Legal Research

U.S. Law Librarians? Changing Scene

By Simon Fodden

There’s an interesting article today on Law.com about what impact the recession is having on the situation of law librarians in the United States. “Law Librarians: ‘No More Sacred Cows’” by Alan Cohen is based on the 2009 American Lawyer survey of law librarians. To see the actual findings of the full survey you’ll have to be a subscriber, but Cohen hits the high spots for you.

Library budgets have shrunk in 46% of cases, compared to 9% in 2008 / The expectation from the firms is that every resource must show a decent ROI. / New software to track resource use can help libraries become more efficient. / There’s a significant rise in librarian dissatisfaction — this in a profession that is famously content. / The effort continues to “market” the library to the firm, to show what it really can do. / Librarians are getting tougher with publishers and suppliers, and they are getting breaks. / The usefulness of technology for KM is “finally getting through” to firms.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on September 03, 2009 (boomark / email).