Law Libraries
Librarians Do More Rainmaking
Posted Aug 10, 2007, 06:29 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Librarians at big law firms are spending more time on rainmaking, increasing their prominence and influence with the lawyers who employ them.
Sixty-three percent of law librarians at Am Law 200 firms say the library is the main source for marketing research and 55 percent say the library is the main resource for developing competitive intelligence, according to LawFirmInc.'s sixth annual survey.
The big-firm librarians said they spent only 57 percent of their time on traditional library work, down from 62 percent in last year’s survey.
At the same time, librarians are billing fewer hours to clients, who are exerting more pressure that charges for online research be attributed to overhead, according to a LawFirmInc. story about the survey.
The rainmaking is "absolutely a good thing," Mary Kay Jung, director of library services at Thompson Coburn in St. Louis, told the legal publication. "We've got to keep new clients coming in."
Despite the pressures, librarians remain satisfied, with 87 percent reporting they are happy in their jobs.
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