Law Libraries and Laboratories: The Legacies of Langdell and His Metaphor

Abstract

Law Librarians and others have often referred to Harvard Law School Dean C.C. Langdell’s statements that the law library is the lawyer’s laboratory. Professor Danner examines the context of what Langdell through his other writings, the educational environment at Harvard in the late nineteenth century, and the changing perceptions of university libraries generally. He then considers how the “laboratory metaphor” has been applied by librarians and legal scholars during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The article closes with thoughts on Langdell’s legacy for law librarians and the usefulness of the laboratory metaphor.

Keywords: John Himes Arnold; Christopher C. Langdell; Harvard Law School; Legal Information; Library Metaphor; Nineteenth American Legal History; Nineteenth Century Law Libraries