Book Review: Organizational Structures of Academic Law Libraries: Past, Present, and Future, Volume 1

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Organizational Structures of Academic Law Libraries: Past, Present, and Future, Volume 1. Edited by Elizabeth G Adelman & Jessica de Perio Wittman. Getzville, New York: William S Hein, 2023. xxii, 250 p. Includes illustrations. AALL Publication Series No 87. ISBN 9780837742724 (softcover) US$110.00.

Reviewed by Alexia Loumankis
Reference and Research Librarian
Bora Laskin Law Library
University of Toronto

In recent years, the landscape of Canadian academic law libraries has changed dramatically. For greater efficiencies, several existing law libraries have shifted from reporting to their law school to reporting to a centralized university library system. The processes, services, staff, and culture at these libraries have been transformed by these developments.

It is in this context that I was eager to read and review Organizational Structures of Academic Law Libraries: Past, Present, and Future, Volume 1. Edited by Elizabeth G. Adelman and Jessica de Perio Wittman, both library directors, the text explains the historical and contemporary organizational structures and dynamics of American academic law libraries through a series of 18 case studies.

In their introduction, the editors explain that the current organization of academic law libraries falls under a spectrum of budgetary and administrative responsibility:

• Autonomous: an academic law library reporting to and with a budget originating from the law school or source other than the central university library
• Autonomous + collaborative services: an academic law library reporting to and with a budget originating from the law school that shares a library management system, database costs, and other administrative resources with the central university library
• Autonomous + shared services: an academic law library reporting to and with a budget originating from the law school sharing services (such as circulation, acquisitions, and IT) with the central university library system
• Semi-autonomous: an academic law library reporting to the law school and the central library, with a budget originating from the central library

Immediately following the introduction is a chapter by Rebecca Chapman on the evolution of the American academic law library structure from the early 1900s to today. Chapman thoroughly examines how the American Bar Association came to develop standards for academic law libraries and how this standardization and desire for library autonomy were often at odds over the years. It is also clear that the issues of professionalization, decreasing budgets, employment status, and technological changes are not new for academic law libraries. Chapman concludes her chapter by suggesting that collaboration and cooperation are the keys to the successful future of academic law libraries.

The organizational spectrum provided by Adelman and de Perio Wittman forms the basis for the structure of the rest of the book, as the case studies are grouped under one of the four categories outlined above. Every case describes the organizational structure of a specific academic law library and is written by a current or former librarian from that organization.

While each case study is obviously unique, many of them share common sections, such as a history of the law library, budget, reporting structure, collaborations, and shared services. Included as an appendix to many of the case studies is the agreement outlining the relationship between the law library and its central library system or law school. Some of the authors are surprisingly candid about their library’s relationship with the law school and the central library, as well as about how reporting to two administrators, in whatever fashion, can sometimes lead to complex and intense interactions.

Despite the book being about American academic law libraries, the case studies are useful to Canadian academic law librarians. Many of the organizational structures and issues described are universal, as are the solutions to these issues. I appreciated that while several authors described the challenges faced by their library due to its organizational structure, they also acknowledged the opportunities these structures can also help create, both now and in the future. These are positive insights from which any academic law librarian can benefit.

This text is a valuable resource for academic law librarians and administrators from both law schools and central libraries interested in exploring possible impacts of changes to the structure of their law library’s organization. Both current and future decisionmakers would benefit from its detailed and astute examination of the historical and current structure of academic law libraries.