Your law librarian is an information ambassador, with many skills and valued services to offer. They will save you time and money and will make you look better in the eyes of your law firm or organization’s constituents, colleagues, and clients.
Some months ago, I penned a blog post titled, “I Didn’t Know My Librarian Could Do That!”out of a bit of frustration with the number of times I’d hear expressions of surprise about what information professionals can do, whether my Accufile colleagues or law librarians, generally. Now I’m offering a post with a similar message, but this time, because of a compelling internal email exchange that I read. It’s worth repeating:
“Often, people think of law librarians as a legal researchers who manages and negotiates contracts for law library services and other information resources. While I certainly do that, I can do a lot more. Here’s a quick list of the sort of work that law librarians and other legal library management pros can do in support of HR, finance, business development, and other administrative offices:
- Find current addresses and assets information for billing and collection issues;
- Conduct internet and public records searches for people of interest, including clients and prospective clients and potential hires;
- Research corporate contacts and industry information for business development, administration, and finance purposes;
- Set up news alerts for coverage on people, businesses, and issues of interest;
- Routinely identify and share literature on trends and issues in law firm management;
- Participate in planning for information management and records retention;
- Research regulations and compliance issues related to the firm’s administrative functions;
- Acquire articles, books, and other information resources to support administration’s reading and research needs;
- Offer library-related orientation for all new hires;
- Provide persistent URLs and research for firm blogs and websites; and,
- Other? Ask me!”
Are you capturing the value of your law librarian or information professional? You better be!
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