The BIALL Blog

A Decadent Night of Chocolate Making

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:34:00 +0000

When the you get to Belfast for the BIALL conference, you will probably have had a long journey. You may have been cramped on a plane, rocked on a ferry, or just had an uncomfortable train or car journey.

You will need to relax ... and you will deserve a treat.

So you should sign up to the Justis pre-conference gathering immediately in order have the best chance to secure your place! You should certainly do so before the (recently extended) RSVP deadline of Friday 8th June.

Generally it does sound like a blast;

Justis tells us;

"Where – Ten Square, 10 Donegall Square South; when – from 6.30pm, Wednesday 13th June; what's on offer – an experience that a Prosecco-supping Willy Wonka would struggle to match."

The invite goes on to offer "a decadent night of chocolate making".

To RSVP you need to email sheila.kerai@justis.com at Justis.

If you don't want to feel like Conference started without you this is clearly the place to be...

# Replace A Word With Librarian

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Mon, 28 May 2012 08:28:00 +0000

Much fun has been had on Twitter in the last week or so with the game #replaceawordwithlibrarian.

I thought I would share some of the best with you...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a librarian.

After all... I'm just a librarian, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.

Ich bin ein librarian.

A librarian is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

We few, we happy few, we band of librarians

One librarian to rule them all, And in the darkness bind them.

You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been a librarian, instead of a bum, which is what I am

If you have any good ones why not suggest them as a comment?

Time to have your say

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Have Your Say is where you ask the questions about BIALL's activities, and it will once again be taking place at Conference in June.

This is your formal opportunity to raise issues about the whole range of committees, awards, conference, activities, publications and events that BIALL promotes or produces.

It's not just for those able to make the session in Belfast. Membership Services Committee would really encourage you to add your query, comment, suggestion, praise or complaint to the agenda here on the BIALL blog or to send it by email to Olwyn Mitchell (MSC committee chair)-- or catch us at the conference before the session.

40 Years of the BIALL Duplicates Exchange Scheme!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:28:00 +0000

Did you know that the BIALL Duplicates Exchange Scheme is 40 years old in 2012?

It has been, almost continuously, operational since 1972 and has this year risen again from the ashes (complete with botox) all happy, polished and raring to go (a comment from one of the scheme members).

One of the strongest features of the Scheme is the means by which all libraries can share resources, helping both large and small firms, academic and government libraries. Basically, the Scheme operates three times a year with mailings in October, February and June. It is a very good means of obtaining missing copies and off-loading duplicate periodical parts that you may have. Apart from helping to replace missing issues over the years there is a definite feel good factor in being able to help other people by passing on duplicate materials.

The Scheme can, quite easily, run alongside ad hoc Lis-Law mailings. One of the positive features is that it does provide an opportunity to focus the mind three times a year to get compile a list.

The practicalities of the scheme are fairly straight forward. There is an annual subscription which is dependant upon whether you are a member of BIALL or not and this entitles you to the three mailings. The subscription for 2012-2013 will be £38.40 for BIALL members and £60 for non-members – these figures include VAT.

The next mailing will be at the end of June – if you would like to join the Scheme please let me know and I will add you to the mailing list and invoice accordingly.

Contributed by: Catherine McArdle

John Eaton Wins Award!

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:14:00 +0000

John Eaton has been awarded the - deep breath - 2012 Association of College and Research Libraries, Law and Political Science Section Marta Lange/CQ Press Award!

The award honors an academic or law librarian who has made distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.

John is a law librarian and associate professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada. He is also a member of BIALL and you may have bumped into him at conference to which he is a regular attender. Amongst the many reasons he won this award was his authorship of Finding English Law: Key Titles for Non-UK Lawyers and Researchers. The book aimed at the non UK lawyer or researcher provides a listing of current and informative books on one hundred topics of English law.

Find all the details about his award here.

Well done John!

BIALL Annual General Meeting 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:37:00 +0000

The 2012 AGM, chaired by Susan Scorey President of BIALL, will be held in a few weeks time on Friday 15th June at 1.30pm during the Annual Conference in Belfast.

Most of the business of the Annual General Meeting is formal, but it is the only opportunity during the year for the membership to exercise its decision-making rights. Conference Delegates who are not members of the Association may attend the AGM as observers, but may not vote. The annual subscription rates are approved at this meeting, and it is only at the AGM that the Constitution and Regulations of the Association may be amended. If there is a vote, which is on a show of hands, those present who are both a personal member and the designated representative of an institutional member have one vote in each capacity and should raise both hands. Please note, apart from matters that have already been notified to the Secretary in writing and two weeks in advance, matters may only be raised under Any Other Business at the discretion of the Chair.

Any members of BIALL who have an item they wish to be included on the Agenda should notify the Chair, Susan Scorey, in writing no later than Friday, 1st June 2012.

The agenda and accompanying papers will be made available on the website shortly.

Posted on behalf of Susan Scorey, President of the British & Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL).

New Venue For Online

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:56:00 +0000

Online has moved! That is the Online Information Conference and Exhibition is no longer going to be held at Olympia but at the Victoria Park Plaza on Vauxhall Bridge Road.

We are lucky at my work in that our manager allows us a half day each to visit the exhibition which is always impressively big.

The one drawback is that November is normally freezing! I have memories of snow, ice and sitting on the tube wondering why the tube driver at Olympia tube won't shut the doors. In this regard at least the new venue will be a definite improvement.

Early Bird Date for Conference Registration

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:12:00 +0000

A reminder that the early bird date for Conference Registration is scheduled for this coming Friday, 4 May. However, as it is a Bank Holiday weekend, we will accept early bird bookings up to close of business on Wednesday, 9 May.

See the BIALL website for full details of the Belfast Conference also available online booking.

See you in Belfast!!

Is "a Universal Digital Library" within reach?

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:15:00 +0000

Have a read of this interesting article in the LA Times (at this link) which gives a good overview of the great Google digitisation project. It stalled when the Authors Guild and a group of five publishers alleged copyright infringement. The case eventually ended with the judge ruling that the issues raised were a matter for Congress.

Written by Pamela Samuelson, the faculty director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, the article argues that we should still be striving for a "Universal Digital Library". She outlines how this could happen in the second half of the piece - indeed she evangelises about it!

"Workable solutions exist to fulfil the dream of a universal digital library. Do we really want to tell our grandchildren that we could have achieved this goal but lacked the will to do so?"

Mine won't need to, copyright law will be taught right after walking and talking...

Speaker Profiles

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:06:00 +0000

Speaker: Laura Woods, Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Presentation: Parallel session 3C - "Library Blogging: Where are all the law librarians?"

Profile: Laura Woods graduated from City University London with an MSc in Library and Information Studies in January 2010, and is currently working as an Information Services Advisor at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. She blogs about her professional development activities at Organising Chaos, and you can find her on Twitter as @WoodsieGirl. She is interested in networking with her peers, particularly fellow new professionals, and in innovative ways to promote library services and the information profession. She has previously presented on the subjects of marketing library services outside the "echo chamber", and on managing your CPD on a budget. She has also written for BIALL, CILIP and SLA publications on career development, networking for new professionals and using social media.

Pre Conference Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:37:00 +0000

Intending delegates are advised that the Pre Conference Seminar - "Finance for Non-Finance Personnel" is proving very popular. This seminar takes place on Wednesday, 13 June at the Holiday Inn, Belfast.

We are limited to 50 participants so if you want to include this as part of your conference arrangement, you should get booking as soon as possible!!

See you in Belfast.

Halsbury Awards at the Titanic Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:53:00 +0000

The Conference Committee completed a final site visit to Belfast last week to firm up on arrangements for a number of the events including
the presentation of the Halsbury Awards at the Titanic Centre.

Biall representatives with Gary Harkin from LexisNexis are pictured on the impressive staircase.

This is a truly spectacular location with the reception and dinner taking place at the top of the building and the dinner served within a recreation of the
dining room from the famous ship.

Photos

1. Biall Titanic Staircase

L/R: The Grand Staircase at the Titanic Centre: Gillian Watt, Susan Scorey, Jennie Mort (Sovereign Conference), John Furlong,

Gary Harkin (Lexis Nexis)

2. Titanic Building - Exterior

Halsbury's Awards 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:18:00 +0000

Nominations are now being accepted for the Halsbury's Awards 2012, to be presented at the BIALL Annual Conference in June.

The Halsbury's Awards were established in 2007 by the BIALL Awards & Bursaries Committee and LexisNexis, in order to recognise, celebrate and reward the dedicated performance and outstanding service given by legal information services, law libraries and those teams managing legal collections and resources. These awards are particularly unique as they are the only legal information service awards that recognise the value and importance of dedicated team work within our sector.

Categories:

- Best Legal Information Service (Non-Commercial Sector)
For non-fee charging operations in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, including the academic sector, government libraries and special libraries/information services.
- Best Legal Information Service (Commercial Sector)
For law firms and other legal information services that operation commercial, fee-charging services in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and all areas of England outside the M25.
- Best Legal Information Service (Commercial Sector) - London Only
For law firms and other legal information services that operation commercial, fee-charging services in the greater London area (within the M25).
Nominations can be made by:
- The service providers themselves
- Other legal information professionals who know and use the service
- Any legal professionals with experience of the service.
To make a nomination, please visit the Halsbury's Awards website.

The deadline for nominations is Friday 18th May 2012.

Wallace Breem Memorial Award 2012 - nominations welcome

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:47:00 +0000

The Awards & Bursaries Committee is now inviting nominations for the Wallace Breem Memorial Award 2012.
The aim of the award is to recognise especially good contributions to law librarianship, or provide financial assistance for special research or other projects at a senior level. The broad terms of the Award allow the Award Committee to consider the widest range of publications or projects (in-hand or proposed), including assistance with travel or any other research costs.

For more information about the award and to download a nomination form please visit the BIALL website. The closing date for nominations is Friday 4th May 2012.
The award will be presented at the BIALL conference in Belfast in June.

BIALL Dissertation Prize – call for submissions

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:12:00 +0000

If you’re considering writing about legal aspects of librarianship for your dissertation, you could win £ 250.

BIALL offer an annual prize for the best dissertation relating to Legal Information or Law / Corporate Librarianship.

Submissions will be considered from all undergraduate and postgraduate library school students on a CILIP accredited course.

The winner will receive £ 250 and a £ 50 book voucher will be awarded to the supervisor who submitted the winning entry.

Dissertations must be submitted by supervisors – not students themselves.

For further information, including submission details, please see the BIALL website or follow the link below:

BIALL Dissertation Award

The closing date for all entries is 31^st October 2012.

Respect My Authority!

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:42:00 +0000

Back in January 2001 Lord Woolf issued a Practice Direction on the citation of authorities in court. Following in his footsteps the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge has fleshed out and updated the guidance.

Find the full Practice Direction at the following link.

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications-and-reports/practice-directions/2012/lcj-practice-direction-citation-authorities-2012

It sets out very clearly which authorities are to be used and when and even deals with the possibility of exceptions to the rule.

For the anxious trainee solicitor - and librarian trying to guide them - this is one very useful piece of direction.

Nomination open for the Legal Journal Award 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:47:00 +0000

BIALL is pleased to announce that Legal Journals Award 2012 is open for nominations.
Please submit your nomination by Friday 27 April using the form at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BIALLLegalJournalsAward2012

Previous winners of the Awards include the New Law Journal, Common Market Law Review and Estates Gazette.

The aim of the Legal Journals Award is to reward the publishing profession for quality products and outstanding contributions in the field of legal serial titles. The specific aims of the Legal Journals Award are to:

· Recognise and reward excellence in legal serials publishing

· Promote awareness of outstanding products

· Encourage the highest quality of publishing

· Set industry standards

We look forward to hearing from you.

Contributed by: Maria Bell, on behalf of the BIALL Awards and Bursaries Committee.

Speaker Profiles

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:15:00 +0000

Speaker: Richard Gaston, Addleshaw Goddard LLP.

Presentation: Parallel session 3B - "From albatross to chameleon: the future of business information research in law firm libraries."

Profile: Richard has over ten years experience delivering and managing business information research in a range of professional services contexts. He began his career at Lehman Brothers, providing business research as part of a global Information Services team, later combing this with management of Lehman's outsourced business research function. A well-timed move prior to one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in history took him to the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) - migrating his information management and business research skills to manage a team and resources dedicated to winning foreign direct investment into the Northwest of England; this role had a significant, directly client-facing aspect as part of the NWDA's business development activities. He escaped the bonfire of the quangos only lightly singed and is currently Information Services Manager for Addleshaw Goddard, a management role within a team providing sector-focussed knowledge and intelligence supporting the Firm's business development activity.

For more information regarding this parallel session, please see the BIALL website.

Speaker Profiles

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Speaker: Iain Dunbar, LAC Group & Dr Paul Clough, University of Sheffield

Presentation: Parallel session 4B - "Exploiting search trails to improve information access, discovery and learning in law firms"

Profiles:

Iain Dunbar

LAC Group provides consultancy and managed services to law firms across the USA and is now established in the UK. The company is committed to improving information and knowledge management provision across a wide variety of organisations, also having clients in the government, corporate and academic sectors. Iain is General Manager of LAC Group’s UK operations and was formerly Director of a leading LMS provider, developing and supplying software to organisations worldwide

Dr. Paul Clough

Dr. Paul Clough is a Senior Lecturer in Information Retrieval at the University of Sheffield’s Information School, one of the international group of world-leading iSchools, and recognised as the premier school of its kind in the UK. His research interests mainly revolve around developing technologies to assist people with accessing and managing information. He is Scientific Director of an EU-funded project called PATHS (Personalised Access To Cultural Heritage Spaces) that is developing technologies to support information exploration and discovery through digital cultural heritage collections.

For more information regarding this parallel session, please see the BIALL website.

BIALL 2012 Quiz final team scores, positions & photos!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:04:00 +0000

The final team scores and positions from the BIALL 2012 Quiz are now available – see list below. The Cogwheel Trust International and Wallace Breem Memorial Award will share the £1030.76 raised from the event – thanks to Prenax and Wildy & Son for their continuing generous support and to everyone who came along on Tuesday evening.

Roll on 2013 and your chance to deprive the Inner Temple team of a hat-trick of victories!

Please see below for some of the team names:

Team Name	Total
WHERE'S MICHAEL?	95
JOHN EVANS FAN CLUB 2	93*
BOOLEAN OPERATORS	93
LAST MINUTE GOAL	91
JOHN EVANS FAN CLUB 1	88
THE COALITION	87
GIN'LL FIX IT	86
KEVIN SIDE	85
TFPL TIGERS	85
DIAMOND GEEZERS	84
WILDY OWLS	84
FILM CLUB JUNIORS	83
STRICTLY FACT PACKED	81
LETS GET QUIZICAL	80
TROUSERS & HEMLINES	76
MORE'S MERRY MEN	75
7SIDE SOPHISTICATS	73
HONG KONG DEWEY	64

* 2nd after tiebreaker

Contributed by: Lynne Cameron

Speaker Profiles

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:26:00 +0000

Speakers:
Sara Batts, Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Susanna Winter, Baker & McKenzie;
Jas Breslin, Morrison & Foerster

Presentation: Parallel session 5B - "Communication, Culture and Context: Best Practice for Working Internationally"

Profiles:

Sara Batts

Sara Batts is Library Services Co-ordinator for the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Sara graduated from City University in 2006. Prior to undertaking this career-changing MSc Information Science, Sara held a number of challenging posts including organising conferences for a professional organisation.

Jas Breslin

Jas Breslin has worked as an information professional in the law firm environment for over 12 years. She is currently Regional Information Resources Manager at Morrison & Foerster, responsible for library resources in the London and Brussels offices, and has worked there since 2005.

Abstract: Between them, Susanna, Jas and Sara have 18 years' experience working in international law firms. This session will help you to understand the differences in communication and culture between key jurisdictions and the wider context in which working cultures are embedded. We will explore the assumptions your US colleagues might make about a UK-based information professional, discuss key working practices in Asia & the Middle East, and consider our experiences of supporting European colleagues. There will be opportunities to ask questions and learn from the presenters' experiences to help participants work more effectively and collaboratively with colleagues you may never actually meet.

For more information regarding this parallel session, please see the BIALL website.

Wildy BIALL Law Librarian of the Year Award 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Peat) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:56:00 +0000

The Wildy BIALL Law Librarian of the Year Award was established in 2005. From 2007 it became the responsibility of the Awards & Bursaries Committee (ABC) who now administer this prestigious award. The award is generously sponsored by Wildy & Sons Ltd.

The annual award of £500 is made, courtesy of Wildy's, to an individual law librarian / legal information professional who has made a significant contribution to the work of BIALL and/or the legal information world, either in the UK, Ireland or overseas.

For more information please see the BIALL website.

Another Great BIALL Quiz!

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:30:00 +0000

In this guest blog Libby Whitethread gives us her account of last nights BIALL quiz!

Last night, 18 teams gathered at the Penderel's Oak, Holborn, for the BIALL quiz. Hosted by the legendary John Evans (LLS/Prenax) the evening kicked off with the marathon round, comprising a number of cryptic chocolate clues (e.g. Question = Where refined people live. Answer = Quality Street). Other rounds included numbers (v tricky!), music (I realised at this point I spent way too much time in the 1980's listening to the radio in my bedroom), a logo round (compiled by Richard Grove) and the ever-popular faces round (during which a photo of Heather Mills brought up such diverse "answers" as Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga).

The eventual winners ("Where's Michael" from Inner Temple, scoring 95 points) were announced, thereby retaining their title as BIALL quiz champions. Congratulations! Hot on their heels, and joint second with 93 points each, were the teams from Hogan Lovells ("The John Evans Fan Club (2)"*) and Allen & Overy ("Boolean Operators"). A closely fought tie-breaker resulted in the JE Fan Club (2) claiming the 2nd prize – a selection of classy Penguin mugs.

Many thanks to John, Lynne Cameron, Mark Haines, Wildy's, Prenax and everyone else who worked so hard to make this a really special evening. The proceeds from the evening were split between 2 charities: the Cogwheel Trust and the Wallace Breem Fund. A date for your diaries …. John is planning to host another quiz in October. Make sure you don’t miss out and look out for publicity nearer the time!

(*It should be mentioned that 2 teams had the bright idea of currying favour with the quizmaster by calling themselves the "John Evans Fan Club" – hence "(2)")

A Human Resource - BIALL Conference 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:18:00 +0000

In this guest blog Jas Breslin explains why you should be at BIALL 2012. You will find her presenting at the parallel session "Research@Mofo: Providing a virtual enquiry service and co-presenting "Communication, Culture and Context: Best Practice for Working Internationally" Find more details here.

You are an information professional. You find information from all over the world without even leaving your office. You already know how to use all the databases at your workplace, and your clientele seem happy with what you do for them. So just what would you gain from your attendance at the BIALL Conference?

The short answer is meeting people. While you might, perhaps reasonably enough, ask yourself why you need to go through the expense of time and money travelling to another city to meet with lots of other people who do the same job as you from their own desk, maybe you should also ask yourself just who are these other people – and what might you learn from them?

Nothing beats meeting and interacting with other people from within your profession, people who face the same problems as you do, and people who might well have an answer to those problems.

Okay, you might say you can use social networking tools to reach out and connect with other people. But who should you contact? You can Tweet endlessly about what you are up to. But will people follow you if they don’t know anything about you? How can you connect with the people that matter?

And yes, your clientele are satisfied with the job you do, but could you be impressing them with a much better service if you knew how to locate information more quickly, or (importantly these days) more cheaply? Is there something more you could be doing to strengthen your position within your organisation, by broadening the worth of your work? Chances are that other people in the same profession will be able to help.

Not convinced? Well, just imagine if your library budget is slashed and you have to get rid of some of your beloved resources, either books or online databases, or both. How are you going to run the same service you always did without having trusted contacts and colleagues to help and advise you on how to locate information from other sources? How do you get an impartial overview of other suppliers and vendors in the marketplace, and how do you connect with them to build a lasting relationship?

The amazing thing is that there are so many ways that the BIALL Conference can help you develop your service and your own personal skills. The Conference this year is being held in Belfast, and the main conference and accommodation will be under one roof. This provides the perfect opportunity for delegates to chat together informally over breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a beer, as well as to gather together at formal plenary and parallel sessions to discuss ways to improve our day to day working life. There are opportunities at most presentations to ask questions, and gain the benefit of the experience of a genuine expert in his or her field.

But probably the most important thing you will take away from a BIALL Conference is the list of new contacts you have made, the little solutions to problems that have been bugging you for months on end, and the knowledge of a handful of new resources that will change the way you handle a particular research request.

So yes, you are an information professional. You find information from all over the world without leaving your office. But what more can you do with the knowledge you could gain from a few days in Belfast? How much further could you reach?

Contributed by: Jas Breslin

Looking Forward: BIALL Conference 2012 Belfast

noreply@blogger.com (Philip Cable) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:20:00 +0000

In this guest post Therese Broy the Head Librarian at Arthur Cox looks forward to BIALL 2012.

It is hard to believe that it is almost 20 years since I attended my first BIALL Conference in Edinburgh in September 1992.

I had no idea at that time how important a role BIALL would play in my professional life.

Over the years I have learned much from my colleagues in BIALL, shared ideas and experiences and enjoyed many social events at the annual conference. I have gained so much knowledge from the great variety of presentations and also from the suppliers at the exhibition.

I am really looking forward to attending the 2012 Conference in Belfast. It is such a great opportunity to meet new people and for me personally to catch up with many friends I have made in the profession and also amongst the suppliers who will be exhibiting.

The BIALL Conference is even more relevant today as we face the many challenges we are dealing with. It offers a unique opportunity to share problems with colleagues, to put a face to the name of people you have only met on email or by phone and to have some really good fun networking and exploring a new city.