Anthony Aycock

Working in a law office, I found this handbook to be a good general primer to law libraries. The "Accidental" series appears to be geared toward people who start in one profession and find themselves nudged into similar, but not quite the same, professions (i.e., a degreed librarian or a paralegal who suddenly is working in a law library for a firm or community). I have passed to book on to my firm's librarians for the shelves in this office, where it will probably share space with the other esoteric publications that have no "legal" category. I do recommend it to new law librarians as it is easy to read and has lots of recommendations for further reading or training.… (meer)

The Accidental Librarian series is intended to provide working professionals with an introduction to new areas of practice, be they technologies or subjects. In this volume, Aycock—who has worked in academic, court, and corporate law libraries—covers the basics: types of law, types of questions, and types of materials and sources. It is a nice, easily-readable primer, and combined with something like West’s Legal Research in a Nutshell, would be an adequate foundation for a librarian to confidently step into a law library with tools enough to begin.

Of course, it is only an introduction, and Aycock provides plenty of pointers to additional resources. While far from everything one needs to know, having spent several years in the field, I can say it would have been helpful to have this available when I started. Recommended for both mid-career professionals entering a new field and new librarians just choosing their paths.… (meer)

Libraries take many forms and serve many different kinds of users. The typical two are public and academic. The next two are school and law.

The Accidental Law Librarian by Anthony Aycock is a handbook for librarians who find themselves working for a law library or working a reference desk that handles a high volume of law related questions.

The book is divided into different kinds of law resources with explanations of what the standard resources are, how they came to be, and how to use them. I personally haven't come across a situation where I've need to use the book yet, but I'm still very new to my library career. I can see it being a helpful resource in the future.

I received a copy for review through LibraryThing's early reader's program.… (meer)