In 2015-2016, the Programming Committee chaired by Pat Roncevich offered well-received programs. These included: “Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Tips for Improving Productivity and Maintaining Your Sanity,” “Keeping Current with Law Librarianship: How to Efficiently Monitor the Latest News,” and “Free, Low-Cost, and New Legal Research Sites: Surveying the Landscape.” WPLLA continued its Holiday and Banquet events.
WPLLA will continue to offer programming remotely as well as on site to accommodate members. WPLLA hopes to offer more informal social events to help strengthen networking for members.
The Annual Spring Banquet featured Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Court Reporter Paula Reed Ward.
Several retiring members’ contributions were honored: Dr. Joel Fishman, Associate Director of Lawyer Service, Allegheny County Law Library, for over thirty years of service to the organization and Sallie Smith, University of Pittsburgh Law Library, for editing of the WPLLA Newsletter. Retiring longtime members Dittakavi Rao, Trinka Reid and Linda Schneider were also acknowledged. Frank Liu, Director, Duquesne Center for Legal Information and Allegheny County Law Library was recognized for his induction into the 2016 AALL Hall of Fame.
WPLLA’s Legal Education Ad Hoc Committee held a membership meeting to discuss ways to continue our longstanding commitment to education. The recommendation from the meeting was to offer short webinars on key research topics to summer associates. This programming was postponed until 2017 for timing reasons.
The WPLLA website redesign by Liz Whittington, featuring a public and members section, continued toward rollout, projected for Fall 2016.
The WPLLA membership directory (pdf) was supplied to members.
The WPLLA Board acknowledges that members feel increased demands on their time and energies at work and at home. WPLLA will offer a list of committees with short descriptions and examples of “limited time” volunteer opportunities to increase participation. The Board is also looking to reviewing and simplifying its bylaws.
The membership in 2015 approved converting WPLLA’s Scholarship grant to provide the WPLLA Vice President funding to attend the AALL Leadership Summit. WPLLA will utilize the 2017 AALL Grant for one of our members to have their registration covered to attend the 2017 Convention.
WPLLA continues to provide networking and educational opportunities to its members and continues to promote itself to the larger legal community. The Board and its members reach out to mentor and welcome new members and look for opportunities to promote WPLLA membership.
The Executive Board for 2015-2016: Ann Unger, President; Pat Roncevich, Vice President/President Elect; Sallie Smith, Secretary; Liz Whittington, Treasurer; Cindy Cicco, Past President; Donna Kielar and Sarah Steers, Members at Large.
The Executive Board for 2016-2017: Pat Roncevich, President; Joel Fishman, Vice President/President Elect; Kate Fry, Secretary; Liz Whittington, Treasurer; Ann Unger, Past President; Jamie Yancich and Sarah Steers, Members at Large.
Submitted by: Ann Unger, President 2015-2016
Western Pennsylvania Law Library Association 