This article describes how law librarians are changing the way the search, conduct business, and get information. In short they are becoming more business like delving into marketing, competitive intelligence, computer training and knowledge management projects. However, shrinking budgets, staffing, and billable hours are part of the challenges law librarians face. Despite these difficulties and the changing nature of their jobs, 87% of responding librarians are happy. Yet one thing they are not happy with is their vendors. Vendors continually raise license fees beyond the rate of inflation and aggressively market products directly to lawyers.

"Internet-friendly marketing strategies are also creating havoc for librarians. Increasingly, they say, vendors are wooing lawyers directly with targeted e-mails, free trials, even frequent-flyer-like programs that award prizes based on how much they use a service (among the swag: Starbucks gift cards)." According to Christine Scherzinger director library research services at Duane Morris in Philadelphia, "It creates a huge interest in products that we may not need."

It is difficult for librarians to keep abreast of resources, and even more difficult for lawyers who often conduct poor or inefficient searches racking charges or using expensive services that are already paid for under a similar service. A librarian in the article tells the story of a lawyer who rang up a $2,300 Westlaw bill running a name through public record databases, when the firm already had paid for a similar product on Lexis.

Medical librarians, does any of this sound familiar? It really is a small world. Just change a few of the vendor's names, add patient care issues, medical errors due to poor research, and you have an article on medical librarians.