What brought you to law librarianship?

I'm always fascinated by how different people came to this little niche profession. Did you become a librarian first and a law librarian second? Or did you enter law first, and then add librarianship?

I think it probably matters which you came to first, if only because it shows an initial attraction to one or the other sides of our two-headed profession.

There is librarianship, which is so oriented to helping people, and valuing information as a tool to power and equality. I loved the story Marie posted, for instance, about the Queens public library being so busy. When you read the original NY Times article, you see that besides catering to a hugely diverse, multi-lingual patron base, the library is offering an antidote to Know-Nothing anti-immigrant bias, with a Teach Them Something class, intro to citizenship and ESL aid. That is so librarian! Librarianship has nearly always displayed this social activism through books and information access.

Then, there are those of us who came through the door of Law first, to reach the intersection of Law and Librarianship. I will shamefacedly admit that I entered law school partly because I didn't know what else to do with myself, and it sounded so professional (but much shorter and less messy than medicine or dentistry!). But I became more and more drawn to the ideals of justice and equity in law. Imagine, then, my joy, at finding such a marvelous expression of justice and fairness, equality and social activism in a more nurturing role -- Law Librarianship!

There are all those other perks that make the profession so nice: dress down, lower stress (at least most days), flexible hours, constant learning, and real collaboration with fascinating colleagues around the world. But I think what really lured me here in the first place was the social activism, working for justice in some low key venue. And it's so pink!