I had always heard that BIALL delegates to the CALL conference were warmly welcomed, and this year proved to be no exception. From the moment I arrived in Canada, I was greeted like an old friend, reflecting the close co-operation between our two Associations over the years. The size of the conference and structure of the programme make it very easy for BIALL delegates to participate, and the facilities in the London Convention Centre were excellent, making this a very enjoyable trip.

This article by John Furlong attempts to provide a context and a background for the various names ascribed to the jurisdictional entity of Ireland.

In his paper given at the 38th BIALL Annual Study Conference, Derek Law considers the role of libraries and teaching, in particular academic libraries, in the new Web 2.0 world. He considers the needs of the new generation of “digital natives” in terms of the traditional library and questions whether it still has a role to fulfil. He concludes that academic librarians must become fully involved in the digital revolution and embrace new methods of developing their collections.

Visual materials are often neglected by legal researchers. However, as Dominic Janes explains, attitudes to appearances played an important role in the way in which many criminal investigations were undertaken, notably in the years prior to the Sexual Offences Act (1967). Analysis of aspects of visual culture played a role in the detection of many forms of illegal behaviour and the resulting materials provide a valuable resource for the contemporary researcher. These issues are explored through a case study that involves reading between a painting by the British expressionist Francis Bacon (1909–92) and a photograph in the National Archives taken during a police raid on a London flat in 1927.

Vicky Ling outlines the Government's proposals to reform the legal aid scheme for family law. They would remove legal aid funding from many potential clients and threaten access to justice.

Free access to public legal information for the general public and professionals promotes justice and the rule of law. Presenters at the 2015 Law via the Internet conference discussed projects using the power of technology combined with expert human input to make information accessible, and to extract new information from large document collections. Although the scale is different, there are similarities in the ways in which indexers and informaticians explore meaning, develop standards and consider user needs to make information widely accessible. Glenda Browne reports on the conference.*

Having worked in law librarianship in the United Kingpdom for almost five years and known colleagues who had attended overseas conferences, I always thought what a wonderful opportunity it is to attend an overseas conference. Where else would you be able to meet like-minded folk from a completely different part of the world and possibly also a different culture? When I saw that the 2002 ALLG symposium was being held in Brisbane I decided this was the year I should apply to attend. Of course the fact that I have friends who live near Brisbane did not influence my thought process or affect my enthusiasm to attend!

E-government first came on the scene for local authorities in 1999 with the publication of the White Paper Modernising Government by the Cabinet Office. The Government of the time was persuaded that, due to the substantial and high publicity advances in online and dot.com businesses, public services in general and local government functions in particular would have to be capable of being delivered technologically. If this was not to be the case, then the Government expected a backlash from those who could buy goods online, download music from Internet sites and post messages on bulletin boards but who could not report a fault, make a complaint or pay their council tax in a similar way. Ironically, during the intervening years, the business world has seen the dot.com crash and many of the young upstart businesses which appeared on the scene around that time have either gone bust or been swallowed up by more traditional businesses that approached the electronic agenda much more slowly and cautiously. This means that one of the main drivers to have e-government at all, has substantially reduced in its ferocity.

Amanda Fancourt is a Lecturer on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice. This article summarises the results of her research project, “Hitting the Ground Running?”, which looks at whether graduates receive a sufficiently focussed training for future legal careers whilst studying on the Legal Practice Course.

Employment is one of the five main departments at City law firm Fox Williams LLP. In the following article, Julie Keys considers the resources needed to support an employment practice and how these relate to the research requirements of employment lawyers.

In Queensland, Australia, community legal centres utilise a range of different types of information technology to provide legal advice and assistance to their clients, which include marginalised and disadvantaged groups. In this article Emma Phillips and James Farrell considers the use and efficacy of different types of information technology within the community legal sector, discussing the findings of recent empirical research on this issue in the context of the relevant research literature. The article then explores issues associated with the use of information technology in the provision of legal information and advice, including the limitations associated with this technology in the context of the delivery of legal assistance to vulnerable clients.

Looking back to 1999, there were a number of search engines which performed equally well. I recommended defining the search strategy very carefully, using Boolean logic and field search techniques, and always running the search in more than one search engine. Numerous articles and Web columns comparing the performance of different search engines came to different conclusions on the ‘best’ search engines. Over the last year, however, all the speakers at conferences and seminars I have attended have recommended Google as their preferred tool for locating all kinds of information on the Web. I confess that I have now abandoned most of my carefully worked out search strategies and comparison tests, and use Google for most of my own Web searches.

Nick Davies delivered two lively sessions at the BIALL Conference 2011 concerning, “How to make your training engaging? Presenting so People Learn”. This article summaries those practical notions relating to effective delivery of training sessions and provides tips relating to the art of successful presenting.

This is very much a personal opinion on the potential demise of the traditional library (which some would argue has already gone). My aim was to reassure library and information professionals that there is a role left for our profession in the world of lawyers who are able to access information at their desks; a world which includes professional support lawyers and know how databases. This is no place for the fainthearted, and especially not for the stereotypical librarian – if such a creature exists. This article will only scratch the surface of some issues, so I welcome comments, feedback and downright disagreement – [email protected]

This article by David Ogden addresses the census collection of Great Britain. The 100 year rule regarding the public release of information is examined and explained, as is the Census Act 1920, as amended in 2000. It also considers the impact of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of the release of records by repositories. The 30 year standard closure on official papers is considered.

In recent years BIALL has informally addressed the question of a Code of Ethics for its members. Discussions have taken place in the Professional Standards and Development Committee, and the issue has been raised cursorily by Council in its occasional meetings. Hitherto, however, there has been no attempt at formally addressing the question of ethics specifically for law librarians in the UK or the Republic of Ireland.

One of the most satisfying aspects of editing a magazine such as Managing Information, is the gathering together of expertise to help people improve their abilities and the services they provide and to facilitate, through raised awareness and discussion, the development of solutions to issues. Just such an opportunity has presented itself over the past year in the form of the imminent implementation of EU Directive 29/2001.

Selecting my title to span two conference topics, this year's and last, I admit could have been a little tricky, but my inspiration in the end came from music and hopefully you too will see, as we progress through this presentation, just how much our profession can learn from the musicians.

John Furlong of Matheson, Ormsby Prentice LLP briefly describes the services provided by the Companies Registration Office.

Cynthia Fellows, Philip Leith and Joe Ury report on the survey responses to a usage and attitudinal project carried out in early 2012 by the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII). There were 3,274 survey participants and their responses demonstrate substantial support for BAILII as an open access mechanism, a technically competent dissemination tool and a useful resource for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. Such positive response, we suggest, indicates that BAILII's resources are now threaded through the fabric of UK digital legal information, strengthening the ability of all citizens to access and become better informed about the laws of the land.