Prof. Joan Howland Wins 2017 AALS Law Library Section Award

The Association of American Law Schools has announced the winners of its 2017 section awards for excellence in legal education. Joan Howland, Roger F. Noreen Professor of Law, associate dean for information and technology, and director of the Law Library, was chosen to receive the AALS Section on Law Libraries and Legal Information Award.

Howland joined the Law School faculty and became director of the Law Library in 1992. She has been a member of the ABA Section on Legal Education & Admissions to the Bar since 2007 and is a past chair of the ABA Committee on Libraries; she has served the ABA in many other capacities as well. Howland has been an appointed member of the American Library Association Committee on Accreditation since 2012 and is the current chair of the committee. She has also chaired many American Association of Law Libraries committees, including the Diversity, Education, National Resources, Recruitment, and Scholarship Committees. Last January, Howland was named one of the “25 most influential people in legal education” by The National Jurist.

“Joan Howland is a legend among law librarians and legal educators and her extensive contributions to the field are well deserving of this honor,” said Dean Garry Jenkins. “Under her leadership, the University of Minnesota Law Library has become one of the finest in the country. Its deep resources and exemplary programs—support for student work and faculty research, advocacy of faculty scholarship, engaging public exhibits, and remarkable special collections—are all reflections of Joan’s vision, hard work, and dedication to the core principles of legal learning. She is at the forefront of ensuring the strategic importance and relevance of the academic law library as a place of intellectual stimulation on our campuses, especially as libraries evolve in the digital age.”

The AALS will present its 2017 section awards at its 111th annual meeting, to be held Jan. 3-7 in San Francisco.