Each author in The Library at LexBlog has an Author Record. Ten fields establishing their authority. Every library needs to have author records to track identity. The Library of Congress keeps one, called the Name Authority Record, and we modeled The Library on theirs.
An Author Record is more important than ever in the days of AI. We’re moving from search and read publishing to AI structured publishing with an accompanying ID for the published work and the author.
Once structured, the data can move to third-party legal research platforms, LLMs looking for authoritative legal publishing and AI solutions looking for secondary law.
Until your publishing is broken down into usable data for legal research platforms and AI solutions it’s not going to get far.
So working on the Library, I am realizing that it’s this data that authors and publishers are going to need.
Makes sense then to show authors and publishers what they need. Not necessarily showing them nice-looking webpages with marketing-like print, pictures, copy and backgrounds. It’s about showing them that their copy and authority is usable data preserved for the masses.
I’ve been describing to team members this kind of look without knowing what label it. I’d say, “You know, the look of the green type and black screen on the old IBM computers,” and team members would respond, “You mean a terminal.”
I did a little research and found the Bloomberg Terminal, famously ugly and the most trusted in the financial industry. The plainness of a black screen and monospace type became its credential.
When a legal professional asks what the Library holds, we don’t open a spec document or a webpage. We pull up something more meaningful, an author’s record. “This is the system of record for legal publishing, and you’re in it.”
Terminal doesn’t mean cold. The author’s name gets size and dignity. It’s their card in the catalog of the profession.
Such a terminal provides confidence to our publishing partners, HeinOnline, Clio-vLex and soon others who can see the depth and authority of the data they are receiving from LexBlog.
Such a look can also give a design benchmark for our look on and off the web. An industrial look of surety with a strong foundation. The factories I worked at in college. Check out library.lexblog.com and you’ll get the feel of what we are playing around with for the Library and the Publishing Platform. A little confusing now, but we’ll get there.