Osgoode Hall chief law librarian receives service award

Osgoode Hall Law School entrance to the Ignat Kaneff building

Osgoode Hall Law School’s chief law librarian has been honoured by members of the Chicago-based American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) for her exceptional service to one of its 14 special interest sections.

Yemisi Dina
Yemisi Dina

Chief Law Librarian Yemisi Dina was recently awarded the Daniel L. Wade Outstanding Service Award by members of the AALL’s Foreign, Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section (FCIL-SIS).

“She is one of the most active members of our section, working behind-the-scenes and in-front of the crowd to help us reach educational and networking goals that we would not otherwise accomplish,” said a written statement nominating her for the award. “Her consistent and reliable service deserves our section’s top acknowledgement.”

Dina, who joined Osgoode’s law library in 2006, said she was thrilled by the honour of being recognized by her peers.

As chair of the special interest section’s Africa Interest Group, she organizes and creates educational programs at annual meetings for members focusing on foreign, comparative and international law topics related to Africa.

She has also facilitated the completion of the African Law Print Holdings list available in law libraries in the United States and Canada. Plans are to make it available to the public in the coming months on the LLMC Digital legal database. The project was completed using funding received from Osgoode Hall Law School Top Up Research Fund and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Explore Grant.

In her statement nominating Dina for the award, Professor Loren Turner, the foreign, comparative and international law librarian at the University of Minnesota Law School, also commended Dina for her work on behalf of the larger association, including submitting proposals for educational seminars at the AALL’s annual meeting.

Dina holds an honours bachelor of arts degree in English, master’s in language arts and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. She earned an honours LLB from the University of Lagos in Nigeria in 1990 and later achieved a master’s degree in public policy administration and law from York University. She has held a variety of positions at public and academic libraries in Canada, Nigeria and The Bahamas.

Her areas of specialization include law librarianship, information technology and its application information services, legal research methods, women’s studies, and foreign, comparative and international law. She teaches library research in the first-year Legal Process course and in a number of upper-year and graduate courses.

Founded in 1906, the American Association of Law Libraries has more than 5,000 members from across the United States and around the world.