I recently had dinner with a friend who reported that her husband, an avid winter sportsman, is hoping for a repeat of the weather we experienced last winter. As we face the season of shorter days and chillier temperatures, I suspect that many of you share my own hopes, which are somewhat different from those of my friend’s spouse… but either way, greetings and welcome to the season!

LLAM programming continues at a fast clip this year, thanks to Vice President/Program Chair Sara Witman.

On October 19^th, about 15 LLAM members enjoyed a fascinating tour of the NPR facilities and library. The NPR librarian guides were fantastic! Many thanks are due to Sara and to Katherine Baer, formerly a librarian at NPR, for organizing this trip. (See the full story on the trip elsewhere in LLAM eNews.)

Our scheduled program for November 30 on bankruptcy law unfortunately had to be cancelled due to a scheduling conflict of our presenter. We plan to reschedule this program in early 2011.  In the LLAM Member Survey we conducted in the fall of 2009, many respondents were enthusiastic about including more programming on specialized legal research topics – and this program certainly fit the bill. Any suggestions for programs/speakers of this nature are always welcome – so please contact me or Sara if you have ideas.

I was happy to see so many of you at the LLAM Holiday Party – we had about 35 attendees. I hope you enjoyed the event as much as I did! A special thanks to all who contributed to, and bid on items, at the Silent Auction. This year the auction yielded about $550, and the board has voted on the distribution of the proceeds, which have historically been split between our LLAM Grants and Awards program and a charitable organization (last year it was Doctors Without Borders for Haiti relief efforts; in the recent past, the Maryland Food Bank and the Baltimore Reads Foundation have been recipients.) This year the Board voted to send half the proceeds to the Maryland Food Bank.

Last but certainly not least, kudos to Jean Hessenauer for initiating and coordinating the Baltimore Ronald McDonald House dinner project (see the article on this event elsewhere in LLAM eNews.) On two dates this past fall, LLAM members visited RMH and prepared and served dinner for the families of seriously ill children, for whom the House serves as a “home away from home.” Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered to participate. This is a great project, and I would love to see LLAM to do more public service projects of this nature. I’d be happy to hear any ideas any of you might have for such ventures.

In closing, it’s with great happiness for her personally, but with collective regret, that LLAM recognizes the retirement of Janet Camillo from her position as Law Librarian at the Montgomery County Circuit Court Law Library. Janet’s contributions to LLAM can’t be overstated, not only in her official capacity as (former) President, Vice President, Secretary,  and chair of many committees over the years, but also in her always knowledgeable, insightful, and tactful informal guidance on many a topic. Janet has also been active in the court library community, and we know her leadership will be missed there. We look forward to having Janet as one of our active LLAM members in the “Retired” category! Joanie Bellistri has written a lovely tribute to Janet in this issue of LLAm eNews.

I wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons – fun and relaxation with family and friends, and physical and spiritual renewal to launch us through the winter of 2010-2011.