Tuesday, 8 February 2011

New book - reviewed by Susan Singleton

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.

Monday, 7 February 2011

Date for your diary

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.

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Minutes of meeting on 19th January 2011

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

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

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Freelance law library work?

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

Tuesday, 21 December 2010

Merry Christmas

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


"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