Universal Topics
5
Paul J. McLaughlin
Though law librarians have been acknowledged as instrumental in legal education and law practice, questions about the need for law librarians and law librarians’ ability to adapt to new demands of conducting and teaching legal research have been raised.i Law librarianship also faces debates as to whether it should be considered a distinct profession by those who do not see law librarians as having specialized qualifications that set them apart from other librarians.ii This chapter will discuss the need for law librarians to advocate for their professions so they can show how they are needed in legal education and by society and they are distinct from other librarians as legal professionals to ensure that they can effectively advocate for themselves and their patrons on a variety of issues.
- Law librarians face challenges being seen as professionals.
- Law librarians must advocate for their positions and profession.
- To advocate effectively, law librarians must focus on their strengths.
Law Librarianship’s Qualifications Debate
Challenges to the Standing of the Law Librarian Profession
Law librarianship does not have an authoritative set of standardized training and skill qualifications for academic or firm librarians anywhere in the world.iii Organizations such as the American Association of Law Libraries and the American Library Association have published lists of competencies that librarians should have but have not provided guidance as to what course or degree requirements would show a law librarian having received the training required to meet those competencies.iv Among the competencies that law librarians should have, advocacy skills are considered a key topic in law librarians’ education.v The lack of an established set of core skills and the lack of a standardized aptitude test for law librarians has been used to back arguments that law librarianship does not have a core of specialized knowledge that distinguishes it as a profession by those who do not see law librarianship as a profession unto itself.vi
Law librarians are often treated in the same manner as clinical professors and legal writing instructors and not given full faculty status.vii Because they are not classified as full faculty members, law librarians often receive less pay, may not take part in school governance, and cannot seek to gain tenure. Also, their academic publications are not given the same weight as other legal scholars.viii Their lack of full faculty status leaves many law librarians without an opportunity to contribute their knowledge and help their schools meet modern curriculum requirements or to speak to the importance of law librarian’s and their libraries as schools seek to cut costs by reducing libraries’ budgets and staffing during law school administrative and faculty meetings.ix
The Need for Law Librarianship to be seen as a Profession
Law librarians must be seen as full professionals to help advocate for their p