Thanks to one of our sources in North America who sent us through the following email marketing missive from West that must have gone mistakenly to a law library recipient.
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It is either plain arrogance or stupidity to send the following email to a law librarian
“Are you on a first name basis with the librarian?
If so, chances are, you’re spending too much time at the ?library. What you need is fast, reliable research you can access right in ?your office. And all it takes is West?.”
As the recipient asks – Do You Find This Objectionable
Well.. yes we do here at HOB because only ten days ago we happily reported a development from West where they sent out a press release in July saying
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Not only do they say that – they announced the launch of a national campaign to promote law librarians .. All we can say is that? Anne Ellis, West?s director of Library Relations is going to have to kick some serious butt in house.
Anne Ellis. Not Smiling Now ..We Imagine
Here’s the rest of their press release
The national campaign will be launched at the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) annual conference in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 2009, at the Washington Convention Center with a tribute event hosted by West.
The campaign will include advertisements placed in national law magazines, newsletters and Web sites frequented by law librarians, and a publicity effort to recognize innovative law librarians who represent the best of what it means to pursue a career as a law librarian. The first ad to break in the campaign features the headline, ?Where Resilience and Brilliance Meet. Law Librarians, We Salute You.? The full-page print ad will be published in AALL?s national publication, AALL Spectrum.
?The work of law librarians can sometimes go unrecognized,? said Anne Ellis, West?s director of Library Relations. ?But the reality is that law librarians are more critical than ever in mining and managing all of the knowledge that the legal profession requires to successfully prosecute, defend or litigate their legal matters.?
The campaign was inspired by conversations with West?s law librarian customers ? representing large, mid-size and small law firms as well as government agencies and law schools.
?Our customers helped us identify this important issue,? said Ellis. ?Today?s law librarians need to be recognized for their abilities to pinpoint knowledge that?s essential to effective lawyering from the enormous amount of data and information that?s available.
?We believe our campaign is the first and the right step in a process that will help redefine the critical role of law librarians now and into the future.?
View a video (http://legalcurrent.com/2009/07/28/west-salutes-law-librarians/) played to kick off the campaign at West?s customer recognition event.
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Hopefully there will be at the very least an apology email addressed directly to every law librarian client in North America.. and we suggest worldwide.
