Session Title
Academic Law Libraries: Better Serving the State and Region
Start Date
10-11-2017 10:15 AM
End Date
10-11-2017 11:15 AM
Location
Martin Room
Session Description
The traditional mission of academic law libraries has centered upon supporting the law school curriculum and institutional scholarship. This mission is indeed more important than ever, as diverse institutional services constitute a cornerstone of the streamlined, twenty-first century academic law library. At the same time, law libraries—particularly at land-grant public universities—should cultivate an enhanced service mentality that extends beyond the institutional walls: that is, more robust and comprehensive services should increasingly be provided to alumni, the practicing bar, the state, and the region at large.
At WVU Law, the George R. Farmer Jr. Law Library is actively pursuing such enhanced public outreach initiatives. This session will outline a sampling of such initiatives, including our attorney services program and legal research instructional and support offerings to our alumni. Notably, this session will also outline the Library’s role in WVU Law’s nascent Appalachian Justice Initiative (“AJI”). AJI is “a consortium of scholars dedicated to addressing economic disenfranchisement in Appalachia through legal scholarship, policy advocacy, legal services, and outreach.” The library has supported AJI through such diverse channels as committee service, program development support, website design, and librarian-authored scholarship on regional issues.
This session will demonstrate that, for academic law libraries, such an expanded mission is integral in the modern era. Not only do such initiatives promote institutional profile raising—but through such community-centered approaches, they also maximize the fundamentally democratic and justice-enhancing role of the academic law library.
Intended Audience
All
Program Format
Panel Presentation
Academic Law Libraries: Better Serving the State and Region
Martin Room
The traditional mission of academic law libraries has centered upon supporting the law school curriculum and institutional scholarship. This mission is indeed more important than ever, as diverse institutional services constitute a cornerstone of the streamlined, twenty-first century academic law library. At the same time, law libraries—particularly at land-grant public universities—should cultivate an enhanced service mentality that extends beyond the institutional walls: that is, more robust and comprehensive services should increasingly be provided to alumni, the practicing bar, the state, and the region at large.
At WVU Law, the George R. Farmer Jr. Law Library is actively pursuing such enhanced public outreach initiatives. This session will outline a sampling of such initiatives, including our attorney services program and legal research instructional and support offerings to our alumni. Notably, this session will also outline the Library’s role in WVU Law’s nascent Appalachian Justice Initiative (“AJI”). AJI is “a consortium of scholars dedicated to addressing economic disenfranchisement in Appalachia through legal scholarship, policy advocacy, legal services, and outreach.” The library has supported AJI through such diverse channels as committee service, program development support, website design, and librarian-authored scholarship on regional issues.
This session will demonstrate that, for academic law libraries, such an expanded mission is integral in the modern era. Not only do such initiatives promote institutional profile raising—but through such community-centered approaches, they also maximize the fundamentally democratic and justice-enhancing role of the academic law library.
