Page 24 - Delaware Lawyer -Spring 2021

FEATURE
Galen Wilson
Meeting
Patrons’ Changing Needs
The role of the law library in the 21st century
With the introduction of digital technologies that bring massive libraries of knowledge to our fingertips, it is not uncommon to hear people question the need for a physical law library. Indeed, there are some in the profession who are surprised to learn that we still exist! If you can access thousands of treatises on virtually any topic without leaving your office (or even your home), why do we still need law libraries? If an algorithm can locate a case for you, why do we still need librarians?
22 DELAWARE LAWYER SPRING 2021
Practitioners may rely upon our ser- vices less frequently, but the reasons they come to us are different than
what they might have been 30 years ago. It is fair to say that the role of law libraries within the broader legal infor- mation services framework has changed rapidly and continues to evolve. Typi- cally, the practitioner patrons we see today are looking for older, archival materials that have not been digitized, or seeking assistance in navigating the
deluge of materials now available.
At the same time that the needs of our practitioner patrons have changed, we law librarians have seen an increase in the number of pro se litigants and curious laypeople who have a need for legal materials that they do not know how to access and often could not af-
ford if they did.
For all these changes, the funda-
mental role of the libraries and librar- ians remains unchanged. From scrolls