I think I was expecting more narrative from this book, when it is actually more of a reference work for how and where to conduct legal research. If you are a law-adjacent person without legal training, this may be a useful reference for you for those 'once in a while' questions when you simply don't know where to start. ( )

Working in a law office, I found this handbook to be a good general primer to law libraries. The "Accidental" series appears to be geared toward people who start in one profession and find themselves nudged into similar, but not quite the same, professions (i.e., a degreed librarian or a paralegal who suddenly is working in a law library for a firm or community). I have passed to book on to my firm's librarians for the shelves in this office, where it will probably share space with the other esoteric publications that have no "legal" category. I do recommend it to new law librarians as it is easy to read and has lots of recommendations for further reading or training. ( )

The Accidental Librarian series is intended to provide working professionals with an introduction to new areas of practice, be they technologies or subjects. In this volume, Aycock—who has worked in academic, court, and corporate law libraries—covers the basics: types of law, types of questions, and types of materials and sources. It is a nice, easily-readable primer, and combined with something like West’s Legal Research in a Nutshell, would be an adequate foundation for a librarian to confidently step into a law library with tools enough to begin.

Of course, it is only an introduction, and Aycock provides plenty of pointers to additional resources. While far from everything one needs to know, having spent several years in the field, I can say it would have been helpful to have this available when I started. Recommended for both mid-career professionals entering a new field and new librarians just choosing their paths.

Libraries take many forms and serve many different kinds of users. The typical two are public and academic. The next two are school and law.

The Accidental Law Librarian by Anthony Aycock is a handbook for librarians who find themselves working for a law library or working a reference desk that handles a high volume of law related questions.

The book is divided into different kinds of law resources with explanations of what the standard resources are, how they came to be, and how to use them. I personally haven't come across a situation where I've need to use the book yet, but I'm still very new to my library career. I can see it being a helpful resource in the future.

I received a copy for review through LibraryThing's early reader's program. ( )

As a librarian who has never worked in a law library, I thought I would read this book as if I had to go law librarianship tomorrow. I know how libraries work but I'm not familiar with the particularities of legal research.

This book would actually be useful for someone completely new to the job. Some parts of the text are very basic but if you're new to the profession, that's not necesarily a bad thing. There were, however, a few disappointing parts, notably parts of chapters which were just bullet points of resources to check. However, the most important resources -- LexisNexus and Westlaw -- are properly covered in a chapter of their own.

This is a book isn't a standout text and it is very much centered on US law, but if I had to go work in a law library tomorrow, I'd definitely pack it in my briefcase. ( )