Summer in the Library

Ohhh, it’s all gone quiet on the news front, hasn’t it? Normally, summer is a much quieter time around the office anyway, as less information’s coming in. The Scottish and Westminster Parliaments are in recess, courts are in summer vacation period, and the “Silly Season” begins in the newspapers. Currently, the Silly Season stories are being replaced by the Olympic Frenzy stories, which are almost as mind-numbing.in content, and as irrelevant to my usual work as the daft stories about things like a cartoon-style hamster pursuit.*

This leads to a slight lessening in the volume of routine work coming in…but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we get to slack off, sit twiddling our thumbs, or race the Library study chairs around the office. Oh no: now’s the time when all those, pushed-to-the-bottom-of-the-To-Do-list,  “when I get some more time” projects start to get all the attention!

Need to revise and update in-house training materials?
Summer!
Need to plan and reallocate stuff for the new trainee intake?
Summer!
Need to check or draft any internal policies?
Summer!
Need to create a new training exercise from scratch?
Summer!
Need to weed your shelves of outdated materials?
Summer!
Need to check the online databases, and ensure all the user information is current and accurate?
Summer!
Need to make sure all your admin materials are sorted out?
Summer!
Need to catalogue that pile of conference papers that have mysteriously appeared on your desk?
Summer!
Need to get stuff sent off for binding, when it’s least likely to be asked for?
Summer!

Relaxing summer holidays? Not around here!

*No: I really, really am not the slightest bit interested in Olympic sports. I really don’t care at all. Apparently, this concept just does not compute for some people, and they think I just “need to find the right sport” to suddenly become interested in the whole thing. I don’t. I’ve watched nothing of the Olympics but the opening ceremony. Yes: that was utterly insane and fabulous, but that’s more than enough Olympics for me.

Law books ain’t cheap

Certain old law books are very, very expensive (like this one).

Certain new law books are also very, very expensive. This book has slipped from its original publication date by about 3 years so far, so there’s no guarantee that it will actually be coming out in November this year, as currently promised. But just look at that price.
£785.
Yes: that’s not a typo. It actually costs £785 for a single volume of a single book.
It has 568 pages. 
That’s £1.38 per page.
Law book prices are just insane sometimes.
 

It’s not just librarians who suffer from stereotyping

Unfortunately, lawyers get it too…and one of the best (for best, read “irritating and patronising”) ones is the Legally Blonde female lawyer.

Y’know – that attractive yet dumb blonde girl who floats through life, until an major event makes her re-evaluate everything, and then she works her socks off to show everyone how smart she really is?

Seems like the BBC have been watching a few too many repeats of that film recently, judging from their reporting of this story (although Legally Blonde isn’t specifically mentioned in the report).

Look: she’s blonde!
Look: she’s pretty!
Look: she used to work in a beauty-based job! That means she must be stupid!
Look: she went to court to battle on her Mum’s behalf! Isn’t that an unexpected event!
Look: she’s studied to become a lawyer! And excelled at her studies!
Look: she’s actually really, really smart! Who could have imagined?

Dear god – all it needs is her bust size, and a hint that she’ll be sleeping with powerful people in law firms in order to get a job, and it could be a Daily Mail report.

Really, BBC, is this the best way you could report this? The undertone of surprise that someone female, blonde and pretty could also actually be really rather intelligent, and able to make full use of an amazing opportunity when it’s presented to her, is quite disturbing. For a profession that’s working its socks off to try and address inequalities in the representation of women, this sort of patronising reporting undermines everything that women in law have worked so hard to get…you know, that small thing called “recognition of their equal skills”?