Category «Reference Services»

The Survey Is Dead; Long Live the Survey: Can ChatGPT Replace Traditional Research Surveys?

Iantha Haight writes that her library recently hosted a guest speaker, David Wingate, a professor in BYU’s computer science department who does research on large language models, for a faculty lunch and learn. The entire presentation was fascinating, but the most intriguing part for me and many of the law faculty in attendance was the idea that generative AI systems will become so good they will be able to replace human subjects in answering research surveys. How? Generative neural networks trained on huge amounts of data—terabytes and even petabytes—ingest enough information about people that they can answer survey questions as if they were members of the survey population.

Subjects: AI, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Technology, Librarian Resources, Library Software & Technology, Reference Resources, Reference Services, Surveys

2021 Update to Choosing Law Librarianship: Thoughts for People Contemplating a Career Move

AALL Gallagher Award recipient Mary Whisner, Public Services Librarian, University of Washington, Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library, has updated her 2008 guide about choosing a career in law librarianship. With more than 30 years of experience in the profession, Whisner discusses important topics to review when considering a career as a law librarian.

Subjects: American Association of Law Libraries, Education, Law Librarians, Law Library Management, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Reference Services

Looking on the Bright Side: Four Ways Zoom Makes Legal Research Instruction Better

As many of you have surely experienced this semester, teaching legal research virtually poses a number of challenges, but Matthew Flyntz found that it also provides a few benefits over traditional in-person instruction. In a world of negativity, Flyntz looks on the bright side and focus on those positives in this article.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Continuing Legal Education, KM, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Libraries & Librarians, Reference Services, Technology Trends, Telecommuting

Investing in Libraries is the Right Thing for Administrators To Do, Even if There Are Fewer Resources Overall

Todd A. Carpenter advocates for libraries at this critical juncture when remote learning is now pervasive for academic institutions around the country. Although digitized resources delivered via IP-based authentication were the norm before the pandemic, users of library resources were only vaguely aware that the services they regularly use are provided by the library because of IP-based authentication. Carpenter argues that the need for budget cuts must be weighed against the expanded and critical need for students and faculty to have uninterrupted access to digital resources provided by their libraries.

Subjects: Distance Learning, Economy, Education, KM, Libraries & Librarians, Reference Resources, Reference Services, Technology Trends, Telecommuting, Virtual Library

How Law Firm Libraries Can Create New Value

Earlier this year Ron Friedmann presented an interactive session on how law firm libraries can create new value, at the Ark conference Best Practices & Management Strategies for Law Firm Library, Research & Information Services (aka Ark Library). In this article he shares some session highlights, the voting results of the interactive portion, his slides and and a link to his live presentation.

Subjects: Business Research, Communications, Competitive Intelligence, Information Management, KM, Law Librarians, Leadership, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Library Marketing, Outsourcing, Reference Services

Opinion – How a national library endowment could help Philadelphia

David Rothman continues his advocacy for a national library endowment to help K-12 and public libraries in Philadelphia, and around the country. His argument in favor of such an endowment is especially resonant in light of the recent college entrance cheating and bribery scams involving the children of wealthy parents and celebrities.

Subjects: Economy, Education, Libraries & Librarians, Reference Services

Our “Small” Project with a Big Impact: Littler’s Knowledge Desk, A Case Study

Cynthia L. Brown, Director Research Services at Littler Mendelson P.C. discusses the firm’s one-stop-shop for all KM and library research inquiries and needs – the Knowledge Desk. The Knowledge Desk is available to all Littler attorneys and staff for any legal research, traditional library resources, KM requests or questions concerning the legal training group Littler Learning Group (LLG). Via the Knowledge Desk, attorneys are connected to subject matter experts, a vast collection of databases, print materials, practice groups, internal work product and proprietary data collections, through which our team can search efficiently to locate exact information.

Subjects: KM, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Reference Services

eReference Library Link Dataset Toolkit 2017

This guide is a comprehensive link dataset toolkit of reliable resources available on the Internet to support your research across multiple subject matters and relevant to many disciplines. In many instances effective research begins and succeeds based on the choice to use resources such as those included here by Marcus Zillman, rather than defaulting to the use of a search engine. Consider your goals and objectives, and leverage sites and free knowledge services that will expand the scope of relevant results to your queries, as well as add new facets and dimension to your work product.

Subjects: Competitive Intelligence, Internet Resources, Internet Resources - Web Links, KM, Libraries & Librarians, Reference Services, Search Engines, Search Strategies