Who is that librarian in the office next to the stairwell entrance to the IP Library? That’s me, Melanie Cornell, the Law Library’s Systems Librarian. I began my first professional position here in 1988. I received my Masters in Library Science (MLS) from Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science in May, 1990.  I have been active in various local, regional and national library organizations, and am currently President of the Association of New Hampshire Law Librarians.  Did you know that I am also NH-certified as a Library Media Specialist and, inspired by my two young children, have been pursuing a 2nd Masters in Education?

What do I do for law school faculty, students, other patrons of our law library, librarians and library staff?  I serve law school faculty, students, and other patrons most directly by:

• strategizing the searches behind Curriculum Topics (in MELcat)
• providing links to listings of our new acquisitions
• developing and maintaining the structure of our Law Library’s web site
• maintaining the content of the library web site’s Research and Exams pages
• helping librarians maintain their assigned content on the library’s web site, such as pathfinders and blog postings, as well as their creation of new pages
• using time-saving load tables I created, periodically loading new patrons into our ILS at the beginning of each semester so you can check out materials from our library. Check out MyMELcat, specific to your patron record, if you haven’t already.
• maintaining the library’s integrated library system, known to our patrons as MELcat, and periodically re-designing this interface between our online catalog and patrons
• adding course reserves to our collection, serving as backup to Kathy Fletcher in her absence
• processing InterLibrary Loan requests, serving as a backup in the absence of our InterLibrary Loan Librarian
• working closely with Tom Hemstock to maintain accessibility to the library’s subscribed electronic resources (ER), serving as backup in his absence

I primarily work directly for the librarians and staff of the Law Library, indirectly serving the law school's faculty, students and other patrons. Most significantly, I coordinate the smooth functionality of the law library staff side of our online catalog (MELcat), called Millennium. In addition to upgrading and maintaining our Integrated Library System (ILS), I provide “just-in-time” and proactive training for librarians and staff who depend significantly on this system to fulfill their responsibilities each day.

I have many years of valuable institutional knowledge that I have been capturing in wiki format, using MediaWiki. Starting with ILS topics, this wiki has turned into the intranet for all our library’s knowledge and practices. I created our local electronic resources management database (ERMD), saving our library thousands of dollars each year for several years now, that would otherwise have been spent subscribing to a similar service from a commercial vendor. I also develop budget proposals for automation and bibliographic expenses as well as coordinate the Collection Management Team’s annual statistics for inclusion in the library’s annual reports.

I welcome you to approach me for any research need you have in the law library, or to discuss our wiki, Drupal, ERMD, or any other topic this post may inspire.