Site Map About the Faculty Center

I. Self-Assessment

II. Strengths, Skills, and Competencies

During the past two and a half years that I have been at the law library I think my greatest strengths have been teaching, accessibility to students and faculty, providing reference service, integrating technology into the library and the classroom, and being involved in the American Association of Law Libraries. First, I think I am on my way to becoming a good teacher. I have been able to be innovative in my teaching and my students have been successful. When teaching legal writing I am able to give the students concrete, constructive suggestions for improving their work. When teaching legal research I am able to teach the students the skills they need to conduct thorough independent research and am available to assist them when questions or problems arise. Second, I am accessible to students who need additional help both with their research and writing, as well as career counseling and general law school survival tips. I am accessible and responsive to faculty needs, including conducting short-term intensive research projects for faculty members pushing publication deadlines. Third, I am able to provide students, faculty, and public patrons with good reference service. Besides developing a series of guides to assist librarians and reference assistants, I have increased my own research skills. Fourth, I am actively involved in the implementation of technology in the Law School and Law Library. I have implemented a technological component to my first-year Lawyering Skills class that is very ambitious and was very successful. I am not afraid to experiment with technology and look for innovative ways to use it. I have become proficient (if that is possible) in Internet Legal Research and have shared that knowledge on a national level. Fifth, I am very involved in the national organization for law librarians. During my first year as a member of the organization I proposed and coordinated a program at the Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. During my second year as a member I have served as a committee chair for one of the special interest sections, am coordinating my second program, served as editorial coordinator for the National Legal Research Teach-In, and am a candidate for vice chair/chair elect. My final strength is my enthusiasm and ability to get things done. I am not afraid of hard work and thrive on accomplishment.


III. Research Interests

My biggest weakness is exposed here—I am interested in, and consequently would like to be involved in, everything. While I know it is unrealistic to be so broad, I can’t help this natural tendency. However, during the past two years I have been able to narrow my professional interests a bit to three very broad categories.

First, I am extremely interested in legal education pedagogy in general and specifically legal research and writing pedagogy. In this category I have done a lot of reading about the history of legal education and foreseeable future trends. While helping develop the new lawyering skills program at the Law School I have been able to research legal research and writing programs across the country and examine their strengths and weaknesses. In preparation for an article I have been asked to write and a program I am coordinating at a conference this summer, I have been researching learning style theory and its application to teaching legal research.

Second, I am interested in the integration of technology into the teaching and practice of law. While this also is a very broad category, my research interests have taken two primary directions: Internet legal research and implementing technology into the teaching of legal research and writing. I have completed a lengthy paper on Internet legal research aimed at law librarians. I am currently working on a presentation and paper on the technology experiment I conducted with my lawyering skills class this past semester.

Finally, I am interested in the relationship between law and religion, specifically how one is able to be an excellent lawyer and an excellent disciple. I have been interested in this subject for a long time and would eventually like to publish something in this area. However, it is the least applicable to my appointment in the Law Library, so I haven’t done anything with it lately.

IV. Citizenship Opportunities

I am currently serving on several Law Library committees essential to the daily operations of the library, these include research, reference, technology, and policy. These committees are very informal and have not required extraordinary amounts of time.

I also serve on several Law School committees including the Technology Executive Committee, Law School Computer Committee, and the Law School Groupware Committee. These committees, particularly the TEC, include a significant time investment; however, I feel that the things that I have learned and the influence I have been able to have on the committee for the Library’s good has made the time worthwhile.

During Fall Semesters of 1996 and 1997 I served on the Law School Christmas Committee, first as a member and then as the chair. While I enjoyed this service it was a lot of additional time and stress that was, at times, hard to shoulder while teaching a new course and handling my day to day responsibilities in the library.

Since August 1995 I have been an adjunct professor in the Department of Church History and Doctrine. I have taught courses on the Doctrine and Covenants, Teachings of the Living Prophets, and Presidents of the Church. Currently I am teaching the Presidents of the Church course for the Continuing Education and Independent Study program.

I have also been very active in professional associations, particularly the American Association of Law Libraries. During my first year as a member of the organization I proposed and coordinated a program at the Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. During my second year as a member I have served as a committee chair for one of the special interest sections, am coordinating my second program, served as editorial coordinator for the National Legal Research Teach-In, and was recently elected vice chair/chair elect. I am also a member of the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors. I hope to become more actively involved in these associations in the future.

V. Areas I wish to develop

There are four areas that I particularly wish to develop in the coming years. One deals with administration; one deals with teaching; one deals with scholarship; and one is personal.

First, I would like to develop my supervisory and management skills. Although I have been the de facto supervisor of the Law Library Reference Assistants for nearly a year now, I have had no formal training on how to supervise and manage student employees. Everything I have done I have learned by observation of others in similar capacities, or I came up with ideas and bounced them off a colleague. I would like to learn about and develop these skills. I would like to take some management courses in the Marriott School.

Second, my greatest challenge in teaching is making legal research stick! I am tired of reading evaluations from classes that say “the teacher was great; the course was OK, but we really need to get into the library.” I want to develop teaching strategies that actively involve the students in their own learning and in the process will cement research strategies into their minds. In a similar vein, I would like to develop strategies for integrating the teaching of research and writing. Finally, I would like to be able to spend more time fine-tuning lectures so that I do not always feel like I am taking a “fly by the seat of my pants” approach. Although I have invested considerable time in lesson preparation I still feel that I have a lot of work that could be done.

Third, I would like to finish more articles and have them published. Although I have had four publications and three presentations during my first two years at the Law Library, I feel that this past year I have been stagnant. Much of this, admittedly, was due to the pressures of developing and teaching the new Lawyering Skills course; however, I don’t see time pressures as something that will ever go away, so I need to devise a strategy for completing scholarly work in the time that I do have available.

Finally, I need to work on setting limits and saying no. Because of my natural interest in things and my “pleaser” mentality, I often take on more than I can realistically handle. I need to learn to be content with doing less than everything. I also need to learn that I am not disappointing people if I cannot do everything.

VI. Professional Goals

VII. Teaching

Statement of Beliefs about Teaching:

I have always felt very strongly about a statement made by Elder Richard G. Scott during a C.E.S. symposium in 1987. He said:

You have come to know that your students learn from you in three ways: they learn from what they hear you say, what they see you do, and what they feel in your presence. What they hear results from your painstaking preparation for each class encounter. Each skill you develop, each teaching capacity you exercise helps them benefit from what they hear. What they see is more than the visual aids you use within the classroom. Paramount and predominant in what they observe is the example of your own life—how you work; how you react to challenges in and out of the classroom . . . How you live is constantly under observation. It impacts the lives of your students even in moments when you are least aware that you are being an example. But the greatest impact of all is what they feel in your presence in the classroom and elsewhere.
Richard G. Scott, “Four Fundamentals for Those Who Teach and Inspire Youth,” in Old Testament Symposium Speeches, 1987 [Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1988], p. 1.

 I think Elder Scott’s words summarize what is most important to me about teaching. First, a teacher must assist the students in acquiring and internalizing knowledge and skills. Second, a teacher must be an example—both professionally and personally. Third, a teacher must be a conduit for the Spirit of the Lord.

A teacher must be able to assist students as they learn. Teachers must be excellent in their chosen disciplines. This requires constant research and reading within the discipline. It also requires constant scrutiny and perfection of teaching methods. I believe that how information is presented in the classroom is as important as what information is presented. I think that too little time is spent in college and particularly law school teaching examining how students can best learn the material and be able to apply it in practice.

A teacher must be an example to her students, both inside and outside of the school setting. I have personally benefited from teachers who have been examples to me. Some of my greatest role models are teachers. I think it is a responsibility of all teachers to be role models for their students. Of course teachers should be examples of excellence in the profession. Students should be able to look to teachers for examples of critical thinking and analysis, excellent oral and written advocacy, superior trial techniques, selfless pro bono service, and impeccable research. However, students should also be able to look to their teachers as personal examples. One area that I feel is extremely important for law teachers to model for their students is balance. Law students feel so overwhelmed; they need to be shown that it is possible to live a balanced life that values family, Church, and community service while excelling in the practice of law.

A teacher must be a conduit for the Spirit of the Lord. I really do believe, as Brigham Young told Karl G. Maeser, that everything must be taught with the Spirit of the Lord. While it is easier to bring the Spirit into my teaching in the Religion Department, I feel that it is critical to my teaching in the Law School as well. When a teacher is in tune with the Spirit and allows the students to be so as well, learning is enhanced and true education occurs. I know that personally there were several occasions during my law school career when I was touched by the Spirit while sitting in a class; I know that I learned much more on those occasions than I could have without that influence.

I believe that excellent teaching can be achieved by following these three principles as outlined by Elder Scott. When these principles are attained both teacher and learner are edified and they do learn together.

Goals:

1. Refine my legal research lesson plans to include active learning principles.
2. Develop ways of integrating the teaching of research and writing.
3. Refine my lesson plans so that each day of class has specific, identifiable objectives that the students see they are meeting.
4. Become more effective in generating good peer editing. Teach the students editing techniques so they will be helpful to one another.

1. Librarianship/Research/Creativity

Goals:

1. Continue to learn and keep current in law librarianship by studying relevant literature, including Law Library Journal, Legal Reference Services Quarterly, The Journal of Law and Education, The Journal of Legal Education, and Internet Reference Services Quarterly.
2. Continue to attend and present scholarship at conferences of the American Association of Law Librarians, the Legal Writing Institute, and the Association of Legal Writing Directors.
3. Publish one article each year in a legal education or law library journal.
4. Create a training program for student Reference Assistants.

1. Citizenship
Service to the Church and Community

Goals:
1. To maintain the standards set by the Church and to be an example of such.
2. To remain active in the American Association of Law Libraries. To continue to serve in a leadership position within the Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section.
3. To present my work at at least one conference each year.

Service to the Department, College, and University

Goals:
1. To remain active in departmental committees and activities
2. To continue to serve where I am needed in the College of Religion: teaching an occasional course, monitoring an independent study course, or speaking at symposia.

3. Relationship between Goals and Department, College, and University Aspirations and Needs

Improving Legal Writing and Research has been a primary focus of the Law School administration during the last two years. My goals and interests significantly further these larger institutional goals. Anything that I do that will improve my abilities to teach students and assist faculty and the public with their research needs will be an improvement for the Law Library.

4. Resources Needed

The resources I need, over the next three years, to accomplish my goals are as follows:

1. at least two student teaching assistants each year for Lawyering Skills;

2. for the Reference Department: at least 40 hours per week of faculty support student research assistants and at least 30 hours per week of student Reference assistants;

3. funding to attend academic/professional conferences; and

4. time to take at least one class each year outside of the law school in management, etc., beginning in 1999.


5. Summary

During the next three and a half years I plan to publish one article each year, refine my lawyering skills lesson plans, and remain active in the American Association of Law Librarians. I also plan to increase my management skills by taking courses at the Marriott School.