Stuck behind the curve: How the academic law library can help students who struggle in law school

Gary Lui

Gonzalez, J. A. (2014). Stuck behind the curve: How the academic law library can help students who struggle in law school. Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 33(3), 239-268. doi:10.1080/0270319X.2014.922396

Summary
The Gonzalez (2014) article make several suggestions as to how law librarians can help with law students' process skills by having law school librarians work with the law school professors. Gonzalez particularly suggests that law librarians in law school are most capable of helping struggling law students.  Law libraries have many resources now to help law students to learn such as outlines and study aids, as well as providing space in the law library for students to study. Most law librarians in these law libraries are skilled in helping law students with legal research. Though "[m]any law schools separate law librarians from full-time, tenured faculty, but most librarians have teaching roles [however], especially in the first-year legal research curriculum" (Gonzalez, 258). Law libraries and the librarians who work in them also have existed in law schools for a longer time compared to academic support programs, which are a recent development.
Academic support programs are currently programs developed to help struggling students in law schools. Therefore, law librarians should collaborate with law professors in supporting academic support programs (ASPs) in law schools.

Evaluation
The Gonzalez article is interesting in the suggestion of law librarians collaborating with law professors to work together on behalf of the law students. "An effective way for librarians to serve as a bridge between professors and students would come from partnering with professors on student assignments" (258). I think Gonzalez is convincing in advocating for collaboration between law librarians and law professors in supporting academic support programs for law students struggling in law schools. I believe academic support services are the future of law library services.