On Mon, 3 Apr 2000, Bruce Alan Wilson wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mary Whisner" <whisner@u.washington.edu>
> >
> > Heather,
> > According to a 1996 survey of AALL members, only 29% of law
> > librarians have JDs. I don't have a figure for academic law librarians;
> > my guess is it's about the same. Many (but not all) academic law
> > libraries advertise for reference librarians, heads of public services,
> > etc., to have JDs. (In my library some reference librarians have a JD and
> > some don't; my colleagues are some of the best reference librarians in the
> > biz, JD or not.) In academic law libraries, you will find many librarians
> > without JDs in other positions -- catalog librarian, acquisitions
> > librarian, circulation librarian, systems librarian, government documents
> > librarian, etc.
> >
> I believe that the ABA requires that all law school faculty have JDs; as
> must universities count librarian's as faculty, this means that most
> academic law librarians have to have JDs.
>
Bruce,
The ABA accreditation standards strongly urge that the law library
*director* (who may have the title "Law Librarian") be law faculty and
hence have a law degree. That rule does not apply to all the librarians
on staff. Even in universities where librarians have "faculty status" the
ones below director are usually "faculty" of a different stripe and need
not have JDs.
At our library, the director has a JD and the rest of us are split
-- 4 with JD and 9 without. The proportions vary among libraries, of
course, but I still believe that it is rare for tech services librarians
to have JDs; there are other positions where the JD is optional.
My subjective impression is supported by the AALL Biennial Salary
Survey 1999 (available in the new members-only section of AALLNet). Table
13 charts salaries in academic libraries by position and education. For
Director/Chief Librarian, all 82 responses had both an MLS and a JD.
(Since there are about 180 accredited law schools -- plus unaccredited
schools with law libraries -- it is clear that this survey is just a
sampling.) Here is a summary of the degrees by position:
Number of Respondents
Position JD & MLS MLS only
Supervisory Librarian/Dept Head 49 69
Government Documents/Legislative Librarian 7 15
Readers Services Librarian 115 73
(23 had JD only, 6 had MA/MS)
Technical Services Librarian 15 103
Foreign/International 11 0
Computer/Automation Librarian 28 22
(7 had JD only; 10 had BA only)
Generalist 9
(7 had BA/BS only)
TOTALS 225 291
If we add in the 82 directors and the 23 reader services librarians with
only a JD, then it is true that a majority of academic law librarians (in
this sample) have a JD. But it is not as overwhelming a majority as some
librarians outside law schools believe. Librarians who are interested in
a career in academic law libraries should be aware that there *are*
opportunities for librarians without JDs.
-- Mary
__________________________________________________________
Mary Whisner, Assistant Librarian for Reference Services
Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
whisner@u.washington.edu library's website: http://lib.law.washington.edu
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