To all my friends in law libraries:
After 25 years as a law librarian, and almost nine years as Director of the
Law Library and Associate/Vice Dean for Legal Information Services, the time
has come for me to make a change.
For several years I have been considering all the options available to me,
and in particular the roads (so far) not taken, and I have decided to turn
in a different direction to take on new challenges. As of May 1, 2009, I
will step down from my position as Director of the Law Library to continue
my service to the Law School as a tenured professor of law.
As a law librarian, I have come to be identified with my work in the
application of technology in law libraries and legal education, and more
broadly in digital communication and online communities. My work in these
areas has always led me to push the envelope of traditional library services
in fruitful directions. The problem with pushing the envelope, of course,
is that the envelope pushes back. Over the last few years, I have found the
challenges of trying to lead a law school library within a centralized
university library system increasingly confining. Ours being one of the
remaining handful of non-autonomous law libraries, as Director I have had
vanishingly little discretion to implement my vision for an active and
dynamic 21st century law library. At the same time, I have had to defer
pursuing my own scholarly and teaching interests. I have always worked on
the practical side of exciting emerging technologies, and have more and more
been drawn to explore the legal, social, and policy aspects of those
technologies in greater depth as a teacher and scholar. Accordingly, I have
decided to take on a new role which will allow me both to use my talents
more fully and to serve the Law School more effectively.
Starting in Fall 2009 I will be teaching in such areas as Cyberspace Law,
Information Privacy Law, Internet Speech, Electronic Evidence, Computer
Crime, and Law and Social Media. I will also be Director of the new Program
on Law and Emerging Technologies in the Baldy Center for Law and Social
Policy. In the latter role I plan to help the Law School build connections
with other University researchers in the areas of nanotechnology,
biometrics, extreme events, genomics, and bioinformatics.
I have always loved being a law librarian, and the friendships I have made
with my colleagues have meant the world to me. I look forward to continuing
to nurture those friendships, and exploring collaborations with law
librarians and other technology leaders, as I take on new challenges in the
years to come.
Jim Milles
Vice Dean for Legal Information Services and Director of the Law Library
Professor of Law
University at Buffalo Law School
208 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
(716) 645-2089, jgmilles@buffalo.edu
http://ClaimID.com/jmilles
http://www.retaggr.com/Card/jmilles
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