Like more than 2,000 other law librarians,  I attended the annual meeting of AALL in our nation’s capital at the end of July. This was my 17th consecutive meeting, but it was unlike any other in one key respect: I spent most of my daytime hours in a hotel room with three colleagues, interviewing applicants for our two open positions. Over three days I met with some very experienced law librarians and some brand new law school/library school graduates. Frankly, I am impressed by the candidates we interviewed. For many years I have heard our association colleagues lamenting from where the next generation of law librarians would come. Based on our interviews, they are here and there is no shortage of well qualified new and experienced law librarians. Please wish us luck in winnowing down our list of candidates.

The AALL meeting is known as much for its evening social and networking events as it is for the generally terrific substantive programming. This year’s meeting proved no exception, with an opening event in the gorgeous Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. For a sampling of other posts about the meeting, take a look at these: Meg Kribble at Biblioblawg, Vicki Szymczak and Joe Hodnickiat Law Librarians Blog. Some of the posts and comments indicate that more than a few members would like to see some changes in the organization and focus of the annual meeting.

Wrapping up the topic for now, Richard Leiter will be hosting a discussion of the annual meeting on his BlogTalkRadio webcast this coming Friday at 3 PM (EDT, I think).