Legal Research

Debates on the Value of Law Firm Librarians

By Shaunna Mireau

Let me start by saying two things that I believe:

1. I am an optimist
2. Change is good

I imagine that Slawyers, being those with an intellectual bent who read widely on the web and elsewhere, already know about Patrick Lamb’s recent ABA New Normal column titled “Does It Pay to Hire a Law Firm Librarian?” The comments are interesting and there have been plenty of follow up posts:

LLB - Do law firms still need librarians?
3 Geeks and a Law Blog – Who needs a librarian anyway?
iBrary Guy – A grain of salt and a teaspoon of sugar
Out of the Jungle – Librarians add value in law firms

The original post was meant to make us (not just librarians in law firms, but anyone in a service department within a service industry) think:

This post is really a head-fake though. It?s not really about librarians. It?s a challenge to everybody to figure out how to add real value to the enterprise. If you?re not adding value, you?ll be getting used to irrelevance.

My take on Patrick’s article is this: Law firms are changing by necessity. A library will change with its organization, or it will disappear. This is a time of opportunity. Bibliothecari carpe diem.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on November 23, 2010 (boomark / email).