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

US Code of Federal Regulations - Checking for amendments to Federal Regulations

Today I learnt how to check for amendments to a US Federal Regulation.

Believe it or not that is not an easy task for a UK law librarian like me, who is not overly familiar with the US legal system. The first step was to find out what exactly is a Federal Regulation. IALS Research Guides by Jurisdiction (United States) told me that Federal Regulations are equivalent to UK Statutory Instruments; i.e. secondary legislation.*

Federal Regulations are codified on an annual basis, and this codification takes the form of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). This is not the same as the US Code. The CFR (annual edition) is available on the US Government Printing Office (GPO) website. It is divided into 50 titles, which correspond to broad subject areas. The Code is codified every year as follows:

Titles 1-16 are revised as of 1 January

Titles 17-27 are revised as of 1 April

Titles 28-41 are revised as of 1 July

Titles 42-50 are revised as of 1 October

When you have found the most up-to-date version of the Title / Chapter you need you can view it in a PDF document which includes a list of all of the amendments that have been made to that Title to date. There may be better ways to tackle this kind of research, but it worked for me!

Access the CFR on the GPO website:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?collectionCode=CFR

* IALS Research Guides by Jurisdiction: United States

http://ials.sas.ac.uk/library/guides/research/res_united.htm#fedregs

Wildy BIALL Law Librarian of the Year Award 2012 - Nominations now open

Today I learnt that nominations are now open for the Wildy BIALL Law Librarian of the Year Award 2012.

The award will be given to an individual librarian who has "made a significant contribution to the work of BIALL and/or the legal information profession."* The award will be presented at the BIALL conference in Belfast in June 2012. All BIALL members are invited to nominate someone by contacting the BIALL Awards and Bursaries Committee. Further details on the BIALL website:

* http://www.biall.org.uk/news.php/148/nominations-open-wildy-biall-law-librarian-of-the-year-award-2012

Corporate Register: The no 1 information source on decision makers in UK stockmarket companies

Today I learnt about the Corporate Register, the self-styled "no 1 information source on decision makers in UK stockmarket companies".

Published quarterly by Capital Ideas, the Corporate Register is a directory arranged into three parts:

• Companies
• look up a company name to find an brief overview, address, details of which exchange it is listed on (main or AIM), market cap, turnover & pre-tax profit. The directory also lists key personnel (executive and non-executive directors, sometimes company secretary, etc), number of employees and details of advisers (financial, legal, brokers, auditors).
• Directors and Officers
• look up a director's name to find contact details, career history, DOB, education, etc.
• Professional Advisers and their Client
• look up the name of an adviser to find the list of companies it advises.

Capital Ideas website:
http://www.corporateregister.co.uk/index.htm

SLA Europe Jobs Board

Today I learnt that SLA Europe has a new Jobs Board on its website. As you'd expect it covers job opportunities in the information field.

Recruiters can post vacancies for free until 6th April to celebrate the launch of the service; after that fees will apply. It's free to browse though (or you can subscribe to the RSS feed).

http://www.sla-europe.org/jobs/