Director's Corner: Fall 2023

This article is from the fall 2023 issue of Hearsay, the semi-annual newsletter of the Wheat Law Library.

Around this time of the fall semester, I often find myself working with students who are composing the first draft of a significant research paper. “Perhaps the most important point here,” I often remind them, “is devoting a small but dedicated amount of time every day, or nearly every day, to push your progress forward.” I stand by this solid piece of advice, which I learned long ago from teachers and mentors far wiser than myself. I also recognize that it is often easier said than done. Staring at the blank page on your computer screen can lead one to contemplate philosophical quandaries, find a long-forgotten task buried deep in a long to-do list, or try in vain to organize an office that would thwart the best efforts of Marie Kondo. Just as golfers and baseball players can encounter the dreaded “yips,” those who make a living with a keyboard can confront writer’s block in ways that defy conventional explanation.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that I encountered this phenomenon while pondering the many Wheat Law Library happenings and accomplishments that could be highlighted in this iteration of the Director’s Corner. The task bears some striking similarities to the challenge of selecting the correct authorities to cite in a research paper, though thankfully this column will not run over thirty pages with hundreds of footnotes. The remarkable group of students enrolled in the Kansas Supreme Court Research Practicum might be pleased to know that I now have a renewed appreciation for their efforts. Along with my co-instructor, Assistant Director Blake Wilson, I have enjoyed working with them this semester to tackle a host of fascinating research topics in service to the Kansas Supreme Court and Office of Judicial Administration. They are well on their way to delivering thorough and well researched papers, and they will soon be summarizing their insights in presentations to the court at the end of the semester. Few aspects of our work are more rewarding than observing the evolution that occurs as this course unfolds, as our students become experts on their assigned topics and eventually answer questions from a hot bench as though they were seasoned appellate litigators.

In our last newsletter issue, we introduced our readers to our wonderful Circulation & Serials Manager, Laura Maloney. Laura has continued to excel in her demanding role at the law library while also working toward the completion of a Master of Library and Information Science degree. As she notes in her contribution to this issue of Hearsay, this is both a formidable undertaking and also a remarkable opportunity to study theory and put it into practice on a daily basis. We are also pleased to introduce another new staff member in this issue, Technical Services Assistant Didem Blum, who has quickly become an invaluable member of our team. With fluency in multiple languages, along with undergraduate and M.A. degrees focused on translation and interpretation, Didem has worked with institutions such as the European Union and the Library of Congress, among others. She brings a keen eye for detail to her technical services work here in Green Hall, along with occasional Turkish coffee and cuisine that has quickly endeared her to colleagues in the law library.

Technical Services Manager Melissa Doebele rounds out this issue of Hearsay with another installation of “What the Librarians are Reading.” We highlighted her recent promotion in our previous newsletter and it is worth noting here that she has excelled in that role in every way, embracing duties that often could be spread among multiple positions or even departments, which is surprising to no one but undoubtedly worthy of recognition. Last but not least, Assistant Director Blake Wilson provides our readers with an insightful look into the rapidly evolving realm of Artificial Intelligence and its increasing relevance to legal research. On that note, one solution to the writer’s block I mentioned at the outset might have been asking Chat-GPT to draft this column for me. While that might represent the future for drafting briefs and pleadings (once the minor issue of erroneous “hallucinated” citations is sorted out), taking the time to recount the latest news from the amazing professionals who work in the Wheat Law Library is worth the effort. Hopefully our students will find the same value in their own writing moving forward.

Christopher L. Steadham, JD, MLIM
Wheat Law Library Director