CLIG (City Legal information Group) Committee members Dunstan Speight and Lisa Sabbage report on the findings of the CLIG Professional Skills survey, winter 2013*. Information professional roles have developed in different directions in law firms in recent years and this survey sought to map the range of tasks being carried out by information professionals. It also documented the range of skills within the profession, including skills and experience which law firms might be able to exploit further. The hope is that, by showing the diversity of tasks and skills to be found in LIS departments across the City, the survey might offer individuals ideas and strategies for developing their roles within their own firms.

Suzanne Wheatley, Senior Consultant at Sue Hill Recruitment, describes the processes of redundancy from different perspectives. She discusses its potential effect on the individual and offers plenty of practical advice on how to deal with it, how to prepare for a new job and how it could potentially be an opportunity for change.

In this paper Carole Hinchcliff, Megan Fitzgibbons and Claudia Davies review free resources that can be used when researching the law in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Background descriptions of the countries' legal systems are provided, along with brief descriptions of websites which provide access to the legislation and case law of the relevant jurisdictions. The article is based on a presentation developed by Carole, and subsequently delivered by Megan and Claudia, at the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) meeting in August, 2013.

In this very practical and useful Checklist, Anne Coles and Davina Gifford of LG guide us through the steps involved in moving a corporate library to a new building, whilst at the same time re-branding the information service. They highlight the most important issues to consider at the pre-planning and planning stages; the move itself and after the move. The most important message is not to enter unwinnable battles and to prepare as thoroughly as possible.

This Conference paper by Martin Farley gives an outline of four wikis in the legal sector and examines why they were established, how they operate and how successful they have been at achieving their objectives. It also includes a brief introduction to wikis, a list of examples of other possible uses within the legal sector and a broad overview of advantages, disadvantages and probable future developments. It aims to provide an idea of what is practically possible at the moment and where the potential of law wikis lies.

As soon as I saw the theme of the Harrogate conference, ‘Gateways, Gatekeepers and Gatecrashers’, I wanted to contribute, although the thought of doing a session unnerved me. I was keen to talk about my gateway, LawBore, and how it had changed since I first wrote an article on it in Legal Information Management back in 2003, but I also wanted to convey how creating LawBore had changed things for me within my workplace.

This article by Paul Clarke (Chairman) and Eric Davies (Administrator) explains the history and current aims and activities of the EIA, which provides vital networking opportunities, for all information professionals working within the European information environment.

The Advocates Library provides a library and information service to around 470 members of the Faculty of Advocates, the Scottish Bar. The library also acts as the national law library for Scotland, having the privilege of claiming law materials on legal deposit. The Senior Librarian, Andrea Longson (the author of this article), and the library's management group work closely with staff at the National Library of Scotland and have been involved in strategic discussions about the drafting and implementation of legal deposit legislation for over ten years.

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are successfully used by many institutions to provide content which supports and enhances taught courses. In this article, Lizz Edwards-Waller explores the role of the library in uploading articles, case notes and book excerpts to a VLE for law students, and discusses the need for librarians to collaborate with course leaders and administrators. The article also considers the decision-making process involved in determining which resources to make available and highlights some key copyright issues to be aware of.

This article by Jenni Crossley and Claire Tylee examines the process of developing an online interactive guide for law students by librarians at the University of the West of England. The guide was based on material contained in the professional studies printed resource book and various multimedia applications were included to enhance the learning experience for students.

This article by Patrick Overy, from the University of Exeter, aims to clarify some of the distinctions between different categories of working document and provides details of some of the databases and collections which are essential for research into the workings of the European Union.

The authors, Karen Gray, Diane Miller, Karen Scott and Kate Stanfield, are experienced legal information professionals who are responsible both for designing and delivering in-house training sessions, and for running the BIALL Training the Trainer seminar for the last three years. The aim of this article is threefold: to explore the rationale for providing training; to examine the groundwork and preparation necessary to create the right training culture; and to offer practical guidance on how to deliver successful training activities.

legal information has specific features due to its nature, its different utilisation purposes and the intrinsic need for integration of its components, represented by legislation, cases and doctrine. access to legal literature in particular is a primary requirement; it responds to the demand for understanding and interpretation of statutes and cases, an objective that law scholars and professionals greatly contribute to.

Alison Lorrimer, who works at the Departmental Solicitor's Office Library in Belfast, reflects on how the sources of legal information have been affected by the changing political landscape in Northern Ireland.

This article is written by Rebecca Herle who is the Head of Sales and Marketing at the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England & Wales (ICLR). Her article draws on material delivered by two of her colleagues at the ICLR, namely Daniel Hoadley's recent plenary session at the BIALL Conference 2014 called, ‘The Curious Case of the Judgment Enhancers’ and Paul Magrath's article published by Infolaw.co.uk, entitled ‘The Future of Law Reporting’. It also refers in part to Lord Neuberger's speech for the first annual BAILII Lecture (in 2012) entitled ‘No Judgment – No Justice’, and reflects upon the position of the ICLR in the legal profession today. From the birth of the ICLR in 1865 to the present day the article provides a brief history, and then explores the current day issues, of this charitable publisher in its surrounding legal environment. She also offers a glimpse into what the future might hold.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the annual Academic Law Library Survey that is jointly sponsored by the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL). It has been compiled and written by David Gee, Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, a part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London.

In this checklist, Margie Jones picks out some of the key issues she encountered when moving a regional law firm's library from the head office to new premises situated six miles from the town centre to a converted warehouse. These include the challenge of offering a distance service to the fee earners.

As part of our 40th Anniversary issue we asked the immediate Past President of the Association, Jackie Fishleigh, to tell us what she felt the most important activities of the Association have been over the past year. We also asked Daniella King, now the President, to write about what she considers are the challenges the Association immediately faces.

Tim Williams explains that the use of modern digital data formats such as Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and the Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) enables the on-line searching and publishing of data held in data repositories where the ownership rights over the intellectual property are controlled. Understanding the security and quality of the content of the documents emanating from such data repositories is vital for good business strategies to be defined. As the larger publishers move increasingly towards global trading, they will control and distribute their assets globally via the internet.

In this paper Steven Whittle describes recent work at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies to provide open online access to the IALS/SALS official journal Amicus Curiae and selected papers from the Institute's annual W. G. Hart Legal Workshop. It discusses some of the issues involved in a transition from print to web publication and looks at the benefits anticipated from additional web delivery.