Discover The Law Library - Law Libraries In Plain EnglishA law library is a special collection of books, cassettes, audiotapes, CD’s, cassettes, microfilm, etc. which are designed to serve the needs of law students, law clerks, attorneys, judges or any other people who need to study the law in detail. There has been a long tradition of libraries being designed to support particular professional bodies. After all, the original US Library of Congress was created solely to support the legislative activities of the US Congress. Law libraries provide access to specialized material that no individual would ever have (completely) in their own possession. In addition, law research reports and books tend to be rather expensive and would be much too pricey for any individual law students or even law firm. If you’ve ever studied law at the university or being to a specialized profession law school, than you probably had a law library in your institution. In many countries it is a legal requirement for any institution offering law qualifications to provide a law library. In the US it is requirement by the American Bar Association that every accredited law school must have a law library meeting certain minimum standards. Of course everything changes with the march of technology and law libraries are no exception. Just as ordinary library material is now finding its way online and into private libraries, law libraries are also beginning to emerge online. These provide convenience and speed for lawyers and law students wanting to access the latest research. Some private companies providing such services are Lexis Nexis and FindLaw. However, as discussed, the more traditional law libraries would usually be found in law schools. Most court buildings also have a law library and the US Supreme Court features one of the most extensive in the world. It has one of the largest collections of books. Some of the big law firms maintain a corporate library department also but these are not comprehensive and lawyers would often still need online research services or perhaps the local court library for some specific legal research. One of the challenges facing law librarians today is the rapid evolution of technology. Law librarianship is a traditional profession in which the average age of a law librarian is approximately 50 years old. It’s hard to attract young recruits to this field – but of course younger recruits would be more able to deal with the modern technology challenges. Many lawyers would love to see more legal material being available on-line perhaps through paid or free subscription services, however, law library professionals will need the skills to roll out such services. |