Skip to main content

The phantom law librarian

*checks mirror quickly*
Yes, I'm definitely here. I exist, I have a reflection (and am therefore also not a vampire, which is reassuring), but it seems I am actually a phantom.
An invisible law librarian.
If you look for me, I am not there. Search my employers website - I don't exist.
And I'm not alone.

Look on the websites of law firms...I know those other law librarians are out there: fee earning, creating bulletins, researching for clients...so where are they? They're not on the online staff lists, there's no images of law firm librarians looking dazzlingly smart and intelligent while leaning against the shelves of books that they've carefully sourced and selected for their Library (a favoured pose for lawyers in corporate photos: books = smart, apparently).
But we're just as essential to the health of the firm as any other members of staff, who get a shiny profile and "look how fab and experienced our staff are" blurb on the website.

So...why are we hidden away by our employers? Do they think that by admitting that they have employed experienced professionals to deal with specialised information, that they're weaker than their competitors in some way? Surely it's a great selling point to clients, to be able to say that they have people dedicated purely to finding the answers needed for all the questions that could arise?

Or do we suffer from the same problem as all other librarians: once we've handed over the work that we've done, it's immediately forgotten that it was us that did it? That case/report/book/database just magically appeared when it was needed....

The phantom law librarians, pale ghosts in the law firm machine?
Labels:

Comments

The Amazing Advocate said…
We ran this very question a few weeks ago and the comments that came back for why the Admin side (AKA "non-lawyers") was that the firm's website is a marketing tool aimed at directing clients to lawyers only. Almost all of the counter arguments questioned this limited approach both as a morale killer and a very narrow focus on the total value that a law firm brings to its clients. I tend to fall in this second group and think that firms are doing themselves a disservice by not touting all of its professionals to existing and potental clients.
12 July 2011 at 13:48
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UK librarian blogs - the list so far

I’ve pulled the previous entries into one alphabetical list, with a few categories. Will be back later with more detailed discussion of what I’ve learned by doing this. And, as always, if you know of other librarian blogs, let me know and I’ll add them in! Institutional Library Blogs / Professional Group Blogs aRKive Appears to be the blog of the Reid Kerr College library, or someone related to the Library, but unable to confirm as it doesn’t have any ‘about’ section that I can find. Lots of posts about library topics, books, IT… Brit Lib Blogs Google Group There’s a Google Group for British librarian bloggers! Unfortunately it looks to be pretty much unused at the moment. CILIP Blogs CILIP has various blogs by either staff, or links to relevant blogs, available from the Communities section. Varying levels of activity on these blogs – the PTEG blog has one post from November 2007, while Lyndsay’s CILIP Blog has been going has been going for almost a year, with at le
14 comments
Read more

The mysteries of cataloguing

Cataloguing: an arcane art, where each piece of punctuation is significant, and commas and semi colons are all-powerful. Well, they are in "proper" libraries, where in-depth research of esoteric points goes on, and the precise spelling of Christian names, and information such as when a person lived and died can be crucial in pinpointing obscure facts. Here, we have our own catalogue system. It doesn't have a name, but if it did, it would probably be something along the lines of "I need this book NOW, no I don't care about the precise spelling of the authors middle name, or their date of birth." I know, I know, it's not snappy, but it's accurate. Cataloguing demands are different in a commercial law firm: we don't care about much more than what it's about, who wrote, when, and what jurisdiction it covers. And what we really, really care about is "where the hell is it". Law books are amazing: they have the power to move themselves f
12 comments
Read more

Careering along

When I look around at the activities of information professional groups, it seems that there’s a disparity. There’s quite often a lot of support and funding available for those who’re just starting out in the profession, but a desert of nothingness for those of us who’re “just getting on with it”. If you’re a new professional, you have lots of groups to support you as you progress in your early career, various prize funds available for essay and report writing, access to bursaries for conference attendance, eligibility for awards for being new and enthusiastic. But what do you get when you’re past that bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed first 5 years (5 years seems to be the approximate cut-off point for becoming “established” and no longer new). What happens when you’ve already received a bursary from an organisation earlier in your career and so wouldn’t be eligible for one now, meaning you’re not able to attend events or training? When you’re heavily involved in a project but not at
16 comments
Read more