By: Rebecca Mattson
H. Laddie Montague Law Library

Laura Ax-Fultz

Rebecca Mattson

Law librarians Laura Ax-Fultz (Dickinson Law, Carlisle) and Rebecca Mattson (Penn State Law, University Park) just concluded the inaugural Teaching the Teachers Conference held on May 30-31, 2019 at Georgia State College of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. The Teaching the Teachers Conference provided a foundation in instructional philosophy, techniques, and assessment for law librarians by law librarians.

In 2016, after attending the ACRL Immersion program at Penn State University Libraries, Laura and Becky were inspired to create an experience for law librarians to enhance their knowledge of pedagogical issues and best practices specific to legal research instruction. During the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting in July 2016, they started working with the incoming chair of the AALL Research, Instruction, and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS) to convene a task force to design and create the conference.

For the past three years, Laura, Becky, and the task force built the conference from the ground up – soliciting sponsorships, developing curriculum, and organizing the conference logistics.
Conference attendance was limited to 40 registrants plus presenters in order to facilitate a robust, interactive experience. Registration for the conference opened in January, and the 40 spots were filled within 30 minutes. Last week, the event finally came to fruition with 60 attendees from law libraries across the country. This unique, custom-designed conference was a huge success, and with eager enthusiasm from attendees, the task force plans to hold the conference every two years.

Several attendees live-tweeted the conference (#TTT19), and those tweets were noticed and followed by others in the law librarian and legal writing communities. One attendee even tweeted, “Hands down the very best conference I’ve ever been to.”