Hello everyone,
This question is primarily for academic law librarians and those who
have been academic law librarians. I'm in a position, with two open
reference positions in my department, to do some thinking about who
teaches Legal Research, and how, and why. I would love to get input from
other law librarians addressing these general issues:
--Do law librarians at your school participate in formal teaching of
Legal Research? If so, how are the classes structured (large sections,
small sections, regular visits to Legal Writing classrooms, etc.)?
--Do all law librarians teach, or just some? If just some, how is the
distinction made? If you have multiple dual-degreed librarians, do all
or just some of those folks teach Legal Research? If only some teach, is
that because the librarians who don't teach hate teaching, because the
library thinks their talents are better focused elsewhere, there are
enough other librarians to cover Legal Research, or some other reason?
--Do you think law librarians should be teaching Legal Research in
general? Is this an important part of our mission as librarians, or have
librarians who teach Legal Research classes been co-opted by law faculty
to teach a class they (the law faculty) find boring, without having to
pay adjuncts?
--Who makes the decision about whether Legal Research is taught by
librarians? The librarians? The library director? The Dean of the
college? The law faculty? Everyone working together?
I realize this email may be calling for a dissertation in response -
please feel free to answer just those questions you find personally
compelling or interesting. I will summarize, and remove all identifying
material, for the list.
Thanks in advance. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this
issue.
Sibyl Marshall
Head of Public Services
Joel A. Katz Law Library
University of Tennessee College of Law
smarshal@utk.edu
(865)974-5906
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