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The Top 7 Features to Look for When Choosing Library Management Software for Legal Libraries

Choosing the right library management system for legal libraries can be a daunting task. There are many features to consider before making your final decision. To help narrow down the options, here is a list of the top 7 features to look for when selecting library management software for legal libraries. From cataloguing materials to considering the user experience and more, these features will ensure that your library is organised, efficient, and user-friendly. Read on to learn more about the features you should be looking for in a library management system for legal libraries.
7 must have features of library management system

1) Is a free trial available?

Library automation software for legal libraries is designed to help manage, store and retrieve digital and physical assets, but it can be difficult to find the right library management software for your specific needs. When selecting library automation software, make sure you can take a trial so you can consider its ease of use. After all, the main business case for buying library management software is to save staff time. If you want to assess the ease of use of software, take a trial and try it out from the lawyer’s and the library staff’s perspectives.
Is it intuitive and easy to navigate as a bookshop website? Busy lawyers should not need any training to find information resources to assist with their work. They should not have to grapple with Boolean operators or commands for searching.
Do library staff need lots of special training to operate the software? If not, then you know that staff won’t need to spend lots of time learning how to use it and can benefit from library automation in no time. Check to see if the software comes with a searchable knowledge base that has articles explaining how to use the software. This will ensure that your library staff can access help whenever they need it.

2) Customisation

One of the most important features to look for when choosing a library management system for your legal library is the ability to customise your system. By using this feature, you can configure the system based on your needs, only including relevant functions and fields. It is also important to make sure you can customise the navigation menu and field names to use the company’s preferred vocabulary, and that loan policies can be set according to the firm’s requirements. If there are custom fields, where are they displayed and how many can you create? Do you have control over how the search works? How can lawyers interact with the search results?
Being able to customise your library system is not the same as purchasing a bespoke system, which should be avoided at all costs, as bespoke library systems can be expensive and difficult to update. Instead, opt for library automation software that offers a searchable configuration dashboard that is easy for you to find your way around. Lists of fields should include drag-and-drop tools so you can easily move them around and re-order them so you build an efficient and effective library management system that works the way you need. You should look for configuration options that are easy to find and understand so that you can get through the implementation phase quickly and so you can tweak your set-up, if required, later on.

3) Single Sign-On

I have written another blog on the importance of Single Sign On for improved library services. The key lesson I explained there is that by removing obstacles to lawyers signing in, they will benefit from trouble-free and faster access to legal library resources. While library staff will spend less time on access and password issues and more time on helping lawyers with research or other value-added services. When lawyers are logged in, the system can collate useful data to feed management reports. More information in management reports, in turn, means library managers are more informed when making strategic decisions about your library service. It’s a win-win all around.

4) Personalised User Experience

Once the lawyer is logged in seamlessly using Single Sign-On, the legal library management system should provide a personalised user experience. For example, users should have access to a My Account feature where they can view their saved searches, favourites, current loans, loan history, reservations, subject alerts, reviews and other personalised data. This aspect of library automation software ensures that users can easily refer back to resources they have used before and get alerts about new resources added to the collection that are relevant to their work. The user experience can be further enhanced if the lawyer could access to department or practice group content that is relevant to them.

 

5) Unlimited multi-hierarchical taxonomies

Unlimited multi-hierarchical taxonomies are a particularly important feature to look for in your library management system. They are important because legal libraries often need multiple descriptors for legal information resources. Most library systems will offer a subject taxonomy, but check to see if you can create other taxonomies to describe your collection. If you catalogue hardcopy items, digital works, and unpublished knowledge documents or files in your library management system, you should add further descriptors so lawyers can find items by practice groups or departments, types of legal work, industry sectors, or legal entities. Make sure your system has this flexibility.

6) Cloud-Based

Cloud-based library automation software is now essential for legal libraries because it offers several advantages over traditional, on-premise software. Cloud-based systems are more secure than on-premise ones since they are stored offsite and generally have multiple layers of security including encryption at rest and in transit. Only authorised personnel can access the data stored in the cloud and back-ups are fully automated and tested. In addition to increased security, cloud-based library management software is more environmentally friendly, compared to running on-premise servers. 
Finally, cloud-based software is often less expensive to maintain than on-premise solutions, as there is no need to purchase and install servers or pay for IT support and server licences.

7) Frequent updates

Ensuring that your legal library has access to the latest features is an important part of any Library automation software package. A supplier that provides frequent updates installed by them at no extra cost is the ideal way to go, as you don’t have to wait long for fixes or bug squashing and they can also respond promptly to requests for modifications and new functions. With frequent updates, your library management software will always be up-to-date and you can ensure your legal library system is working optimally with the most recent version of the software available.

Conclusion

If you are considering the features that a library management software for legal libraries needs to have, don’t just consider the most obvious factors like price. This is something you will have to decide within the limits of your budget. I would also suggest reading our other two articles on selecting a system: “Why The Human Factor Matters When Choosing Library Software” & “Switching Library System Data Migration”.

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