Law Librarianship in Academic Libraries. Best Practices

Table of Contents

Chapter One: discusses and defines law librarianship; it identifies the different types of law libraries, their users and collection. This chapter includes a brief history of academic law libraries in some jurisdictions as well as the structure and applicable standards of accreditation. Each library has its own users, Chapter Two: discusses the users of the academic law library and the levels of services provided to them; Chapter Three: gives an in depth discourse on the collection development and management practices in the academic law library. The nature of legal materials makes them very unique and expensive to maintain, the author discusses the best practices in building and maintaining this type of collection especially in an electronic and digital age; Chapter Four: describes the activities of the front end of the academic law library, mainly circulation and reference services. These two areas are the action points in the library where services and operations take place.
Academic law libraries use different classification schemes to organize the materials in their collection; Chapter Five: identifies a few of the available classification schemes and explains how they have been used in some libraries; Chapter Six: highlights these trends and developments and how they have impacted the delivery of services and resources in academic law libraries; Chapter Seven: discusses the issues and suggested steps for law librarians who would like to advance to management positions in their career, discusses the importance of professional development and networking in building a career; Chapter Eight: explains and discusses available opportunities for law librarians all over the world.

Authors

Yemisi Dina Associate Librarian/Head of Public Services, Osgoode Hall Law School Library, York University, Canada. Yemisi Dina is a law librarian and is currently an Associate Librarian/Head of Public Services at the Osgoode Hall Law School Library, York University, Canada where she has previously served as Acting Chief Law Librarian. Prior to this she worked at the Adeola Odutola Law Library, University of Ibadan and the College of The Bahamas/University of the West Indies LL.B Program where she helped set up the law library. She is an active member of several professional organizations such as the AALL, BIALL, CALL/ACBD and IALL. She has contributed book chapters and articles in professional and refereed publications. Yemisi has been invited to present papers in her area of expertise and research at professional seminars and conferences. She holds a Masters in Public Policy, Administration and Law, Master of Library and Information Science, LL.B among others.