Roberta I. Shaffer, who headed two Law Center programs in the early ‘80s, has been appointed Law Librarian of Congress charged with collecting and disseminating the world’s legal knowledge.  In announcing the appointment, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said Shaffer brings “extraordinary vision and demonstrated leadership skills that will continue the Law Library's historically exemplary service to Congress and to the public while addressing the challenges of providing legal research and reference services in our rapidly changing and technologically driven world."

Shaffer earned degrees at Vassar College, Emory University and Tulane University School of Law. In 1980, she was appointed director of the Law Center's Legal Communications Program and associate director of the center's Law and Technology Program. She headed to the Library of Congress for the first time in 1984 when she became the first special assistant to the law librarian. She has since served at several universities, including two years as dean and professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin. Shaffer returned to the Library of Congress in 2005 as executive director of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee/Federal Library Network.

As Law Librarian, she will oversee the world's largest collection of law books – more than 2.6 million volumes – online databases and guides to legal information from around the world. Founded in 1832, the library’s mission is to make its resources available to members of Congress, the Supreme Court, other branches of government and the global legal community, and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of law for future generations.