The University of Washington Law Librarianship Program
by Betty Wilkins - June 1985
Revised April 1991
Dr.
Arthur S. Beardsley, former head law librarian at the University of Washington
School of Law Library, established the first law librarianship course at the
University of Washington in 1939. There were a few graduates who earned the
degree of Bachelor of Arts in Law Librarianship, after having earned their LLB
degrees, in the early 1940's. In 1944 Professor Marian Gould Gallagher (UW
School of Law Class of 1937), for whom the UW law library now is named, returned
to her alma mater to become head law librarian, as Dr. Beardsley's replacement.
Soon thereafter the law librarianship program was reintroduced to the curriculum
and in 1948 Betty V. LeBus (UW; JD 1947) became the first of 118 students to
receive degrees in Law Librarianship under the Gallagher tutelage. (These 118
students all earned their JD before enrolling in library school.)
In
1953 the degree granted in this course of study was changed from a Bachelor’s
to a Master’s degree. "The Law Librarianship program originally was
designed for lawyers, and specifically for aspiring academic law librarians.
Most of its graduates still go into academic law librarianship, where many
become heads of law school libraries and members of law school faculties. Two
accrediting agencies, the American Bar Association and the Association of
American Law Schools, have adopted, and enforce, specific standards relating to
law school libraries--their collections, physical quarters and qualifications of
their librarians. The American Bar Association recommends legal or librarianship
degrees for law school librarians; the Association of American Law Schools
requires both. Under both sets of standards there is an assumption that the head
librarian should be capable of participating as a regular member of the faculty,
with responsibility for the teaching of legal analysis, research or writing, or
optionally, of substantive law courses." (Memo dated September 18, 1978
from Professor William Burke, UW School of Law, to Dean Ernest Gellhorn, UW
School of Law, in Master of Law Librarianship Program Review notebook.)
The
Law Librarianship program now is designed to prepare lawyers to serve as law
librarians in courts, federal and state units of government, legal departments
of banks, law firms, associations of legal practitioners, as well as schools of
law. In 1953 in the Journal of Legal Education Professor Gallagher humorously
described the kind of student sought for her course as "industrious, alert,
charming, attentive to detail, refined, imaginative, unafraid of briefing for a
judge or getting filthy shifting books, dependable, receptive to taking and
following orders, able to direct underlings to inspired heights, incorruptible,
sincerely interested, amusing cheerful, imperturbable, diplomatic, and Summa Cum
Laude.” “The Law Librarianship
Course at the University of Washington,” 5 Journal of Legal Education 537,
539.) Of course every student
earning this degree did not possess all of these qualifications but a surprising
number of them possess combinations of many of them.
For the program, the basic professional curriculum in law librarianship
is augmented by courses that deal specifically with law librarianship. Courses
required for the Law Librarianship program include: core courses of the general
Master's program Advanced Legal Bibliography, Selection and Processing of Law
Library Materials and Law Library Administration. These three law librarianship
courses formerly taught by Professor Gallagher and later by Adjunct Professor J.
Wesley Cochran now are taught by Professor Penny Hazelton, Law Librarian at the
UW since September 1985. Four weeks in the‑final quarter are spent in
professional supervised fieldwork in carefully selected law libraries where the
staff is equipped and willing to provide an educational experience. Harvard,
Columbia, Yale, University of Texas, University of California--Berkeley, and the
Library of Congress are a few of the law libraries whose staff have hosted
students enrolled in this program. A total of 45 quarter credits is required for
the degree, which can be completed in four quarter, beginning with autumn
quarter and ending the following summer quarter.
As
aptly stated by Dr. Margaret Chisholm, Director of the UW Graduate School of
Library and Information Science, "Formidable challenges face the profession
of library and information science today. First, information professionals must
utilize modern technology, including telecommunications, data processing,
videodisks, and microcomputers. This technology is progressing very rapidly and
the information specialist must be at the forefront of these developments."
(UW Graduate School of Library and Information Science brochure 1984/86.) In
order to implement training in new technology the University of Washington has
added two faculty members who offer new courses in the area of information
management. All currently enrolled students are introduced to this developing
technology. Law librarianship students have further advanced study in the use of
LEXIS, WESTLAW, and the Western Library Network (formerly Washington Library
Network).
The
Law Librarianship Program at the University of Washington was small in the
initial years, grew some in the middle years and dramatically increased in size
during the last 12 or 13 years. The following table reports graduates by five year
intervals:
Number of Students
1940-45
3
1946-50
2
1951-55
6
1956-60
7
1961-65
9
1966-70
11
1971-75
11
1976-80
27
1981-85
16
1986-90
26
The
influence of this specialized program upon the law librarianship profession is
difficult to assess. The parade of graduates to law school, court, bar
association, firm and government unit libraries might better be visualized by
studying the attached roster of graduates of the program. Few states of the 50
United States have not at one time or another been the business home of a
graduate of this program. Professional law librarians in foreign countries are
scattered through the list. Australia, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan,
India, the Philippine Islands and three Canadian provinces now have or have had
graduates of this program.
Although
many graduates hold head law librarian positions, there is a generous mix of
occupants of other positions including technical services, public services as
well as assistant and associate law librarians. one sees from the list numerous
young librarians working their way through the phases of law librarianship to
becoming leaders in this profession. Professor Gallagher's work and influence
will stretch well into the next century.
Joint
support for the program by the UW Graduate School of Library and Information
Science and the UW School of Law has assured the continuation of this 50-year
old program.
