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.

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/

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

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.

The World Bank's Doing Business Project

Today I learnt that the World Bank’s Doing Business Project measures and compares business regulations and their enforcement across 183 countries.

OK, so I already knew that UKTI produces “Doing business in...” guides that cover a wide range of countries, and I also knew that PLC produces “Doing business in…” legal guides for a number of jurisdictions across the globe. I’m not too sure how I missed the World Bank’s Doing Business project and website until now…

Doing Business gathers quantitative data to compare business regulation environments in 183 countries. In doing so, it “encourages countries to compete towards more efficient regulation” and “offers measurable benchmarks for reform”. Countries are ranked according to their ease of doing business. The following topics are examined and included in the ranking:

Starting a business

Dealing with construction permits

Getting electricity

Registering property

Getting credit

Protecting investors

Paying taxes

Trading across borders

Enforcing contracts

Resolving insolvency

You can view the data and summary for each country, or download the Economy Profile. You can also view the historical data back to 2003, allowing you to see how the ease of doing business in a particular country has changed over time.

Doing Business website:

http://www.doingbusiness.org/

BIALL’s Duplicates Exchange Scheme is back

Today I learnt that BIALL’s Duplicates Exchange Scheme (for exchanging duplicate journal issues) is back.

For a wee while we all thought the scheme was no longer, but it is still going strong and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! The BIALL website describes the scheme as follows:

“The scheme is the means by which all Libraries can share resources, helping both large and small firms, academic and government Libraries. The scheme facilitates the obtaining of missing periodical parts, old textbooks and directories and off-loading surplus material you can’t face throwing in the bin.”*

It operates 3 times a year (October, February, June). You have to be a member to take part in the scheme and the annual subscription price is £32 plus VAT for organisations or individuals who are BIALL members or £50 plus VAT for non-members. More information on how the scheme works can be found on the BIALL website:

*http://www.biall.org.uk/pages/duplicates-exchange-scheme.html

Locating sections of the US Code using the popular names of the Act

Today I learnt how to locate sections of the US Code using the popular name of the Act.

Those helpful people at the Legal Information Institute at Cornell have made available an A-Z list of popular names. The popular names are generally the names given to pieces of legislation as they pass through Congress. This list allows you to look up the popular name and see exactly which parts of the US code it has ended up in. For some popular names you will also be given a Public Law number and a link to the bill as it was originally passed by Congress. That link will take you to the LRC THOMAS legislative system, or GPO FDSYS site.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/topn/0