by Philippe Cloutier

In 2007, I was lucky enough to intern at the Perkins Coie Law Library in Seattle. It proved to be an integral stepping stone in my introduction to law librarianship. To this day, Robyn Hagle says that they put me to task, having me work on all kinds of projects.

Thinking back on the experience has me considering my previous post on “Catching the Future.” The internship at Perkins accomplished several things, not only encouraging new librarianship and diversity in the field, but also allowing the library to focus on other goals and projects. One assignment focused on streamlining business reference inquiries. Resources and requests typically demanded corporate structure and filings, SEC documents, patents, ownership, news, litigation, profiles, and more. I was tasked with looking at the databases most often used and creating a grid for go-to reference assistance. Another example, at my current firm, has been refining our California Legislative History process. We looked at each step, dissected it into parts, determined the best methods and resources and have even managed to remove much of the paper waste it produced. It ended decades of file storage and created an online document database that saves time and ends duplicated effort. Both experiences resulted in improving standard work-flow and better turn around time.

Reference statistics and plain experience highlight the tasks which we most often perform. Yet, how often do we look at the process? We know how to do the job and get the answers but is there a more efficient way? Sometimes a request requires us to tackle a handful of databases in order to get all the pieces. Are our steps more time-consuming than they could be? The key is to look at the work. Perhaps the library maintains reference statistics or has an e-mail archive. This data is invaluable and a great starting point in strengthening library functions. The library is one place where adjusting performance under the hood will enhance professional aesthetics.

2 Responses to “Statistics to Action”

1. Erin Hoffrance says:

   July 1, 2010 at 5:03 pm

   Nice article, Philippe. This post is a nice reminder that it can be helpful to take the time to step back and evaluate our work.

2. Brenna Louzin says:

   July 2, 2010 at 9:40 am

   Phillipe,

   Nice article.

   I agree that maintaining a reference archive to share and plumb is good knowledge management and a good way to analyze work processes.