Coolidge first considered changing fields after she found herself becoming disenchanted with the practice of law. After considering some different graduate programs, she settled on a program offered through Simmons College's Graduate School of Library and Information Science on the campus of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. The program was a good fit for her because it allowed her to pursue her new career while working on her master's degree.
"It seemed like a really good combination for me, where I could continue to use my education and experience in the law and take it down a different road," she said.
Coolidge has been a law librarian for three-and-a-half years now. She said she had some initial worries about making the change from lawyer to law librarian, but the enthusiasm and pride with which she talks about her new profession are evidence of the fact that she made the right decision.
"I thought when I went to library school that I would probably become an academic law librarian. I was concerned that if I worked in a firm, I would be viewed as someone who failed at practicing law. But that hasn't been my experience in this firm," she said. "It's just so much fun to be working with incredibly smart people and to be appreciated for what I do."
Although Coolidge appreciates the differences between law librarians and lawyers, she also said that the skills she learned as an attorney have helped her in her new profession.
"I have the work ethic of a lawyer, so I don't mind if something goes beyond five or if I'm having lunch at my desk and somebody needs help," she said. "I don't really consider that to be my time. If I'm here, I'm available to help people. I think if you view your job as a nine-to-five kind of thing, people will not feel you're part of the team. It is hard for somebody who hasn't practiced law to understand that that's the way lawyers think and work. They're not being rude, and they're not being demanding. They just want the work done within whatever deadlines are imposed on them by the courts or their clients' needs."
She urges students studying law librarianship to consider working in a law library or public courthouse library during school in order to better understand the intensity with which attorneys do their jobs. She also encourages students to work on their communication skills. She said the ability to be pleasant and make people feel like their interruptions are welcome is a skill that cannot be learned in school.
"I think, more than anything, you need to be able to get along with people and be flexible," she said. "You have to be able to tolerate interruptions and be willing to change directions and re-prioritize your work from moment to moment."
Another aspect of law librarianship that Coolidge loves is the interconnectedness of the profession.
"People in this field are so generous with their knowledge and their time. That's another difference between law librarianship and practicing law. Being a law librarian is all about sharing information; whereas, when you're a lawyer, you're really protecting information and disclosing only what's necessary," she said. "It's a great field."
Coolidge is currently serving as Treasurer of the Special Libraries Association Legal Division (SLA), a position that she feels has been beneficial to both her and the firm.
"The nice thing about participating at the national level is that you begin to collect colleagues all across the country. I can't tell you how many times that has served to my advantage," she said.
Within SLA, Coolidge is also the archivist for the Connecticut Valley Chapter (CVC), a position that includes participation on the CVC board, where she helps put together educational programming. In addition, she belongs to the American Association of Law Libraries; and within that, she is a member of the Private Law Librarians Division and the Law Librarians of New England Chapter.
She advises students to get involved in professional law librarian associations as early as possible and to start attending conferences. With reasonable student membership fees and scholarships available to cover the costs of conferences, she said students "almost can't afford not to join."
She also encourages law students to utilize the skills of their schools' law and reference librarians.
"One of the things I regret that I never really appreciated while in law school was the law librarians, especially the reference librarian," she said. "My perception of a librarian was just somebody who cataloged, circulated, and shelved books, but not somebody who could help me do research. I wish I had known that while I was in law school, because it would've made my life a lot easier."
