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Press Release from Primary Research Group, Inc.
Primary Research Group has published LAW LIBRARY BENCHMARKS, 2006-07 Edition, ISBN
# 1-57440-079-7. The study presents data from a survey of 84 law libraries; data is broken out
for law firm, university, government and private company law libraries, and by size of the
library’s content budget. The study has approximately 300 tables of data summarizing a broad
range of developments in law library policies regarding personnel and salaries, materials
spending, procurement, management, reference services, and information policy. Just a few of
the study’s finding are that:
• Close to half of the libraries in the sample have decreased the size of the library within the
past five years, and more than half of the law firm libraries have done so. Both small and
large libraries have tended to decrease their size.
• More than 70% of the law libraries in the sample increased their budgets in 2005 and only a
shade more than 3% decreased their budgets.
• Sixty five percent (65%) of the law libraries in the sample expected their budgets to increase
in 2006, while only 8.33% expected a decrease.
LAW LIBRARY SPENDING FOR CONTENT & MATERIALS
• The libraries in the sample spent a mean of $561,537 for online databases in 2005. One
library spent nearly $7.5 million. The law firm libraries in the sample spent by far the
most, spending a mean of $1,036,920.
• Perhaps surprisingly, expenditures on print resources still account for more than half of the
materials/content spending for the libraries in the sample. Only law firm and private company
law libraries spend less than half of their content/materials budgets for print resources.
REFERENCE & RESEARCH POLICIES
• About half of the libraries in the sample keep a written log of the reference questions that
they receive. University law libraries are the most apt to keep written logs, while government libraries were the least likely.
• Overall, less than 8% of the libraries in the sample say that intellectual property issues are
involved in as much as 30% of the library’s research. Indeed, for more than half of the libraries in the sample
intellectual property issues are involved in less than 5% of library research projects.
• For about 70% of the libraries in the sample, questions involving mergers & acquisitions
were involved in 5% or fewer of their research projects. As might be expected, law firm and private company law libraries
were the most likely to be concerned with mergers and acquisitions as a primary research theme.
• The law librarians in the sample spent a mean of 4.23 hours online per day, a figure that is
generally and surprisingly low for knowledge workers in highly information intensive industries. Print still matters in the
law library world, much more so than in the general corporate library world.
BLOGS, LISTSERVS & RSS FEEDS
• The librarians in the sample spent a mean of 3.93 hours per week reading blogs and
listservs.
• Librarians in the sample traveled away from their offices on library business a mean of 7.67
times in the past year (the median was 4.0). Librarians from law firms traveled more frequently than
other law librarians, a mean of more than ten times per year, and university law librarians traveled the least, a mean of 3.75 times per year.
CONTENT AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
• Close to half of the law libraries in the sample have parent organizations that have content
management systems through which case materials are scanned and made available to attorneys in digital formats
• Spending on print reporters by the libraries in the sample fell in 2006, with mean spending
dropping from $34,815 to $32,819, or by 5.73%. Spending by law firm libraries fell to $40,172 from $46,061, or by 12.8%.
WORKSTATIONS IN THE LIBRARY
• Workstations from Dell were the most commonly used among the major computer
manufacturers. More than 40% of the libraries in the sample used Dell workstations.
USE OF JOBBERS & SUBSCRIPTION AGENTS
• Close to half of the libraries in the sample used a subscription agent to obtain periodicals,
though less than half of the law firm libraries in the sample did so and less than forty percent of the government law libraries did so.
• Less than 9% of law firm libraries use book agents or “jobbers” to obtain their books.
CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR ATTORNEYS
• The libraries in the sample spent a mean of $7,878 annually on continuing and degree-
related education for the library staff. Law firm libraries spent the most, a mean of $12,510, and one
law firm library spent as much as $100,000.
INTERNET SEARCH SKILLS OF ATTORNEYS
• Most librarians in the sample characterized the internet search skills of the attorneys in their
organizations as “Average” but only a shade more than 17% considered them “Proficient” or “Highly Proficient.”
The study is available from Primary Research Group, Inc or from major book distributors. The price
is $119.50 (print version) or $139.50 (PDF). To order, go to WWW.Primaryresearch.com or call
Mr. James Moses at 212-736-2316.
Law Library Benchmarks, 2006-07 Edition
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