Legal Publishers and Law Librarians
Maryanne G. Jensen, Esq.
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.
(MCLE | New England)
Boston, MA
USA
A CLE Checklist
for Serving Law Library Customers
This checklist outlines five factors in good working relationships between CLEs and law libraries. It tracks
the “Five Principles of Business Practices for Legal Publishers”, as set forth in the 2012 revision of the
AALL Guide to Fair Business Practices for Legal Publishers.
COMMUNICATE CLEARLY WITH YOUR LIBRARY CUSTOMERS
AALL Principle 1: Truthful and Accurate Communication
 Within your CLE organization, establish a “librarians’ contact”, a relationship-builder
who is available to answer questions regarding policies, is empowered to resolve
disputes, has requisite technical know-how for online product and web site
transactions, and is generally familiar with your collection.
 Do not represent that a book is “Updated regularly” unless you have a definite plan in
place to revise or supplement it according to a set schedule.
 Do not say that a book is “Completely revised and updated for 2014” unless you are
confident that every chapter or section has received close attention from your author or
editor. If you represent that a book is “Substantially updated” then over 50% of the
content should have meaningful updates.
 If a supplemented chapter has been updated by a freelancer but still has author
attribution, be sure to note that the chapter was “Updated for 2014 by the [CLE] staff”.
 If a title is on schedule for going out of print, communicate this to your law library
customer in advance, if possible.
 Do not make vague representation about a supplement or revision covering “Breaking
developments” to make the update seem more compelling.
 Do not advise librarians regarding upcoming new titles, supplements or revisions until
they are ready to go to print. Internal publishing delays can impact the information the
librarian provides to patrons regarding the date of an upcoming release.
 Never pass off a separate title as a supplement.
 Make sure that pricing information is consistent across marketing efforts, e.g., print,
email and online marketing. Establish an internal system for making changes ripple
through all communications.
 If you offer trial subscriptions, be sure to include a clear disclosure of the trial terms. If
a trial subscription is offered under a negative-option plan, make sure the offer clearly
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explains the terms for canceling or accepting the subscription at the end of the trial
period.
 Set up an automatic, non-marketing email communication that can keep librarians
current on new releases and (to the extent possible given printing schedules) upcoming
supplements. This automatic email could also send an electronic version of the
physical book inventory spreadsheet for each month.
PRACTICE FULL DISCLOSURE RE: POLICIES AND PRACTICES
AALL Principle 2: Disclosure
 Do identify your collection by full title, author(s), editor(s), ISBN or ISSN numbers
and publication dates.
 If a Library of Congress number is “pending” when the book goes to press, be sure to
make the information available to libraries when the number is assigned, so that the
librarians can properly catalogue their holdings.
 When advertising a new or revised product, note its original publication year, followed
by supplement years, so as not to give an impression that an older work is current.
 If a chapter is reprinted from an older source, be sure to note the reprint information
with the full citation information for the original source, so as not to give librarians the
impression that the material is original.
 Know the terms that librarians use – “recompilation”, “abridgment”, “revision”,
“reprint”, “condensation” – and use these terms correctly when advertising products.
(For example, when advertising a new work that is a compilation of older, compiled
sources, be sure to advise your librarian customer of the “recompilation” status of the
material.)
 Do not create advertising communications that look like informational content –
announcements regarding new book releases should not be communicated as press
releases just to get your customer’s attention.
 Do not fashion advertisements as invoices to get book orders.
 Be prepared to supply a librarian customer with the prices of past supplements.
Ideally, create a supplement history for each product.
 Provide clear policy statements regarding multiple uses of ebooks.
 If a loose-leaf book is being revised and the new edition is a softcover book, advise
librarian customers in advance of the physical change in the book’s format.
 Quote prices for books that are inclusive of shipping costs.
 If various formats of the same title are updated on different schedules, have different
scope (e.g., if ebook does not include some exhibits that could not be converted) be
sure that your librarian customers know these details, so that they can catalogue their
holdings accordingly.
 Do not use codes or abbreviated product names on invoices that might confuse
librarians as to what they are ordering.
 Do make pricing information clear, conspicuous, and easy to locate, whether on the
product itself, on the web site, or in marketing communications.
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 Do make known to your librarians the exact terms of discounts, the time periods for
end-of-year sales, or bundled-product prices.
 Promptly respond to email requests regarding pricing, availability, etc.
 Be prepared to report to librarians on projected annual percentage increases in prices
of supplements.
 If you have a sliding-scale pricing system for your online products, be prepared to
explain the rationale for different prices.
 Do include a full statement of your opt-out policies for supplementation, as well as
your return, refund, or cancellation policies.
DEAL FAIRLY
AALL Principle 3: Fair Dealing
 Regularize your invoicing.
 Never ship any product to a library without its consent (unless consent is implied
pursuant to a standing order or negative-option offer.)
 If you create a new product (such as an “Alert” advising on breaking developments)
make clear to your library customers that this new product is meant to supplement an
existing work or is to stand alone as its own product.
 Do not engage in unsolicited communications with regard to product offers.
 Become familiar with the Procurement Toolkit and Code of Best Practices for
Licensing Electronic Resources – it is the guide that librarians use when entering into
license agreements for online products and services.
 Keep librarians informed as to the renewal dates of online subscriptions, and send our
renewal notices within six months of subscription termination.
 Advise librarians of any revision planned within six months of the purchase date of a
publication, so that libraries can plan their budgets accordingly.
 Keep libraries informed when you take a publication out of print.
 Maintain publishing histories that detail the numbers and years of past supplements as
an aid in interfiling of content. Where a library discovers that it has missed a
supplement, be prepared to work with the library to bring the title current.
FOSTER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
AALL Principle 4: Customer Satisfaction
 Be sure that your customer service staff is equipped with authority to resolve disputes as
they arise. Multiple levels of authority and sign-off only delay the resolution process.
 Provide librarians with personalized training in the features of your web site and
orientation regarding any online products. (A good forum for this sort of training and
dissemination of information could be the local law librarians’ association’s meetings
throughout the year. The training could also occur in the context of an annual in-person
meeting between CLE staff and librarians.)
 Provide an administrator access password for quick access by libraries to their accounts.
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 If you use collection agencies, provide ample advance notice (by state law) of your need to
collect.
 Empower librarians to keep their information updated on your web site, including number
of patrons (e.g., law firm law libraries) and changes in contact information.
 Be prepared to resolve issues as they arise regarding law firm members ordering products
outside of their own law library relationship. Work with libraries to resolve duplicate
orders, orders without authorization, etc.
 Make sure your telemarketers are aware of your relationship with your library customers.
 Try to keep your web site product service FAQs up to date and consistent with changing
policies, so that libraries can rely on the FAQs for answers.
 Be timely in responding to librarians’ questions.
 Assist reference librarians by directing them to your web site’s table of contents for
products, and train customer service in doing basic searches of books for topics and key
words.
 Support your customer service team by making your editorial staff accessible to them for
help in responding to librarians’ questions concerning content, scope, currency of
material.
 Make sure that your customer service team is provided with all promotional material,
including email blasts, special offers, discounts, so that they are knowledgeable in
speaking with libraries.
 If possible, create database reports that can assist librarians in updating their member lists,
especially as lawyers are hired or leave firms.
ENSURE THE QUALITY OF YOUR PRODUCT
AALL Principle 5: Product Quality
 Be sure that the materials used in your print products are sufficiently durable to withstand
circulation, photocopying, and other patron uses.
 When page counts are in danger of exceeding binder capacity, issue new binders free of
charge, to accommodate the material.
 Provide clear, simple filing instructions for loose-leaf products.
 Provide free replacement pages in the event that library patrons remove or damage pages.
 Do not place electronic products in the marketplace until they are fully tested.
 Make “Uninstall” options clear in electronic products.
 Consider the value to librarians of CD-format materials before discontinuing CD products.
 Make sure your electronic products have expiration dates clearly indicated, so that the
library can contact you to ensure the ongoing availability of the product after a particular
online update has expired.
 Help your reference librarians to keep their patrons informed on new releases, updates,
etc. If law firms filter out your organization’s email blasts, make there is at least one
contact (such as the reference librarian) who can receive such communications and
disseminate them to firm members.
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