© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Kevin Miles and Lillie Murphy of Norton Rose Fulbright
(Nov. 10) – As the legal industry has been undergoing a transformation during the past 30 years, private law librarianship has also had to transform itself to become more efficient.
Modern law librarians have taken on several new roles: testing and evaluating new products, building and maintaining intranet portals and online libraries, training attorneys on the efficient use of these online resources, negotiating online contracts, and tracking online usage and assessing viability.
External Forces for Change
The shift from print to online resources has revolutionized private law librarianship, leading to the declining use of printed reporters and digests as well as an increase in the use of online resources. An online search for case law will also return additional non-case law resources that are closely related to the topic and subject matter.
Most law firms no longer support large print library collections. Library space has been repurposed as offices for billing attorneys. For example, there was time when every library included a set of Shepard’s, which was used to check case law history by hand. The need to search case law history still exists, but the tools to do that have been expanded and moved online. Verifying lists of citations can now be done in a matter of minutes, rather than the hours it took go through the Shepard’s set.
The availability of topical treatises online or as e-books also contributes to increased time efficiency. For example, many of the printed Lexis/Matthew Bender treatises are available both on Lexis Advance and as e-books.
Today, a law library no longer needs to maintain a large print collection or own several copies of a treatise in different locations. Titles such as Dorsaneo’s Texas Litigation Guide are available in printed format, online, and e-books. However, one still must dedicate some time to reading articles and case law to determine relevance. Not every step in the research process can be automated.
Changes in Content Access
In some ways, online increases access; in other ways, it creates more restrictions.
Copyright and licensing law applies, which impacts data sharing/loans. There are limitations on online access, such as seat limits and password protection. One could argue whether or not online access really means resources are more accessible. Librarians are responsible for guarding the copyright and licensing gate.
Internal Forces for Change
Internal forces are also transforming private law librarianship. For example, the introduction of knowledge management (KM) systems has saved research time and can lead to best practices and other efficiencies. Many off-the-shelf KM systems are now available and ready for customization. Librarians can bring a lot to the KM table, particularly in their ability to manage knowledge. However, managing the technology tools themselves is usually best left to the IT department.
Electronic services librarians – unheard of 10 years ago – are responsible for creating and maintaining library intranet research portals. All the research resources are organized on an intranet portal to create a positive and efficient user experience. Content may be arranged a number of ways, such as by topic or practice area.
In many law firms, the managerial structure of libraries is changing. Increasingly, with the technological advances in researching, libraries have been incorporated into the IT department. In some cases, the library has become part of the marketing department. Both situations bring with them opportunities to create synergy between the library and the expanded group.
Another trend is embedding librarians among the attorneys. Now that the library encompasses a smaller physical space, librarians are increasingly placed in offices along the same hallways as attorneys and away from the traditional library space. This can be to the librarian’s advantage, providing an opportunity to interact with patrons and get a closer look at how particular attorneys work. Astute librarians use these occasions to offer their assistance and solve problems attorneys may not have otherwise known they had.
The move toward online resources has shifted library staffing needs. Paraprofessional positions – invaluable in large print library – have given way to professional researchers. Expertise in searching in online formats is the law librarian’s most important skill.
The traditional technical services librarian job description has moved away from managing a print collection to maintaining commercial databases. Cataloging skills now include the ability to create meaningful metadata. Today’s law librarian is also responsible for training users in how to use all of the available resources.
Managing the financial budget for online collections is different from budgeting for a print collection. When a library purchases a book, they own it. Online databases are not purchased but leased. Contracts for access to online content must be negotiated and regularly renegotiated.
Product evaluations are a new focus of professional librarians, who use the tools like “OneLog” to determine actual usage. One of most valuable skills of the law librarian is the ability to give feedback to online vendors about what is working, what isn’t, and where their product is lacking in capability and content.
The Disruptors
The biggest industry disruptor over the last of last 20 years is, of course, the internet, where many library patrons erroneously believe that all of the knowledge in the world has been posted and can be accessed free of charge. The Internet has brought a reformation to the organization of legal knowledge, serving as the major vehicle for new research tools.
Google – the classic disruptor – offers several free useful legal research tools. Google Scholar provides a bibliography of articles and includes patent and case law search capability that can be limited by numerous filters. Some of the articles available via Google Scholar can be obtained at no cost.
Google Patents is a great way to search for patents and also offers may filter options, and sometimes provides links to Prior Art, evidence that your invention is already known. Google Case Law is a good place to start an initial search for case law, as it also offers several filtering tools. Google Metrics show how many times an article or legal opinion has been cited, which is an indication of its importance or significance.
Unlike Google, new industry disruptors usually require a subscription fee and a license agreement. Docket Navigator is a powerful patent database. Its daily morning report lists new cases, awards, injunctions, determinations and rulings from U.S. district courts, the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Docket Navigator also offers patent litigation analytics and a well-developed database, providing value in the research time it saves.
The database Reorg-Research provides detailed insightful analysis in the bankruptcy space. This is better than PACER because of the context and the currentness of the information. Documents are available under filings, press releases, debt documents and transcripts, with each category standing as a searchable database. Reorg-Research’s dashboard provides access to current filings by company name and intel about breaking events.
Lexis e-Books – a product offered in partnership with OverDrive – is a platform for viewing Lexis treatises. Easy to navigate, e-Books may be downloaded to a computer, tablet, or smartphone for later use when no Wi-Fi access is available. Or you can “read” the e-Book volume online without downloading and synchronize it to all of your devices. Treatises can simultaneously be available on your computer at work, your tablet at home or your smartphone on the train. Many public libraries already use OverDrive technology for lending e-books, and adapting it for legal treatises has proven successful.
The Future
The future of the private law librarian profession lies in the virtual world – including providing research regardless the location, designing and offering remote training opportunities, and managing platforms and online collections. Analytics are playing a large part in the new tools, so librarians will have to know statistics and analytics to add more value to their firms.
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