The Legal Division is proud to feature Constance Ard in its August Profiles in Law Librarianship feature:

A Little Bit About Constance:

Constance Ard is an Independent Information Professional with 14 years experience and expert research skills.  Ms. Ard offers on-demand research and information and content management business consulting services.  Ms. Ard specializes in e-discovery preparation and project management.  Past employment includes a variety of positions at a large regional firm in Kentucky, Greenebaum Doll and McDonald.

Constance is an active information professional organization volunteer. She served as the Chair of the Legal Division of the Special Libraries Association for 2010 and is a member of the New Member Outreach Committee for AIIP.  She has served in many leadership roles throughout her career.  Constance also volunteers with the Kentucky Library Association and has held a number of leadership roles with this state level professional library organization.  She is currently running for the position of Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect in SLA.

Constance offers training and learning opportunities by being an active speaker.  At SLA Annual she was a member of the Capitalizing on Content to Grow Competencies Spotlight panel.  Later in August she will be a part of the Rocky Mountain Chapter’s Webinar Lunch Series, leading a discussion about the Value of Information Professionals.

Ms. Ard is a sometimes writer as well.  She offers up her viewpoints in the Legal Division Quarterly through the Water Cooler column.  More serious publications include Legal Research in the Age of Open Law published in the September 2010 issue of Online.  In October 2009, Ms. Ard completed her first published book:  Next Generation Corporate Libraries and Information Services. She is currently working on her second book that is planned for release in January 2012.

A Few Questions for Constance:

What brought you to the legal information industry?

Luck!  My partner was working at a law firm and heard from the firm law librarian that there was a position open at another firm in town.  It just so happened that the Kentucky Library Association meeting was in town and the hiring librarian was in the audience of a session I attended. I went up, introduced myself, and handed my resume to my future boss and mentor.  I was interviewed within a matter of what seems like hours although I think at least a day passed.  I was offered the job and accepted.

 Where do you see our industry in 10 years?

 I think our industry is in for some serious shifts.  We will no longer be conducting the routine research.  Our work will be in line with more knowledge management and competitive intelligence.  We will work closely with the attorneys, business developers and others responsible for “growing” the business.  We will not be researcher alone, we will offer high value intelligence.  Our analytical skills will be critical.

Managers will require a higher level of negotiation skills than they ever have.  Maximizing investments will be an essential ingredient of longevity.

We will be creating information of high value. We will create the databases used.  Our firm’s collections of special materials from agencies are a prime ingredient for law librarians to excel.

I think our court and academic librarians will shift into new roles as well.  I think the educational shift will require our academic colleagues to create more learning opportunities in a variety of ways that will be delivered through an ever-evolving roster of technology.

I’m not sure what the shift in the court libraries will be, I just feel certain that as the rest of the profession shifts so will the roles of these valuable professionals.

 What are you doing to get Future Ready?

I think being future ready requires a strong knowledge of the here and now.  I think our experience and knowledge provides an essential foundation.  With that foundation I am prepared for any opportunity that presents itself in any environment.

Do you have any advice for people looking to break into the legal information industry?

Join, volunteer, write and network.  Becoming visible is the biggest hurdle in an economy with too many high value information professionals seeking better opportunities.  Set yourself apart by sharing your knowledge, volunteering and meeting people and growing your network.  When people know you, they will remember you.

 

The Legal Division is proud to be featuring Janet Peros for its May Profiles in Law Librarianship.  Janet is a former member of our Division Board and a new mom.

Janet in a nutshell:

Janet Peros is currently Reference Librarian at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She was previously Special Projects Librarian at Bryan Cave LLP. She received her MLS and her BA from Queens College, The City University of New York. Janet joined SLA in 2001 while still a student at Queens College. She served as a Director for the Legal Division from 2008-2010. She also served as Director of Professional Development for the New York chapter from 2009-2010. Janet has been published in Information Outlook, AALL Spectrum, PM Forum and LLRX.  

In addition to SLA, Janet has held several positions with LLAGNY, the NY chapter of AALL, including co-chair of the Education Committee (2007-2009), co-chair of the Newsletter Committee (2005-2006), Board Member (2004-2005) and member of the technology committee. She is currently serving as CONELL (Conference of Newer Law Librarians) committee member for AALL at large.

We asked Janet a few questions:

What brought you to the legal information industry?

I wish I could say it was destiny, but it was more like an accident. I was working in academic administration while working towards my MLS. I was enjoying the program much more than I ever imagined I would. However, I was unsure what type of librarianship I wanted to get into. I took a law librarianship class and landed an internship at a law firm. More importantly, I met several mentors both through school and through my local SLA and AALL chapter that guided me in the right direction. I was lucky enough to land a position at a law firm just before I graduated and here I am eight years later.

Where do you see our industry in 10 years?

I wish I could know for sure where we will be. I imagine there will be even less print than there is now (and less space available for it). I see more of us working remotely and working odd hours. I also see more embedded librarianship. More of us will work in other departments and be part of teams rather than being part of a traditional library staff.

What are you doing to get Future Ready?

I’m probably not doing enough. I read every newsletter and blog I come across and get alerts and RSS feeds on topics of interest. I try to experiment on the job as much as possible using collaborative tools like Sharepoint. I also attend many educational programs both remotely and locally not only from my local SLA chapter, but my local AALL chapter and organizations like METRO. I keep my ears, eyes and mind open as much as I can.

Do you have any advice for people looking to break into the legal information industry?

I was able to land my first job after completing an internship at a law firm. I would advise taking an internship, whether paid or unpaid, to gain valuable experience. I would also suggest attending local educational programs and social events geared towards law librarians and if possible, attending SLA’s or AALL’s annual conference to network and make contacts.

The Legal Division is proud to be featuring Sara Batts as its February Profiles in Law Librarianship.  Sara was recently named as one of SLA’s Rising Stars for 2011 and will be presented with her award in Philadelphia this June.  Congratulations Sara!

Sara in her own words:

I’ve been at Reed Smith’s London office for just about three years; my second library job since graduating in 2006. I read for my MSc at City University here in London. I’d originally intended to study part-time but decided I could fit it all in a year. That was against the advice of my tutor, who was suitably pleased at my Distinction grade 12 months later – and agreed to supervise my PhD via Loughborough University.

As a student I joined BIALL and CLIG, taking on committee roles with both of these complementary organisations fairly soon after graduating. Winning an Early Career Conference Award in 2009 was my introduction to SLA. I joined the board as newsletter editor, overseeing the change from print to blog. I handed the role on a year later when I was nominated as president-elect.

When I’m not working on SLA Europe things, or my PhD, I run – I’ve just knocked 7 minutes of my (admittedly not very fast to begin with) half marathon time, so it’s great to see my own progress in that endeavour.

We asked Sara a few questions:

 What brought you to the legal information industry?

I discovered legal librarianship almost by accident. In 2003 I found myself needing a second job, and started working evenings in a law school library around the corner from my day job. I was looking for a career change, thinking about a master’s degree, and the two gradually came together as I learned more about the kinds of roles that were available. It’s been awesome finding even more options are out there via the people I have met through SLA.

Where do you see our industry in 10 years?

I think the landscape will be very changed. Certainly in the UK, law firms are looking more at outsourcing models as different ways of working. That is going to have an impact in the way roles are handled – will firms see frontline, on-site information services as a necessity or a luxury? Will outsourcing be a lasting shift or will it be a cyclical change? The moves from print to online have accelerated in the last few years and as more younger lawyers are used to going online first, we’ll see fewer print publications. I could make a whole raft of predictions about simplification of database search, social media and social search but they’re bound to be wrong! Suffice to say that I don’t think my job will still be there in the format it is today.

What are you doing to get Future Ready?

Probably the most important thing is that I’m comfortable with expecting change. I value what I have today and I love my job, but I am OK with the idea I won’t be doing the same thing long-term. It’s easy for me to look back on my pre-library life and make the comparisons with my current career. Knowing I’ve made a leap once already means I’m at ease with the idea of doing it again. Next time I hope it’ll be within an industry, rather than changing focus completely: but if it’s not, then that’s also just a new challenge. I don’t think I’ve stopped learning in one form or another my whole life…

Do you have any advice for people looking to break into the legal information industry?

Get involved and don’t be shy. It’s so much easier to connect with people now than it was even five years ago. Whatever level you’re at, there are opportunities to work with various organisations, and what better way to become acquainted with your future colleagues?