Target Audience: Law library directors, academic librarians, private law librarians, collection development librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will understand the different collection development strategies and needs of academic and law firm libraries, with respect to both print and electronic resources. Knowledge of these differences and trends can promote better collection development decisions, improve coordination between academic and law firm libraries, and contribute to better legal skills training.
2. Participants will be able to identify specific collection development processes in order to develop law library collections that promote resource sharing between educational and private institutions, while meeting the collection needs of their primary patron population.
The findings of both the MacCrate Report and the Carnegie Report have emphasized the need to incorporate practical legal skills within the law school curriculum. These findings extend to both the teaching of legal research skills and law school collections, both print and electronic, that support these efforts. Law library collections need to reflect both the analytic process of legal analysis, as well as the application of practical skills. Academic and law firm librarians, as well as skilled practitioners, can effectively collaborate in efforts to provide legal collections and instruction that best support the findings of the MacCrate and Carnegie reports. In doing so, both private and academic law libraries can achieve effective resource sharing and optimal cost effectiveness in the utilization of resources.