Shhhhh! That’s what you’d expect to hear from law librarians. But when it comes to getting higher salaries and bonuses, these demure individuals had better emerge from behind their legal stacks to be seen and heard.
Consider that as the world has gone digital, law firms expect their librarians to be increasingly educated and specialized. Part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ project on the future of the library workforce (.pdf) recently found that law firms are looking for librarians who not only have both a master’s in library science and a law degree but who also have expertise in law, business, finance, science and/or medicine. And an MBA, fluency in a foreign language and technological know-how wouldn’t hurt either, a panel on law libraries found. Many are expected to manage resources and handle research requests across multiple offices.
