2026 PD Roundtable

Thanks to all who attended the PD Learnings Roundtable on September 15, 2026. We continue to learn from each other!

  1. Meeting Recording: https://youtu.be/Qrt2Zcnkxo8
  2. Meeting Summary below
  3. Jacquie Fex’s (LiRN) notes from the BIALL conference held in Glasgow, Scotland June 2026
  4. Richard’s Bee’s (Thunder Bay) notes from the CALL Conference, Moncton, New Brunswick, May 2026
  5. Michelle Landriault’s (Prescott & Russell) recommendation for a free AI course from Acadia University: AI for Everyone: Critical AI Literacy
  6. Ciara Ward’s (Northumberland) notes from the BIALL Conference

Meeting Summary

Key Takeaways

  • The session was an informal knowledge-sharing meeting where attendees shared learnings from conferences attended throughout the year, primarily CALL (held in Moncton) and BIALL (held in Scotland).
  • AI in legal research was a dominant theme across all conferences, covering student preparedness, vendor influence, and future implications.
  • A highly practical session on negotiating vendor contracts provided actionable guidance for law librarians managing digital subscriptions.
  • The “Right to Repair” keynote drew strong parallels between device ownership and digital information access in law libraries.
  • Concerns were raised about law libraries’ growing dependence on proprietary, licensed digital tools and the erosion of permanent ownership.
  • CALL session slides are available on the CALL website; keynote slides are not posted.

Discussed Topics

CALL Conference – Overview and Attendance (Moncton)

The facilitator (Teresa/LiRN) opened the floor for attendees who went to CALL to share their experiences. Several participants contributed.

CALL Session – Nova Scotia Law Library Consortium Efforts (Jen Walker)

Jen Walker (LiRN) described a session presented by a loose consortium of Nova Scotia libraries addressing significant infrastructure challenges.

  • The Barrister’s Society library has been severely depleted, operating with outdated equipment. One library was permanently closed following a flood, with materials unaccounted for.
  • A working group involving David (formerly of Dalhousie, now retired) and Dalhousie staff is exploring a joint library service to replace the Barrister Society’s lost capacity.

CALL Session – Teaching Legal Research Writing (LRW) in the Age of AI (Jen Walker)

Jen Walker shared highlights from a session featuring both academic and firm librarians discussing how to teach LRW amid generative AI.

  • Academic librarians are actively working to teach LRW and test student knowledge without reliance on generative AI.
  • Larger Bay Street firms have developed structured onboarding modules for articling students on AI use and firm expectations, but this level of support is not available to most students, particularly those at sole practitioner firms.
  • This gap prompted reflection on LIRN’s potential role in creating accessible AI onboarding resources for students who lack firm-level support.
  • Theresa expressed concern about the legal profession’s reliance on precedent when AI-generated fabricated cases may be entering the system undetected.
  • There is a significant disparity in AI literacy support between large firms and smaller practices.

CALL Keynote – Right to Repair (Sheri Proulx)

Sheri Proulx (Renfrew) summarized the opening keynote by Anthony Rosenberg (also referenced as Nancy Roseborough), which drew connections between the Right to Repair movement and law library information access.

  • The keynote focused on the principle that if you own a product, you should be able to repair it or choose who repairs it. The session examined how manufacturers restrict access to repair manuals, diagnostic tools, and software.
  • This was connected to law libraries’ increasing dependence on licensed databases, digital subscriptions, and AI research tools, where access can disappear when subscriptions end and vendors control the platform.
  • Key questions raised included: What does ownership mean in a digital law library? How dependent should law libraries become on proprietary technology? Is there a “right to repair” equivalent for legal information?
  • George Hawtin: Agreed the keynote offered highly transferable knowledge, noting the speaker came from outside the library world, which brought fresh perspective.
  • Confirmed that digital product prices have increased substantially, sometimes exceeding print equivalents.
  • Law libraries risk losing meaningful control over legal information as digital licensing replaces permanent ownership.
  • The profession should consider what role law libraries play in preserving professional independence and ensuring access to legal information tools.

CALL Pre-Conference Workshop – CanLII Search+ (Richard Bee)

Richard Bee (Thunder Bay) described his experience at the pre-conference workshop on CanLII’s Search+ tool.

  • The 3-hour hands-on workshop was led by CanLII staff and covered Search+, an AI layer that converts natural language queries into Boolean search modifiers.
  • Search+ is currently capped at 10 searches per day, and the analysis tool is limited to 100 results per query due to high platform demand.
  • Despite limitations, he has found Search+ useful in practice and noted it will be discussed further at an upcoming conference.
  • CanLII Search+ is a useful but currently limited AI-assisted search tool.

CALL Session – Beyond the Books: Student Use, Preparedness, and Perceptions of Generative AI (Richard Bee)

Richard Bee shared highlights from a session presenting survey research on law students’ and faculty’s views of generative AI.

CALL Keynote – The Embedded Law Library (Richard Bee)

Richard Bee briefly mentioned a second keynote by Michael Marin on the concept of the Embedded Law Library.

  • The keynote emphasized the importance of law librarians engaging actively with their membership to avoid being perceived as unnecessary or redundant.

CALL Session – Negotiating Vendor Terms (Michelle Gerrits)

Michelle Gerrits (Lambton) described what she called one of the most practically useful sessions she has ever attended, presented from a lawyer’s perspective on vendor contract negotiation.

  • Vendors rely on a structural imbalance — they have dedicated contract teams while users often click through terms without reading them.
  • Key areas to scrutinize include: unilateral amendment clauses, privacy and data use clauses, liability clauses, auto-renewal terms (sometimes locking in 3–5 year terms), and governing law/arbitration clauses.
  • Vendors are quietly claiming rights over user data, search queries, and uploaded content to train AI models unless explicitly prohibited in the contract.
  • Recommended negotiating for: explicit prohibition on AI training use of content, a data processing addendum, the right to opt out of AI features, perpetual access to data post-cancellation, 30 days written notice and right to terminate without penalty, and a hard price cap (e.g., 3% or CPI year-over-year).
  • Advised diarizing renewal dates at the organizational level (not just personally), and consulting a lawyer if there are concerns about breaches of confidentiality, privacy, or IP.
  • Noted that library-specific rights should be addressed, including interlibrary loan restrictions, indemnity clauses, and confidentiality/NDA terms.

CALL Sessions – Nova Scotia Law Library Creation and BC Courthouse Libraries Overhaul (Michelle Gerrits)

Michelle Gerrits briefly described two additional sessions she attended.

  • One session covered the creation of the Nova Scotia Law Library, and another covered a major overhaul of the BC Courthouse Libraries system.
  • Both sessions examined transitions from print to digital collections, staffing changes, and strategic planning for library system improvements.

BIALL Conference – Edinburgh (Ciara Ward)

Ciara Ward (Northumberland) shared her experience at the BIALL conference held in Scotland, noting it was larger than usual due to the desirable location.

  • Attended Plenary 7 — “A Tale of Two Stakeholders: Balancing Access and Preservation in the Law Library’s Gordon Duncan Collection.” The Edinburgh Law Library, one of Europe’s largest, had to coordinate multiple stakeholder groups (Heritage Collections Committee, academic staff, museum professionals) to properly preserve and provide access to a major archival collection. Items were ultimately split by pre- and post-1900 date.
  • The final plenary featured Scottish author Richard Susskind, who presented on “How to Think About AI: A Guide for the Perplexed.” He outlined six theories on where generative AI is heading: AI peaks and fades; AI evolves to be reliable without human supervision; AGI takes over full range of human cognitive tasks; superintelligence hypothesis (self-improving AI as humanity’s last invention); Singularity/Transhumanism (humans merge with AI); and humans replaced by technology/end of humanity.

AALL, TALL Conferences

  • Many network members are not currently traveling to the United States and no attendees indicated they had gone to AALL this year.
  • The TALL Knowledge Exchange may be moving to every three years; no confirmed date for 2026.

Note-Taking and AI Tools Mentioned

During the session, several AI and productivity tools were referenced.