American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Releases 2021 State of the Profession Report
The report linked below was published today, June 22, 2021.
From the Publication Announcement:
The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) today releases its 2021 AALL State of the Profession Report, a data–driven exploration of the landscape in law libraries and in the legal information profession.It is intended to be used as a tool for organizational benchmarking, advocacy, strategic planning—as well as for personal and professional development. The report provides quantitative insights on the impact of COVID–19 in law libraries, diversity, budgets, user services, operations, collections, preservation, partnerships, and technology.
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Key items to note in this report include data on the fact that firm/corporate law librarians are instrumental in innovation—with more than 95 percent of orgorganizations reporting that staff is involved in testing new technology and research products (95.6%), recommending new products for purchase (97.1%), and negotiating contracts (100%).
The report is broken down by three main library types—academic, law firm/corporate, and government. Following are a few insightful highlights from the report.
Academic: Respondents reported that two–thirds (66.7%) of law school libraries’ staff are involved with testing technology and research tools for purchase.
Law Firm/Corporate: 84.8 percent of firm/corporate law libraries are involved in partnerships and endeavors outside their department that utilize their research skills, technical knowledge, leadership, and adaptability.
Government: More than 60 percent (61.3%) of government law libraries have collaborative relationships with bar associations and 58.1 percent partner with other government law libraries.
Direct to Complete Publication Announcement
Direct to 2021 AALL State of the Profession Report Executive Summary
3 pages; PDF.
Note: “Purchases of the full report (print, digital and print +digital bundle) are available through AALL’s website.”
Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Data Files, Funding, Libraries, Management and Leadership, News, Preservation

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.