Addressing Reference Inquiries and Reading About Library Finances: 2/29 9am-5pm

Today was another full day of working the reference desk. I was somewhat nervous because this was Thursday, and previously I had worked the desk on Friday. Fridays are generally slow days for the reference desk at the Dee J. Kelly Law Library. However, Thursdays had the potential to be busy, which was reinforced by how many students were working and studying in the library. However, my nervousness was largely unmerited. The reference desk was fairly slow, and I was able to work on a few small projects and catch up on reading. On the first day of my practicum, Kristen has suggested I read a few chapters of the Legal Information Buyer's Guide and Reference Manual. The chapters I read provided some fascinating information about the financials and economic trends of running a law library. Ultimately, this reading provided great "real world" context to color my understanding of how working in a legal library actually operates.

In terms of actually running the reference desk, I did assist on one longer project. Namely, a law school administrator was interested in learning more information about a number of individuals featured in a newspaper article. As such, I spent some time tracking down publicly available information on these individuals and compiling a spreadsheet. This was a fun research rabbit hole and I enjoyed being of assistance to the law school's administration. I think it is interesting, however, how often reference librarians in academic settings seem to lack context for some faculty or administrative inquiries. For example, I have no idea what my spreadsheet might be used for, and in the past, I have assisted faculty with questions that are similarly context bare. This appears to be a common occurrence for high education library staff. Besides that longer task, I assisted a student with an ILL request for their law review work.

Photo Description: This is the copy of the Legal Information Buyer's Guide and Reference Manual I read today. While I was only able to thoroughly read a few chapters, I was fascinated to learn about the high costs involved in running a law library and why certain database subscriptions must be prioritized over others.

Name: Madeleine Ball

Site Supervisor: Lisa Goodman

Hours: 8