Defining International Law Librarianship in an Age of Multiplicity, Knowledge, and Open Access to Law

Many law librarians are experts in international law and legal research. The concept of ‘international law librarianship’, however, encompasses something more than a field of study in which a group of experts practise their profession. In the broader sense, the idea suggests a common calling, similar interests, and goals shared by librarians with a range of specialties beyond international law, working in all types of law libraries. What commonalities create and sustain the concept of international law librarianship? This paper suggests that they can be found in: law librarians’ common need to respond to the ‘multiplicity’ of information sources facing twenty-first century legal researchers; the development and nurturing of a shared base of professional knowledge; and a common commitment to work toward ensuring free and open access to legal information globally

Law Librarianship: Rebirth or Buried Alive?

The AALL Committee on the Renaissance of Law Librarianship in the Information Age has just issued a report redefining law librarianship for the digital age. The full report is must reading for all interested in law librarianship because it accurately defines the skills needed to bring us into the future. Unfortunately, the report makes suggestions that may lead, not to renaissance, but to lower salaries

The Law Development Centre, its Library and Law Librarianship in Uganda: a presentation to the IALS Library staff

The author explains the role of the Law Development Centre, Kampala in legal education in Uganda - illustrating the changes and challenges that the LDC has faced and describing the circumstances in which the profession of Law Librarianship operates in Uganda

Training of subject specialist librarians in developed countries: a model offering regarding medical librarianship for Turkey

Medical librarianship (ML) has become one of the vital issues today. Expert librarians /information professionals can assist their users in cooperation with academics on issues that fall within their field. In developed countries, specialist librarianship gains importance in Information and Document Management (IDM) education. This study aims to present an idea about the training given in medical librarianship first and then in other specialties (Law Librarianship, Engineering Librarianship, etc.)

Perceptions toward Law Librarianship as a Career Choice: A Study of Law Students in Ogun State, Nigeria

This study aimed to discover law students’ perceptions of law librarianship as a career choice. The descriptive survey is the research method used for this study. The population consisted of undergraduate law students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and Babcock University, Ilperu-Remo in Ogun State in the 2013/2014 academic session. The 2013/2014 academic session has 510 registered law students in Olabisi Onabanjo University, 269 students in Babcock University. Thirty percent of the population of law students in each school was sampled for the study. This translates to 234. 234 questionnaires was distributed. 223 questionnaires were returned representing 95.3% rate of response. Data collected were analyzed using frequency count and simple percentages. The study shows a low perception of law students toward law librarianship as a career choice. The study concluded with recommendations. Keywords: Law librarianship, law students, career choice, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Babcock Universit

Earl C. Borgeson and the Image of the Law Librarian

In a career spanning four decades, Earl C. Borgeson admirably served a range of institutions. During his initial exploration of law librarianship as a career option, Earl C. Borgeson wrote letters to many in the profession,establishing a central motif of his professional life: a people-centered approach. Indeed, in later years, he would trumpet this facet of law librarianship: “we love to help each other!” Part and parcel of this focus, Borgeson’s career expressed itself less in academic publishing than in personal relationships. Rather than shaping law librarianship by developing a sharp focus on an emerging aspect of collection development, for example, Borgeson most often shaped the profession through mentoring, advising, and colloquy. This essay will sketch out the major arcs of Borgeson’s career: defining law librarianship, mentoring, and serving the profession primarily through the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Because so much of this professional activity relies heavily on personal relationships, however, it seems appropriate to begin with a brief, personal biography, many of whose strands will reappear as we turn to an examination of Borgeson’s professional life. Borgeson was a man of many stories; we will begin with his own

The Law Librarianship Course at the University of Washington

Under the quizzing of maiden aunts, very few five-year-olds express the hope of becoming law librarians when grown. Nor have their attitudes toward the opportunities and fascination of law librarianship altered to any discernible degree by the time they begin filling out applications for admission to law school, or reach that advanced stage in legal education marked by interviews with placement officials. This profession is not one which has distinguished itself as a goal; in short, and baldly, neophyte law librarians do not walk in and apply for positions-they have to be recruited. Voting membership for University of Washington law library administrators was established many years ago, with adoption of a policy requiring legal training in assistants as well as in the head librarian. The late Dr. Arthur S. Beardsley, during his term as head librarian (1922 to 1944), recruited young lawyers to assistantships by wheedling, cajolery, and word pictures of security and pleasant surroundings, ably assisted by the persuasive Deans Schweppe, Shepherd, and Falknor. If, after a year or more of work in the law library, an assistant showed sufficient aptitude, Dr. Beardsley encouraged his or her enrolling in the University\u27s School of Librarianship, even though those who attained their degrees displayed an alarming tendency toward transferring degrees and selves to higher-paying positions elsewhere. Perhaps this tendency, with its resulting turnover in assistants, was partially responsible for the establishment, in 1940, of the law librarianship course at the University of Washington. Certainly Dr. Beardsley had a better than average opportunity to observe the omissions and superfluous details (law librarianishly speaking) in the general librarianship courses being absorbed by his procession of assistants. They were required to study children\u27s literature along with their cataloging, reference, and book mending. They learned how to select fiction for public libraries but they didn\u27t hear a word about noting-up British cases, aids to selection of legal materials, or the AALS, Library Standards. As long as the recruitment of lawyers and encouragement of library training has established a roll-your-own policy, the law school and the School of Librarianship combined forces to insure roundness, firmness, and full packing, by establishing a separate curriculum leading to a B.A. in law librarianship

Law Librarianship Training at the University of Washington

The law librarianship program at the University of Washington is built on the premise that the quality of special librarianship is enhanced by subject knowledge in the specialty, and candidates for the Master of Law Librarianship degree must be lawyers. This is not the place at which we shall set out the reasoning of those who originated that rule of selectivity or the defense of those who continue it. It should be obvious that neither the originators nor the present administrators subscribe to the theory that all professional law librarians must be lawyers. Neither do they believe that those whose dedication to the profession, love of learning or search for advancement spur them to the acquisition of two degrees, must acquire those degrees in any particular order

Career in law librarianship: in memory of Gillian Sands

A tribute to the late Gillian Sands.Preprint of an article by Jules Winterton, Associate Director and Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies