ILTA White Papers

www.iltanet.org KM is not just about the content; it's also about the knowledge flow. well as tell requestors which other attorneys are working on similar projects. Follow-up is also improved because those requests can be directed to the librarian who did the original research. In addition to efficiency gains, both organizations can generate detailed reports showing usage patterns by staff title, practice group or client. In addition, tracking their research resulted in librarians capturing more billable time. After entering projects into TrackIt or EOS as they happened, librarians could later copy and paste those notes into the time entry system. In Monice's case, because the technology team also uses TrackIt, librarians can see technology-related questions and issues. This knowledge allows librarians to assess attorneys' understanding of technology, knowledge which is used to shape rollouts and training initiatives. Increased Access to Information The potential disruption of the impending NATO summit inspired Monice and the firm's technology team to convert her library's master ID and password list into a SQL database that can be exposed on the firm's portal. The attorney's personal information is displayed on his/her home page when the attorney logs on to the network. If an attorney isn't working in the office, he/ she is still able to access all the password-protected research sources provided by the library. Other librarians, such as Shabeer, use specialized tools to help attorneys access password-protected sites, 50 ILTA White Paper but many others are following Monice's path of adapting existing technologies to do the job. Years of an in-house document system that wasn't searchable frustrated attorneys and staff at Kaye Scholer. After the firm converted to iManage, Shabeer recommended the firm invest in either WestKM or Lexis Search Advantage. Shabeer and a team of librarians, attorneys, practice group managers and technology staff carefully reviewed both tools and decided to implement Lexis Search Advantage. As search and content experts, Shabeer and his team of librarians have been heavily involved in all aspects of this project — from recommendations to rollout. Information Becomes Knowledge In Boston, Gina Lynch works with Ali Shahidi and Chris Berg to bring knowledge to the lawyers of Bingham McCutchen. Gina believes KM is not just about the content; it's also about the knowledge flow. Librarians are trained to make connections between the pieces of information that make up knowledge and the attorneys who need that knowledge. In Gina's view, her knowledge of what attorneys need to know and the content available to them meshes with Ali and Chris's knowledge of systems and their ability to make content easily visible. As Gina says about (her relationship with) Ali: "He's the technology, I'm the content."

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