Practicum Summation Reflection

My practicum experience with the Dee J. Kelly Law Library far exceeded even my lofty expectations. I knew I would tremendously enjoy working in an academic law library. After all, I had enjoyed working with law librarians when I had attended law school. Additionally, based on prior employment experiences, I knew I excelled in public-facing roles where I could assist others and teach. However, I was still surprised by how much I enjoyed and felt comfortable working in an academic law library environment. I genuinely enjoyed the work, assisting students, faculty, and the public, and collaborating with the rest of the school’s librarians. This experience solidified my belief that I would be extremely happy working as a law school librarian in the future.

One of the best parts of my practicum was the well-rounded nature of my experience. My projects spanned many of the different types of work performed by law librarians in a law school. For example, I was able to practice assisting students and the public when I worked at the library’s reference desk. This allowed me to see the kinds of questions frequently asked in these libraries and the resources most often accessed by the community. Additionally, I was able to assist law school faculty. This was through short requests, such as pulling articles. However, there were several longer “assignments” as well. One such assignment was helping a faculty member with their scholarship by reviewing dictionary entries through history. In another, I collected suitable grant opportunities for a research project involving the digitization of niche executive branch agency opinions.

While the aforementioned assignments were more reactionary, I also worked on proactive assignments. By that, I mean I created work-product not in response to a student, public patron, or faculty request. Rather, I also completed work that could be posted or featured online and support community members before they needed to inquire for specific assistance. This included blog posts and my LGBTQ+ legal research guide. The latter was a flagship part of the practicum experience, requiring a robust analysis of library offerings and what would be useful to community members seeking to learn more about the legal issues affecting LGBTQ+ individuals. A challenge of that project was walking the line between featuring purely academic, scholarly resources and also resources intended to support LGBTQ+ law students at A&M. Ultimately, the guide accomplished both goals, providing both theoretical and practical legal information.

While a smaller portion of my practicum experience, I did get to shadow one librarian-taught legal research class. Law schools frequently offer courses on legal research methods, which are often taught by law librarians. A&M Law School is no exception and, accordingly, several law librarians in the Dee J. Kelly Library are faculty members. This is an aspect of law librarianship that greatly interests me, and something I hope to pursue professionally in the future. I believe I would be an excellent lecturer and would very much enjoy working with students in this capacity. In my practice as an attorney, few skills were as necessary in the day-to-day practice of law as legal research. I think, as a law librarian, I could use my experience as an attorney to really showcase and teach the practical value of strong legal research skills to future attorneys. If there was any aspect of my practicum I could have expanded, I would have liked to shadow more lectures and assisted with grading or lesson planning.  

Ultimately, I learned a tremendous amount about the law librarianship career field. Before this practicum, I had a nebulous idea of the work performed therein, as well as the professional path involved. However, through the generous guidance of the librarians at the Dee J. Kelly library, and especially my site supervisor Lisa Goodman, I have a very clear understanding of this field and how to best succeed within it. For example, before this practicum, I had no idea of the critical importance of active involvement in law librarian professional societies, such as the American Association of Law Libraries. Additionally, I gained a much better understanding of how law libraries are profoundly affected by the operations of their associated law schools, which are in turn profoundly affected by American Bar Association standards. I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to complete my practicum in such a wonderful, welcoming environment that was unafraid to genuinely challenge me and provide practical training and insight for this career field. In the end, I feel extremely comfortable moving forward professionally and am eager to being my career as an academic law librarian.