What a Difference 15 Years Can Make! (5/08)
By Michael Saint-Onge
The LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group, founded in 1993, turns 15 this year. We were the first major legal publisher to recognize the special needs of librarians by creating a group dedicated to working with them. Now, 15 years might not sound like a long time, unless, of course, you’re a 15-year-old. Then it’s a lifetime. But when you look at the some of the changes that have occurred over the last 15 years—in technology, in law librarianship and within LexisNexis—15 years makes a world of difference.
From a technology standpoint:
- The World Wide Web was just coming into its own 15 years ago. It represented a tremendous step forward from “FTP-ing.” Who could have foreseen the radical changes this would make in our society? (Can you imagine a world without the Web?)
- BlackBerry®, iPod®, PDAs—none of these existed 15 years ago. Cell phones were big clunky things, and you would never expect to take pictures with them! Digital cameras existed, but they were very expensive—out of the price range for most people. Laptops, too, were expensive and bulky, and rarely found outside of the office.
- E-mail was around, though it certainly wasn’t a primary means of communication, as it is now. (Coincidentally, the first “spam” appeared in 1993, though we had to wait until 1994 before the first widespread commercial spam was sent. See http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html)
If all of this has come about in the last 15 years, what will the next 15 years bring us? We can’t even wrap our minds around it!
Fifteen years has also brought profound changes in law librarianship:
- In 1993, law firm libraries were showpieces. Firms spent a great deal of money making the space impressive. Today, most law firm libraries have shrunk considerably and are now more functional. (Thankfully many have seen the space reconfigured to allow for additional staff while reducing the amount of carrel space.)
- Law firm librarians have moved from primarily conducting legal research to handling more complex business research. With the growth of marketing in law firms, they’ve also begun to handle competitive intelligence, a topic that was almost unheard of in law firms in 1993.
- The term “knowledge management” wasn’t widely used, nor had portals, intranets or extranets been invented. The library served as repository of the firm’s intellectual property, and people went to the library to use its resources.
15 years has also brought significant changes for both LexisNexis and the LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group itself.
- In 1993, LexisNexis was LEXIS-NEXIS and was owned by Mead Data Corporation. (It was acquired by Reed Elsevier in 1994). It also didn’t include Matthew Bender®, Mealey’s™, Shepard’s®, Martindale-Hubbell®, CourtLink®, or Accurint®. It’s hard to imagine LexisNexis without these flagship products. It’s a very different picture than the LexisNexis of today, which highlights LexisNexis® Total Practice Solutions.
- Our customers accessed LexisNexis through UBIQs (the small red dedicated terminals) or through the software. The software was cumbersome, but librarians mastered it using shortcuts called “dot commands.”
- While the LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group began in 1993, we didn’t have anyone “in the field” until 1994. We started with four Librarian Relations Consultants (then called “Regional Information Managers”) for the entire country. Talk about large territories! We’ve now grown to fourteen LRCs across the country. (Click here to review the current list of LRCs.)
So, as you can see, a lot has changed in 15 years. Over the next few months, we plan on celebrating this milestone. As it turns out, we’ve got a number of other celebrations this year: LexisNexis turns 35, and Shepard’s, the granddaddy of citators, turns 135. Join us for birthday cake at the AALL Opening Reception, and watch for other featured articles in the coming months.
The LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group—Celebrating 15 years as partners in your success.
