At the 2019 AALL Conference, three law librarians and knowledge managers showed how their departments go above and beyond to demonstrate value to the firm at large Reports Law.com
The law library of today only bears a resemblance to the library of 30 years ago. Gone are the stacks and stacks of legal tomes; many of those are now digital. Today, much of a librarian’s day deals with knowledge work and technological research—and demonstrating return on investment (ROI) with those intangible tasks may be a tougher sell without a distinct strategy.
Laying out that strategy was at the center of the “Showing the ROI of Your Law Firm Library” panel at the 2019 American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Conference, where three law librarians and knowledge managers showed how their departments go above and beyond to demonstrate value to the firm at large.
Keeping Knowledge Top of Mind
Vishal Agnihotri, chief knowledge officer at Hinshaw & Culbertson, has now started the knowledge function at two different law firms. And she has found that, while there is some expectation that knowledge work and libraries will be somewhat of a cost center, the reality is that “it is still seen as an overhead, and there is some expectation of some proof of your reason to be.” She added, “Gone are the days where you can simply expect to or sign off on a year-over-year increase without much questioning.”
From there, she draws the firm’s attorneys and other workers into the process. Hinshaw, for example, offers an evaluation lab, where technology tools recommended by others in the firm are pitted in a head-to-head battle: “Every quarter, we have a face off of two or three similar tools against each other, and we gather feedback from our own researchers.” This, coupled with constant feedback of pre-existing tools, keeps the knowledge function top of mind.
The knowledge department has also rolled out its own tech tools, including an internal social media tool designed to spur conversations across the firm’s offices across the country. But what’s important, Agnihotri noted, is to actually take tangible metrics from the tech tools in a way that management can understand. “If you can show that 47% of the associates are using it… that makes it a bit more real. Percentages are much better,” she said.
Fighting for Positive Perception
At Haynes & Boone, library manager Lee Bernstein has seen perceptions of the library change. He’s noticed guides on tours talking about “what’s left” of the library, an understandably demoralizing quip from those who don’t understand how the library functions. Because of digitization, he noted, “Although our actual footprint has diminished, our actual spend is increasing.”
Read on at https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2019/07/17/not-just-a-cost-center-law-firm-libraries-reveal-how-they-demonstrate-roi/
