Ann Davidson writes: "You are fortunate that you work for people who value
your skills and knowledge, and understand how the proper utiliztion of
librarians and information specialists can impact the bottom line."
It is an uphill battle almost every day to keep attorneys and executive
directors knowledgeable about the work of their librarians. So much of our
work is done on an individual basis.
Soon, each of you, who are members of PLL, will be receiving a copy of the
MANAGEMENT BRIEFING: A GUIDE FOR DECISION-MAKERS. This document is a
product of the Task Force on the Value of Law Libraries in the Information
Age and is being sent to you without cost because your special interest
section, PLL, is picking up the mailing cost and some of the production
costs. The Task Force envisioned a document that you could confidently hand
to any attorney in your firm or the executive director to aid in increasing
their knowledge of your value to them. It is, in my opinion, a highly
professional, content rich, briefing.
The MANAGEMENT BRIEFING will also be included in the Tool Kit which will be
for sale at the AALL Annual Meeting and through AALL Headquarters after
that. Much of the Tool Kit is directed to you, the librarian, though there
are other pieces that you may want to share with management. I hope you are
looking forward to making use of this product which was a year long project
of your peers.
At 06:13 PM 7/8/96 -0700, you wrote:
>Patricia Patterson wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX>
>> Patricia Patterson | SCHIFF HARDIN & WAITE
>> Director | 7200 Sears Tower
>> Legal Information Services | Chicago, IL 60606
>> ppatters@interaccess.com | 312-258-4701
>>
>> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>Dear Patricia,
> Your story certainly underscores a point I made in an article I
>wrote which appeared in the April, 1996 issue of Searcher (title:
>"Obedience to the Unenforceable: The Ethics of Outsourcing"); namely,
>that it is usually firms in trouble who outsource.
> You are fortunate that you work for people who value your skills
>and knowledge, and understand how the proper utilization of librarians
>and information specialists can impact the bottom line.
> BTW, a friend of mine who read my article commented that
>ValuJet's aircraft maintenance was outsourced. I wonder what corporate
>genius convinced management that aircraft maintenance was not a "core
>competency!"
>
>Ann C. Davidson
>Davidson Library Services
>dls@hslc.org
>
>Opinions expressed are my employer's.
>
>
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Patricia Patterson | SCHIFF HARDIN & WAITE
Director | 7200 Sears Tower
Legal Information Services | Chicago, IL 60606
ppatters@interaccess.com | 312-258-4701
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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