An estimated 57% of law libraries increased their budgets in 2004 while only 10.71% decreased their budgets, according to LAW LIBRARY BENCHMARKS,2005 Edition (ISBN#: 1-57440-070-3), published on November 7th by Primary Research Group.
(PRWEB) November 7, 2004 -- An estimated 57% of law libraries increased their
budgets in 2004 while only 10.71% decreased their budgets. University law
libraries were the most likely to have increased their budget, according to LAW
LIBRARY BENCHMARKS , 2005 Edition (ISBN#: 1-57440-070-3), published on November
7th by Primary Research Group. The study is based on data from 65 major law
libraries including those of blue chip law firms, university law faculties and
government agencies. The 111-page reports is available for $115.00; a PDF
version with rights to print out one copy for in-house use is $139.50. All data
is broken out by library size and type and some data is also broken out by
number of partners per firm.
Some of the conclusions of the report are
reproduced below:
The mean number of separate law library locations per
organization in the sample was 2.48, though the mean for each law firm
participant was 3.41 law libraries per firm.
Law firm libraries tend to
occupy far more space than their counterparts in corporations. The mean size of
the law firm libraries in the sample was 3,207 square feet (about the size of
4-5 one bedroom apartments) while our recent study “Corporate Library
Benchmarks” showed that the average size of corporate libraries, generally
serving much larger organizations, was approximately 2,300 square
feet.
Square feet per daily visitor for the university law libraries in
the sample was 105 while square feet per daily visitor for the law firm
libraries in the sample was 180.
The librarians in the sample noted that
their firms spent a total of 11.27% of library staff time advising remote users
(those not physically present in the library) on how to use the library’s
resources.
The libraries in the sample used direct download from
publisher web sites only a mean of 6% of the time when they needed access to
articles in journals to which they did not subscribe or otherwise have access.
Although the acquisition of articles through publisher web sites is still a
minor factor in the legal article delivery market, the libraries in the sample
report an 8% aggregate increase in such activity over the past two years.
The librarians in the sample say that their libraries answered a mean of
25.18 email queries per day, or more than three per hour. They also answered a
mean of 19.52 telephone queries per day, or about 2.5 per hour. University law
libraries took nearly 33 telephone queries per day.
A third of the
libraries in the sample experienced a decrease in the amount of office space
allocated to them in the past five years, while 7% experienced an
increase.
The law libraries in the sample averaged 85.48 visitors to the
physical location of the library per day, but the university law libraries in
the sample averaged 383; the law firm libraries, a shade less than
18.
Mean spending on salaries for the university law libraries in the
sample exceeded $1 million.
A bit less than 16% of the law libraries in
the sample have a full time webmaster for the library web site and almost 22% of
libraries with materials budgets greater than $350,000.
A shade more than
a third of the libraries in the sample expect an increase in their budget in
2005, while 10.71% expect a decrease. Larger libraries, defined in terms of
their materials budgets, are more likely to expect an increase than smaller
libraries.
Tasks involved with selecting and paying for materials such
as books, databases and other materials consumed about 16.7% of the time of the
librarians in the sample and more than 18.1% of the total work time of law firm
librarians
More than44% of the librarians in the sample plan to reduce
print expenditures in the future in order to finance increases in spending on
electronic materials
The libraries in the sample tried a mean of 6.69
databases on a free trail basis in the past year.
Law firms are still
using CD-ROM databases to a far greater extent than other industries. The mean
number of CD-ROM subscriptions per library in the sample was 5.37, far higher
than the mean of 1.3 in the corporate library sector (see Corporate Library
Benchmarks, 2004-05 Edition ISBN# (1-57440-069-X).
Law librarians
generally felt that they were more strongly supported by organizational
management than their counterparts in corporate libraries felt about the support
they received from their organizational management. Only 4.8% of the libraries
in the sample felt that management wanted to eliminate the physical library and
replace it with an online information system or virtual library.
None of
the librarian’s in the sample characterized their patrons as “uncomfortable
using databases” and only a small percentage – 15.9% -- considered their patrons
to be “proficient researchers” while 42.1% said that their patrons “still needed
help” and an equal percentage thought that their patrons could “make do”.
The librarians in the sample reported that they had ordered a mean of
11.02% of their newly purchased books through online book selling sites.
University law libraries were the most likely to use such sites and government
libraries the least likely.
A bit more than 17% of the libraries in the
sample have a virtual reference system that utilizes some form of chat
technology. Surprisingly, it was government libraries that were the most likely
to have such a system and university law libraries that were the least likely,
very contrary to our expectations.
The report has more than 300 tables
of data and is based on a questionnaire that posed more than 100 questions to 65
law librarians. For more information, contact James Moses at 212-736-2316 or
visit the Primary Research Group website at WWW.Primaryresearch.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/11/prweb174222.htm