Category Archives for "Surveys"

Mar 20

The Modern Law Library’s Alignment with the Firm’s Strategic Plan

By Michael Feit | Best Practices , Feit Consulting , Legal Information Trends , Librarians , Modern Law Library , Resources , Survey Results , Surveys , White Papers

While a library can modernize without a strategic plan, having a strategic plan provides direction and concrete goals and objectives to reaching this vision. A surprising 61% of survey respondents indicated the library does not have its own strategic plan.

Surprisingly, only 37% of respondents indicated the library’s strategies are derived from the firm’s larger strategic plan as illustrated below.

As a business unit within the firm, the Modern Library should be cognizant of the firm’s strategic plan. Resources and initiatives should be evaluated to make sure that they are in support of where the firm is going in the future.

Consider the value of the resources and skills that you offer your firm. Does the library have the right tools in place to support the changing needs of the firm? Does firm leadership capitalize on the skills of your team to assess, implement and utilize new processes and technology to move the firm’s strategic vision forward?

Make the Library’s success your business!

Our latest report was developed with intel from over 250 interviews and in-depth surveys with legal information professionals. Included are check-lists and best practices to guide your firm in achieving maximum ROI –and ensure that the Modern Law Library is in alignment with the firm’s strategic plan.

To purchase a copy of the Library Modernization Survey Results, click here.

Purchase of the Survey Results can be applied to the purchase of Feit Consulting’s white paper: Beyond Virtualization: Transforming the Law Library.

Mar 20

ROI and the Modern Law Library

By Michael Feit | Benchmarking , Best Practices , Feit Consulting , Legal Information Trends , Modern Law Library , Resources , Surveys , White Papers

The Modern Library requires individuals to change their mindset from maintaining the status quo to adopting a new way of doing things. What is the ROI of your Law Library?  Do you feel the library’s resources are being optimized?

Our team of experts evaluate resources, personnel, technology, processes, and overall usage of the Library and its’ resources.

This allows Feit Consulting to custom tailor and deliver invaluable knowledge, guidance and processes for analyzing the ROI of your legal information portfolio.

A Modern Library Audit will include clear steps to increasing the Return On Investment of your Library by evaluating the utilization of personnel, internal processes, technology, legal information resources and the overall support for the business of law.  With this information we will develop a unique business plan with workable recommendations that are specific to your firm’s needs and culture.

Another excellent resource for ROI assessment is our Market Trends Legal Information Series.  This series is composed of white papers and survey results on pertinent topics such as:

  • How to take a proactive approach to evaluating the sole-provider option allowing you to make informed decisions regarding vendor elimination.
  • How to assess the value of your firm’s resources and learn key negotiation tools for optimizing results.
  • The historical pricing and current strategies of Westlaw & Lexis featuring data on 98% of the large law market.
  • Best practices on modernizing the law library to create efficiencies including survey results and checklists for evaluating technologies.

As thought leaders working to challenging existing paradigms, Feit Consulting is committed to providing your firm with tools, concrete steps and leading-edge solutions for making the best decision for your legal information strategy and bottom line.  CLICK HERE and Contact Feit Today for More Information.  

Sep 18

Innovation and Value: The Modern Library

By Michael Feit | Modern Law Library , Surveys

Cutting-edge… State-of-the-art… Unconventional… Using the most up-to-date techniques, technology and metrics…

While all these ideas are traits of the Modern Library, the first step to modernization really starts with you, the administrator. Flexibility and an openness to change are necessary traits. Ask yourself: How can I change my habits to actually facilitate change? How can I move out of my mindset of “but we have always done it that way“? What can I do differently to steer the law library team in a new way? Can I provide the space/opportunity for the law library team to innovate and transform?

While law firms have always depended on library and information professionals to support the research needs of their lawyers, the Modern Library is undergoing a paradigm shift. Success now depends on the library taking a more active role in the organization to help support the day-to-day business of law. The law-firm administrator is instrumental in paving the road for that new role.

It is no secret that the legal sector is in flux and change, which is the only constant in our organizations. There are changes we can forecast, and there are those we must be able to react to in order to function as a fiscally responsible unit in our organizations. The Modern Library, a business within a business, is not passive in its approach, but rather utilizes metrics and analytics to forecast, predict and analyze data as changes occur.

Rather than be a target of downsizing or outsourcing, the Modern Library is innovative and forward-thinking. Librarians have a variety of skills that can be utilized in innovative ways such as:

  • Conflicts support for new business intake
  • Partnering with marketing to provide competitive intelligence to support the RFP process
  • Partnering with IT to identify and beta-test software
  • Driving Knowledge Management

Allowing the law library to collaborate with other departments is a win-win for the library and the firm.

The Modern Library is a trend-setter, evaluating and embracing new techniques, ideas and technology to help support business processes. It strives to carve out new roles within the organization while showcasing the value of resources and staff.

Feit Consulting is interested in learning how modern you see your law library, and what obstacles stand in the way of modernization. Click here to get started on our 10-minute survey.

Sep 18

The Modern Library Defined

By Michael Feit | Librarians , Surveys

Cutting-edge…state-of-the-art…unconventional…using the most up-to-date techniques, technology and metrics…

While all these ideas are traits of the Modern Library, the first step to modernization really starts with you, the librarian. You need to be flexible in your approach and meet change head-on. Ask yourself, “How can I change my habits to actually facilitate change? How can I move out of my mindset of but we have always done it that way? What can I do differently to offer value to my organization and make them see me and my library in a new way?” While law firms have always depended on library and information professionals to support the research needs of their lawyers, the Modern Library is undergoing a paradigm shift. Success now depends on the library taking a more active role in the organization, to help support the day-to-day business of law.

While librarian skill sets remain the same, the methods used to apply those skills are vastly different from those of the past. The Modern Library is a nexus for interdepartmental support, including, but not an exhaustive list:

  • Embracing new roles in Conflicts Support for new business intake
  • Partnering with Marketing to provide competitive intelligence to support the RFP process
  • Partnering with IT to identify and beta-test software
  • Driving Knowledge Management

Be enthusiastic about new ideas. The Modern Library is a trendsetter, evaluating and embracing new techniques, ideas and technology to help support business processes.

It is no secret that the legal sector is in flux and change, which is the only constant in our organizations. There are changes we can forecast, and there are those we must be able to react to in order to function as a fiscally responsible unit in our organizations. The Modern Library, a business within a business, is not passive in its approach but rather utilizes metrics and analytics to forecast, predict and analyze data as changes occur.

Preparing and monitoring annual budgets and working with Finance on cost and recovery of client-related research are important fiscal initiatives. With the cost of resources continuing to rise, data-analysis tools such as Electronic Resource Management (ERM) are invaluable in analyzing usage, preparing for contract renewals and general collection development. No longer a nice-to-have tool, ERMs are essential as the Modern Library moves away from print towards virtualization.

Rather than be a target of downsizing or outsourcing, the Modern Library is innovative and forward-thinking. It strives to carve out new roles within the organization while showcasing the value of resources and staff.

Feit Consulting is interested in learning how modern you see your law library and what obstacles stand in the way of modernization. Click here to get started on our 15-minute survey.

Mar 07

Lost Content No Big Deal

By Michael Feit | Sole Provider , Surveys

When Feit Consulting began studying the sole-provider trend, we expected that content replacement and workaround costs would be significant.
In Feit Consulting’s Sole Provider Experience Survey, 50 firms responded to the question, “How did you handle lost content?” Surprisingly, only 56% of firms needed to purchase print, and 22% said lost content was not an issue.
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