ALLICE

Business Information Community of Practice (BICoP)

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:38:00 +0000

ASLIB BUSINESS INFORMATION Community of Practice (BICoP)

Mission

Introduction

The ASLIB BICoP is a newly launched group with the aim of serving information
professionals, information intermediaries and business members from academia,
corporates and professional backgrounds.

BICoP Aims

• To provide a community of practice for ASLIB members concerned with supplying
and using Business Information.
• To promote and share good practice in the searching, retrieval, exploitation and
management of Business Information.
• To provide a forum for networking, discussion and support to professionals with an
interest in this area.

First Event!

Killer business information promotion techniques and how to develop your career

The first meeting for the Business Information Community of Practice will be held at
the City Business Library at the Guildhall, London on the 22nd February, 6pm for a
6.30pm start. The meeting is free to all ASLIB members and will include information
on the City Business Library services to business, their exemplary promotional
activities and outreach to the business community. There will also be a presentation
followed by questions on developing your business information career from the Sue
Hill Recruitment team.

Please book by 20th February.

To book your place, or for further information about the event or the BICoP email
Emmy Rawcliffe: erawcliffe@aslib.com, or call 01274 515663

Minutes of meeting 18/01/2012

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:36:00 +0000

12.30 pm Wednesday 18th January 2012 at Pinsent Masons

In attendance

Tricia Wyspianska, Barry Vickery, Nicola Dennis, John Reynolds, Caroline Mosley, Amanda Hulme, Helen Marshall, Jon Beaumont, Alison Rae, Rita Flakoll, Diane Harris, Rachel Relves, Stephen Wheeler, Paul Dovey, Phil Uttley, Caroline Covington and Suzanne Homer

1. Apologies

Adele Champken, Helen Dunn, David Houston, Christine Newlove, Sally Hassel, Sue Kendall, Erica Foster, Jackie Hanes, Aine Astbury, Caroline Janukowicz, Pat Pritchard and Liz Gwillim

2. Treasurer’s Report

This is attached to the same email as these minutes

3. Nomination of Officers

Both Chair and Treasurer announced that they were standing down. Members thanked them for the work they had done in their posts over many years. A small presentation was made to both officers.

Alison Rae was voted in as the new Chair but no nominations were received for the Treasurer’s post so it was left to the committee to decide upon a way forward. Members were asked to re-consider volunteering for this post. The two main tasks involved were membership invoicing (around September each year) and general financial work, such as dealing with general expenses and preparing an annual report. It might be possible to split these responsibilities between two people in order to lessen the workload. If any member thinks that they may be able to take on either or both of these tasks, they should contact Phil Uttley.

Volunteers were also still required for the committee. This involves attending up to 6 meetings a year to arrange member meetings, events, etc.

4. Future meetings

Members agreed that meetings should continue to be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays over the next 12 months. Suggestions for topics for future meetings included e-books, successes in promotional activities (following on from the Marketing event last year) and current challenges being faced. It was also suggested that PLC be invited to present on their new developments.

5. Future training events

Members agreed that the financial model used for the recent marketing event could be used again for future events, if appropriate, but that event content was key and future events should focus on building members’ skills. Suggested topics included Business Development Research, Project Management, Training and IT skills.

6. Future social events

The ‘Old Contemptibles’ evening had proved successful as it had been informal and people had been able to come and go as they pleased. Similar events would be welcome but lunch-time social events should also be considered.

7. Next meeting

A host was required for this meeting which will take place after 16th April. Please let Phil Uttley know if you are able to help.

8. A.O.B.

There was no other business so the Chair thanked members for their contributions

Next ALLICE meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:57:00 +0000

Wednesday 18th January at Pinsent Masons – networking meeting

Next meeting - September 22nd

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:16:00 +0000

Hi

Our next meeting takes place on Thursday 22nd September at

Squire Sanders Hammonds, Rutland House, 148 Edmund Street, BIRMINGHAM, B3 1BA

Usual time - 1200 for a 1230 start, finishing around 1400

Our guests will be Justis who will be telling us about their latest developments including the new JustCite package

Full agenda to follow nearer the time

Can you let me know if you intend to be there (for catering purposes), please?

We also need a host for our January meeting which will be a 'networking' session. Choice of dates are 11th, 18th or 25th. Please let me know if you are able to help.

Regards

Phil

ALLICE Training Event

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:40:00 +0000

Hi

We are running a half-day event on Tuesday 29th November 2011. Full details are provided below

The event will run from 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm at Cobbetts' offices in Birmingham

http://www.cobbetts.com/ContactUs/BirminghamOffice

Applications to attend the event are now invited from ALLICE members and their colleagues. Costs are £5 and £25 for non-members

Please send your application to attend with a cheque, made payable to ALLICE, to me at the address shown below

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (UK) LLP
Rutland House
148 Edmund Street
Birmingham
B3 2JR

Invitations will be extended to other groups after 1st October so please apply as quickly as you can.

Regards

Phil

Gaining respect for your service: using marketing ideas to demonstrate and communicate value

Library and information services are currently under great pressure as organisations look to trim costs in difficult economic times. To survive and thrive it is important to have a clear understanding, shared with your funders, of the value your services provides to the organisation. In addition, library and information professionals need to market and communicate that value in a clear, consistent and sustained way. This need not require a large marketing budget to be successful. This course will give you immediate tools and techniques to identify and communicate value which will be influential within your organisation. The emphasis will be on the inexpensive and the effective.

By the end of the course you will have:

* simple tools and techniques to help you identify the value you create
* considered how to promote this value through a series of marketing messages
* a way to gain the attention of those you need to influence or attract as users
* practiced a few key tools and techniques

The course will be highly practical based around tried and trusted activities which can be undertaken immediately on returning to your workplace. A library and information professional is not selling cans of beans which are easy to describe and market. Services are significantly different in the way they need to be marketed and this course will show you how to subtly inspire respect and use by partners and other members within your practice. Great marketing is not just about sending a message - it's also about making sure they are likely to be listening when they receive it.

Sessions:

* Just what have I really got which is worth marketing?
* How can I turn this value into a powerful marketing message?
* How do I align those messages with my users' and other stakeholders' "journeys"
* So how do I now mix my marketing communication channels - traditional and non-traditional?
* What role does social media have in marketing a service within a professional practice?

This will be a fast paced, practical rather than theoretical, afternoon session led by Terry Kendrick (www.terrykendrick.com) who has over twenty years training and marketing experience with libraries of all types. In addition he has worked on marketing planning assignments for over fifty organisations (including organisations in the legal profession) in nineteen countries.

ALLICE meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:14:00 +0000

Hi

The date of the next meeting is now confirmed

1230 Thursday 7th April at Clarke Willmott (buffet at 1200)

http://www.clarkewillmott.com/en/ContactUs/Locations/Birmingham%20Office.aspx

There will be a presentation from Experian covering Corpfin Deals plus their CompanyQuery product and it will also include some Risk Assessment content.

Vacancy - No 5 Chambers

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:06:00 +0000

No 5 Chambers - Central Birmingham
6 month fixed term contract
Part time – 27.5 hours per week

Salary: £12,750.81 p.a. [pro rata]

OVERVIEW:
No5 Chambers is the largest set of barristers’ chambers in the country with over 200 barristers. The principal office is in Central Birmingham with further offices in London and Bristol. We are looking for a legal library assistant

JOB TITLE:
Library Assistant

REPORTS TO:
Librarians
Practice Director

ACTIVITIES INVOLVED:
Keeping the Library environment tidy
Sorting the post
Checking in the subscription items on Library Management System (LMS)
Filing of loose leaf updates in legal encyclopaedias
Updating CD Roms
Chasing overdue loan items using LMS
Claiming missing issues using LMS
Setting up new users on LMS and requesting all passwords for their online services
Maintaining members of Chambers’ passwords list
Preparing library materials for the shelf/archive/store (stamp/labels/input to LMS)
Processing basic enquiries
Photocopying
Arrange for the binding and repair of volumes as necessary
Packing up of items for disposal
Assisting with any other duties in line with the level of the post which are deemed necessary by the Librarian to ensure the smooth running of the library
Covering for Librarian in absence e.g. lunch hour, meetings

Essential Criteria:
Good clerical and administration skills inc Microsoft Office
Confident effective communicator
A flexible and co-operative approach to work
Ability to undertake light manual work

Desirable Criteria:
LMS experience
Experience of library work
Experience of filing loose-leaf updates
Basic experience of updating CD’s and CD research
On line database searching

Application by CV with covering letter to be received by 23rd March 2011:

Sandra Astbury
Office Manager
No 5 Chambers
Fountain Court
Steelhouse Lane
Birmingham
B4 6DR

Or by email to sandraa@no5.com

"Old Contemptibles"

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:51:00 +0000

No, this isn't the name your committee is now adopting, it's where the next exciting ALLICE social event kicks off.

http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theoldcontemptiblesedmundstreetbirmingham/

Meet for a drink and chat from 5.30 pm onwards on Thursday 19th May. The evening will develop 'organically' leading possibly to a meal somewhere (the sausages at the 'Contemptibles' are world famous but there are also Nepalese, Indian, Thai, Macdonalds (!) and many more restaurants in the vicinity) and/or who knows what else!

Go on, treat yourself - you know you want to.

Phil

New book - reviewed by Susan Singleton

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:47:00 +0000

Copyright: Interpreting the Law for Libraries, Archives and Information Services

Graham Cornish

This useful book is a godsend for those in libraries and indeed law firm information departments who have to grapple with the complex law of copyright as it applies to them. While many lawyers may feel they understand copyright, the application of it to the library and academic sectors is not well known. There are complex exceptions to copyright infringement which apply. The favourite question of the more dubious clients as to what proportion of a book or journal may be copied before it becomes copyright infringement is even more complex in a library environment. In fact the best advice to such clients is start from scratch as copying a substantial part only means an important part and that might be a small part of a work. Libraries have a little more latitude because of the legislation.

This book covers:

• literary dramatic and musical works;

• artistic works;

• sound recordings;

• films and videos;

• broadcasts;

• databases; and

• computer programs and websites.

The fact this book is now in its fifth edition illustrates how useful it is. It is also a useful size. For an IP lawyer frequently needing to look at the weightier tomes such as Copinger & Skone James on Copyright, this book is a welcome relief and should be particularly useful for those who do not need to know the entirety of copyright law in all its forms but need an easy to use but thorough guide to the legislation as it applies to libraries. Graham Cornish is programme director for the IFLA Availability of Publications Programme and is responsible for copyright interpretation throughout the British Library.

The book has an extremely useable format of questions and answers and a good written style of short sentences and clear English. The rules on copying from periodicals are well described and the question of when a charge can be made is addressed. The appendices give useful statutory declaration forms which alone would justify purchasing the book. Any reasonably sized law firm library would benefit from purchasing the book.

Date for your diary

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:33:00 +0000

The next ALLICE meeting will be at 1200 on Thursday 7th April 2011 at Clarke Willmott (Edmund Street)

There will be a presentation from Experian covering Corpfin Deals plus their CompanyQuery product and it will also include some Risk Assessment content.

Minutes of meeting on 19th January 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:12:00 +0000

In attendance

Caroline Mosley, Caroline Covington, Diane Harris, Hazel Hewison, Rachel Relves, Stephen Wheeler, Jackie Sellars, Barry Vickery, Adele Champkin, Sue Kendall, Tricia Wyspianska, Emma Harvey-Woodason, Mandy Hulme, Caroline Janukowicz & Phil Uttley

1. Apologies

Helen Dunn, Alison Parker, Christine Newlove, Paula Biddlestone, Pat Pritchard, Denise Watkins, Chris Lambert, Mike Troon, Jon Beaumont, Liz Gwillim, Jackie Hanes, Erica Foster, Susanne Homer, Sally Hassell and David Houston

2. Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer presented the report. There were no questions. The Chair thanked the Treasurer for her work over the last year.

3. Nomination of Officers

There were no nominations. Members thanked the current incumbents for their efforts over the last year and asked them to continue in office. They agreed to do this but stressed that all members should consider getting involved in the running of the association as new views and ideas would be needed to take the group forward.

4. Future meetings

The Chair explained that, as a result of the original December meeting being cancelled due to low numbers, the committee felt it appropriate to give the members the opportunity to give their views on the time of the day, day of the week, month of the year, format and content of future meetings.

The general feeling was that lunchtime was best but that it might be worth trialling Tuesdays or Thursdays. It was also decided that the next meeting should be in early April and a volunteer was sought to host this.

Members felt that meetings where suppliers, etc. presented and those devoted to round table discussions were both of value and that there should be a mix, or a combination, of both in the future.

A session run by Barry Vickery was planned for 12:30 on Wednesday, 23rd February at Cobbetts covering international company information. This had been run for CLIG in November and had been well received. Can members please let the Secretary know if they intend to attend.

Barry also offered to run another Companies House update session, similar to the one run at Cobbetts in February 2010, covering CH developments, past and planned. The committee will look at the timing of this and advise members. He also told members that 7Side were organising another tour of Companies House in the near future and that ALLICE members would be offered free places on this.
Other ideas for future meetings were:

• Research Monitor/OneLog – either suppliers’ presentations or round table discussions based on members’ experiences. (Pinsents agreed to cover RM).
• Justis/JusCite.
• Copyright/Digital Rights Management.
• Lexis Learning update (following on from useful session at Pinsents in November).

The Secretary was asked to seek views on this subject from those not in attendance.

5. Future training events

There was a general view that future training events should be planned and ideas were offered for topics. These were:

• Social media and associated tools.
• Presentation skills and marketing library services (Terry Kendrick, who ran the successful Company Information event in November 2009, has offered to run a ‘Marketing’ event for us. The committee will cost this out and advise members).
• ‘All about Google’. This is being run by Karen Blakeman in Newcastle in March for UKeIG and Karen has offered to run it elsewhere.

The committee were asked to consider opening up attendance to these events to other groups, including the Bristol Law Librarians Group (BRILL).

6. Future social events

The members felt that an evening social event in the summer should be organised.

7. A.O.B.

There was no other business.

International Company Information

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:10:00 +0000

Barry Vickery from 7side Ltd is running an event for us on this topic on Wednesday 23rd February 2011 at Cobbetts starting at 1200 and finishing at 1430.

This will cover:

*How foreign company information and filing requirements differ from those in the UK
*Identifying the most popular off-shore jurisdictions and explaining their popularity
*Discussing differences in filing requirements between Public and Private Companies (through a range of jurisdictions) and access to information
*Locating ownership information when the parent / subsidiary might be foreign
*Demonstrating how easy it is to make a company ‘invisible’, and discussing the implications for due diligence checks
*Identifying a range of suffixes for companies and which countries use them
*Exploring common questions, and highlighting some interesting statistics

I'm sure you will agreee this this will be most useful for LIS people in corporate firms and of interest to others

Can you please let Phil Uttley (phil.uttley@ssd.com) know if you intend to attend the event

Freelance law library work?

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:53:00 +0000

Dear All

I am looking for part-time or casual work, so if you have a backlog of looseleafing or if you know of any lawyers in my area who need any library help I'd be grateful if you would give me a call or email.

I am not looking for a full-time position, and if possible I would like work that does not involve a long commute so I am targetting Stratford upon Avon Redditch and Evesham especially, but would be interested in anything in Birmingham also.

Tricia
01789 763597
0791 334 6154
patriciawylib@gmail.com

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:46:00 +0000

ALLICE wishes all readers of its blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Propserous New Year

"December" meeting now in January

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Hi

Due to low numbers, we've decided to cancel the meeting planned for 8th December

A meeting has now been arranged, again at St Philips, for Wednesday 19th January at 1200 for 1230

This will be an ALLICE 'business' meeting where we will cover the following:

Nomination and election of officers
Future meetings - day/time/month/nature
Future training events
Future social events

Please let me know if you can attend

Regards

Phil

PART TIME VACANCY FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION ASSISTANT

noreply@blogger.com (Sue Kendall) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:37:00 +0000

We are currently seeking to recruit a part time library assistant in Birmingham.

For details see our website http://www.mills-reeve.com/library-information-assistant-birmingham/

The position is for 25 hours and the closing date is 30th August.

Collection available

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:16:00 +0000

Hi

I've been contacted by Sandra at Michael J Carless solicitors in Womborne. She tells me that Mr Carless is retiring and closing his business shortly and will have a specific book collection which he will no longer require.

It's Sweet & Maxwell's Current Law Statutes from 1977 to 2002

If anyone is interested in this, please contact Sandra on 01902 897743

Phil

ALLICE Bursary to the BIALL conference - Report

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:13:00 +0000

Notes on BIALL Conference 2010 - "Risks and Opportunities: Managing Information in Difficult Times"

Thanks to a bursary from ALLICE, I was able to attend the BIALL conference in Brighton this year. It was my first conference and I’m really glad that I had the opportunity to go. The sessions were useful and thought-provoking, not just for my job at Mills & Reeve, but also for the Masters in Information and Library Studies which I am working on at the moment. I tried to attend as many sessions as possible, including ‘Have your say’ and the Q&A with suppliers where I learned that loose-leafs are not going anywhere just yet! The exhibition gave me the opportunity to chat to some of our suppliers, and whilst I didn’t win anything in the raffles, I believe some ALLICE members did have luck on their side. I was also able to sample a slice of Legal Information Management cake which I think must be a once in a lifetime experience! The conference gave me my first experience of ‘speed networking’ which wasn’t as traumatic as I had expected it to be and I met some interesting people. The two dinners were great fun, although I was disappointed that my table did not win the quiz on the first night! The Grand Hotel was a very impressive venue for the formal dinner with a panoramic view of the seafront at the drinks reception. If you have not attended the conference before, I would definitely recommend it! Not only do ALLICE offer a bursary, but you can also apply direct to BIALL. At the AGM which was held at the conference, the Awards and Bursaries Committee said that they had money left over this year because they did not receive enough applications, so it is definitely worth putting one in.

The notes below do not cover all the sessions I attended, but they are the ones I found most interesting and useful.

People 2.0: Working in a 2.0 World – David Gurteen (Gurteen Knowledge)

In this opening session, David was keen to point out that People 2.0 could be seen as a slightly “cringeworthy” (his words, not mine!) concept. He set out what he means by People 2.0 and what it means for organisations. He gave some background on the history of Web 2.0 and the transformation of the web from read only to read/write through social media and participatory tools. The concept of Enterprise 2.0 emerged when these tools started to be used in organisations and brought with them challenges to traditional power structures and confidentiality and privacy issues. Whilst the original concept of Knowledge Management was about extracting knowledge from people and putting it in databases, KM 2.0 is more about connecting people. His overriding message was that “2.0” was not just about social media tools, but about participation. In order for Enterprise 2.0 and KM 2.0 to work, people need to have a participatory “2.0” mindset which basically involves being open minded and having a lot of conversations! He used a number of quotes to illustrate his point, but my favourite was one from Alfie Kohn, an ex teacher, who said that: “An innovative, healthy organisation requires that we work with people rather than do things to them.” In the Q&A session afterwards people raised various concerns including that hourly billing means it is impossible to work like this in practice; that conversations on web forums can get very out of hand, very quickly and that the legal system is highly structured and this in itself presents many challenges to a 2.0 way of working.

Delivering Change. Changing Perceptions – Catherine Kenwright (Irwin Mitchell) & Anthony Davies (Lexis Nexis)

This was a really interesting session which showed how suppliers are changing the ways in which they work with their customers. Catherine and Anthony talked us through a collaborative project between Lexis and Irwin Mitchell to deliver a comprehensive integrated knowledge solution into the Firm. A major factor that led Irwin Mitchell to embark on the project was the firm’s growth, which included a number of mergers. This resulted in disparate IT systems and duplication of resources. In addition, the recession meant that their big clients wanted cheaper, faster service. Finally, the information services team wanted to change the way they were perceived within the firm, not just as law librarians but also as information specialists. Anthony outlined how they went about working together on the project. Lexis conducted 37 hours of interviews with senior executives at the firm in order to identify the business needs. They were not pushing Lexis products and were working to become a strategic supplier to a business partner, not just a vendor. Catherine said that they chose Lexis in the end because it was a one stop shop, they could integrate the products with all their internal systems, and it was a large, risk averse business. Also, the pricing model meant that it was possible to always plan for the next three years, and drive down internal costs by improving efficiency. The general mantra was that Lexis provided them with “solutions not products”.

Emerging Alternative Models for Managing Information Resources in Law Firms: Outsourcing, Co-sourcing and Offshoring” – Chris Bull & Michael Maher (Integreon)

This issue is at the forefront of many people’s minds at the moment and needless to say it was a very well attended session! I had only really been aware of the negative aspects of outsourcing so it was a great opportunity to get the insider view on how it works and what it means in practice for legal information professionals. Their shared library service is made up of four elements – collection management, research enquiries, management of e-resources and user education and guidance and Chris and Michael explained how each of these worked in practice. It was interesting to learn how outsourced library services would run an enquiry service for multiple clients. It involves a centralised enquiries system, but with separate inboxes for each client. In order to maintain confidentiality, replies to enquires can only be sent from the client specific inbox. It is also possible to allocate sensitive enquiries to a specific person, although apparently no clients have requested this yet. Chris and Michael said that people working in legal information would get more opportunities to progress and gain specialist knowledge if working for a company like Integreon rather than within a law firm. Integreon want to be seen within the profession as an “employer of choice”.

Knowledge Management Refocused – Harriet Creamer (Outer Circle)

Harriet Creamer discussed how library and information services could support KM within law firms. The session focused on the idea that those working in library and information need to be aware of how the business works in order to support KM effectively. She went on to demystify terms such as revenue, gearing, utlization, blended rates and volume discounts – things which I have heard discussed before but have had absolutely no idea what they meant until now! She highlighted the need for legal information professionals to have an awareness of what makes the business profitable and understand where costs are incurred. This can be done through building good relationships with finance departments not just in terms of your own budget, but also on a strategic level. She gave practical tips such as encouraging lawyers to rely more heavily on external services where appropriate. For example using PLC to produce basic documents. The key areas which library and information services can be involved in are supporting better working practices; promoting efficiency; delivering profitability and deepening client relationships. However, this relies on having an awareness of the issues affecting the business.

Legal Research in Practice; Transition from Law School to the Work Place and Beyond – Thomas Laidlaw (Lexis Nexis)

Whilst this session was mainly about training, we did get a sneak preview of some new features that Lexis will be rolling out soon. These include:

§ Drop down box of search suggestions when typing in search terms
§ A Google style ‘did you mean’ function if no results are found
§ Legal terms navigator – will provide definitions, basic resources, cases and legislation

Thomas also alerted us to www.lexisweb.co.uk/lawcampus which has a number of training videos that would be useful for law students and trainees. The videos are also available on youtube at www.youtube.com/user/lexisnexisacademy

There is a write up of this session in this month’s Legal Information Management. (Volume 10 Number 2 2010 p.124)

For more thoughts on this years BIALL conference, keep an eye out for the next edition of the BIALL newsletter which will be published at the end of July.

Jasmin Hollingum
Library/Information Services Officer
for Mills & Reeve LLP
+44(0)121 456 8257
jasmin.hollingum@mills-reeve.com

June meeting - Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:12:00 +0000

12.30 pm Wednesday 23rd June 2010

In attendance

Caroline Mosley (CM), Caroline Covington (CC), Diane Harris (DH), Helen Dunn (HD), Alison Parker (AP), Hazel Hewison (HH), Rachel Relves (RR), Matthew Cadden (MC), Stephen Wheeler (SW), Jackie Sellars (JS), Barry Vickery (BV), Adele Champkin (AC), Jasmin Hollingum (JH), Sue Kendall (SK), Christine Lambert (CL), Tricia Wyspianska (TW), Pat Pritchard (PP), Susanne Homer (SHo), Sally Hassell (SHa) & Phil Uttley (PU)

1. Apologies

Margaret Brittin, Jon Beaumont, Christine Newlove, Aine Astbury, Caroline Janukowicz, David Houston, Erica Foster, Mandy Hulme, Denise Watkins, Mike Troon & Louise Young

2. A.O.B.

· Report back from Conference

Jasmin Holingum presented her report (which is attached to the same email as these minutes) and thanked ALLICE for funding her bursary. She encouraged others to apply in future years, should the bursary be available, as the experience of attending conference was very worthwhile

· BLS library at Aston University

Adele Champkin advised members that a complete refurbishment of the Aston University library will be completed over this summer and promotional material would be available soon afterwards. Online access to Lexis Library and WestLaw was also being considered. Details of the new developments would be sent to BLS members and she encouraged them to feedback on this and anything else pertaining to the library

· ALLICE Union list

Phil Uttley asked those members who wanted to make a contribution to the ALLICE Union list to send details of their law report and journal holdings to him in the form of a MS Word document by 9th July

· Old law books

Please let Diane Harris know if you are interested in pooling any old law books that you might be holding, with a view to donating them to a charity, so that she can look at the possibility of asking some organisation to collect them in bulk

3. Round table discussion

· Enquiry trends and measurement

Legal enquiries are now generally only those involving complex issues or ‘difficult to source’ cases. (PP/CM). Legal research work has reduced in some firms so that only minimal resource is required. (SHo/CM)

More business development work is being done (HH/PP/CM) in fact, following active promotion, it now requires the allocation of significant resource. (CM)

Work on company research is increasing (AP) and regularly involves non-UK companies as these are the ultimate holding companies of many new clients. (PU/RR) Additionally, more knowledge is now required on foreign legislation and systems. (RR) International company research might be a good topic for a future ALLICE training course. (PU)

Whilst it is known that some firms are restricting their legal research enquiry hours (SHo), the trend is for library staff to be required outside their normal times. (PU/RR)

Enquiry forms were used by some firms (SHo) but others had met resistance from lawyers. However, adopting some form of enquiry management system is useful for monitoring and measuring enquiry work and may help justify library resources going forward. (AP)

Visibility of library input can be diluted where research work is presented back to lawyers by third parties, eg, professional support lawyers (PSLs) and this makes justification of library resource more difficult. Some libraries ‘brand’ their work to prevent this happening. (PP/CM)

Research Monitor is used by some to monitor usage of electronic resources (RR) and this can be useful in justifying and/or terminating subscriptions to online resources. It also helps identify training needs and could be used to allocate costs. Details of this system will be sent to members later via the secretary. (BV)

Current measurement of enquiry work is restricted to manual systems, mainly Excel spreadsheets. The problem with these is that they are dependent on people remembering to fill in all their enquiries, which can be difficult at busy times

· Allocating costs

Generally, no firms allocated library resource costs other than those costs incurred when purchasing documents from Companies House, Land Registry, etc. Some firms had tried in the past but even though PSL and trainee time spent on research was sometimes charged back to clients (PP), doing the same for library time had met with resistance. (CM)

· Lexis v WestLaw

At one firm, users had wanted both systems (CC) but, once usage statistics and costs became more visible, most opted out of Lexis subscriptions. Taking both systems, however, had allowed some firms to cancel hard copy versions and, therefore, reduce costs but this meant that they were now more committed to retaining both on-line subscriptions. (CL/RR) Where firms had both systems, there seemed to be a general trend towards WestLaw by users. Both suppliers offered bespoke training but the quality of this varied by system and firm. (HH/PP/SHa)

Lexis ‘commentary’ was far superior to that on WestLaw (HH) but WestLaw case analyses, especially the case precedent information, was preferable. (DH)

Lexis ‘commentary’ package costing was restrictive, though, with reduced packages sometimes incurring increased costs. More recent contact with Lexis, however, was revealing a more flexible approach. (HD/AP)

Historic legislation, especially the ‘point in time’ facility was a unique feature of WestLaw (DH) and while Lexis offered the same information through their helpdesk, they could only offer 24 hour response. (SHo)

Lawtel was also discussed and it was felt its key features were its alerts and unreported cases.

4. Next meeting
This will take place in September and it is hoped that Sweet & Maxwell will be in attendance. A location is required for this. Please let Phil Uttley know if you are able to host

June meeting - Agenda

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:10:00 +0000

12.30 pm Wednesday 23rd June 2010

Meeting held at

Hammonds LLP
Rutland House
148 Edmund Street
BIRMINGHAM
B3 2JR

In attendance

Caroline Mosley, Caroline Covington, Diane Harris, Helen Dunn, Alison Parker, Louise Young, Rachel Relves, Matthew Cadden, Stephen Wheeler, Jackie Sellars, Barry Vickery, Adele Champkin, Jasmin Hollingum, Sue Kendall, Christine Lambert, Tricia Wyspianska, Pat Pritchard, Susanne Homer, Sally Hassell & Phil Uttley

Agenda

1. Apologies

Margaret Brittin, Jon Beaumont, Christine Newlove, Aine Astbury, Caroline Janukowicz, David Houston, Erica Foster, Mandy Hulme, Denise Watkins & Mike Troon

2. Round table discussion (it may not be possible to cover all subjects listed)

- Enquiries - what type of enquiries are received, how are they received and, where applicable, how are enquiries from other UK offices dealt with? What issues have been encountered and what trends have been detected?
- Measuring library usage – what systems, if any, are used?
- Cost recovery – is this done? Does it work? What are the issues?
- Lexis v WestLaw – are both needed?
- Fee v free sources – is using free resources for research working?

3. Next meeting – Sweet & Maxwell will be in attendance – location required

4. A.O.B.

- Report back from Conference (Jasmin)
- BLS library at Aston University (Adele)
- ALLICE Union list (Phil)

ALLICE Bursary for the BIALL conference

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0000

BURSARY for BIALL Conference

It has been agreed that ALLICE will again offer a bursary to facilitate attendance at the BIALL Conference in 2010.

Eligibility criteria will be similar to those applicable to BIALL bursaries:

1) Applicants must be current members of ALLICE

2) Preference will be given to applicants who have worked in law libraries for less than 5 years, who have not attended a BIALL Conference before and who would not otherwise be able to attend due to lack of funding from their employers.

3) The bursary will cover the cost of the Conference Package - it does NOT include travel or accommodation costs.

Applications forms can be requested from Phil Uttley, Hammonds LLP, Rutland House, 148 Edmund Street, Birmingham, B3 2JR DX 708610 Birmingham 17
phil.uttley@hammonds.com

Final date for applications – 31st March 2010

Applicants will be informed of the outcome as soon as possible after this date

Minutes of March 2010 meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:26:00 +0000

Association of Law Librarians in Central England

Wednesday 17th March 2010 at No 5 Chambers

Attendees:

Adele Champken, Caroline Mosley, Caroline Covington, Alison Parker, Helen Dunn, Jasmin Hollingum, Matthew Cadden, Phil Uttley, Stephen Wheeler, Tricia Wyspianska, David Houston and Aine Astbury

Simon Watson and Jo Davies from Justis Publishing

Apologies

Sally Hassall, Hazel Hewison, Chris Newlove, Barry Vickery, Carol Wilson, Jackie Sellars, Chris Lambert, Erica Foster, Mike Troon, Jon Beaumont, Pat Pritchard, Aileen Johnston, Mandy Hulme, Sue Kendall and Diane Harris

Treasurer’s report

A copy of the report had been sent out prior to the meeting with notes. There were no matters arising

ALLICE Bursary for the BIALL conference

A bursary, to cover conference fees only, will be available to ALLICE members for this year’s conference in June in Brighton.

ALLICE Union List

The membership agreed to produce a new Union list for 2010. A volunteer is required to collect contributions and publish the list. Please let Phil Uttley know if you can help with this

Next meeting

The next meeting will be held at Hammonds on Wednesday 23rd June. It will be a networking meeting, discussing a range of issues including:

cost recovery, training, Lexis v Westlaw, free v fee resources, outsourcing in the library world, measuring library usage, hardcopy v on-line, library staff:attorney ratios and Web 2.0

If you would particularly like the meeting to focus on any of these topics, or have additional topics you would like to add, please let Phil Uttley know by the end of May

A.O.B.

Aine Astbury informed the meeting that Hilary Boucher was retiring and leaving No 5 Chambers at the end of March. Diane Harris, from Martineau, will replace her.

Simon Watson and Jo Davies from Justis Publishing gave a presentation and demonstration of JustCite & Justis. A discussion followed which included the offer by Justis to discuss, with a possible "ALLICE consortium", group subscription to Justcite. If any ALLICE member is interested in exploring this opportunity further, please contact Caroline Mosley.

March meeting - Agenda

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:31:00 +0000

12.30 pm Wednesday 17th March 2010

Meeting to be held at

No 5 Chambers
Fountain Court
Steelhouse Lane
BIRMINGHAM
B4 6 DR

http://no5.schmakk.com/media/43609/birmingham%20office%20map%202009.pdf

Agenda

1. Apologies

2. Treasurer’s Report

3. The ALLICE Union list

– any volunteers for this now that Bev Preece has left us?

4. Next meeting – 23rd June 2010 at Hammonds - a discussion forum

possible topics are
cost recovery, training, Lexis v Westlaw, free v fee resources, outsourcing in the library world, metrics on library usage, desksets, library staff : attorney ratios and Web 2.0

5. A.O.B.

Simon Watson, International Sales Manager from Justis will be joining us and, following a short presentation, will be staying for a networking session

Meeting - March

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:52:00 +0000

Here is advance notice of our next meeting for your diaries

The meeting will be held on the meeting will be at 12:30 at No5 Chambers on Wednesday 17th March.

The visiting speaker will be Simon Watson from Justis . He will be updating us on their new products and services and taking any questions we might have afterwards

Trust that's whetted your appetite - more details, with the agenda, will follow nearer the day

Regards

Phil

7Side seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Uttley) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:22:00 +0000

Hi

We've been very fortunate in getting our friends at 7Side to agree to run a seminar for us on "The Companies Act 2006 and the effects on Companies House"

This is a seminar they have run for both CLIG and BIALL recently where, in both cases, it was very well received

This is taken from CLIG's site:

CLIG's Companies Act Seminar

Last night Chris Sollars, HR & Training Director from 7Side, led 30 CLIG members through the implications of the recent changes to the UK company filing regime. Around 30 people heard how the apparently subtle changes will have consequences: directors' service addresses, permissible names, reduced shareholder information. On an operational level Chris also provided a list of the known issues with Companies House information (like random insertion of middle names into officers details... the mind boggles!). And I can see myself becoming familiar with IN01s before long. I'd like to say thanks again to Chris for accepting our invitation to speak.
The 1 hour seminar, which will commence at 12.30 pm in the Boardroom at Cobbetts in Birmingham on Monday 22nd February, is free to attend.

Please let me know if you intend to be there to assist with the provision of drinks

Regards

Phil