Source: US Global Legal Monitor
Today’s blog interview is with Joanna Colclough who participated in the Leadership Development Program (LDP) at the Library of Congress. Her detail assignment during the program was at the Law Library of Congress.
Describe your background.
I live in Maryland, but grew up moving around a lot as an Army brat. Most of my extended family lives in Michigan, so the Midwest is a big part of my background and my favorite region. I took many summer trips to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.
What is your academic/professional history?
I have wanted to be a librarian my whole life, so I knew a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree would be required at some point. Until then, I studied where my interests drew me – classics, English, history, and theatre. I went to Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, for undergrad and completed graduate work at the University of Maryland, College Park. While in school and during the summers off, I always tried to intern and volunteer at local archives or special collections repositories. I was a contractor at the Government Publishing Office in Washington D.C., where I worked on digitizing the Congressional Record for govinfo.gov. Then I spent four years as a high school librarian, which I loved. Those two experiences prepped me for working in the Serial and Government Publications Division at the Library of Congress, where I have been a reference librarian in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room since 2021. I have spent these summer months on detail in the Law Library’s Public Services Division, which operates the reading room.
How would you describe your job to other people?
My job as a reference librarian is to help people find things within the Library’s vast collections, and I would say this is the heart of the job in any reading room at the Library of Congress. My specialty is in newspapers and periodicals, but this summer, I got to spend time in the Law Library Reading Room. I have not done a lot of reference work during my time in the Law Library because the learning curve for legal research definitely requires more than four months! But I have learned a lot about the different types of law documents, and both the practical and unique collections held in the Law Library.
Why did you want to work at the Law Library of Congress?
I have zero law experience, and so I came to the Law Library to be fully immersed in the new language and culture of the legal world! This type of detail, where staff can change jobs for a time, allows for greater sharing of information within the Library of Congress and the development of personal and professional connections. I got to spend time learning about the law collections and the legal reference staff who work with them, how the reading room operates, the classes they teach in the Legal Research Institute, and the projects the Public Services Division is responsible for. The Supreme Court records and briefs and the federal bills and resolutions are two ongoing projects where the Law Library processes incoming documents from the current Congress and Supreme Court session – all intended to provide long-term access as soon as possible. There are so many moving parts to the projects! It is really impressive, and we had some great project management discussions on current challenges and possible improvements.
What is the most interesting fact you have learned about the Law Library of Congress?
I have definitely learned a lot of interesting facts. One is that the legal reference librarians are some of the coolest people, and each of them genuinely enjoys helping people research. They are brilliant. My favorite fun fact is that the on-site Law Library collections are equivalent to almost two football fields. Talk about high-density storage!
I also enjoyed learning more about the Constitution Annotated (CONAN). It is a bit like Chronicling America – a free online resource with a wealth of information!
What’s something most of your co-workers do not know about you?
For a time, I also wanted to be a paper conservator and work with beautiful old illuminated manuscripts, but I hated chemistry in school and so ultimately decided not to go into the career that required a lot of biological and chemical science. I still have a master’s in science (which cracks me up), but the science of information is a bit different!
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