Peterson & Ross, an approximately 90 attorney firm, has decided to operate
its law library on an entirely contractual basis and has laid off its entire
staff. The staff consisted of one, possibly two, librarians, and two
clerical staff. The librarian was not a member of CALL or AALL.
The perception of this event is worse than the reality. The perception is
that another firm has decided, with good reason, that a library staff is not
necessary when attorneys can use online and CD-ROM for their legal research.
The reality is that the firm has lost 55 attorneys in the past year, has
outsourced both mail and photocopy in the past two months, and has cut
secretaries, docket and file room personnel. The firm seems to be grasping
at straws.
The librarian has been asked to stay for a couple of weeks to train the
outsourcing company in law library activities. As I understand it, the
company to take over this library has been in business approximately two
months and may have neither staff nor experience to carry this off.
I will try to keep you all informed as things proceed.
More importantly, I was meeting with the managing partner and the executive
director of my own firm recently as they made the decision that attorneys
should not be given WWW at their desks. Their reasoning was that attorneys
will waste their time trying to accomplish what one of our librarians can do
in a very short time. Our librarians are perceived as information
specialists and I assume yours are also. Of course, we must continue to
provide outstanding service in every aspect of access to information to
continue to hold their trust.
I think that knowledgeable attorneys know and appreciate the work of
knowledgeable, service-oriented law librarians. Have a great weekend.
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Patricia Patterson | SCHIFF HARDIN & WAITE
Director | 7200 Sears Tower
Legal Information Services | Chicago, IL 60606
ppatters@interaccess.com | 312-258-4701
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