TO: Law Library Innovative User Group Member

FROM: Georgia Briscoe, ILUG Chair 1997-98

DATE: May 15, 1998

This mailing contains information about our upcoming Saturday Workshop in Anaheim plus the ballot for our next election with candidate information.

ILUG LUNCHEON IN NASHVILLE:

First, a quick report on the 6th Annual Innovative User Group Meeting in Nashville held May 2-5, 1998. Over 900 people attended the meeting, with approximately 200 new users and a number of users from outside the United States including South Africa, Australia, Thailand, Wales and Hong Kong. Law libraries were well represented at the meeting with over 100 people in attendance. Celeste Feather of Georgetown University Law Library (and former chair of ILUG) was the Program Chair for the meetings and presented an excellent slate of informative and practical programs. Another law librarian, Adrian White of Howard University Law Library, is keeping law libraries in the limelight with his hosting of the Innopac listserv.

Our group met together for our annual luncheon on Tuesday, the last day of the conference. We had 99 in attendance. This year, we invited Jerry Kline, president of Innovative, to join us to discuss the "Director's Letter." You may recall that the "letter" was included in the ILUG mailing you received in November 1997. It asked Jerry to address our concerns about the increasing costs of running our III systems and was to be signed by our law library directors. You returned thirty letters signed by your directors, which I forwarded to Jerry with an explanatory cover letter. In addition, some directors sent the letter straight to Jerry on their own and I received three letters too late to include with the others. This meant that 40 per cent of our Law User Libraries were concerned enough to take action.

Jerry accepted our invitation to the luncheon and took the podium near the end of it. He thanked us for the long and continuing partnership between Innovative and Law Libraries. He also brought us several items of "good news" regarding our concerns about III pricing. These will be itemized in a forthcoming letter from Jerry to all library directors and system contact persons. Jerry also explained what steps Innovative is taking to keep our costs manageable. We received many favorable responses on the outcome of the luncheon.

CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE:

Enclosed you will find the biographical information on the candidates for Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect for our organization. Please take some time to read over the information and return the ballot to me by the deadline of June 1, 1998. Election results will be announced at the ILUG business meeting in Anaheim. Thanks to Susan Goldner, Vice Chair/Chair Elect, for her work on the slate of candidates.

ILUG WORKSHOP IN ANAHEIM:

Our primary educational forum each year is the ILUG Workshop held on the Saturday of the AALL Annual Meeting. While the Workshop is free and may be attended by any interested person, the luncheon is for one person only from each ILUG member library, as was voted on at the last ILUG business meeting. The luncheon is subsidized with membership fees. The workshop registration is enclosed and should be returned by May 31.

RESERVATION FOR THE WORKSHOP: (OPEN TO ANYONE ATTENDING AALL)

_____ I am planning to attend the workshop along with ______colleagues from my library.

RESERVATION FOR SYSTEMS MANAGER LUNCHEON: (LIMITED TO ONE PERSON PER LIBRARY; COST IS $15.00 PER PERSON. CHECKS PAYABLE TO ILUG)

_____I will attend the Systems Manager Lunch from my ILUG member institution.

NAME: ___________________________________________________________________
LIBRARY:_________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS:_________________________________________________________________
PHONE:_________________ FAX:__________________E-MAIL____________________