ALLICE wishes all readers of its blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Propserous New Year
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
"December" meeting now in January
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
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
Monday, 2 August 2010
PART TIME VACANCY FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION ASSISTANT
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.
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.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Collection available
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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)
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
ALLICE Bursary for the BIALL conference
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
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
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.
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.
Monday, 8 March 2010
March meeting - Agenda
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 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
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Meeting - March
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
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
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
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
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