Law Libraries
Law librarians work in a range of settings, such as private law firms, academia, courts, parliament, governmental organisations, and the legal departments of businesses, associations and non-government organisations.
Law librarians can be involved in tasks such as legal research, teaching and learning, information literacy, classification of library materials, collection development, electronic services, and special collections and archiving.
Law librarians work with material and information from a variety of sources. These include electronic online databases (for information ranging from legislation and cases, to company or financial information); print resources such as text books, reference books and law reports; journals and other documents. Law librarians are involved in the provision of this information to support the legal and policy making community, and also the general public.
There are three general categories that law librarians most commonly work in. These include:
Academic Libraries
Academic law librarians can find themselves working in specialised law schools, or academic libraries with legal collections. Academic law librarianship is a good career for those who enjoy legal research and working with scholarly information.
Government Libraries
Government libraries offer a range of contexts in which law librarians can work in. Government libraries include courts, parliamentary libraries and government departments. The scope of government libraries is diverse and would be a good career choice for those who enjoy legal research and being involved in the legislative process.
Private Law Libraries
Private libraries include law firms, the legal department of a corporation, business and non-government/not-for-profit organisation. Law librarians in private libraries are involved in a diverse range of services depending on the size and scope of the library. Often law librarianship in a private setting involves a high degree of client and reference work.
