by Laura Woods, Services Advisor, Addleshaw Goddard, 2011 Non-US Member Grant Recipient (Published August 4, 2011)

I am writing this a few weeks after returning from SLA’s Annual Conference in Philadelphia, and I am still buzzing with ideas and enthusiasm from the experience. I had attended one SLA conference before, as a library school student, and remember vividly what an overwhelming experience it was. Returning a few years later and two years into my career as a law librarian, I found it just as inspiring, but with the benefit of a slightly more professional experience than before. I feel far more confident in taking the things I learned from the conference and applying them to my day-to-day work.

In addition to learning about the profession through the conference sessions, I also made the most out of all the networking opportunities with a conference the size of SLA. This was my first year as a Legal Division member, and I was initially skeptical about joining. There are differences between US and UK law firms and law libraries so I was unsure what I would get out of my Legal Division membership. However, I was very quickly and happily proved wrong.  Not only were the Legal Division members among the friendliest and most helpful people I’ve met, but I learned a tremendous amount that I can apply to my own library.

It was interesting to be able to talk with other Legal Division members and get a sense of how approaches differed in the two countries. I got the impression that US law firm librarians are far more embedded in the work of their firms than we are in the UK. Learning about cost recovery within law firms was also fascinating to me, as it is not commonplace in UK law firm libraries to charge back for searches or for the librarians’ time. I came away with a better idea of how cost recovery changes the dynamics within the firm. It made me wonder if charging for the librarians’ time and thus having to record what it is we’re actually working on could raise awareness of our skills and our value to the firm.

One of the things I love about being able to attend a US conference (apart from the opportunity to look around Philadelphia, particularly with the able assistance of the Division’s Chair Elect Tracy Maleeff as tour guide!) is seeing the difference in attitudes between UK and US librarians, not just in law but in all sectors represented by SLA. SLA is quite unlike any conference I’ve attended in the UK. This is partly due to the sheer scale—being a much smaller country, we don’t really have anything anywhere near the size of SLA—but also attitudes. US librarians are power networkers. It took me a little time to get over my British reserve and get into the swing of networking, but I really appreciate how direct people are at SLA. It’s so easy to strike up a conversation with anyone, and be able to share ideas and thoughts with people at all levels of their careers. Of course, librarians on the whole tend to be helpful people!

I also really admire the optimism and enthusiasm of US librarians. In the UK, we have a tendency to be self-deprecating and to play down achievements and sometimes to the detriment of celebrating those achievements. I was blown away by the awards presentations at the opening session. Not only were people recognised as talented and inspirational, but the whole presentation was carried off with the kind of glitz and panache that is unmatched by anything in the UK. I think I tweeted something to the effect that we’d all be far too embarrassed to put together something like that at a UK library conference!

Besides the great new contacts I made, I also learned plenty that I am already starting to put into practice in my day-to-day work. It was interesting to discuss how other law librarians feel working embedded within teams, which is something we are making steps towards in my own firm. The Legal Division’s cost prevention and unconference sessions were also extremely useful in suggesting ideas for cost prevention and getting more for your money from your current contracts. An idea from the cost recovery session was to use knowledge management as a cost reduction tool by encouraging your users to look at the firms internal knowledge before looking at external resources, such as Lexis and Westlaw. Maximising the know-how within the firm is a great way to save money. Although I do not work within KM, this is something that I have been working on with the practice team I support by leveraging the knowledge of the true experts within the team for the benefit of those less experienced. I was glad to hear this idea articulated so well, and to have the chance to discuss with other law librarians how they have or would put this into practice.

I am tremendously grateful to the Legal Division for their sponsorship, without which I would not have had the opportunity to attend this year’s conference. I would have been poorer for having missed it because I’d have missed out on meeting so many talented, inspirational and knowledgeable information professionals, and particularly from learning from those more experienced in legal information. I’ve come away from SLA feeling motivated, inspired, and above all, “future ready.” I’m already saving my pennies in the hope of attending next year. Here’s hoping to meet some of you again in Chicago!