By Chelsea Stein
Libraries are powerful educational landmarks. At their core, libraries provide free access to information and resources for communities—but with events, classes and support groups, they also serve as safe spaces for connection and growth.
Here at Michigan State University, students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends can stroll the aisles and peruse the catalogs of three libraries on campus, including the John F. Schaefer Law Library which serves the College of Law.
Dubbed as a “window to the law,” the Law Library stands in the heart of campus on Shaw Lane. The building is outfitted with a variety of private and group study spaces, collaboration rooms and computer labs, and is run by a small and mighty team of 10 librarians and staff.
“We provide spaces, resources and expertise to foster legal research and learning for MSU Law students and faculty,” Jane Meland, assistant dean of the Law Library, said. “That’s our mission and I make sure that we’re achieving that mission day in and day out.”
Meland has been with the library since 2002 and took on the role of assistant dean in 2020. As its dedicated leader, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of operations—like strategic planning, budgeting, personnel and collection development. She also teaches legal research to first-year law students and advanced legal research as an elective. Her courses help future lawyers start a new chapter, learning how to make the most of the library’s resources while gaining the skills needed to conduct comprehensive research for their careers ahead.
In this Q&A, check out Meland’s leadership approach, learn about the library’s services and see how the library directly supports the success of Spartan Lawyers.
Law News: Tell us about your role as assistant dean of the Law Library? What has been your vision for the library?
Meland: I liken it to being a smaller version of the dean of the College of Law but focused specifically on the library. It requires looking at the big, broad picture to have the strategy and visioning and I do that on a smaller scale for the library.
Our vision and mission are aligned with the college’s mission to educate future lawyers. We see ourselves at the library as an active part of that, by directly supporting students and ensuring faculty are getting recognized for their work and scholarship.
Law News: How do you and your staff serve Law students?
Meland: We help students the minute they walk in the door until they graduate—and beyond. Our big focus is strengthening and leaning into what we’re good at and that includes providing research assistance to students. We make sure they’re ready to get good jobs, thrive in their careers and show employers that they’re ready to hit the ground running.
We do this by providing legal research instruction because research is a core skill for every lawyer. In fact, for many new attorneys, legal research makes up a significant part of their daily responsibilities. Helping students build confidence and efficiency in their research prepares them to meet those professional demands right from the start.
We also provide access to industry standard legal research tools, such as Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law. We teach students not only how to use the research source efficiently but also provide guidance on how to select the best sources, evaluate sources and what to do if they get stuck on a research problem (they can call us for assistance!).
Students are always welcome to ask the librarians for research assistance, and we regularly help them develop research strategies for their upper-level writing papers, law review notes or externships. Frequently, we help students track down obscure resources, such as court filings, historical documents and non-legal materials.
Finally, we monitor and track changes in legal research tools and incorporate the latest technology into our teaching and the guidance we provide at the reference desk.
Law News: How do you and your staff support faculty?
Meland: When it comes to faculty, all of our librarians have law degrees, so we know the law, and we know how to do research. As faculty are writing articles, they might require us to look at historical documents or track down something that doesn’t come up with a simple Google search. Sometimes this means contacting other public libraries across the country and asking for copies of newspapers from hundreds of years ago. Other times it could require compiling historical and unusual data or foreign documents.
For the other librarians and I, it’s a little challenge to see what we can track down to help the faculty develop their scholarship. We are proud to contribute to this process, and we’ve seen faculty who have worked with us go on to place their articles in some of the Top 50 law journals.
Law News: How do you and your staff help alumni?
Meland: Our librarians are here as a support system for students and that often means that our staff develop strong bonds with students which continue after graduation. For example, we have written letters of recommendation for Spartan Lawyers and provided support for our alumni taking the bar exam in other states.
We want the library to be the soft, warm, fuzzy feeling of support for students during law school and continue to direct and help them on their journeys after they leave campus too.
Law News: What would you say is the importance of the Law Library and libraries in general?
Meland: The ethos of librarians is to help people by connecting them with resources. People who walk through our doors can have difficult issues because it can be stressful looking for something, some piece of information that you need. We are here to ease the connection to the information that they need.
Libraries have endured and will continue to endure. Librarians are dedicated to ensuring access for everyone; we are always trying to find a direct route to credible information for the public that we serve.
Law News: What’s on the books for the Law Library in the years ahead? What opportunities are there for MSU Law supporters to be involved in updating learning spaces and enabling the library to continue fulfilling its mission?
Meland: As we look to the future, our goal is to reimagine the library as a flexible, student-centered space that reflects how today’s law students learn, study and connect. We want the library to feel welcoming, comfortable and current—a place where students can focus quietly, collaborate in groups or meet virtually for interviews and classes. Updating our spaces with modern furniture, adaptable layouts and improved study areas will allow us to meet a range of student needs while keeping the library at the heart of the law school experience.
At the same time, we’re also thinking about how emerging technologies, especially generative AI, will shape legal research and library services. We’re still in the early stages of that transformation, but libraries have always been remarkably adaptable. As research tools evolve, our role as guides, teachers and collaborators remains essential. No matter how technology changes, our commitment to proactive, personal service will continue to define who we are.
Donors seeking more information on how to make a gift to the College of Law in support of the John F. Schaefer Law Library can email Jacqueline Kontry, senior director of development: jkontry@msu.edu.