Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2019
In the 1970s London law firms realised just how useful law librarians could be and there was a huge growth in their number during the 1980s. The first co-operative venture began in the mid-70s when we produced a Union List of Holdings and from that grew the City Law Librarians Group. By 1986 there were at least 60 firms in London employing over 150 professional law librarians. Provincial law firms were generally smaller but by the same date firms in Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Norwich and Bristol were employing law librarians.
1 Miskin, Christine ‘Perception and Projection of the Library's Image in the Law Firm’. (1987) The Law Librarian 18(1), pp 2–6Google Scholar.
2 Blake, Mary. A History of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 1969–1999. [Warwick], BIALL, 2000, Chapter 8Google Scholar: Membership.
3 Polytechnic of Central London.
4 BIALL Conference Papers on Information Technology and Law Libraries, (1986) The Law Librarian, 17(1).
5 In 1985 Raper, Diane wrote …“a number of law firms now have Lexis but it is generally accepted that their use is not high volume. Neither is it very logical….” (1986) The Law Librarian 17(1) 26–29Google Scholar. She also remembers attending the first ever training session in the UK: “We all sat there like lemons as the dial up modem couldn't make a connection. It was all too complex for the average City lawyer to understand”.
6 The key case was Aluminium Industrie Vaassen BV v Romalpa Aluminium Ltd [1976] 1 W.L.R. 676 where it was decided that title to goods does not pass to the buyer until stated conditions are fulfilled notwithstanding delivery of the goods to the buyer.