Thanks to the Law Librarian post that alerted me to the American Lawyer survey article that discusses in depth the effects of heavy budget cuts in law firm libraries.
- 46% of survey respondents said they had undergone budget cuts.
- 57% have had staff/payroll reductions
These numbers lead me to assume that resources are examined first. Cost recovery, judicious usage and possible other sources for the high priced information are being implemented and examined.
I wonder, is now the time for investment in cheaper alternatives, web resources, reliance on blogs and other web created content? Will Fastcase and Loislaw experience an uptick in their big firm customer base because they provide affordable alternatives to case law and primary resources?
Will Westlaw and Lexis be relegated to the premium content that allows attorneys and librarians alike to efficiently search the TP-ALL and all of the news with one well constructed query? How will the decisions be made and what exactly are large law firms willing to sacrifice.
These questions lead me to wonder, how will law librarians justify the retention of the sources they know are most critical to firm success? Will training become even more important so that all attorneys search efficiently? Are the days of allowing non-expert researchers to have all access passes over?
What will be the methods used to contain costs? Will it just be slashing of sacred cows or will it be creative solutions that law librarians have dreamed of for years. Should fall associates and summer associates truly be given free reign to search everything they want?
And how will the information providers respond? More training, will they answer the call to “exclude” access to databases? This has been a wish list item for many firm librarians for years and the answer alternates depending upon the year/time/customer. (Check the law-lib archives for discussions on this topic.)
It’s time for collaboration, creativity and reality checks. In fact it may be past time for these items based upon the numbers quoted above. We all now that at some point, depending upon environmental influences, nothing is sacred. Law librarians are a loyal bunch but when survival is at stake the cows best realize that they can be sacrificed to feed the hungry.
Constance Ard September 6, 2009
