While I twittered a lot of the SEAALL meeting this year, the first day I took notes on paper. With a pen. Here's a quick and dirty summary. I didn't take very good notes as to who was saying what on some of the panels.


HeinOnline surveys (Roxanne Marmion, HeinOnline)


  • HeinOnline bound volume survey:

    • 24% of libraries surveyed have moved journals in HeinOnline to remote storage

    • 43% have discarded journals in HeinOnline

    • 67% have cancelled journals not in HeinOnline due to budgetary restrictions

  • HeinOnline journal survey

    • 50% of journals on HeinOnline are current (latest issue available)

    • 23% are all published (discontinued, retitled)

    • 17% are added to HeinOnline by volume

    • 10% have a one-volume delay or more



Future of tech services (Kevin Butterfield, College of William & Mary)


  • At William & Mary, from 2000 to 2009, 1274 subscriptions were cancelled. As a result, there was less work in labeling, shelving, filing, etc. 2FT positions were retooled. 30,000 e-resource records were added to the catalog.

  • Trying to follow the Google model (from Harvard Business Review article). 80/20 rule. 80% of an employee’s time spent working on core duties. 20% spent on personal projects that enhance core services. Wants staff members to find projects that they are passionate about and that will enhance core services. Employees are evaluated on the 20% projects.



Communication (First segment vendors, second was Billie Blaine, Supreme Court of Florida, Marian Parker, Wake Forest University and Kay Todd, Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker)


  • (I didn’t take a lot of notes on the vendor presentations as I knew about most of the things the concerned vendors were doing. Exceptions were the HeinOnline blog and wiki and BNA’s law school professional information center. I already knew about the Lexis newsletters and West trainings and email newsletters, etc.)

  • Libraries using Facebook to push out trainings, workshops, etc.

  • Law review requires students to take a certain amount of workshops, on a points system.



The (Almost) All-Electronic Library (Gordon Russell, Lincoln Memorial University)


  • Just-in-time model; small staff (model allows for fewer staff members).

  • Smaller print collection means less filing, shelving, cataloging and invoices.

  • Cataloging records are purchased from YBP, Cassidy and others.

  • E-Book licensing model: Purchase from publishers with more open model (allow printing of entire chapters, etc.) and who provide MARC records.

  • Just-in-time print model

    • Patron-driven purchasing

    • Only 4,000 linear ft. of shelving at Lincoln (10,000 at Charleston)

    • No journals or reporters in print.

  • Main university uses Voyager. LS will use as well, but only print materials will be added to catalog. The others are all in Aquabrowser and Serial Solutions.

  • Seminars are offered as 3 credit course. One credit is pass/fail research segment taught by librarians.



Forecast and Impact Today (Billie Blaine, Marian Parker, Faye Jones, Kay Todd, Sally Irvin, Kevin Butterfield)


  • 3 lists: Sacred Cows, Endangered Species and Chopping Block. Things are moving rapidly from Sacred Cows to Chopping Block.

  • Firms are “deconstructing” libraries. Materials are being moved into practice group offices & satellite libraries.

  • Moving to just-in-time model might be more shocking to faculty than anyone else.

  • “Students think they know everything because they come in searchers. We need to teach them to be researchers.”

  • Staffing changes coming. Librarians will be more like law faculty. Staff members will be fewer but will be more like a bridge between paraprofessionals and what librarians used to do.