COI: Why did you apply for the scholarship? What made you think you were a match for it?
Juan: I applied to the 2021 Mary Guittard Voegtle Law Librarian and Legal Informatics Scholarship because I was confident of my performance at school and, at the same time, I was able to be involved in other significant extracurricular activities. In addition, I received an encouraging email to apply for this award from Professor Toby Faber. My gratitude to him and to Professors Edward Hart, Jodi Philbrick, Larry Enoch, Sarah Ryan, Tricia Kuon, and Tyson McMillan, who in some way or another are continuously supporting my future career as a law librarian.
COI: How has this scholarship helped you reach your goals?
Juan: The Mary Guittard Voegtle Law Librarian and Legal Informatics Scholarship helped me financially. The fact that UNT recognized my efforts has also given me the incentive needed to work towards earning my Master’s in Library Science this coming December.
COI: Give us one or two highlights about what you have accomplished so far as a student in the program.
Juan: I am actively part of the law librarian community. For instance, I just finished an article about an innovative way to fight fake news by television broadcast stations that is going to be published by the International Journal of Legal Information. I also wrote an article for the Southern California Association of Law Libraries Newsletter, and a review about the International Court of Justice case database for the next edition of the Newsletter of the Foreign, Comparative and International Law (FCIL) SIS Newsletter. Likewise, I am the 2021 recipient of the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship and Fellowship Award. As a result, I am an intern at UCLA Law Library. Under the guidance of Caitlin Turner and Rebecca Fordon, I am able to have firsthand experience as a reference librarian.
As of July 2021, I am the Chair of the AALL Latin American Law Interest Group; currently, we are working on updating a Latin American journals list that could help perform research on the matter. I am determined to stand out as a future FCIL law librarian!