Thursday 28 June 2012

National Archives recruiting volunteers to update the statute book

Today I learnt that the National Archives hopes to recruit up to 50 volunteers to update legislation.gov.uk.

Legislation.gov.uk is the government-provided online source for legislation in the UK, managed by the National Archive in Kew. According to an article in the Law Society Gazette*, it is not as current as its commercial rivals Lexis Library and Westlaw because the current editorial team don't have the capacity to constantly update it, and there is no money to recruit more staff.

John Sheridan, head of legislative services at the National Archives, hopes to recruit up to 50 volunteers to bring the database up-to-date by 2015. The volunteers need to have an understanding of how legislation works, but they don't have to be laywers.

*Full article in the Law Society Gazette:
http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/opinion/joshua-rozenberg/the-national-archives-recruiting-volunteers-update-statute-book

I read about this on the Inner Temple Library's current awareness blog:
http://www.innertemplelibrary.com/

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Mobile Apps for Law

Today I learnt how to monitor new mobile apps for lawyers.

Mobile Apps for Law is a searchable database of legal mobile applications, covering all mobile devices. It has a strong US focus and you need to be a subscriber to access the database. However anyone can access the free RSS feed which lists new apps as they are added to the database.

Mobile Apps for Law is maintained by Infosources Publishing and according to its website it is "the only database devoted to mobile apps for lawyers".

Mobile Apps for Law:
http://www.informedlibrarian.com/MobileAppsforLaw/

RSS feed:
http://www.informedlibrarian.com/MobileAppsforLaw/MobileApps.xml

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Solvency II Glossary

Today I learnt there is a glossary to Solvency II terms on the Lloyd's of London website:

http://www.lloyds.com/The-Market/Operating-at-Lloyds/Solvency-II/Information-for-managing-agents/Solvency-II-Glossary

Lloyd's has also made available a Solvency II timeline and online tutorials if you really need to know your stuff.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Date and Birthday Calculators

Today I learnt how to find out when I am 1 billion seconds old.

The website timeanddate.com has a useful Date Calculator which "enables you to add or subtract days, months and years to a date to calculate a past or future date." The site also has a (less useful but more fun) Birthday Calculator which lets you calculate, amongst other things, when you are 1 billion seconds old. The Date Duration Calculator lets you calculate the duration between two dates, so you can find out exactly how old you are right now, if you have nothing better to do...

Date Calculator:
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html

Birthday Calculator:
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/birthday.html

Date Duration Calculator:
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

Friday 15 June 2012

Create Case Alert feature on Westlaw UK

Today I learnt about the useful Create Case Alert feature on Westlaw UK.

I’m not sure if this is a new feature or if it has somehow passed me by all this time. If you want to be alerted to changes made to the case you are looking at, click on “Create Case Alert” at the top right of the screen. You will be presented with the options to be alerted by email if:

·          the case status changes
·          an appeal has been heard
·          a different case has been heard between the same parties
·          it is cited in another case
·          it is referred to in a journal article

You can do this from the Case Analysis Document, full-text case, or Graphical History screen. Very useful.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Love Charing Cross Road Festival 30 June 2012

Today I learnt what to do if you love Charing Cross Road and want to support high street bookshops -attend the Love Charing Cross Road Festival on 30 June 2012!

For those of you who don't know, London's Charing Cross Road is somewhat of a cultural hub. It is also home to the bookshops Foyles and Blackwells which will be hosting various cultural activities and events on that day. Events include poetry readings and story telling, author talks, live jazz, a literary treasure hunt and pub quiz to name a few.

According to the Bookseller* both Foyles and Blackwells have seen a 10% drop in footfall and sales because of the Crossrail roadworks that have restricted access routes to the area from Oxford Street so that's good reason to attend. The date also marks the start of Independent Booksellers Week and National Reading Group Day.

Bookseller Article:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/love-charing-cross-road-festival-30th-june.html

Love Charing Cross Road Festival:
http://lovecharingcrossroad.com/charing-cross-road-festival-2012/

Thursday 7 June 2012

BIALL Law Librarian Salary Survey 2012

Today I learnt how to benchmark my salary against that of other law librarians using the BIALL Law Librarian Salary Survey.

The survey allows law librarians and information professionals to compare their pay and benefits with colleagues in academic, private or public sectors. It is a useful benchmarking tool for salary negotiations. You need to be a member of BIALL (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians) to complete the survey and to access the completed survey (and back issues). The 2012 survey is now open.

The BIALL website provides further information and a link for BIALL members to complete the 2012 survey:
http://www.biall.org.uk/publications.php?action=publication&id=27

Wednesday 6 June 2012

HCPP (House of Commons Parliamentary Papers)

Today I learnt about HCPP (House of Commons Parliamentary Papers).

It's a paid-for service that provides access to 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present day. It is complete from 1801 to present day. According to the website HCPP "includes the full text from Hansard, the Official Report of debates in Parliament, from both the House of Commons and House of Lords, from 1803 to 2005". Each page includes images, detailed indexing, and you can search across the full-text.

It's a service aimed at academic institutions, public libraries and other specialist art libraries so I don't think commercial law firms qualify (but I'm not 100% sure on this point). In any case it looks useful if you are a law student, academic law librarian or a private researcher.

HCPP website:
http://parlipapers.chadwyck.co.uk/

Thanks to my colleague Sam for this one.