Southwestern Association of Law Libraries
Welcome to the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries! Please visit the Annual Meeting Archive for information or recordings of the annual conference.
Statement from the SWALL Executive Board
The Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Executive Board wishes to express its support of the Black Lives Matter movement against oppression and state-sanctioned brutality. As legal information professionals, we must acknowledge that racism has deeply influenced the U.S. legal system from colonial times through the present day. We believe that the U.S. Constitution is not serving its purpose to ensure due process and equal protection. From slavery through Jim Crow to the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, the law has often been used as an instrument of oppression to deny the value of Black lives while exploiting the value of Black labor.
The SWALL Executive Board stands in solidarity with the Black Caucus of AALL, with our colleagues, patrons, and friends in the Black Community, and with those around the country and the world protesting and giving voice to our shared frustration and grief. We stand against systemic racism, prejudice, and discrimination. We stand against police brutality. We believe Black Lives Matter.
It is up to all of us to renounce this history and set a just path for the future. We call upon all of our members to take action however they can, personally and professionally, against racism, state violence, and white supremacy in all its myriad forms. We particularly encourage our members to examine and confront the ways in which exclusion and conscious or unconscious bias has shaped our own libraries and workplaces. SWALL exists to promote librarianship and foster a spirit of cooperation in the profession. As a chapter of AALL, our ethical principles call for us to oppose discrimination and value diversity. The Board will be considering ways in which SWALL can help to foster a racially inclusive vision of law librarianship, and we invite all of our members, especially those from marginalized communities, to offer suggestions about how SWALL can play a productive role. We are here to listen.
SWALL Executive Board, 2020-2021
Katy Badeaux, President
Kenton Brice, Vice-President/President-Elect
Andrew Bennett, Treasurer
Cynthia Burress, Secretary
Stacy Fowler, Immediate Past President
Latest Issue of SWALL Bulletin Now Available
The Publication Committee is pleased to bring you the Winter 2018/2019 edition of the SWALL Bulletin.