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Jim Shelar
A legend among law librarians, Jim Shelar passed away just before this year’s Fastcase 50 awards. As a law librarian first at Squire Sanders, then later as Chief Law Librarian at Arnold & Porter, Jim oversaw a number of notable firsts, among them being the first law firm library to have a Lexis terminal. He also beta tested one of the first citation checking systems, “auto-cite”, which worked with mag-cards and acoustic couplers to permit long-distance, high-speed data transmission. Jim was the first library director to sign up for ICLC in DC. He was a big believer in the expansion of libraries within Lexis, West, and Hein, providing legislative history and congressional hearings information to expand these collections, as well as advocating for publishers to remain focused on the actual needs of lawyers, especially in the areas of consistency, standards, and ease of use. As Chief Law Librarian for Arnold & Porter for 41 years, he mentored many young law librarians, as well as participated in too many committees and executive boards to list. He will be sorely missed for his great insight and work.