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The Quintessential Law Library and Librarian in a Digital Era
Cadmus, Femi
Cadmus, Femi
Abstract
LIBRARIES, LIKE MOST INSTITUTIONS and industries today, are faced with disruptive technologies that challenge their relevancy in a
digital era. As a result, erstwhile notions and nostalgia associated with the quintessential library and librarian are changing rapidly. Certain images are evoked when one thinks of the archetypal law library, the elegant reading room with soaring ceilings, sturdy oak tables, burnished brass desk lamps, and a comprehensive collection of primary sources and treatises, housed in handsome oak bookshelves. The academic law library where I work, built in the early twentieth century, typifies this image of the classic library and still looks very much the same today. Walking through the reading room, time stands still and one is immediately swept back to another era. The quintessential law library is not just aesthetically exquisite, but also renders top-notch services provided by
well-trained librarians who today are often required to have degrees both in law and in library and information science. However, this was not always the case. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was not uncommon to have faculty, law students, and even janitors overseeing academic law libraries.