David McClure

What have you appreciated most about working at Boyd?

Boyd has been a welcoming and supportive community that has encouraged me and given me so many opportunities to grow both professionally and personally.  When I began at Boyd in 2009 as the Faculty Services Librarian, it was my first full-time law library position.  After over twelve years at Boyd, I am very grateful that so much of the foundation for my career in librarianship has been built here.  My colleagues have been amazing mentors and friends.  I have thoroughly enjoyed working with students to help them navigate the law library and share lessons with them in my Professional Responsibility courses.  As coordinator of the law library’s student research assistant program, I have worked with more than 100 student research assistants over the years, which has been especially rewarding.  I will always be thankful to have been a part of the Boyd community.

You have taken part in some notable research collaborations with other faculty, including Professors Ann McGinley, Jeff Stempel, and Thom Main, what has that work and experience been like?

Law faculty are always working on interesting, challenging, and significant research, so having opportunities to collaborate with them on projects have been wonderful experiences.  I have learned so much over the years about the law, legal education, and what it takes to produce high quality legal scholarship from working alongside so many distinguished faculty members.  They have been so gracious and kind to work with, and it has been an honor to support, and contribute to, their scholarly work.  

What do you foresee as the biggest opportunities and challenges facing law libraries as we enter a post-Covid (and more virtual) law school world?

Finding a good balance in how many print and digital resources to provide in a library and the best uses for the library’s physical space has been an ongoing discussion in law libraries for many years.  That will continue to be an interesting challenge as the demand for remote learning resources increases while at the same time more students and other library patrons are returning to the physical library space in greater numbers.  It is a great opportunity for libraries to think strategically and creatively about how best to serve their patrons and connect them with the information resources they need.