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10 Legal Information Alert 1 (1991)

handle is hein.lbr/leinfal0010 and id is 1 raw text is: What's new in legal publications, databases and research techniques Volume 10, No. 1 January 1991 Contents Toward the Year 2000. Law Library Strategies for the '90s For Your Information New Publications 1 4 5 Calendar 10 Publishers 11 Index 11 Database Report 12 Toward the Year 2000: Law Library Strategies for the '90s By Donna Tuke Heroy and Nina Wendt Times are tough, and-depending on who you talk to-a recession is here or impending. Certainly companies are downsizing or declaring bankruptcy in record numbers. Articles about law firm closings and associates being fired appear in national and local legal and business publications. What does this mean for our jobs and law libraries, especially law firm libraries in the 1990s? The ArT wanted to find out, so we asked two groups of top librarians, one in Chicago and one in San Francisco, to tell us how they see the years between now and the year 2000. We wanted to know how law librarians are coping and what they are doing to adjust to the current economic times. This article is a distillation of their recommendations and suggestions to help keep their departments (and their firms) afloat in these turbulent times. Meet the Players In Chicago four law firm librarians joined a round table discussion: Karin Donahue, Director of Library and Information Services, Gardner, Carton & Douglas; Louis J. Covotsos, Head Librarian, McDermott, Will & Emery; Patricia A. Patterson, Director of Legal Information Services, Schiff Hardin & Waite; and Barbara Schmid, Librarian, Sachnoff & Weaver. In San Francisco, the librarians were Leslie Ann Forrester Sherren, Librarian, Murphy, Weir & Butler; Richard Leiter, Head Librarian, Littler Mendelson Fastiff & Tichy; Cella Mitchell, Manager of Library Services, Landels Ripley and Diamond; and Sharon French, Administrator, Pacific Bell Law Library. The comments and suggestions from both discussions are combined and summarized here. Reviewing Expenditures When I called each librarian at the beginning of November, most were working on budgets for the coming year. The fact that they were doing so is both a sign of the times and the progress law firm management has made over the past ten years. Not only were they preparing budgets, but most were reviewing them and trying to find ways to trim them. Forrester Sherren said that she was cutting her budget at Murphy, Weir by not purchasing supplements for office copies and purchasing only one supplement per year for any title. However, she feels that she can't afford not to supplement looseleafs. Leiter has managed to stay a full twenty percent under his budget this year. How did he do it? He says he uses Nancy Reagan's motto: Just Say No. Librarians are closely scrutinizing the renewal notices of all serials. In particular, they are looking closely at newsletters. They think there may be too many andwonder continued on next page

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