Dear Sharman: I wouldn't lessen the amount of shelf space needed because
of electronic means of research. The books you have will continue to grow
and attorneys/students are going to continue to want to use them over
mechanical means. HOWEVER, take into consideration that all those
computers, printers, CDROM readers, cables, plugs, boxes of disks, paper,
software, inks(ribbons, whatever), manuals, notes, sufficient & convenient
workspace, etc etc TAKE A LOT OF SPACE!!! The footprint for all this stuff
is large. Plus, you need dedicated phone lines for anything with a modem.
Plus, you might need equipment in several places in your library and need
all this stuff in duplicate, triplicate, whatever...Lots to think about!
When we planned our new library, we planned for lots of shelving. We also
have 3 pc workstations, 1 with a CD reader (and this came long after the
move), and a dumb terminal that goes to our mainframe VAX. We serve about
65 attorneys in this office of our firm and the library is heavily used.
Good luck!!
Anne Washburn, Librarian
Smith Helms Mulliss & Moore, LLP
Greensboro, NC
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