed-Ex or United Parcel Service (UPS) and that you allow at least 72 hours for delivery, even for overnight packages.
DUTIES:
Provides advice on foreign laws and collaborates with a variety of staff to enhance the exchange of legal information. Produces reports and other documents individually or as part of a team. Prepares scholarly publications and bibliographic materials. Performs foreign law research at various levels of complexity. Conducts legal research using on-line sources of information. Uses knowledge of sources of legal information, legal research methodology, and experience in legislative analysis to assist in the development of the Law Library's legal information system, the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN). GLIN development activities may include, but are not limited to the following: promotion of the system; recommendation of appropriate government contacts in countries under his/her assigned jurisdiction for possible GLIN membership; proposal of candidate terms for inclusion in the GLIN thesaurus; and quality review of summaries and texts of legal instruments submitted by GLIN member nations under his/her assigned jurisdiction. Performs functions relating to the development and maintenance of legal collections of foreign laws in the Library.
EVALUATION OF TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:
Applicants must have had progressively responsible experience and training sufficient in scope and quality to furnish them with the following knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties of the position without more than normal supervision.:
Ability to communicate orally in providing foreign legal services.
Ability to communicate in writing in providing foreign legal services.
Ability to meet and effectively deal with others in providing foreign legal services.
Ability to develop and maintain legal collections of foreign laws.
Knowledge of and competency in the laws of Japan.
English Language Proficiency.
BASIS OF RATING:
You will be rated based on your qualifications for this position as evidenced by the education, experience and training you report relative to this position which shows that you posses the knowledges, skills and
abilities required. Paid or unpaid experience will be considered.
To see the complete version as well as details on how to apply (both online and by hard copy), you should go to the Library of Congress home page:
1) www.loc.gov
2) click on "jobs and fellowships"
3) click on "current job vacancies
4) click on Vacancy #020243 Foreign Law Specialist
NOTE: closing date is Nov. 4, 2002.
Minutes of the Asian-American Law Librarians Caucus Business Meeting
Time: 7:30-8:30 a.m., July 24, 2002
Location: Peabody Hotel, Conway Room, Orlando, Florida
Attendees: Swee Berkey (University of Hawaii), Yan Hong (University of Connecticut), Robert Hu (Texas Tech. University), Chaowu Jin (Peking University), Xiaohai Jin (Peking University), Helen Kim (Pace University), Clement Lau (University of Baltimore), Wei Luo (Washington University), Masako Patrum (Texas Tech. University), Mila Rush (University of Minnesota), Jessie Tam (University of Pittsburgh), Dan Wade (Yale University), Susan Weber (University of Hawaii), Victoria Williamson (University of La Verne), Yuan Yao (Georgetown University), Jindi Zhang (Pace University).
Actions: Mila Rush, president of the caucus, called the meeting to order at 7:35 a.m. Seventeen members and friends attended the meeting. Two guests from China joined us at this meeting: Chaowu Jin and Xiaohai Jin, both from the Peking University Law School.
I. Approval of the minutes of the business meeting on July 17, 2001 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Past Secretary/Treasurer Ting James did not attend the meeting as she was out of the country, so we did not have a copy of the minutes. Mila proposed tentatively approving the minutes. A message on the caucus listserv will ask members to read the minutes—posted in AALLC newsletter, volume 6, number 2 (summer 2001)—and to send any corrections to Jessie Tam. If no corrections are received within two weeks, the minutes will be automatically approved.
Mila mentioned several corrections. The location of the meeting was at the Hilton Hotel, not at the Minneapolis Convention Center. In addition, her affiliation is the University of Minnesota Law Library, not the University of Minneapolis Law Library. She also noted that the discussion of the committee restructuring should be moved from the Program Committee report to a second item under New Business.
II. President’s remarks -- Mila Rush
Heija Ryoo is on sabbatical and resigned as the AALLC list owner. Jessie Tam is the current list owner. Pin-sheng Hsiao is the vice-president/president-elect nominee and resigned as AALLC newsletter editor. David Mao will be the new newsletter editor.
III. Report from Secretary/Treasurer --Jessie Tam
The opening balance in July 2001 was $986.50. Six members contributed to the caucus for a total of $70.00 added. The caucus used $107.00 to subsidize last year’s luncheon. The Executive Committee approved Pin-sheng Hsiao’s (Webmaster and newsletter editor) request to purchase FrontPage for Web editing. The cost was $186.18. The current balance is $763.32.
Following Jessie’s report, there was discussion on how to spend the money. Mila tried to look for a speaker without success. The caucus would have spent its budget on subsidizing the expenses of the speaker. Members suggested giving out a grant. Robert Hu will chair a committee to explore ways to spend the money. Susan Weber and Swee Berkey are the members. Yan Hong suggested asking for vendor and publisher sponsorship.
The finance discussion turned to public relations. Members suggested having a public relations committee to promote the caucus. It was pointed out that the Communications & Publicity Committee was formed last year to serve this purpose.
The group discussed setting up an activity table at the AALL annual conferences. Wei Luo emphasized that it is important to have members present at the table. This discussion will be continued on the listserv.
IV. Committee reports
Nominations Committee Report: Robert Hu on behalf of Jonathan Franklin, reported that Pin-sheng was nominated as vice-president/president-elect. Pin-sheng is a librarian from Philadelphia. She currently serves as AALLC Webmaster and was our newsletter editor for the last two years. She was elected with unanimous approval.
Ting James is our new president. She works for St. Louis University law library.
Yuan Yao asked about the nomination process. He requested that the Nominations Committee announce the nominees on the listserv. The by-laws do not currently specify this requirement.
Program Committee report: Ting James was not present at the meeting and no written report was submitted.
Membership Committee report: Wei Luo sent the following written report to the listserv.
The membership committee has not done much this year. We used our personal contacts to recruit a few more law librarians and a library school student to join our caucus. We believe the most successful recruitment method is to use personal contacts to encourage those librarians with Asian ethnic background or interests in Asian law to join us. Therefore, we would like to call upon all the caucus members to use this method to help us in recruiting.
Communications & Publicity Committee report:
a. Written report submitted by Heija Ryoo
Communications & Publicity is responsible for communicating within our Caucus and beyond, the gamut of information about the Caucus and its members. Among the activities of this committee are the Newsletter, Web site, AALLC Listserv, and Directory. The members of this committee are Pin-sheng Hsiao, Xinh Luu, David Mao and Heija Ryoo.
The directory web page has been maintained throughout the year, with the latest revision, July 15, 2002. As of this date, we have 125 members listed in the directory. Last year, the directory was moved to the AALL server from the SIU server when our AALLC web page was loaded onto the AALL server. If there are any corrections/additions, please let Heija Ryoo (hryoo@siu.edu) know.
AALLC list is established to facilitate and enhance communication among its members. It is a public list, but requires a subscription to the list. As of this date, we have 96 subscribers. For the past several years, Heija Ryoo has been listserv owner. Due to her sabbatical leave from July 1, AALLC needed a new listowner, and Jessie Tam has graciously agreed to serve as our new listserv owner since June, 2002.
b. Newsletter Report—Mila Rush on behalf of Pin-sheng Hsiao
Pin-sheng requested new Web software because of the limitations of the current Web software.
V. Discussion of membership dues
Yuan Yao started a discussion on membership dues. Mila talked about the history of not having membership dues. The caucus must be a formal AALL organization in order to collect dues. The caucus must follow strict AALL rules in order to apply for official-organization status. This topic was discussed a long time ago. Mila suggested it might be time to reexamine whether the caucus should apply again. Taxes will be an issue if the caucus collects dues. Mila asked for volunteers who would look into this issue. Yuan agreed to check the AALL rules.
VI. Asian Law Working Group
Wei Luo reported that the Asian law working group met in the afternoon on July 23.
VII. New business
Mila mentioned that David Mao, who will be taking over the job as newsletter editor, asked if there is manual on the position. Mila said that one of the charges for the restructure committee last year was to compile guidelines for succeeding committees.
Susan Weber suggested that committee chairs should pass written notes to the incoming chairs.
Yuan Yao suggested a written charge for appointing new chair and committee members instead of by verbal delegation.
VIII. Announcement
Dan Wade from Yale reported that the Foreign, Comparative, and International Law SIS is interested in proposing an Asian law program. Wei Luo showed interest on this idea. Yuan Yao proposed Wei takes the lead on proposing a program.
IX. Adjournment
The business meeting was adjourned at 8:45 AM.
Words from the Editor
Thank you Pin-sheng for doing such a wonderful job with the newsletter over the last several years. I look forward to working as the newsletter editor and welcome any comments or suggestions from the caucus. I would love to hear any article ideas, news and interesting developments from the AALLC community. Please feel free to contact me at dmao@cov.com.