Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/87421
our case, it handles all of the library's circulation, serials maintenance, check in/out, routing, acquisitions, etc. We catalog all print and electronic subscriptions that the firm purchases. After years of working to assure that everything in our collection can be found with a single search from the lawyer's desktop, we are faced with the prospect of splintering resources into multiple silos should the vendors continue on their course of requiring customers to use their platforms. Libraries may lose the ability to gather meaningful usage statistics. Of those libraries using an ILS, two vendors support 61 percent of the libraries and two other vendors account for an additional 27 percent of the firms. Since 88 percent of law firm library systems are provided by four companies, we as librarians should actively engage with the ILS vendors to encourage them to become the hosts of our e-books. The system already has all patron information, our lawyers know how to use the ILS, and it is searchable from their desktops. In addition, we should demand the right to own e-books just as we own our print titles. While Lexis is working with Overdrive, we have found that platform to be unnecessarily complicated, as currently designed. There is a precedent for this idea. The Douglas County Libraries, a consortium of public libraries in Colorado, has already begun an experiment to host their own books. They installed Adobe Content Server to manage e-books and developed an open-source software that serves as a discovery layer. They have made agreements with many publishers to buy books outright. According to Monique Sendze, Associate Director of Information Technology at Douglas County Libraries, in "The E-Book Experiment": "the number of steps from search and discover to check out [of an e-book] has been streamlined to no more than three clicks." Law firm librarians need to speak out to our vendors and insist that they concentrate on providing content and let us manage our own books whether digital or print. This is our future, so let's make it workable, efficient and forward-looking to better serve our lawyers and the practice of law. A/I QUICK POLL: RESEARCH APPS Does your firm use mobile apps for legal research? YES NO 42% 58% Which legal research apps does your firm use? 1. WestlawNext 2. Fastcase 3. HeinOnline Other responses: Lexis Advance, CourtLink, IC Mobile (Wolters Kluwer), West LegalEdcenter, Lexis News, Deal Pipeline, CCH Mobile (Wolters Kluwer), BNA Mobile Apps, U.S. Code, S&P Capital IQC, rulebook, E-books 72 AALL/ILTA White Paper