What Is in Your Collection?

The librarians in our firm library often have questions on topics that are outside our experience.  This is no big deal.  As well trained and experienced legal information specialists we know the steps to follow to gather information on whatever topic comes our way.

One of the things that we have to remind ourselves to do, most especially this decade, is to constantly reorient ourselves to texts and other commentary that we have access to in our constantly changing and growing web based research tools.  I am not talking about how Google grows or new tools like CanLII Connects, but rather how our fee based subscriptions grow and change in content.  I nearly made a rookie mistake yesterday to spend time and a wee bit of money to arrange an inter-library loan for a textbook available through a database subscription.

I can only imagine how difficult it is for non-library types to keep up with what is available to you within your organization’s materials.  Given how challenging it is for me (the person who is responsible for paying for this stuff), today’s tip is to look in your own collection. You will be pleasantly surprised by what you have access to just down the hall or even at your desk.