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> Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1992 09:10:16
> From: abrecht@library-law.usc.edu (Albert Brecht - x06482)
> To: law-lib@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
> Subject: reference librarians, various degrees (JD, MLS)
> Message-Id: <QB1A4AF9@l202a1>
>
> I orginally shared my thoughts on this question of JDs for reference
> librarians directly with Pauline (students at UCLA lib. school). Seeing
> other comments I wanted to share just a couple of my thoughts with the BB.
>
> Since this BB is largely used by academic law librarians, the responses
> seemed to see law librarianship though the academic law lib. eyes. I had
> shared with Pauline that the need for a JD and MLS in reference seems most
> often to be affected by the type of law library. In law firms where the
> users (the attorneys) already have completed their legal training, you find
> few JD and MLS reference librarians. I assume the logic is that the users
> who orginate the questions (the attorneys) already have the legal analysis
> to apply to the problem. Law firms, the vast majority, still seem satisfied
> with reference librarians with MLSs and experience with legal materials (and
> of course their very important knowledge of non legal materials.
>
> I don't know the actual statistics but I think the County, Court and
> Government law libraries also still mainly use reference librarians with
> MLSs (no JD degrees). There are of course exceptions, as there are in the
> law firms.
>
> The academic law libraries users are mainly (in numbers anyway) law students
> who by definition have not completed their legal training. Most of them
> obviously are not yet finished with the second year of law school. Thus, law
> school libraries do an enormous amount of teaching in classrooms but also on
> a one on one basis as law students do legal research and writing problems,
> commence research for seminar papers, law review notes, etc. etc.
> Certainly a JD degree can help enormously obligation.
>
> What I am trying to say, is that to address the question of requiring a JD
> for a reference librarian most accurately, you must look at all of law
> librarianship not just academic law librarianship. Once you look at all of
> law librarianship, you find differences that so far result is rather
> differenct educational requirements for most of the law librarians.
>
> One a general and final note, one thing concerned me in one or two BB
> messages, I don't remeber which ones. There was, I believe, a comment along
> the lines that JD MLS ref. librarians provide a group of people who have the
> educational background sought for more (I believe it was said) "important"
> positions (I think it said Associate Dir and Directors). Personnaly, I
> think one of the great failures of all librarianship is, in all too many
> libraries, the reserving of appropriate career salaries (the more livable
> salaries for Asst., Assoc., and Directors. For librarianship to continue to
> foster this notion is like the university paying good salaries only to VPs,
> Presidents, Provosts, etc. and making the classroom teacher a second class
> citizen salary wise. Most good law schools I know placed their dollars
> where their mouths used to be and law faculty salaries (for the best law
> fac) are not far below, if at all, the salary of the top administrators.
> And law schools still place their best fac. in the classrooms, not research
> assistants. One reads of the gripes about many undergrad programs these
> days providing udergrads almost exclusively in their first two years of
> education only with Teaching Assistants in the classroom -- to full fledged
> faculty members. Law schools don't do that and I think it is the main
> reason law students usually think so much more highly about law school
> teaching than undergrads do about undergrad teaching. Librarianship wise,
> I think it is a big mistake to downplay in any way the importance of the
> librarians who meet our users needs on the front lines. Those front lines
> area extremely important to the reputation of libraries and in many
> libraries (I don't think as much in law libraries) we treat those front
> lines like universities treat the first two years of undergrad. education.
>
> Albert Brecht USC.
>
>
>
>
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