Meet Your New LIT-SIS Board Chair, Brian Huffman

In this series, we’re getting to know our LIT-SIS board. In this first installment, Brian Huffman, LIT-SIS Board Chair, answers a few questions. Read on to get to know more about our Hawaiian-based leader!

1) Tell us about your path to law librarianship.

My path to law librarianship is a full circle journey, leaving few steps untaken. My entry in librarianship began as a library associate at a medical library while I attended law school. I gave up summer clerking opportunities so I could help nurses and doctors with their research and use of the medical library. I don’t regret a moment of it. Service is its own reward.

After law school, I clerked for a Judge and then practiced law for a decade. One fateful Fall in 2008, while between jobs, I was biking the Twin Cities trails and found myself deep in thought. I had the realization that I wanted to apply for a county law library job in Minnesota and go back to school and get my MLIS. At the time it was a gamble and huge undertaking. Now, two jobs later, I am an academic law librarian working in Hawaiʻi. I only wish I had decided to enter library school sooner, but I also find that my experience as a practitioner adds value to the service I provide the law school and library.

2) Why is involvement in an SIS valuable? 

Finding others who are interested in topics and service-points of librarianship is possible through Special Interest Sections. I have met other librarians who share similar passions and interests through various SISes. It’s a great way to network and locate colleagues who you can work with on committees, executive boards, and present alongside at national conferences and webinars. I have truly made long-lasting friendships though my involvement with various SISes.

3) What do you enjoy most about being involved with LIT-SIS? 

The focus of LIT-SIS is on the intersection of technology and the law or librarianship. As an electronic services librarian, I find that technology is integral to my job and how I provide service to my law school. I learn new methods and topics through my involvement with LIT-SIS. Yet, it’s the wonderful people who belong to LIT-SIS that I am grateful for and get inspiration and joy working with the most. They are the best!

4) Recommend one book you’ve read recently. 

Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky. It’s not a new book but one I found encouragement, humility, and inspiration from. Some might say we live in an era where rescuing books may become a necessity. Librarians are the medieval monks of the day.