Pattie Punch: supporting every stage of the law student journey
As part of our 25 Faces of the School of Law campaign, we meet Law Librarian Pattie Punch, whose work has connected generations of students, researchers and academics with the information they need. From the first weeks of an undergraduate degree to doctoral research and life beyond university, the Law Library is a constant presence in the student journey. Pattie’s work has been central to that support, helping students build their research skills, find their way through complex legal sources and adapt to a changing information landscape. Pattie recalls the Library’s “small beginnings”, when it had “only the essentials on the shelves and a tiny supply of Irish legal textbooks”. Since then, legal publishing and research have been transformed by digitisation, expanding access to sources while requiring new ways of finding, evaluating and using legal information. Throughout that change, the Library has developed alongside the School’s teaching and research. Pattie highlights the role of “inspired academics, a visionary and responsive curriculum and dynamic teaching”, as well as the emergence of research centres addressing real-world problems. Her work also extends beyond the School. Through the international community of law librarians, including colleagues in academic, professional, government, parliamentary and EU libraries, Pattie has contributed to a shared effort to navigate a rapidly changing legal information environment. She is a member of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians and has served on the editorial board of its journal, Legal Information Management. Today, that professional community is considering another period of significant change: the growing role of artificial intelligence in legal information and what it may mean for legal research, education and the future of law librarianship. Pattie’s contribution reflects something fundamental to the School of Law: students and researchers need more than access to information. They need the knowledge, judgement and support to use it well.
