Law Librarianship A Handbook for the Electronic Age

Library Journal

Intended to supplement the two-volume Law Librarianship: A Handbook (Professional Reading, LJ 9/1/84) "by presenting information relevant to changes in the profession in the last decade," this handbook examines traditional law library concerns-administration, collection development, cataloging, government documents, foreign legal materials, serials, collection management, reference, and resource sharing-in light of recent technological and practical innovations. Generally, it suceeds, if not efficiently. Various kinds of law libraries (academic, public, firm) operate differently. The editors address this distinction by including chapter-by-chapter responses offering alternative (or additional) treatments of the respective topic. (Contributors represent all law library types.) However, law libraries also function similarly to other kinds of libraries. The editors apparently did not take pains to excise much of the common knowledge applicable to the generic library, and the resulting supplement considerably fattens an already sizable work, although it can be read independently. A hit-and-miss index compounds the difficulty of finding pertinent passages, although the detailed table of contents is useful. One strong note is the multitude of footnote references and chapter bibliographies. Completists who own the 1983 edition will of course require this title.-Dean C. Rowan, Whittier P.L., Cal.