This morning, I want to wander a bit from securities regulation and talk about something close to my heart: libraries. The ecomony is being cited as the reason law firm libraries are cutting their print collections. One very senior law librarian I spoke to predicted the demise of physical library space in law firms. I find this thought personally and professionally depressing, and I think it may be too late to stop it. I have the feeling this is a bit like blaming the economy when you fire the maid who broke your mother's gravy boat.
A decade ago, when times were good, law firm administrators (whom I shall refer to as "beancounters") needed space to build more lawyer offices. They cast their jaded eyes upon the library. "Isn't everything online, now?" They wheedled. "Why do we need so many books?" Librarians and (more importantly) a few research-saavy partners stood up for the books. Print collections were cut and law firm libraries got smaller, but they didn't go away.
But, the beancounters didn't forget - the elimination of the library is still on their minds and now our economic woes have shifted the advantage their way. Shrinking or eliminating the library's footprint is no longer a way to grow the business - it is a way to survive. The research-saavy few can't hold out anymore against the reverse-luddite beancounters. Because, lets be clear, everything is not online and books often contain finding aids which haven't been, or can't be duplicated electronically.
Can the beancounters be stopped? Any ideas?
Friday, May 15, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wonderful post and excellent question! Times are looking bleak for sure. We librarians are survivors though. We do not disappear, we evolve.
ReplyDelete