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Survey Says Librarians Like Their Jobs but Are Displeased With Vendors
Survey Says Librarians Like Their Jobs but Are Displeased With Vendors
Electronic research was supposed to replace books and lower costs, but
it's done neither -- and librarians aren't happy about it
Alan Cohen
LawFirmInc.
August 10, 2007
Law.com
Large Law Firm
<http://www.law.com/jsp/llf/PubArticleLLF.jsp?id=1186650119943>
Refer to it as the library, and Sarah Nichols will quickly correct you,
with just a bit of an edge in her voice. "We call it the Information
Resource Center, or IRC," says Nichols, the global director of research
and information resources at San Francisco's Orrick, Herrington &
Sutcliffe. "A library doesn't reflect what we do." As she talks about her
"service lines" and "branding opportunities," Nichols sounds less like the
stereotypical librarian -- more like the stereotypical chief operating
officer.
Little wonder, then, that like a company on the rise, Orrick's IRC is not
only branching out -- moving beyond legal research and into competitive
intelligence and client development work -- but it's also getting the word
out about these efforts. It has the new name -- which became official
about a year-and-a-half ago -- and even had its IRC logo stamped on the
cover of every market analysis, industry report and company profile the
group churns out for Orrick's 980 lawyers. "Library" had to go, says
Nichols, because "people had an incomplete idea of what we can deliver."
Call it what you will, today's law library is tightly integrated with the
rest of the firm. It's vital not only for finding case law but for finding
new business, too. LawFirmInc.'s sixth annual survey of law firm
librarians at Am Law 200 firms reveals that they are continuing to move
beyond "traditional" library work, like legal research, and into marketing
and competitive intelligence, computer training and even knowledge
management projects. (Ninety-five firms participated in the survey.)
<snip>
So librarians are spending an increasing amount of time vetting products,
training lawyers how to use them efficiently (read: without running up the
tab) and haggling over contracts. "Every vendor thinks we are a cash cow,"
says Carolyn Ahearn, director of library services at Wiley Rein in
Washington, D.C. "But clients are balking at the costs. I've gotten much
more unwilling to accept the offer the vendor puts on the table.
Librarians are wising up that they can negotiate."
<snip>
But librarians clearly have their pet peeve: the online content providers,
particularly the big two, Reed Elsevier Plc's LexisNexis and Thomson
Corp.'s Westlaw. There was a time when electronic services were supposed
to replace books and lower costs. They've done neither. Instead, fees
continue to rise each year -- well beyond the rate of inflation, say
librarians (licensing fees are typically covered by confidentiality
agreements).
In response to the librarians' concerns, LexisNexis told LawFirmInc. in a
statement that they "regularly have formal, structured discussions with
accounts using vehicles such as customer councils and focus groups. ...
[And] to help ensure that our customers pay for only the services they
requested, we have an extensive process for alerting customers of charges
not included in their service plan."
-------------------------------------
The complete article may be read at the URL above.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@temple.edu
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