Over the past many years, I have been in and out of law firm libraries pretty regularly.  I have observed a few things about how librarians train themselves, train their staffs and train the attorneys.  I offer a few thoughts on the subject, not from the heights of expertise, but from the trenches of experience.  A few areas of concern present themselves, and we shall take them up as they occur.  I am neither so credulous nor so arrogant as to think that I am offering more answers than questions.  Indeed, I think it is likely that different libraries and different librarians will not necessarily have the same answers to these questions.  As resources and situations differ, solutions will necessarily be tailored to individual firms.  There is no group better able to make the adjustments and alterations, I suspect, than law firm librarians.

In all humility, I also note that most of the standards and practices I’ll recommend in the following paragraphs are not things that I have thought of but are ideas I have picked up by watching capable librarians over a couple decades.  If an old dog hangs out in the right circles, he can indeed pick up some new tricks, and he can pass them on even if he can’t use them himself.

“So, who should do the training for the attorneys?  Librarians or vendor representatives?” 

My first thought is always that librarians are the ones who should train attorneys, paralegals and practice group staff.  Law firms have standards that vendors are unaware of or that vendors have no interest in enforcing.  Similarly, law firms have virtually no input into the assignment of a sales rep or trainer that a vendor may send, and therefore no control over the quality of the trainers or the training.  Poor or disorganized trainers and training sessions are obstacles that librarians, i.e. information professionals, are able to overcome more easily than attorneys who are not necessarily information professionals.  Besides, it is the librarians who will be judged on the effective use of the information resources provided to the attorneys, and training is an important part of “effective use.”

 As a general rule, librarians should have more training than the attorneys, and should have it in advance of the attorneys.  Even in cases where the vendor reps will do the attorney training, librarians should be trained first.  Then, of course, they should be in the training sessions with the attorneys.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  Librarians have the broadest experience with information resources.  They are able to compare, contrast, make distinctions, note pitfalls and expand possibilities in any of their available resources based on their experience with all their resources.  It is also invariably true that the more an intelligent person thinks about a product or service, the more effectively and efficiently that professional will be able to implement the product or service.  In addition, having two or three training sessions, even from the same person, will—or should—give you two or three perspectives on the product or service.  If a training session is only going to be a rote repetition of the previous session, you don’t need it.  Training sessions, especially with librarians, should be elastic, responsive and intelligent interactions.  Otherwise, why wouldn’t you just download the slides from the webex?  Insist that the vendor give you a sales or training professional that is experienced enough to know why you are purchasing this particular product and service and is intelligent enough to appreciate the sophistication you expect in the usage of information resources.

Yes, it sometimes happens, and no, it is usually not a problem.  But don’t let it turn into a problem.  Don’t let vendor reps run training sessions without library participation.  There is no reason for your West rep to note in a training session that your firm insists that you use Nimmer rather than Patry for copyright law analysis.  There is no reason for your Lexis rep to note in a training session that your firm insists that you use Wright and Miller rather than Moore’s for federal practice and procedure.  There is no reason for any rep for any vendor to remind your attorneys that the firm’s preference is that attorneys use the forms, mutatis mutandis, that your KM program has assembled and organized in preference to forms provided by a vendor service.  These are responsibilities of information professionals and practice group heads, not vendors, whose interests are not necessarily identical to your interests, whose knowledge of your firm’s standards and practices cannot be identical to yours.

Here is a secret for the occasional attorney who may be reading this: librarians and vendors among ourselves often snicker at the fact that legal professionals with annual salaries starting at $150,000 and heading up from there cannot commit to a training session until they are assured that they will be met by a plate of chicken salad sandwiches, some oversized chocolate chip cookies and a couple Diet Cokes.  But seriously, training is crucial for the correct and effective use of information resources, so it is a matter to be taken seriously.  What has become clear to me is that the key here is not how you get Attorney Z to come to training from 9:45 A.M. until 10:30 A.M. on Thursday in Conference Room 42-E.  That is the result, not the process.  The key is how you get Attorney Z to take seriously his/her responsibilities to have available for competent use the tools that your firm’s standards require for the practice of law.  There are three prerequisites for attorneys to take this responsibility seriously, and the librarians must be involved in all three.

(i)     In general terms, there must be a “knowledge culture” in the firm.  Librarians must work with the managing partner, executive committee, CEO, etc. to encourage the view that the information resources provided by the firm are an integral part of the practice of law in the firm.  Librarians are going to be judged, evaluated and rewarded or punished based on the firm’s judgment of how well they turn expended dollars into effectively used information resources.  This reality demands that you work proactively with firm administrators to be sure that their expectations are communicated not only to the librarians, but to all firm personnel.

(ii)   In specific terms, librarians must be in constant touch with practice area heads and indeed with individual attorneys to bring to their attention available resources that they may find useful but which they are not using.  If you communicate to the practice groups and to individual attorneys that your role is to recommend, evaluate, purchase and monitor information resources to make their work better and easier, you will not have to beg them to be there Thursday morning.  They will know how important this is.

(iii) And when you get them there, don’t waste their time.  Whether you are doing the training or the vendor rep is doing the training, be ready to explain to them what the product is, why they will have access to it, what it will do for them, how it works and what to do if/when they have a problem.  The corollary of this recommendation is that if a vendor rep is managing the presentation, make sure you have previewed the session.  If the rep is not organized or articulate or engaging enough to hold the attention and expand the knowledge of the attorneys, you will be the one to pay the price, in your reputation and in your ability to continue to get attorneys to cooperate in training opportunities.

I do not pretend that this is easy.  Many, many large firm libraries are understaffed and overworked.  Still, training is a crucial factor in the effective use of your budget, in the estimation by firm administration of the value of the library and in the perception by attorneys of the importance of the firm’s knowledge culture, and for those reasons alone the training process deserves large amounts of your attention and efforts.

This collaborative effort started as an idea that percolated into a conversation between John DiGilio, SLA Legal Division Chair and Steve Lastres, PLL Chair at the PLL Summit in Philadelphia. We spread the idea to other associations who represent law firm librarians such as  the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (l’Association Canadienne des Bibliothecas de Droit) and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. They joined us with AALL’s blessing and by year end, we had expanded to include the Organisation of South African Law Libraries (OSALL) and the Scottish Law Librarians Group (SLLG).
 
We have had 25 posts published. By far, the most popular post was the one published by Greg Castanias, Library Partner at Jones Day entitled “  How Librarians Add Value To Their Law Firms – Advice From Greg Castanias, Jones Day Library Partner.

The power of social media and its ability to reach readers far and wide should now be evident to law firm librarians. I urge you in 2012 to help OFG continue to raise awareness of the value that law firm librarians bring to the practice and business of law. How better to achieve that goal, than to hear from law firm librarians about how you add value each and every day to your respective firms.  We encourage other legal professional that collaborate with law firm librarians to join the conversation.

See the 2011 annual report for this blog showing the post popular posts. With 2012 now underway, we need you to contribute posts to On Firmer Ground. Please follow the link to the ”How To Submit” page.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 25,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

By John J. DiGilio, National Manager of Research Services, Reed Smith LLP.  Originally published on Future Ready 365 here.

Back when the internet was still young, so was I . . . well somewhat. I was fresh out of law school and fresh out of work. Two things were certain to me back then: I had no desire to practice law and I was happiest when I was researching in the library. When I made up my mind to pursue a degree in information science, one of my closest friends and an early tech guru, asked me if I was crazy. According to his digital crystal ball, once this “internet thing” took off, libraries and librarians would surely go the way of the dinosaur. All of these years later, I am pleased to say that not only have I failed to fossilize, but that I am happier than ever to call myself a librarian. Librarians are survivors!

It’s a new millennium. Yes, the internet is bigger than anyone imagined. Yes, libraries have gotten smaller in many respects. Maybe we saw that coming. But in a stroke of tenacity and adaptability, librarians have become, in my opinion, more integral than ever. In this age of easy access and information on demand, we are more than the gatekeepers. We are the curators of relevance. We are information quality control at its finest! Staying relevant has not been an easy road and many of my colleagues in the industry are struggling with changing technology and tightening fiscal belts. Yet, I have just to look around to see many others adapting to new roles and processes that few of us might have expected even just a few years ago. Call it a “can do attitude” or even career Darwinism. I think of it as the very nature of librarianship. It is quality, innovation, and service despite and in response to changing circumstances. It’s what we do!

Being future ready means being adaptable and responsive. It requires keeping your finger on the pulse of change and meeting it head on with new methods, fresh ideas, and unwavering enthusiasm. It is also embracing the fact that as times change, so too will the definition and domain of the librarian. It is only natural. Librarians can and do adapt. We do survive. Above all, we can thrive in the face of change. Here are just a few of the skills I believe that can keep us from getting voted off the island (OK, bad “Survivor” reference!):

• Anticipate change.  Change is a given, whether we like it or not. Yet it seldom blindsides us. Librarians are imminently positioned to see what is coming our way. We are out there interacting with the resources, vendors, and information – the very agents of change – on a daily basis. If you are not already leveraging your contacts, networks, and conferences to help you prepare for tomorrow, you really need to start doing so. Change cannot sneak up on you if you have eyes in the back of your head. Old librarian stereotypes aside, you do have eyes in the back of your head right?
• After you ask WHY, ask HOW!  Like I said above, change is a given. So is the fact that we are not always going to like the changes that occur. It is only natural to lament when the rug is pulled from beneath you. But once you get done sweating over why something has changed (an important question in and of itself), it is time to start thinking about how you are going to adapt. As librarians, our goal is to continue to deliver quality service and work regardless. Shrinking budgets and spaces be damned, our goals do not change. Regardless of the size of the institutions we serve, we are each part of a team that keeps that place running. Want to show them how integral you are to the team and your workplace? Show them just how much you really can do with the resources you are given. As Tim Gunn would say, “Make it work!”
• Don’t just shift . . . SHINE! Finally, it is not enough to just make the most of change. Shifting approaches and expectations may be the bulk of the battle, but they are not enough to win the war for survival. What good is besting change if no one knows what you are doing? You have got to be able to talk up what you and your department are doing in ways that are meaningful to your institution. From raising the bar on the quality of information and results to saving money, the powers that be need to know the impact of your work and changes. Don’t be shy about tooting your own horn. Just toot it strategically.  No one wants a cacophony of self-congratulations. A sweet tune of success is enough to tempt the ears of those at the top.

I could go on and on about the ways in which librarians can thrive in changing and even uncertain times. I have at times even been accused of being too optimistic about the changes that are shaping our industry and its future. You can call me a Pollyanna. I really do not mind. If I did not believe it and practice it, I would not preach it. Librarianship, in all of its evolving names and forms, is every bit as exciting to me as it was when I was starting info school. I still love what I do and, most importantly, I am still doing it. That friend, the tech guru with the gloomy prognostications? He is not in tech anymore. In fact, I am trying to get him to try librarianship too. I am certain there is a future in it!

Jeff Buckley, Legal Research Analyst, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

I attended the AALL Futures Summit the other week. It was a two-day conference at the McDonald’s Campus Hyatt near Chicago. AALL footed the bill (including travel, lodging and dining expenses) and about forty law librarians were there. A special committee of AALL, the Futures Summit Planning Special Committee chaired by David Mao of the Library of Congress, planned the event. Overall, the Futures Summit was good. Will anything come of it? I hope so.

The main theme was improvement: how can we make the American Association of Law Libraries better? In the weeks leading up to the conference, attendees received a list of background readings and participated in online discussion on topics such as mentoring and communication. After everyone had arrived and the conference was underway and we were able to match faces to names, it became clear to me that everyone there cared about our profession and our organization. Everyone was engaged, offering ideas and insights. It was a hopeful moment.

Andy Hines, a futurist, set the tone for the conference with the keynote address. He spoke enthusiastically about categories of people based on their values and about generational changes in the workforce. He offered hortatory remarks about employees interviewing employers nowadays and expressed the notion that employers need to be responsive to talented employees who desire flexible schedules and work-life balance. Although his optimistic message was somewhat incongruous with the bleak employment outlook facing our country today, Mr. Hines provided a broad-stroke positive picture before we set out to answer specific questions in our small-group breakout sessions.

During the conference, I took part in small-group sessions on private law libraries, on leadership and mentoring, and on overarching goals. After each breakout session, the entire group convened to share ideas from each small group. Although not comprehensive, here is a list of items I thought were interesting:

• We need to continue to deliver excellent services
• Librarians at law firms bring value in client billing and saving attorney time
• Metrics are essential to demonstrating value
• Librarians at law firms shouldn’t need to worry about unauthorized practice of law (ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.3 is applicable)
• We need to be ahead of the curve on technology, with eBooks for example
• AALL’s website should “remember” users so we don’t have to put in our password every time we use the site
• AALL ought to break down walls between its Special Interest Sections, e.g., Academic Law Libraries SIS members ought to be able to view the online communications of Private Law Libraries SIS members, and vice versa
• Large law firms do not use the AALL salary survey so we should look at alternatives
• Subject area specialization is increasing and librarians should embrace it, e.g., by regularly attending practice group meetings
• Relationships with vendors should not be adversarial; it’s not us against them – we rely on each other
• Vendors should be more active in library school programs so new librarians will know how to use current tools
• AALL should welcome new members with a phone call
• AALL should allow more opportunities for new members to participate in committee work
• AALL should consider providing free membership to student members
• AALL should facilitate mentoring relationships with a sort of matching site (similar to a dating site)
• AALL members need to complete their online profiles on the AALL website

The final activity of the conference was for attendees to write down on post-it notes their ideas about what AALL should do in the near future. We placed these post-it notes on presentation easels around the room and spent some minutes reviewing our colleagues’ remarks. These were my contributions:

• Consider hiring a PR firm to coordinate outside communications
• Create an online ideas bank where AALL members would be able to submit their ideas and “upvote” good ideas

The conference was a whirlwind of activity and insight. It was a shot in the arm for our profession. Now let’s see some actual good come out of it. A possible item number one could be to collect all of those remarks on the post-it notes and make them available to members. The Futures Summit Planning Special Committee is slated to meet soon to discuss next steps, to provide action items. Let’s take action.

At Bracewell & Giuliani, the Library has developed a collaborative relationship with our Business Development & Marketing Department. We provide them with sophisticated business intelligence (BI) and competitive intelligence (CI) on a daily basis. While this work is primarily nonbillable, it is some of the most rewarding and satisfying research the librarians undertake. Most importantly, the firm recognizes the impact that our research has in identifying and bringing in new clients to the firm and staying abreast of the competitive legal landscape. Here at Bracewell, we have three reference librarians for a firm of almost 500 attorneys. Our Marketing group is organized by practice with managers for energy, banking/finance, trial/technology, etc.

A valuable service the Library provides to our litigation section and the Manager of the Trial and Technology group is a daily court alert that provides newly filed patent/copyright cases from Courtlink. This feed generates requests from our attorneys for copies of new complaints.

From a due diligence perspective, we are called upon for information on prospective clients and for upcoming pitches. We refer these types of requests as “you ring, we fling” requests given the fast turnaround that is demanded. We use tools such as Lexis AtVantage, Bloomberg litigation reports,Hoover’s, D&B, and news sources to complete these requests. In order to work more efficiently with Marketing on these requests, we copy the manager for that attorney’s section with the search results.  This helps the managers stay in the loop and keep up-to-date on all happenings within their groups.

Recently we added social media to our arsenal of resources we search to obtain background information on individuals. Our biography package now consists of information from our standard news sources, as well as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and photographs from Google images. With this information in hand, our lawyers are well prepared for any meeting.

To support the growing needs of the Marketing department, we work with the firm’s Communications Manager and monitor all mentions of our firm in the press and social media outlets. The Library uses Lexis Publisher and Google news alerts to send out a daily e-mail to all firm employees which includes every mention of Bracewell’s name in the press.

From a competitive intelligence perspective, the Library provides league tables to the Marketing Manager who supports finance and banking. Some of the resources we use include Thomson Financial, DealLogic, Bloomberg, and MergerMarket.

Marketing and the Library have also taken the time to get to know each other on a personal level through casual lunches. This has benefited both groups by knowing what is happening in each other’s department, plus it creates a dynamic where you aren’t just employees at the same firm but you care about what is keeping each other busy at work and after (movies, travel, DSW!). It also helps each department understand what the workload is like on the other side and that your requests may not be the only ones flooding respective inboxes.

A direct benefit to the Library of our collaborative relationship is that the librarians gain access to databases purchased by Marketing such as Energy Acuity and PitchBook. We are really grateful to have access to these (pricey) resources.

In addition to the services we provide, the Library plays a professional development role by training all new Marketing staff members when they arrive at the firm. This provides a great opportunity to start off on the right foot. The new employees then become ambassadors for the Library, sharing capabilities and sending attorneys to us for their research projects and requests.

The Library’s romance with Marketing began several years ago when we took on the task of compiling a weekly newsletter which included energy-related news in the Caspian region. We sent it out to clients for a while with just an e-mail. When Marketing heard about our efforts, they offered help with newsletter software to make The Caspian News look more professional and increased the distribution list using InterAction. This got the notice of important partners at the firm and it turned into a very high profile endeavor. I knew our efforts were appreciated when the entire Marketing Department showed up in the Library and surprised us with cupcakes to celebrate the newsletter’s 100th issue!

Marketing knows they can always depend on our quick response and valiant efforts. When they know we are responding immediately to their requests, they can get information to the attorneys in a timely manner which makes everyone look good. Our attorneys are then able to impress the firm’s clients, as well as prospective clients, because of our efforts as a unified team – not as two separate departments.

Our secret to creating a fun and rewarding working relationship with the Marketing Department is keeping lines of communication open – try asking someone to lunch, stopping by their office, or chatting with them over coffee at Starbucks.

I never quite got around to going to law school, but I have managed to work in the legal publishing field for many years, in editorial, in sales and marketing, in product development.  What I hope to demonstrate over the next couple paragraphs is that I have indeed learned a few things in the legal publishing business, but I definitely did not go to law school, because I suspect I’ll be making a few of what you refer to as admissions against interest.

Vendors have an almost unique perspective on law firm librarians.  We are sometimes partners, sometimes adversaries; sometimes you use us and sometimes we use you; we are often friends; it is undeniably true that we cannot live without you, nor you without us.  If I were to have a group of law firm administrators in front of me, with members chosen from job titles such as CFO, COO, CIO or CEO, here is what I would tell them about the role their librarians play with information vendors and their products and practices:

• They know what your securities group needs, what your m&a group needs, what your structured finance group needs.  They talk not only to the sales reps from your vendors, but also to your attorneys—every day—and to the vendors’ editorial and product development specialists.  The corollary to that is that there is no one in your firm better positioned to create, monitor and adjust the balance of firm-wide and specialty products that will get to fee earners what they need to practice law at the standard your clients and your management committee demand.  Lots of people in the firm know little pieces of the answer, but a capable library director will see the outline of the answer, and even how the question (and therefore the answer) changes under various circumstances.

• They know the difference between good and bad, what works and what doesn’t, what is a real fix to a problem and what is a “let’s paper this over until we can think of something” dodge.  Folks cruder than myself call it, I believe, a bs detector.  And they share amongst themselves.  Anyone who monitors the various librarian lists, general and specialized, knows that this is a group with such confidence in its experience that there is no hesitation about asking a colleague a question.

• Because they talk to your attorneys every day, they know what is being used, what is not being used, what can be replaced by the firm’s own expertise or archive.  They will see from their research interaction with attorneys what information products or services can be replaced by something else that responds more closely to the firm’s actual information needs, thereby increasing both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the attorneys.

• The financial relationship between vendors and law firms has in many cases become so tortured and complex that negotiations, especially large renewal negotiations, can have a real impact on firm finances, both directly in costs and indirectly in efficiency and availability of required resources.  These large scale negotiations, especially renewal negotiations, involve usage levels, adjustment of time charges, transactional charges and flat fees, adjustment of the product mix within a particular service, and, more obscurely, an inkling of how the negotiation will go, how much flexibility the sales rep has and when it’s time to change tactics or even insist on dealing with the sales rep’s boss.  Nor can we overlook the requirement that the library director/negotiator understand what the firm’s lawyers can and cannot do, will and will not put up with, have to have or want because the publisher called them directly.  What you pay a good library director will be more than made up, over and over again, by the director’s expertise in vendor negotiations.

• And after the contract is done, the library director has to serve as the usage cop, not just in terms of the quantity of usage, but in making sure that usage is executed under the terms negotiated by the parties and preserved in the contract.  Who sees more information service licensing agreements than the library director?  Who better than the library director knows which terms are rigid, which flexible, which terms vendors will negotiate and which they will enforce rigidly? 

Library directors in large firms make a decent, though hardly opulent, salary, and we are in a time when every line on every departmental budget gets looked at.  I suppose I am offering the opinion, certainly not an admission against interest, that in the realm of vendor relations alone, a good library director represents a solid and well-priced investment for a law firm.

“Michael, I need to know what obligations Albanian law puts on contractors.”

That is today’s first request. A researcher who knows exactly what she wants, but has no idea where to find it, has only one place to turn. Well, ok, two places; but I pride myself on the fact that she comes to me rather than Google. The badge is right, Librarians are the original search engine – and a well trained librarian is still the best.

After completing an MSC in library and information studies at The Robert Gordon University I spent a year serving my time as a library assistant with Dundee City Council. At this time the idea of working in law hadn’t occurred to me; I had an undergraduate degree in Economics and a love of political philosophy – I though an ideal job would be working in an academic library in one of these fields. The offer of a job as librarian with Dr Mildwaters changed all that – legal research opened up to me, and it was fascinating.

For two years now I’ve been working as a solo librarian for Mildwaters Consulting. Originally the partners believed that they were getting someone to log in serials, look after the books, and keep the catalogue up to date. It wasn’t long before they found out that what they were getting was a librarian.

One of the huge advantages of having a librarian on staff is that librarians are skilled in effective and efficient search strategies. The sources of law are vast and ever expanding; a librarian has the specialized knowledge to mine these sources, both print and electronic, for relevant information. Law librarians can weed out the unnecessary and the irrelevant, and ensure the swift dissemination of that which is needed. This is especially important in the area of current awareness where the sheer volume of information can prove intimidating to a young lawyer keen to keep up with what is important but worried that not reading everything will leave them out of the loop. A law librarian’s professional judgement is frequently the best defence against information overload.

An important part of a law librarian’s role is training in research and information literacy. As Ted Tjaden wrote last year: “Even if we assume that the ease of access to online information means that lawyers will be doing more on their own, they (and particularly students) would still need or benefit from some basic training and most law librarians are the best situated to conduct such training.”

Finally, I want to regale you with a story which is unlikely to be unique, and shows why a librarian is important. A certain member of the firm, who, to hide their blushes, shall remain nameless, emailed me a few months ago. They were in West Africa visiting with clients and needed an article from a journal; the email read:

Michael,

I was reading a book last night and there was a footnote to an article/book I would like to read.

The article relates to the use of technical experts in unitization disputes – although it may be more generic than that and refer to a method of dispute resolution in general.

I gather the procedure is also referred to as ‘final offer arbitration’ and it is used extensively in the US in labour disputes.

Would you please see if you can track it down.

Needless to say, they got the article and I got the kudos; and it was mainly thanks to librarians on email lists who helped me identify, not just the article but also the book where the article had been quoted! A law librarian can take this sort of request, analyse the important pieces of information, seek expertise from colleagues, and come back with the right answer. From my basement in Dundee I can put the firm in contact with knowledge and experience from around the world. Librarians are like a family, helping each other, teaching each other, supporting each other. Perhaps it is this aspect which is the most important for firms – when you hire a librarian, you don’t get just one, you get the family.

 P.S. For those who are interested, the answer to the question at the top can be found in The Petroleum Law (Exploration and Production) Nr 7746 date 28/7/1993 Article 6.

…become a Law Firm Librarian of course…

I know this is the case following my attendance at the Australian Law Librarians Association (ALLA) in Canberra at the end of September where I attended as the official British & Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) delegate. Called ACTioning the Law the conference provided a number of opportunties for Law Librarians to hear about how law was created in Australia, to hear about developments in making legislation and other resources available online and to understand how technolgical advances were impacting on the work of Law Librarians.

There I saw the true value Law Firm Librarians bring to their organisations by listening to what some of the “external” speakers had to say about Law Firm Librarians they’d worked with.

From the Director-General at the National Library of Australia, the Freedom of Information Comissioner the Editor-at-Large of the Canberra Times and a recently qualified Associate at a large Australian Law Firm each was effusive and generous with their comments both about the work Law Firm Librarians do and how Law Firm Librarians had and continue to assist them throughout their working careers. For me this was a welcome reminder that we continue to influence the work of individuals not just in the firms we work in but across many different organisations and in the case of the Associate not just when they were a trainee but post qualification and as their career develops.

However now is not the time to rest on our laurels. The market and climate we work in has never been more competitive. The recent mergers in Australia have shown that law firms are keener then ever to consolidate and develop their services and although these mergers provide opportunties for Law Firm Librarians we need to be constantly evaluating the services we provide and work we do to ensure we’re influencing the right people!

For Law Librarians in the UK September and October usually mean the start of a frenetic period of activity organising and delivering training sessions to the new trainee solicitor intake.

Having been involved in the trainee training process on a number of occassions I’ve seen how much the new trainees appreciate the training they are receiving. Perhaps not right at that moment in time but certainly once they’re fully settled in their seats. However recently  I’ve been wondering whether the training we’re delivering is actually useful for them and whether we could be doing more to both identify and meet their training requirements and to go beyond what we might ordinarily offer in terms of training.

There is no doubt in my mind that we need to be showing new trainees how to use the key legal resources they’re going to be using on a daily basis. To not do so would potentially mean trainees using resources incorrectly or use the wrong resources and risk passing incorrect information on to their supervisors. So training trainees on how to use the flagship products from the major legal database suppliers is an essential part of a trainee training programme.

Alongside this Law Librarians should be showing new trainees how to undertake legal research correctly, either using a legal database or a combination of legal datbases and hard copy materials. As trainees and solicitors become more self-sufficient and more content is pushed to individuals desktop a good grounding in how to undertake legal research has never been more important and trainee training is often the only opportunity Law Librarians have to demonstrate how to underake it correctly. Law Librarians should also be involved in any training on how to use a firms Intranet, a key information resource in any firm, and if used by the Law Firm an Enterprise Search tool.

I believe Law Librarians are also ideally placed to talk about a number of other topics which might not be considered part of a traditional trainee training programme. Using social media effectively for example would be one of those topics. As users and advocates of social media tools Law Librarians are ideally placed to talk about the benefits of using these tools to communicate and collaborate more effectively. All too often any discussion about social media tools is usually delivered by the Risk Management Partner or someone from Information Security whose primary concern is ensuring individuals think before they start using a social media tool in a professional context. Stressing the important of using common sense when using social media tools is an important point but what we risk doing is alienating trainees from using the tools at all. To do so is in my mind dangerous as firms are increasingly encouraging individuals to join forums, write blog posts and edit and create content within wikis.

Having a Law Librarian deliver a session that looks at how these tools can be used effectively without over emphasing the “negative” aspects of these tools seems to me like something we should be doing if we aren’t already. I also see no reason why Law Librarians shouldn’t deliver training on a number of other topics, including but not necessarily limited to:

• Presentation skills
• Creating content for the web
• Advanced search skills
• Copyright

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Please read the petition below, and if you agree with the position of the Caucus, sign it by emailing your approval to Michael Ginsborg at michaelginsborg@yahoo.com. The names of all signatories will be kept confidential, as explained in the petition. Time is of the essence. We have a short deadline by which to gather signatures (September 16th) to allow AALL time to place the petition on the agenda of the Board meeting for November 3rd-5th. The Caucus’s statement of purpose must be strong and unequivocal so that we can be effective consumer advocates for law libraries.

Reasons For The Petition

1. The Caucus has a strong factual basis for its proposed purpose.

2. Although AALL has three venues on “vendor relations,” none can effectively address unfair and anticompetitive business practices in the legal information industry. First, the Vendor Colloquium did not discuss consumer advocacy, and the membership had no opportunity for digital participation in any of its sessions. Caucus members asked a Vendor Colloquium task force to consider our proposal of a robust consumer advocacy equal to AALL’s promise. The task force did not respond, closing an opportunity for their participation. Second, CRIV does admirable work to help individual institutions resolve complaints against legal information sellers. But CRIV can not use information from these complaints to advocate for a change in AALL policy. Third, despite significant anti-consumer practices in the industry, AALL’s Vendor Liaison has reduced related membership concerns to a problem in public relations. In March 2011, Vendor Liaison Margie Maes reported that unidentified “vendors” were “frustrated with the airing of public complaints,” but hoped that a “vendor relations program” would “stem the flow of that negative communication.” (March 25-26, 2011 AALL Executive Board Meeting Board Book, Tab 17)

3. We need a new approach. Caucus members seek the opportunity to independently influence AALL policymaking in a matter of high importance to the membership. An AALL Caucus would provide AALL members a forum to fully exchange their views on consumer advocacy, and a transparent venue to reach consensus on a policy recommendation to the Executive Board. The Caucus would not decide policy for AALL or act on its behalf. Caucus members seek only to have their voices heard; to open a new outlet for member participation in AALL; and to collaborate with AALL’s leadership in developing an effective consumer advocacy.

4. Over 50 AALL members have twice requested AALL’s recognition of the Caucus. Valuing AALL as their best ally, they have worked with its leadership to develop an acceptable statement of purpose. Former AALL President Joyce Janto provisionally approved their latest submission, but her successor, Darcy Kirk, has rejected it. Darcy suggests that the Caucus accept yet another statement of purpose: “The purpose of the Caucus on Consumer Advocacy is to provide a forum for AALL members to exchange ideas and information regarding the legal information industry and to represent its members’ interest and concerns within AALL.”

5. Darcy objected to the “negative tone” of the Caucus’ latest purpose and faulted the Caucus for suggesting “actions regarding policy.” She says that her substitute purpose “does not prevent [the Caucus] from from making recommendations to AALL regarding petitions.” But it would prevent the Caucus from candidly declaring its real purpose – to recommend a consumer advocacy petition.

6. AALL’s leadership could apply similar objections to any activity our Caucus might otherwise pursue, especially given the recent history of changing positions by AALL Presidents.

7. Darcy’s rejection of the Caucus’ proposed purpose would harm AALL in the following ways:
a. It would violate the implied right of members to engage AALL in matters they find fundamentally related to its mission;
b. It would violate AALL’s principle of transparency and openness;
c. It would create a chilling effect on Association speech, as members will not be allowed to discuss consumer advocacy issues, must less pursue them, for fear that AALL will not approve of candid discussion;
d. It would create the appearance that AALL is afraid of candor in matters that affect sellers of legal information;
e. It would deprive members the indispensable status and perceived “protection” that AALL recognition confers on an activity that some legal information sellers can be expected to disapprove; and
f. It would deter members from otherwise acting together to pursue their vision of a robust consumer advocacy.

8. These harmful consequences prevent Caucus members from accepting Darcy’s substitute purpose. So unless the Board reverses Darcy’s decision, the Board will deny over 50 AALL members an opportunity they eagerly want to participate in their Association; will deprive other AALL members the benefits of allowing the Caucus to organize; and will undermine member trust and interest in the Association.