Comments on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog: Reevaluating BigLaw Library Services - Two Views

Greg ... exactly, you hit the nail on the head. I...

2009-09-16T14:18:12.729-05:00

Greg ... exactly, you hit the nail on the head. It didn't help that my firm's library department was on the same level with the IT department but under the broader umbrella of a CIO that headed both IT and Library Services who had no clue about libraries and librarians. He was of the mindset that one could just "Google" his/her way out of most legal research situations which was a huge slap in the face to our dept b/c he didn't understand us.

I really fear that we aren't doing enough to put ourselves out in front and articulating the the points we need to be making. And that this will continue as you said and we'll find ourselves unable to go back.

I feel your pain Tracie. One of the things that I...

2009-09-16T12:35:35.193-05:00

I feel your pain Tracie. One of the things that I've learned in my career is that most "business decision makers" are always looking for ways to decrease staff.

Staff = Overhead
Bad Economy = Reduce Overhead
Reduce Overhead = Cut Staff

Mark has some good thoughts on how to keep the library staff from immediately being seen as "overhead".

In BigLaw, if you are 'out of sight', it can mean you are first on the chopping block. I think that is why you've seen a lot of cuts to resources that are outside the firms' main offices. It may be referred to as "centralization", but somewhere along the line those solo librarians in the "outer offices" became viewed by the decision makers as a luxury rather than a necessity.

I'm afraid that we may never get back to the focus on the service that is produced by these solos (effectiveness) over the efficiency that is produced by the centralized "IT" method. To give an even more "doomsday" view of things, I'm really worried that the "IT" method may create a worse situation in the future by making it harder for the expertise in the library to be seen by the attorneys. If we don't get out in front of the attorneys, then there will come a day when attorneys forget what valuable "people" resources they have in the library.

I think you both have valid points. However, it&#...

2009-09-15T14:04:50.167-05:00

I think you both have valid points. However, it's frustrating when you are someone on the receiving end of the new paradigm shift and are out of a job at a firm where allegedly librarians were valued and revered for their knowledge and expertise. I recently was laid off in May by my firm which had a staff of 18 and decided to cut its staff by 40%. None of us saw such drastic changes coming and were constantly being told by management that we weren't anywhere near a point of having to let staff go. We were told to slash our budgets by a certain percentage and we met that goal. But after everything we did, it was completely shocking to find out that in the background, that was all prep work for a department wide reorganization of library services where whomever decided the firm didn't need to have staff in each of its offices. Instead, all of us solo office librarians were laid off and the ones remaining in the multi-staff larger offices were tasked with doing triple the work. That very well may be efficient monetarily speaking but the attorneys in those offices without librarians are not getting the same quality level of service and immediate assistance that they had before.

I realize I am still angry at my own situation but it is frustrating to see this shift across the board regardless b/c at the end of the day, I don't see people in key positions articulating our value to holders of the purse-strings. I agree that the economical situation can inspire more efficient methods for providing resources and doing cost-effective research. But when does it end? It seems like more and more libarians are losing their jobs b/c we aren't valued in those environments as much any longer. Mark is right that library departments need to do more.