Changes in Reference Assistance and Collection Development in the Digital Age

Chase, Matthew
Fall 2016

Citation:

Caton, S. (2016). Perspectives: Changes in reference assistance and collection development in the digital age. Legal References Services Quarterly, 35, 77-100.

Summary:

This article confronts the challenges of maintaining print and digital collections in law libraries. Drawing from his professional experiences as a law librarian, the author critically compares them to the extant literature and survey results to assess collection development in law libraries of various types. In particular, he found that while law students are increasingly using electronic resources, not all of them have the same skill or knowledge to access them. The impact of collection development and reference services are thus intertwined, requiring more collaboration.

Evaluation:

What I especially liked about this article is its acknowledgment regarding the often complex and mutual interaction between reference services and collection development. Although the author limited his study to law libraries specifically, this finding can be applied to other types of libraries as well and should be considered in both future research and practice. While print collections certainly retain their importance, the development of digital collections is leading to a transformative shift in how librarians are limited and enabled to assist the communities with their information needs.

The Career Path, Education, and Activities of Academic Law Library Directors Revisited Twenty-Five Years Later

Zatko, Ruzena 

Slinger, M. J., & Slinger, S. C. (2015). The Career Path, Education, and Activities of Academic Law

 

       Library Directors Revisited Twenty-Five Years Later. Law Library Journal, 107(2), 175-223.

 

     

 

Summary

     This research paper, written by a novice Law Librarian a 25 years back, takes a look at how one goes about becoming a Law Library Director. and his proposal for future Law Librarians. Back then it was required by law that the Director had to hold both a Master's or better in LIS and a Juris Doctor degree. However, since this is reflection it discloses that as of 2014/2015 criteria this no longer applies. The research also points to whether one chose to be a librarian first and then get exposed to the legal side or vice versa.

 

 

 

 

Evaluation:

     The research overall is informative on different paths that a person may obtain to reach their goal as a Law Library Director. Different scenarios are put into perspective such as obtaining a JD degree and then the LIS degree and vice versa. Interestingly, more often a Law Library Director comes from a Public Service background. Although, there is a lot of data on how much schooling, experience, demographics etc. make up the large percent of Law Directors, there aren't exact numbers stated to know what the percentages are made up of. In all, this research paper demonstrated the evolution of promotion in the Law Library. There have been many changes since the original research was conducted.

 

Legal research and law library management

Rowland, Sarah

Marke, J., & Sloane, R. (1982). Collection Development. In Legal research and law library management. New York: Law Journal Seminars-Press, 132.

Summary: This is a looseleaf and the one I looked at was last updated in 2006. I read chapter 2 which was a nice overview of what collection development is along with specifics dealing with an Academic Law Library, County Law Library or Law Firm Law Library. The chapter right away tells you how laying out collection development policy can help, “Every library is unique, yet al library collections benefit when they grow in a thoughtful manner following guidelines set forth in a formal collection development policy (p. 2-5). It gives information on what to include in a collection development policy such as the mission, overview of the collection, selection guidelines, retention and weeding procedures. I liked that it gave examples from other law libraries along with giving specific references to other collection development tools to help develop a law libraries collection. It also had a section on acquisitions policy and things to consider such as need, cost, quality, duplication, currentness and availability.

Evaluation: The chapter of this book really helped me throughout the semester because I wasn’t only an academic library I was also a special academic library with a focus on law and having no background in law. However, I feel like it was laid out in a way that even with no background in law it gave me a great understanding on what a typical law library should look like. One example is that I noticed I didn’t have anything dealing with intellectual freedom in our collection development policy whereas other academic library did. The authors let me know that this is typical for law libraries to overlook having one even though they should. I would highly recommend anybody who finds they are working in a law library to especially check out the chapter of the book for a nice overview. It really helped me feel less lost during the semester when I had a question specifically about law libraries. I’m hoping the rest of the book is this useful.