Press Release: LAC Group Names Law Library and Tech Leader John Harbison to Run LibSource Business Unit

LOS ANGELES, June 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ —

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lac-group-names-law-library-and-tech-leader-john-harbison-to-run-libsource-business-unit-300289477.html

LAC Group has named John Harbison as executive vice president for the company’s LibSource business unit. Harbison is a 35-year veteran of law libraries and information services. LibSource delivers Library as a Service (LaaS) solutions for research, business intelligence and other information center needs.

Harbison joins LibSource from Covington & Burling where he spent more than a decade directing the law library and information management function. Prior to that, he managed Knowledge Services at Howrey LLP. Harbison also spent two decades as a law librarian, information services director and network administrator with Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC, Kutak Rock, LLP, and Dickstein Shapiro LLP. He has spent the last 25 years of his career in management where he conceptualized and led knowledge management initiatives that have been as much about developing libraries as they have been about using technology. In these roles, Harbison created new methods and platforms to track litigation and competitive intelligence, improve professional development and deliver CLE via state-of-the-art means.

“Law firm chief executives are looking to challenge the old line model of information management, research and processes,” says Harbison. “Libraries are a service, not a destination. And librarians will increasingly become embedded in practice groups on-site and as virtual teams.

“I’ve joined LibSource, in part, because we can put highly qualified librarians, many with law degrees, inside firms and extend their reach with virtual groups of researchers,” adds Harbison. “What LibSource brings is exciting not only for law firms but also librarians who want to keep growing as professionals.”

At LibSource, Harbison will oversee the expansion of the company’s Library as a Service offerings for on-site and virtual research librarians at law firms, corporations and any organization wanting unparalleled research and competitive intelligence.

“Twenty-five years ago, some librarians saw the Internet as a disruption that would make them irrelevant,” adds Harbison. “But the profession adapted. LaaS is no different. With ubiquitous access to online information, employers of all kinds have a need more than ever for researchers who can help curate and develop and apply taxonomies.”

“John is a librarian’s librarian because he cares deeply about the profession, but he challenges the status quo to help others learn and grow,” says Rob Corrao, chief operating officer for LAC Group. “He’s equal parts knowledge advisor and technologist and knows how to make himself indispensable to clients.”

Harbison holds a master’s in library and information science from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s in history from Kenyon College. He is a former chairman of the National Private Law Librarians’ Technology Committee, past member on the West Advisory Board and LexisNexis Librarian Advisory Board, a Certified Network Telephony Engineer and current member of AALL and SLA.