Competencies of Law Librarianship: Reference, research, and patron services

Legal Reference Services Quarterly

Volumn 26, Issue 1-2, 2007, Pages 7-22

  Todd, Kay M ^a  

^a Paul Hastings Janofsky and Walker LLP   (United States)

Author keywords

Certification; Competencies; Credentialing; Knowledge; Reference; Research; Skills; Survey

Indexed keywords

EID: 38349138080     PISSN: 0270319X     EISSN: 1540949X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J113v26n01_02     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Competencies of Law Librarianship, March 2001, AALL Directory & Handbook, 414-415 (2006-2007), http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/ competencies.asp, (hereinafter "AALL Competencies" or "Competencies").
2. This article is based in part on documents on file in the AALL archives, in the author's file on the development of the Competencies. Documents found only there are cited as (on file AALL Archives).
3. Professions differ on whether they refer to credentialing or certification. In this article the two terms will be used interchangeably, in view of this author's belief that in practice they describe similar processes for documenting expertise.
4. See, e.g., statement by Lamar Woodard, in Bryan Carson, Librarians Need Certification and Licensing, 1 AALL Spectrum 13, 15 (June 1997) (quoting from an e-mail on the Law-Lib listserv).
5. AALL, Minutes of the AALL Executive Board, Jan. 5, 1984, at 900 (on file at AALL Headquarters, Chicago). See also Frank G. Houdek, AALL History in Brief:A Chronology, AALL Directory and Handbook 49, 501 (2006-2007).
6. http://lawlibrary.ucdavis.edu/LAWLIB/MAR97/subject.html (indexterms MLS, credentials).
7. Carson, supra n. 4, 13.
8. The subcommittee included AALL members Dick Danner (past president), Penny Hazelton (past president), Judy Meadows (president at commencement of project), Kay Todd (past president), chair, and as ex officio members, Executive Director Roger Parent, Director of Programs Martha Brown, and Educational Program Coordinator Lara Koban.
9. Special Libraries Association, Competencies for Special Libraries of the 21st Century, 1997. http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003/97comp.cfm (accessed Sept. 11, 2006).
10. SLA's Competencies included 4 related to reference and technology: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6. Compare SLA competencies 1.3, "Develops and Manages Convenient, Accessible and Costs-Effective Information Services that are Aligned with Strategic Directions of the Organization" with AALL's 3.2, "Evaluates the quality, authenticity, accuracy, and cost of traditional and electronic sources, and conveys the importance of these to the client."
11. See CIO University Learning Objectives, Derived from Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies (on file AALL Archives); ALA Core Competencies for Business Reference (on file AALL Archives).
12. Guidelines for Graduate Programs, November 1988, AALL Directory & Handbook, 439-440 (2006-2007), http://www.aallnet.org/about/ graduate_guidelines.asp (accessed Sept. 11, 2006).
13. Jack McKillip and Caryl Cox, both on the faculty of Southern Illinois University were principals in the Center. Dr. McKillip is currently an Emeritus Professor of Applied Psychology at SIU. The Center apparently is no longer operating. See also AALL Press Release on credentialing survey, www.aallnet.org/pres/press971031.asp.
14. Letter from Lara J. Koban, AALL Educational Program Coordinator, to Caryl Cox, Center for the Study of Certification (Aug. 21, 1997) (on file AALL Archives). The author's file does not include all the documents referred to in the Koban letter.
15. 1995 Salary Survey (on file at AALL Headquarters).
16. Supra n. 9.
17. Supra n. 12.
18. Supra n. 6.
19. Carson, supra n. 4.
20. Bylaws of the American Association of Law Libraries, Article II, Object.
21. Toward a Renaissance in Law Librarianship: The Report, Recommendations, and Materials of the American Association ofLaw Libraries Special Committee on the Renaissance of Law Librarianship in the Information Age (Richard A. Danner, West, 1997) (hereinafter "Renaissance Report").
22. Renaissance Report, Section III, D, at 7.
23. Id. at 9.
24. Appendix to this article.
25. Details on the drafting process were derived from the unpublished report of the Center for the Study of Certification, provided to the Subcommittee (on file AALL Archives).
26. Center for the Study of Certification, Desirability of Credentialing for Members of the American Association of Law Libraries, Draft Report (Dec. 22, 1997) (on file AALL Archives).
27. Question 12, Assist in the use of electronic resources.
28. These are conveyed in AALL Competencies 3.3 and 3.2.
29. The Center's results were conveyed to the Subcommittee in a draft report, but the full report was not distributed to the Executive Board and AALL's Archives include a markup of that draft with many proofreading edits, references to the need to clarify statements, and other critical comments. It can only be assumed that aspects of the Center's report were thought lacking by at least some members of the Subcommittee.
30. Draft Report, supra n. 26, at 9.
31. Judy Meadows, President's Briefing: Law Librarian Competencies, 2 AALL Spectrum 17, 17 (April 1998).
32. Subcommittee's Report to the Executive Board (on file AALL Archives).
33. Supra n. 31.
34. AALL Competencies, supra n. 1.
35. Id.
36. Id.
37. Renaissance Report, supra n. 21.
38. Richard A. Danner, Redefining a Profession, 90 Law Lib. J. 315, 329 (1998).
39. Renaissance Report, supra n. 21, at 9-10.
40. Id.
41. Danner, supra n. 38, at 329 (citing the Renaissance Report).
42. Id. at 333.
43. SLA Competencies, supra n. 9.
44. Danner, supra n. 38, at 345.
45. Id. at 351.
46. The AALL Electronic Roundtable: The Future of the Law Firm Library 89 L. Lib. J. 99 (1997).
47. Id. at 130.
48. Id.
49. Id.
50. Id. at 131.
51. Id.
52. Study Reveals "Empathy Gap" for Special Librarians Vendors, 7 Corp. Lib. Update 1, 2 (Dec. 15, 1998).
53. Guidelines, supra n. 12.
54. Guidelines, supra n. 12, I, 1.
55. Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century, Revised ed. June 2003, http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003 (accessed Jan. 29, 2007).
56. Id. at C. 1.
57. Id. at C. 3.
58. See Lisa Srnith Butler, Cost Effective Legal Research, 18 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 61 (2000).
59. Karlye Pillai, Internet Reference and the Non-Law Patron: Dangers, Policies, and Solutions, 4 AALL Spectrum 32 (Sept. 1999).
60. Sandra B. Placzek, All in a Day's Work: What's a Reference Librarian To Do? 19 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 41, 43 (2001).
61. James E. Duggan, The New Reference Librarian: Using Technology to Deliver Reference Services, 19 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 195, 201 (2001).
62. Id.
63. Paul A. Arrigo, Taking Time for Legal Research Instruction at the Reference Desk, 19 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 75 (2001).
64. Amy J. Eaton, Teaching Legal Research in the Law Finn Library, 19 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 47 (2001).
65. Carol Bast & Ransford Pyle, Legal Research in the Computer Age: A Paradigm Shift?, 93 L. Lib. J. 285 (2001).
66. Id. at 296.
67. Id. at 297.
68. John K. Hanft, A Model for Legal Research in the Electronic Age, 17 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. 77, 82 (1999).
69. Id. at 82.