What? You don’t want to be a Cheesehead?[1] Well, maybe you do. Read on…
As the Public Relations Chair of the Wisconsin Law Library Association (LLAW) it’s my job to advertise association services, promote our member accomplishments and manage the writing initiative. This is why I make LLAW posters, update our brochure, and send out emails to the listserv whenever a member publishes an article, wins an award, or does anything noteworthy. As I perform these tasks for my association, I keep in mind the Wisconsin Idea.
The Wisconsin Idea
One principle of the Wisconsin Idea is to democratize information.[2] In 1904, in his inaugural speech, President of the University of Wisconsin, Charles Richard Van Hise,[3] replaced the purpose of an emerging state university as an isolated “ivory tower,” with the revolutionary idea that a state university should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom, and although I doubt the Wisconsin Idea has ever fit as neatly within the boundaries of Wisconsin’s borders as originally described; as the university expanded in size as well as academic achievements, so the Wisconsin Idea expanded. I feel like I should add a Buzz Lightyear quote here but you get the picture. More than 100 years later, the Wisconsin Idea is still very much a part of the University’s mission, https://www.wisc.edu/wisconsin-idea/.
Librarians and the Wisconsin Idea
Even early on librarians had a role in the Wisconsin Idea. In 1912, a librarian wrote about the history of the Wisconsin Idea,[4] emphasizing the German influence.[5] In the1990s, another state librarian told the story of the Wisconsin Idea and, looking to the future, wrote about the role that lifelong learning would play in strengthening the Wisconsin Idea.[6]
If you are interested in learning more about the Wisconsin Idea, I list books, articles and link to a PBS video that discusses the Wisconsin Idea at the end of this blog post.
If, however, you care about how I apply the Wisconsin Idea as a committee chair, then I will explain how it influences my role as public relations chair of LLAW.
It is my role as a committee member of LLAW to promote the value of law librarians in Wisconsin. The members are researchers and educators. Our members instruct, and as the principle of the Wisconsin Idea demand, that instruction extends to the boundaries (and beyond!) of the state of Wisconsin. We follow the principles of the Wisconsin Idea by collaborating with the editors at the State Bar of Wisconsin. Together we democratize legal information. It has been a wonderful partnership.
The Partnership
Our collaboration with the State Bar of Wisconsin is a writing initiative. Our members submit monthly articles to the Wisconsin State Bar’s online newsletter, InsideTrack. Our outreach is especially valuable to small firm attorneys who make up the majority of members of the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Our members focus on free legal resources, whenever possible, and our topic choice often reflects small practice issues such as family law, taxes, estate planning, business regulation and contract law. We write under the banner: Legal Research 101 Series, although we have also written for the Young Lawyer Series and in 2022, we wrote several companion articles for the Wisconsin Bar series on Water Law Resources.
How it Works
1. Organize/Time Management
Set up a monthly calendar, ask the editors for their calendar schedule and use that for due dates and publication dates. Make sure you give yourself lots of time to organize and fill in the calendar. I plan the calendar a year in advance. I find it is much easier to work with authors and editors if you create an advanced timeline. It gives both the authors and the editors, and you the gift of time. Even if something goes wrong, as it can, because life happens, you have breathing room to make changes.
2. Topic choice/know your audience
Brainstorm with the editors, I brainstorm for topics with the editors a few times a year. The editors also sometimes send me ideas on the fly when there is a new legal trend, as do LLAW members. I send every idea that I get to the listserv to see if the topic interests someone in my pool of writers. It is the circle of writing and publishing.
Here is a tip: I have discovered that if you send out topics, the author volunteers will follow. In fact, do not send out a message to the listserv asking for authors unless you have solid topics to write about or you will hear nothing but crickets from membership unless they are feeling very creative that day.
3. Be Reliable
The due dates the editors give you aren’t suggestions. Make sure that if your author is late that you let the editors know. We have had to be flexible at times, but it helps to first invest in a trusting relationship with your collaborators.
4. Reminders/Announcements
Remind authors of their due dates. Send the editors your calendar as well, and if something changes, let the editors know. Upon publication, send out a message to the listserv. It is my favorite part of my job.
How LLAW approaches the Wisconsin Idea
If you watch the PBS special on the Wisconsin Idea, you’ll learn that the Idea is an approach, not a thing.
- Our articles serve the general principle that education should influence people’s lives.
- The partnership with the State of Wisconsin Bar makes it possible to serve not just the few, but the many, a service ideal.[7]
- Members’ contributions reach beyond the classroom to the boundaries of the state.
- Monthly articles to the State Bar contribute to lifelong learning.
From the 101 series, the latest article:
Sample publications, from the Young Lawyer Series: 5 Essential Tips for New Lawyers and Summer Associates, From the Legal Research 101 Series: Legal Research 101: Estate Planning Resources, Water Law Series: Legal Resources: Researching the Great Lakes Compact
Our contribution to the Water Law Series, a year long writing project on topics in water law, recently won a special commendation for Excellence in Writing from the Wisconsin Bar’s award committee. Sometimes our contributions are moved from the 101 series in the newsletter because the editors decide the topic should be a featured article in the newsletter.
Books & Articles on the Wisconsin Idea
Charles McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea, 1912
Jack Stark, The Wisconsin Idea: The University’s Service to the State, State of Wisconsin Bluebook, 1995-1996, p101-194.
Educating for Democracy: Renewing the Wisconsin Idea edited by Chad Alan Goldberg, University of Wisconsin Press, 2020.
Inaugural Address of President Charles Richard Van Hise.” Science, vol. 20, no. 502, 1904, pp. 193–205. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1629826.
Videos/Databases
Video: The Wisconsin Idea, https://pbswisconsin.org/watch/university-place/university-place-the-wisconsin-idea-ep-625/, Katherine Sydor, PBS Wisconsin, Sept. 21, 2011.
Wisconsin Idea Database, a searchable database, https://wisconsinidea.wisc.edu/
[1] If you are from Illinois, Iowa or Minnesota, be careful how you answer that.
[2] Educating for Democracy: Renewing the Wisconsin Idea, xiii, (Chad Alan Goldberg, ed.), 2020, University of Wisconsin Press, “The vision to democratize information that sits in the hands of “experts” and put it in the hands of citizens.”
[3] “Inaugural Address of President Charles Richard Van Hise.” 20 Science No. 502, 193–205 (1904). JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1629826. Accessed 24 Apr. 2023. See page 204, “…I therefore hold that the state university, a university which is to serve the state must see to it that scholarship and research of all kinds, whether or not a possible practical value can be pointed out, must be sustained…”
[4] Charles McCarthy, The Wisconsin Idea, 1912.
[5] At the beginning of the 20th Century, Wisconsin had a large German immigrant population that influenced Wisconsin’s progressive movement.
[6] Alan Knox and Joe Corry, The Wisconsin Idea for the 21st Century, 181-194, State of Wisconsin Bluebook, (1995-1996). “Single most important influence on the course of the Wisconsin Idea in the future will be the increasing recognition throughout society of the need or lifelong learning” 183, “Outreach Service…is likely to become more important in the 21st Century,” 185.
[7] Jack Stark, The Wisconsin Idea: The University’s Service to the State, 101-179, State of Wisconsin Bluebook, (1995-1996).
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