The University of Miami School of Law Library is pleased to announce the appointment of two new librarian assistant professors, Emily Finch and Federico Salas. Both will help the library better support students and faculty with their research and instruction.
Finch’s responsibilities will include providing faculty outreach and education on topics related to scholarship. Additionally, she will offer reference services, assist students and faculty with legal research, and teach workshops and other legal research instruction for the Law Library.
Salas will provide reference services, assist students and faculty with legal research, and teach workshops and other forms of legal research instruction. He will also be responsible for responding to complex faculty research requests and preparing guides and other resources for the library.
Finch brings a robust academic and professional background in law, archives, and cultural heritage. She holds multiple degrees and certificates, and in addition to her Miami Law J.D. degree (conferred this past May), she received a Master of Information with a concentration in Library, Archives, and Digital Curation from the University of Michigan.
“I am thrilled to continue to contribute to the University of Miami School of Law campus and community,” said Finch. “Working at the reference desk was a highlight of my J.D. experience. As a proud Cane, I look forward to returning to the academic library setting full-time and to exploring how I can support the research output and impact of Miami Law’s amazing faculty and students.”
The native Michigander gained experience through various internships and research assistant positions. She served as a student research assistant at the University of Miami Law Library and as a summer law clerk at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Before her time at Miami Law, Finch was the inaugural community fellow at the Library Futures Institute, where she advocated for libraries and their patrons and served as assistant professor and Scholarly Communication and Copyright librarian at Kansas State University.
Finch's academic focus has been on the intersection of law and cultural heritage. Her coursework has covered subjects such as cultural property law, art law, intellectual property, and archival practices. She also completed a postgraduate certificate in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Law from the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. Finch's extensive background makes her an asset to the law library.
Salas’s new role brings him back to his alma mater, where he previously earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Science in 2015. During his undergraduate studies, Salas also worked his first job as a library preservation assistant in the Conservation Lab at the University's Richter Library.
“Joining the Law Library’s reference team is an exciting new chapter for me,” said Salas. “My experience so far has been with firms and businesses, so I’m aiming to grow as an academic law librarian and leverage that history so I can help bridge the gap between students and practicing attorneys.”
Before his current appointment, Salas was a self-employed librarian-contractor for five years, providing out-of-house library services to law firms and business clients of all sizes. Before that, from 2017 to 2019, he also served as a legal clerk/assistant and treatise editor for Jason A. Frank, Esq. (retired), author of “Elder Law in Maryland" and "Maryland Medicaid: Long-Term Care.”
Salas holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, which he received in 2018. There, he was an articles editor for the Maryland Law Review. Furthering his qualifications in the field, Salas also obtained a Master of Science in Library & Information Science from The Catholic University of America in 2021, completing a concentration in Law Librarianship.
“At such an exciting time in the development of legal information technology, we are thrilled to be able to add two experienced and enthusiastic professionals to the law library,” said Robin Schard, director of the library. “Their unique backgrounds will help us expand our research services to better prepare our students for the practice of law and to enhance the innovative research of our faculty.”
Read more about Miami Law’s Law Library.
