Introduction

I think an introduction is in order. My name is Anh Huynh, just completing my first year at Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) at University of Toronto. I was one of the lucky candidates who was selected for a summer job under the nurturing wings (yes, I believe that she can fly, if she wanted too) of Connie Crosby, aka The Information Diva.

I’m not supposed to talk about my job, so I can’t tell you about the wonderful projects that she got me to work on the last four months. But I can tell you this: it was a lot more than shelving books, filing loose-leafs, and the occasional reference services that most of my classmates were experiencing at other law firms. Lucky me. And kudos to Connie for having such wide interests in every aspects of legal librarianships and the confidence to delegate and let me roam free, learning and flexing my brain muscles, absorbing new information like a skinny synapse on steroid.

Some of you may agree with me that legal librarianship wasn’t your first choice –as I found out from talking with many legal librarians that I met at various TALL gatherings that Connie brought me with her. It wasn’t mine either, until I took a Legal Literature and Librarianship course last semester at the U of T with John Papadopoulos. Let the truth be known that I took it because it was the only course that fitted my schedule!

John was a wonderful instructor. His lectures were full of funny, interesting, yet informative anecdotes. The course was well organised with challenging and practical assignments. Everything that I learned in class was well used in the four months that I worked under Connie. Our classmates varied widely, from students with “tight” schedule like myself to working professionals such as lawyers and reference librarians who came back for professional development. In our last class, John invited five legal librarians with wide range of experience from various law firms to form a panel for a two-hour of “honest discussions”. Not to mention the Pizzas that John ordered, students’ main (or only) sustenance. Can’t get a better class than that.

I guess the moral of my story is: don’t know till you try. Life is full of surprises, legal librarianship isn’t as bad as one might think until you stumble on someone like John or Connie.