Document Type
Report
Publication Date
1-5-2014
Abstract
The reporting structure for academic law libraries is a topic of renewed debate. Tradition and accreditation standards for law schools have supported law school oversight of law libraries to ensure that library services would focus on the goals of the law school. Because legal research has been considered a bedrock component of legal education and legal practice, law libraries have long been closely aligned with law schools. However, new information technologies, increased pressures for efficiencies, growing interest in interdisciplinary work, and growing interdisciplinary demand for lawyer librarian expertise in information law have inspired questions about potential advantages of strengthening the connection between the law library and other libraries in the same university. Suggestions include not only that law libraries collaborate more with university library systems but also that law library oversight might be removed from law schools and centralized within the university library system.