Editorial

So, conference has come and gone, with just the one murder and the usual hangovers. But there's not really the space to dwell on all that in this bumper edition of LIM, so look out for the Autumn issue for a full report.

One of the very best things about Conference that is worth mentioning now, though, is the opportunity it presents to meet people face to face, and it was great for us as the LIM Co-Editors to bump into Laurie Anderson, the President of the Australian Law Librarians’ Association (ALLA) after interviewing her on Zoom a month or so before. Laurie's great company and, as you will discover from the write-up of that interview (page 74), she has had a very interesting career, while she also has some thought-provoking views on the profession, in both Australia and the wider world. Laurie has had to deal with some health issues recently, but this has certainly not dampened her lust for life and librarianship – though she does issue a very important piece of advice for all you workaholics out there.

Sadly, for the second edition in a row, we have had to start this issue of LIM with an obituary, which has been lovingly penned by members of the Irish Group. Thérèse Broy, a former Secretary of BIALL who died in March, was a longstanding and very popular member of the association and will be missed by the very many people who knew her. Turn to page 73 to read this heartfelt tribute.

On a happier note, it's an Olympic year, so we thought it might be good to get an inside line on Sports law. With this in mind, Lereesa Easterbrook and Said Sufi of Bird & Bird have put together a fascinating insight into this ever-growing legal field, and even if watching people kick a sphere around a patch of grass bores the pants off you, we can assure you that this piece, which starts on page 79, will not.

Equally enthralling is Dunstan Speight's article on the British Library cyber-attack, while it's also hugely useful for anyone working with large amounts of digital information – which is pretty much everyone reading this. This piece is particularly relevant for LIM at the time of writing this Editorial, as our publisher CUP has also been the victim of a cyber-attack. So, if you've received this issue later than normal, then we're very sorry, but chances are that this is the reason why.

Elsewhere in this edition, LIM Editorial Board Vice Chair Jake Hearn has written a great piece on an elective module on the core components of, and types of roles within, the legal information profession that he designed, with the help of two other legal information professionals and representatives from CILIP and CB Resourcing, last year. The module has since been hosted by City, University of London, and The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. In his article (page 88) Jake talks us through the reasons for instigating the module and how it was then put together.

Talking of building things, on page 92 Alan Wheeler has provided us with a fine feature on what is perhaps his favourite subject, Lego. There is much more to this than playing with blocks, though in fact in the title he does refer to it as ‘serious play’, and in this piece he asks academic librarians to employ the principles of autoethnography and storytelling within their practice as a tactic for student engagement. This is, in itself, a very engaging article.

Of course, if you're passionate about anything in the legal library and information world, as Alan and our other contributors obviously are, you can do no better than write something up for LIM. Well, you can do a little better, actually: why not write a book? If this is something you've ever considered, or even idly mulled over, then turn to page 98 for our step-by-step guide to getting published. This is written by Sian O'Neill, of Globe Law and Business, and in the article she gives us the lowdown on all things to do with getting your idea for a legal information title out of your head and into a book, including how to generate new ideas, approaching a publisher and the publishing proposal, as well as the production process and what authors can expect in terms of marketing.

REGULAR FEATURES

Turning to our regulars, in this issue the always-popular Subject Resource Guide looks at tracking a case through its lifecycle, from claim to judgment (page 103). It's a very interesting and illuminating piece, outlining as it does the various sources available and the methods to use, while its author, Anneli Sarkanen of Fieldfisher LLP, also provides plenty of tips on how to get the job done both efficiently and effectively.

Our last two pieces, just in case you were missing it, are to do with AI. One of these is a review of the critically acclaimed The Coming Wave, by Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, which LIM's ace reviewer, Susanna Winter, describes as “an accessible, knowledgeable and informative overview of the rise of artificial intelligence and ‘synthetic biology’, as well as the huge range of actual and potential benefits and threats that accompany this phenomenon”. Susanna also does a great job in identifying and drawing attention to those insights in the book that might be of relevance to information professionals. Turn to page 125 to find out more.

Sticking with AI (I'm afraid we might have to!), in our Global Perspective section Channarong Intahchomphoo and others provide an exhaustive survey of the literature to do with the effects of artificial intelligence and robotics on human labour. It's a long read (the endnotes alone could fill a book!) but for those concerned about this there could be some pointers as to where to find the information you might be searching for.