I’m
attending
the
American
Association
of
Law
Librarians
(AALL)
Conference
this
week
in
Portland,
Oregon.
It’s
one
of
my
favorite
conferences.
Law
librarians
are,
as
a
group,
friendly,
unassuming,
and
knowledgeable,
as
I
have
discussed
before.
I
couldn’t
help
but
wonder
though
as
I
roamed
the
exhibit
hall
and
attended
some
of
the
sessions
what
the
long-term
impact
AI
will
have
on
the
role
of
the
law
librarian.
The
Role
of
the
Librarian
Consider
the
role
of
the
law
librarian.
Librarians,
especially
law
librarians,
are
knowledge
managers
and
workers.
They
historically
held
the
keys
to
knowledge
and
information:
they
knew
where
to
find
it,
how
to
access
it,
and
how
to
retrieve
it.
They
are
charged
with
managing
the
accumulated
expertise
of
the
profession
to
help
solve
legal
problems.
But
now
and
increasingly
in
the
future,
those
keys
may
be
held
by
an
AI
platform.
With
natural
language
processing,
anyone
(everyone)
can
access
any
and
all
knowledge
and
information.
Combine
this
the
inevitable
financial
constraints
as
law
firms
and
corporations
may
come
to
view
AI
as
replacing
the
human
knowledge
function.
The
Historic
Librarian
Of
course,
of
any
profession,
law
librarians
have
faced
fundamental
changes
before
and
thrived.
When
I
was
a
young
lawyer,
the
law
library
in
the
firms
in
which
I
worked
was
a
massive
room
housing
books,
periodicals,
newspapers,
and
microfiche.
Both
law
and
regular
libraries
employed
the
mysterious
and
downright
mystical
Dewey
Decimal
System.
Accessing
anything
beyond
the
ordinary
in
these
libraries
typically
required
the
skill
of
a
trained
librarian
who
could
direct
you
to
or
find
the
information
this
then
young
lawyer
needed.
Today’s
Librarian
Contrast
that,
of
course,
to
today,
where
the
law
library
is
no
longer
a
physical
space
but
a
virtual
one.
Law
librarians
today
still
fill
the
role
of
knowledge
and
information
management
and
access
but
the
tools
they
use
are
different.
Instead
of
the
Dewey
Decimal
System,
they
use
Google
or
Boolean
searches.
Different
tools.
Similar
role.
But
what
happens
when
this
now
old
lawyer
can
himself
find
and
access
the
information
without
Dewey,
Google,
or
Boolean?
Certainly,
for
the
time
being,
librarians
can
and
must
have
the
ability
to
harness
and
make
accessible
the
AI
tools
to
enable
lawyers
and
legal
professionals
to
do
that.
They
need
to
usher
their
lawyers
into
the
AI
age.
To
show
them
how
to
safely
use
the
AI
tools
to
their
advantage
(and
that
of
their
clients’)
benefit.
The
Paradox
But
here‘s
the
paradox.
By
teaching
and
encouraging
lawyers
to
use
AI
effectively,
are
law
librarians
basically
working
themselves
out
of
a
job?
Once
everyone
can
do
what
they
need
to
do,
what’s
their
role?
What’s
their
value?
Of
course,
one
option
for
the
librarian
is
to
hold
on
as
tightly
as
they
can
to
the
old
ways.
To
resist
change.
To
argue,
as
some
have,
that
prompting
is
a
difficult
chore
that
has
to
be
mastered.
That
lawyers
can’t
do.
But
that’s
a
mistake.
Kodak,
for
example,
was
well
aware
of
the
potential
for
digital
photography
early
on.
But
instead
of
embracing
it,
Kodak
decided
to
work
tirelessly
to
continue
to
market
prompt
print
photography
and
not
digital.
Why?
Because
with
print,
you
didn’t
need
film.
Without
film,
Kodak’s
revenue
would
dry
up.
Of
course,
what
happened
is
that
Kodak
didn’t
jump
on
the
digital
bandwagon
in
time
and
ultimately
went
bankrupt.
But
something
else
happened
when
the
digital
revolution
came
along.
We
now
have
more
pictures
than
we
can
manage.
We
have
more
tools
to
alter
and
work
with
photos
than
most
of
us
can
use.
Photography
is
a
booming
business.
Humans
are
still
needed
to
separate
the
wheat
from
the
chaff.
To
determine
what
is
real
and
what
is
fake.
Photography
didn’t
change.
The
tools
used
to
master
photography
did.
Kodak
may
not
have
survived
but
photography
did.
And
the
roles
of
those
involved
did
as
well.
The
Evolving
Librarian
The
same
may
be
true
of
law
librarians.
Yes,
librarians
find
and
mine
information.
But
what
they
really
do
is
master
the
tools
needed
for
that
finding
and
mining.
Just
as
they
did
in
the
past,
law
librarians’
roles
will
evolve
from
caretakers
of
the
information
to
caretakers
of
the
new
tools
that
access
the
information.
They
need
to
be
the
guardians
of
those
tools
and
how
to
safely
use
them,
for
what
and
when.
They
need
to
be
crucial
in
the
evaluation
and
selection
of
the
tools.
They
need
to
understand
the
risks
and
benefits
and
assist
lawyers
in
mastering
the
relevant
ethics.
They
need
to
assess
and
understand
the
long-range
implications
of
the
tools
on
the
practice
of
law.
As
one
of
the
panels
noted,
the
future
role
of
the
law
librarian
will
include
things
like:
-
Understanding
algorithmic
bias -
Managing
privacy
and
security
issues -
Understanding
the
impact
of
AI
on
critical
thinking -
Managing
the
flow
of
misinformation -
Dealing
with
labor
displacement
Tomorrow’s
librarian
will
need
to
be
in
charge
not
of
a
library
but
of
the
AI
function
within
a
law
firm.
And,
among
all
those
in
the
legal
ecosystem,
law
librarians
may
indeed
be
in
the
best
position
of
all
to
do
that.
They
need
to
master
this
tech
just
like
they
mastered
what
came
before.
An
Inflection
Point
Law
librarians
are
at
an
inflection
point.
But
instead
of
panicking,
they
need
to
stretch
and
yawn
and
say
what
the
hell,
just
another
change
to
master.
Been
there,
done
that.
But
let’s
be
honest.
Yes,
we
still
have
photography.
But
we
don’t
have
as
many
professional
photographers.
The
number
of
law
librarians
and
what
they
do
may
change
and
change
significantly.
Cornell
Winston,
AALL
President,
told
us
in
his
opening
remarks
that
AALL
has
been
around
119
years.
I
suspect
librarians
will
still
be
getting
together
another
119
years
but
it
may
be
in
a
different
format
and
look
a
lot
different.
Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads (Opens
in
a
new
window),
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.