Volume 6 No.1, Spring, 2001 (ISSN 1084-9068)
Table of Contents
AALLC Survey Results
Words from the Editor
Jonathan Franklin
Looking Forward and Looking Back.
The Annual Meeting is almost here!
The Business Meeting will be from 5:15 to 5:45 on Tuesday. At the meeting, we will be discussing the past year's events, the Caucus finances, Committee reports, and goals for the future. This meeting will include the election of new officers and a discussion of how to use AALLC funds to best benefit the membership.
The Business Meeting will be followed by an open discussion about Meeting Challenges in the Workplace. We are all stressed about learning new computer systems, dealing with new mergers of publishers, and serving patrons with higher expectations. This moderated discussion will go from 5:45 to 6:15. Please bring your tips and questions. This should be an excellent session on an important topic.
This year, the banquet will be at lunch on Tuesday from 12:30 to 2:30. Thanks to Mila for coordinating the banquet. More details will follow about this memorable annual event.
Along with the Business Meeting and the Banquet, there will be a great deal to do in Minneapolis, from the Diversity Symposium on Saturday to the FCIL-SIS Asian Law Interest Group on Tuesday to the Closing Banquet on Wednesday.
I look forward to seeing those who can come.
Looking back, this is my last Asian Law Link column and AALLC can only run with the help of its members. This year went so smoothly because we had extraordinary contributions made by several members.
Pin-Sheng Hsiao has done a fantastic job with the newsletter. Without her, there would not have been a survey or Asain Law Link. Thank you, Pin-Sheng.
Ting James has served ably as our Treasurer. Thanks to her, our finances remain in order. Thank you, Ting.
Mila Rush has taken on numerous duties, including serving as Program Chair and coordinating the banquet. Thank you, Mila.
There are numerous others whose counsel and efforts have been invaluable over the past year. Thank you. I hope that you will continue to contribute your time and ideas to the Caucus.
Have a wonderful summer.
Career Paths to Law Librarianship Robert Hu
I've been a law librarian since 1993. After graduating from Beijing University with a law degree in 1984, I came to the United States to study law, hoping to return home one day to be a lawyer or law professor. I enrolled at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and earned a Masters of Law (LL.M.) after two years. I went on to study at Illinois toward a doctorate in law and educational policy, thinking that it would ultimately help me land a teaching job in my native China. While pursuing my doctorate there, I became interested in some practical legal experience. Accordingly, I applied for an internship with the legal department of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and was given the opportunity to work for ACLU in New York city for one summer. My internship involved researching immigration cases for ACLU attorneys, an experience which was interesting and which whetted my appetite for a career in law. I tried to look for work with law firms but failed to secure a position perhaps because there was not much demand at that time for someone with my educational background and experience. It might have been different in today's global interdependency.
My professional interest in legal work took a dramatic turn in the late 1980s when political turmoil broke out in China after a student-led democratic movement met a bloody crackdown by the government. It became clear then that I would stay here for much longer than I had expected and therefore was forced to take a more realistic approach toward employment. At that time several of my close Chinese friends were enrolled in the Graduate School of Library of Information Science at Illinois (which is perhaps one of the very best library schools in U.S.) and had already received job offers from academic libraries from across the country. Suddenly the prospects of going to library school and of becoming a a law librarian became attractive to me. I thus enrolled in library school and three semesters later received my MLS. After spending countless hours searching job postings and sending over one hundred letters to prospective employers, I got my first professional job at the College of William and Mary Law Library as a Reference/Catalog Librarian.
My first job at William and Mary was both educational and enjoyable, a position through which I learned the basics of cataloging and reference work (invaluable skills in my subsequent positions). The director, Jim Heller, was a tremendous manager and great mentor. My supervisor for cataloging, Sue Welch, was such a good teacher and nice friend. I was fortunate to work there and learned so much from them and other colleagues. Despite my satisfaction at William and Mary, I was ready to move on after four years. I first moved to Wake Forest University Law Library as a Reference Librarian. Two years later, I headed West to Gonzaga University Law Library as Head of Reader Services. Barely settled down after one year at Gonzaga, I found myself in the process of moving again: a new job at Texas Tech University as the Head of Public Services. In my current position, I am responsible for all areas the public sees in our library: circulation, interlibrary loan, reference, research and instructions, faculty services, and the Library Website. I really enjoy my job and the people I work with. I just cannot wait to come to work every morning in the Law Library.
Aging in the Asian-American Community: A Bibliography of Websites and other Resources
by Mon Yin Lung, Public Services Librarian, University of Kansas Law School Library
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Websites and Information Useful to Senior Asian-Americans
III. American-published American Newspapers in Asian Languages (sample)
IV. Going Back to the Old Country - Senior Asian-Americans Living Abroad
Due to the length of this bibliography, please click HERE to see the full text.
[Editor’s note: the following article is a revised version submitted by the author in December 2002 and printed without editorial oversight.]
Networking and Mentors: Thoughts for Career Skills Development and Combating Stereotypes for Knowledge Management Professionals
by Jean Chong, Manager, Tax Research Centre (Toronto, Ontario. Canada) Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP.
After reading the provocative article by David Thomas, "The Truth about Mentoring Minorities: Race Matters" (Harvard Business Review, Apr. 2001), I was moved to explore some of his main points that can be germane to knowledge management professionals: -- approaches to heterogeneous networking, plus the importance of heterogeneous networks and mentors versus coaches or sponsors throughout one's career.
Heterogeneous networking: diversify your networking
Knowledge management professionals have been indoctrinated in their formal education and on the job, to network for resource-sharing, collegial support, problem-solving and learning. Professional associations, the ubiquity of Internet and email communication, also greatly facilitate speed and multiplicity of network contacts.
However a greater challenge for us is networking broadly within our present organization and outside the information profession to reach key stakeholder client groups, related industries or simply other sectors of personal interest, with spin-off benefits for widening our network of contacts. For sectors of personal interest, we may also strengthen skills we may or may not have the opportunity to exercise on the job. Heterogeneous networking can be viewed as a network of people from within and outside a person's workplace who are peers, colleagues, mentors and coaches drawn from different backgrounds, occupations and social strata in their respective organizations or in life.
Conversely, homogeneous networking can be confined by one occupational or functional group, a common shared interest, gender or ethnicity. Thomas asserts that networking predominantly within a homogeneous group can be valuable. However he notes that if anyone who wants to land a high-profile internal project or advance in management within an organization, relying just on homogeneous networks outside the circle of decision-makers, is not always helpful. (p. 106)
Heterogeneous networking means taking upon high visibility assignments or participating in strategic teamwork which crosses functional groups or different departments within your own organization. For knowledge management professionals, this work inevitably includes networking with key client stakeholders and building alliances with other divisions, such as information technology, employee training, product development, marketing and senior management. Perception of your skills by corporate decision-makers, must be broadened by improving and positioning your skill set as more diverse, not just aligned to your formal training or functional responsibility (ie. library function).
At PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), I participate in monthly meetings which include other national managers from employee education, tax information technology and knowledge management. These meetings focus heavily on national corporate projects and planning, sometimes within the context of broader PwC international projects. Sample issues and projects that the committee have tackled are: major changes to national licensing contracts for external research content, deployment of training for new research products, Lotus Notes 5 portal development and so forth.
Elsewhere in the firm, I participated on a team with two other national managers, one for Business Research Centre and the latter for Canadian Internet/intranet development at PwC, on developing a standard that defined core skills for over 30 knowledge management employees across the country. This networking was invaluable for accelerating my understanding of knowledge management concepts and necessary skills for the present and future. After all, I had to later explain the standard to my own staff for their awareness and performance appraisals.
Heterogeneous, internal networking - evaluating the skill for performance
A knowledge management worker at PwC is evaluated partially by a person's degree of effective networking and their influence across functional groups within the organization. At PwC, "working in a global matrix" or cross-functional effectiveness, teamwork and cross-functional influence, is identified as a specific skill. This skill is one of several knowledge management skills for performance evaluation. PwC is organized by industry sectors in order to effectively target and deliver specialized services to outside client groups. Sample industry sectors across the tax division are: consumer products, TICE (information technology, communications and entertainment). For more details on in cross-industry lines, see: http://www.pwcglobal.com/ .
The higher the minimal skill rating expected of a job classification level, the greater range of industry and functional lines which the person will need to interact in order to implement a large project or provide influence and leadership in change management. This skill for PwC knowledge management workers is defined for different job level -- from information technician to a global knowledge management corporate leader.
Obviously success begins with understanding the needs of client groups. For knowledge management professionals, responding to information needs means developing on-target information services, training and mechanisms for increased leveraging of internal expert knowledge to create new knowledge.
Networking: navigating among different communities of practice and subcultures while improving communication flexibility
Wider, cross-departmental exposure may force you to step outside of "libraryspeak" or traditional perspectives of information management by reframing your words to a broader audience while at the same time, exposing yourself to alternate industry language or even, a culture of another sector.
Earlier in my career when I was working for the Fire Sciences Library at the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal, I found it more effective to adjust my language and customer service behaviour between two major, but different client groups -- engineers and firefighters. The common denominator between these two groups was a predominance of white males, with the latter client group overwhelmingly at 80 per cent. Particularily for firefighters, I subconsciously found myself pitching my message and mannerisms in a more informal, direct style without hopefully, compromising professional credibility. In contrast, with engineers, the aim was to communicate information in objective, technical terms with a clear, logical pattern in tune with their training.
While networking with client groups, humour and non-work topics can prove to be great conversational lubricants --in small doses. Not surprisingly, sports is one activity that is discussed among both client groups. For awhile, I had nothing to offer until later, I became hooked on cycling. Imagine the surprise of a certain fire chief and some firefighters when my partner and I stopped at a fundraising, breakfast barbecue organized by a fire department while we were cycle-touring with loaded panniers through the countryside. After introducing myself to the fire chief on site, we chatted briefly about a new provincial firefighter training standard that was initiated by my employer. I would like to think I busted 2 stereotypes at this networking moment --librarians and Asians are fitness wimps.
Networking: broadening visibility by improving and using public speaking skills
Part of networking within an organization and with client groups, can require increasing your visibility in instructional delivery, especially in-depth group sessions over an hour long where you are required to demonstrate knowledge of strategic resources or research techniques which may include audience evaluation of your session. While it is one thing to simply market information services in general, it is another thing to understand a research product or a subject area of research resources thoroughly to instruct and handle questions in a public forum.
For some knowledge professionals, this change in role can heighten feelings of risk-taking, especially if they entered into the profession with a preference to focus on one-to-one relationships with clients as a research specialist, or on the technical side in cataloguing, database development or Internet /intranet development. Presentation and teaching skills, two related but different skills, tend to be skills that many knowledge professionals acquire during their career, not within their degree program.
However, instructional delivery is an excellent way to demonstrate your competence in navigating among electronic and print research resources when you can publicly field unexpected questions from the audience. Yes, you can write about it but these days, your clients are simply drowning in a sea of more written information. Let's not kid ourselves: reading about research techniques for any electronic product is not as fun nor as productive as an interactive teaching session with computers.
Networking and mentors
A mentor, sponsor or coach can help introduce you to different key groups within or outside your organization. Thomas does not always clearly distinguish differences among these roles because a person can sometimes play more than one role simultaneously for the protégé. A coach gives merely instructional guidance and may be a person with whom the protégé may not always feel much connection due to a variety of reasons: occupational role differences, personality or value systems.
On the other hand, a good sponsor can play a more significant role than a coach. A sponsor may be a boss or another senior manager, who provides challenging assignments that will allow a protégé to increase competence. If the project or position has corporate visibility, it will signal high trust in the capabilities of the person. Ideally when the mentor is also a sponsor, then he or she may also protect the person from unfair criticism, especially if there is racial undertones. Finally a mentor within one's own organization, can play a dual role as a critical sponsor for the protégé by recruiting a protégé to new positions over time. (p. 102)
It is useful to note that a mentor does not have to be a boss or even in a management role. Although the mentor in this capacity cannot act as a sponsor for the protégé, the mentor can provide key career advice to prevent the person from becoming sidetracked in his or her career. Also the protégé identifies more closely with the mentor and feels greater psychological comfort to discuss problems, compared to strictly a sponsor.
Thomas posits that the quality of a mentoring relationship improves if there is discussion on race-related issues that can affect a person's career and working relationships. In my experience, for one significant mentor, she and I are able to discuss openly such issues since she lived for several years at the time, in apartheid South Africa. Even though our discussions on race did not dwell on employment issues since I did not perceive problems for myself, it was helpful just to know that I could discuss with someone in the profession if something ever occurred.
Then many years later, she told me that a prospective employer had asked about my English language skills. For a Canadian-born Asian who has not even visited Asia yet, I was surprised by the question. I cannot even recall her response but it was a good response from her that clarified the issue.
These misperceptions would raise their ugly head but for different reasons, when I was to act in a mentor-sponsor role when I had to interview for a library technician position. The other interviewing manager, an engineer, felt I should hire the MLS-degreed librarian as a technician. Obviously the candidate was desperately looking for information-related work. She was a good candidate with her MLS from an accredited Canadian university with professional library work experience, but I was needled by my conscience that we were under-employing her. Some employers prefer highly educated immigrants, to have Canadian professional or adopted country work experience.
We did hire her and she worked with us for awhile. To make a long story short, she eventually returned to Hong Kong for primarily family reasons where shortly she became a manager of 13 people in a technical library. For mentors, coaches and prospective employers, these real-life situations are highlighted for improving organizational practices in hiring, working relationships and staff development. Perhaps by diversifying a network of contacts by both employers and job-seekers, it could open a broader slate of hiring opportunities and reduce misperceptions.
As Thomas points out: "Establishing a diverse network is just a start --a person's network must be replenished and modified continually." (p. 106) Ideally, it is helpful to have a heterogeneous network of relationships which includes a rich mix of internal and external people who are peers, colleagues, mentors and coaches drawn from different backgrounds and social strata in their respective organizations or in life.
Networking and risk-taking
Inevitably, if a person wishes to diversify their skill set by communicating in a more public sphere either further up the management chain or across functional groups; by tackling high visibility, strategic projects, or switching jobs, then a person must be prepared to accept some risk. Heterogeneous networking can also lead to taking calculated risks in a broader, public forum to strengthen one's skill set.
In today's more rapid pace of organizational change plus changes in knowledge management, there is greater risk of becoming irrelevant byremaining in the same role with the same responsibilities and the same research tools for a long time. More than ever before, we need to sustain a core network of key, trusted contacts over a long time period, who embrace positive change in work and life and take an interest in our growth and health.
_______________________________________________________________________
Thomas, David A. "The truth about mentoring minorities: race matters," Harvard
Business Review, Apr. 2001, pp. 97-107.
General web site: http://www.people.hbs.edu/dthomas/
Please send your feedback to the author at orchidchong@novus-tele.net
Nomination Committee Report
The Nomination Committee (Bill McCloy, Heija Ryoo, and Wei Luo) is pleased to announce that Ting James has accepted our nomination to be the candidate for the Vice President/President-Elect and Jessie Tam has accepted our nomination to be the candidate of the Secretary/Treasurer.
Ms. Ting James is the cataloging librarian at St. Louis University Law Library. She served as the Secretary/Treasurer for the last two years and assisted Heija Ryoo in maintaining the Caucus' directory on the web.
Ms. Jessie Tam is the cataloging librarian at Pittsburgh University Law Library. She has been actively participating in our Caucus' activities for the past few years.
Membership News
Hua Li has left Creighton University Law Library in Omaha, Nevada and has come to Horsham in Pennsylvania to remain close to her family. She will say goodbye to us for a while. Hopefully, she will join us again in the near future.
Franklin Y. Liu has co-authored a definitive, comprehensive and in-depth legal reseach book for Pennsylvania Law titled PENNSYLVANIA LEGAL RESEARCH HANDBOOK. The book integrates paper and on-line legal research methods. It is the first book of its kind in the history of Pennsylsvania legal research. The book is due to be published by American Lawyer Media before the end of June, 2001.
Cossette Sun was designated representative to the Pre-Conference of the Asian-Pacific American Librarians by AALL President Bob Oakley. The Pre-Conference, which was held on June 13-15 in San Francisco, was part of the ALA 2001 Annual Meeting. As member of the AALL's Executive Board, Cossette Sun is a board liaison to the Diversity Committee. She also serves on the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee, the Awards Committee, and the Scholarship Awards Committee of the First National Conference on Asian Pacific American Librarians.
In addition, a formal agreement was established between Alameda County and Taoyuan County of Taiwan in 1998, which designated them as sister counties. Cossette Sun, Director of the Alameda County Law Library and President of the Alameda-Taoyuan Sister County Association, joined the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the County Administrator, Mayors of the Cities of Fremont and Dublin, and the University of California in a delegation to Taiwan, March 12-16, 2001. They visited the Taoyuan Government Officials and the Presidential Palace of Taiwan. Taiwan's contribution to the growth of the East Bay economy can be seen in the fact that the City of Fremont alone has over 100 companies from Taiwan.
Snow Zhu has left the Legal Services of New Jersey Library for the United Nation Digital library in New York.
New Title in Korean Law
Economic Laws on Foreign Investment in Korea This book, published in 2000 (1360p.) by the Korean Legislation Research Institute at Ministry of Legislation, is a compilation of economic laws translated in English, including thirty-five key individual acts. The acts are listed under the following subjects: Basic Laws; Laws Concerning Foreign Investment; Corporate Laws; Trade Laws; Financial Laws; Intellectual Property Laws; Tax Laws; Labor Laws; and Laws Concerning Dispute Settlement.
The full text of the acts is now available on the Ministry of
Legislation web site at:
< http://www.moleg.go.kr/mlawinfo/english/htms/list01.html >
The contact address is:
Legislation Information Office, Korea Legislation Research Institute,
Ministry of Legislation, Central Government Complex BD.
Sejongro 77 Jongro-gu, Seoul, Korea 110-760
e-mail: m_moleg@moleg.go.kr
Homepage:< http://www.moleg.go.kr/ >
AALLC Survey Results
Finding out what people are interested in is always a challenge. On the AALLC website, we recently ran a survey which was initiated by our Caucus president, Jonathan Franklin. The online survey asked our members one simple question:
What topic would you like presented at the post-Business Meeting presentation in
Minneapolis?
- Meeting the Increasing Challenges in the Workplace
- Balancing Home and Work
- Dealing with Challenging Patrons
- How to Publish Articles
- Resume Writing
- Others
The results are as follows:
A total of 15 people responded to the survey. Topping the list were 8 votes for "meeting the increasing challenges in the workplace," followed by 3 votes for "how to publish articles," and 1 vote for "resume writing." The other categories received no hits. In addition, the survey also elicited some good suggestions from our members. Mon Yin Lung of the University of Kansas Law School Library suggested that rather than the usual two speakers/commentators from academic libraries address the post-business meeting, we should have one speaker/commentator with another from law firm libraries. This would reflect the current trend whereby law firm libraries have been increasing in number. Another suggestion was from Dan Wade of Yale Law School Librarry. Dan believes that it would be beneficial to have a substantive program on one of the Asian jurisdictions. This would help those who are not working on Asian law related fields to understand more about laws in Asian countries.
We thank you very much for your suggestions. Your active participation is not only greatly appreciated but, more important, is vital to the success and growth of our organization.
Words from the Editor
I would like to take this opportunity to announce the formation of an Editorial Advisory Committee for Asian Law Link. The Committee is made up of three members, Jonathan Franklin, Mon Yin Lung, and Mila Rush. With their expertise, these members will help to enhance the quality of our publication. Specifically, the Advisory Committee will assist in
the creation and approval of general policies relating to the content of Asian Law Link. The Asian Law Link editor, however, has final discretion for specific content, form, and style of all items in Asian Law Link.
Furthermore, I would like to announce that Asian Law Link has established an editorial policy. It is our hope that the editorial policy will provide some general guidelines and clarify the reciprocal responsibilities between contributor and editor. Please take a moment to read the policy stated below.
Asian Law Link reports news and information relevant to Asian-American Law Librarians Caucus (AALLC) members. This includes, but is not limited to, member news, Asian law bibliographies, issues of career enhancement and advancement, member profiles, official minutes, committee reports, and news regarding the AALLC Annual Meeting. Asian Law Link only accepts articles deemed by the editorial staff to be of interest to our readers. Submissions considered to be advertorial will not be published.
All submissions will be edited for clarity and grammar. Whenever possible, the editor will contact an author to discuss questions of intention and interpretation. Articles should not exceed 1000 words; the editor reserves the right to make exceptions and to condense lengthy pieces to accommodate available space.
Finally, let me thank the Editorial Advisory Committee for their comments, suggestions and concrete work on the editorial policy. Their input has been invaluable and their dedication to the overall quality of Asian Law Link is highly commendable.
To contact the editor, please send email to Pin-Sheng Hsiao .
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