The following vignette* captures the essence of a story which unfortunately has been repeated hundreds of times over this past year. It’s messages are sad but true. We entitle this fictional case study, “I never planned on becoming a solo librarian”.
The time is early fall 2008. We are eavesdropping on a staff meeting in a large law firm library. The corporate data are in. Tough decisions have been made. The news is awful. Two of the three staff members are being “let go”. Why (they ask)? Each of them is an outstanding employee in her own right! Their past work performance has nothing to do with their being let go. It is the “contracting” economy they are told. The practice of law will have to change dramatically. The heyday of the billable hour is gone. The firm has to downsize. The staff has to be cut.
As if it were not bad enough for the two staff members who were “let go”… it is intimated that the remaining “solo librarian” is now expected to do the work of three librarians. Is that possible? What can this solo librarian do? This is, in fact, where this scenario becomes a “mixed blessing” for Research Solutions. Many solo librarians have turned to Research Solutions for assistance.
We are not happy that this circumstance has become a common event across the country this past year… butwe are always ready to help the solo librarian at a moment’s notice. We have become many solo librarians’ personal assistant… always “on call”, ready to help at a moment’s notice.
*The above “story” is based in part upon the statistics below. They were revealed by individual panelists (senior partners from four major law firms and a professor from a high profile law school). The round-table discussion took place at AALL 2009 in Washington, DC, with approximately 150-200 in attendance.
Between July 2008 and July 2009:
- 4,200 attorneys lost their jobs
- over 7000 library staff members lost their jobs
- law schools are scrambling to adjust their curricula