Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Law Libraries, Looseleafs, and Print - Oh My!

Source: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Few law librarians these days are sheltered from the battles of print vs. electronic waging war across our lands.  A common site for skirmishes is the "Land of Looseleafs" - do we get an adequate return on the investment we make in these materials? Take a look at what our neighbors north of the border at Slaw have to say about the pains and gains of loose-leaf publications in a world that's becoming increasingly digital:
For a more in-depth look at what North American law libraries are currently spending and plan to spend on print materials, including loose-leafs, you can order the Primary Research Group's recent publication "Law Library Plans for the Print Materials Collection".  

Incidentally, the sample sets of statistics provided in their press release caused one DePaul law librarian, Mark Giangrande, to make an interesting observation: "We in the academic business try to prepare students for the tools that they can expect to use in practice. If law firms are buying less print... why are academic libraries still buying at a much higher percentage?"  Why indeed, Mark? Why indeed?

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