ALLA (WA) News Blog

Dear members, On behalf of the ALLA (WA) Committee, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and thank you for the continued support over the past year. Please stay safe this festive season, and we will see you at our Icebreaker event planned for February 2015. Mawghan Elverd ALLA(WA) President 2014/2015 Bibliotheek Kortrijk, "Boekenkerstboom" retrieved from Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliotheekkortrijk/ . Image used under CC BY 2.0 ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ )

Here at the ALLA(WA) Blog, we are taking the chance to help members to get to know their Committee a bit better. Introducing: ALLA(WA) Secretary Megan Fitzgibbons , Librarian (Law Library) at the University of Western Australia. 1. Who is a hero who has inspired you in your career?  I’ve met lots of heroic librarians, but I must mention the late Norman Horrocks , an eminent statesman of LIS who has inspired and mentored many librarians across the world. 2. What is the proudest moment in your professional life? I’m very proud whenever a student or faculty member tells me that I’ve made a real difference for them. Those thank yous mean a lot! 3. Career advice – what’s your top tip? To be successful, I think that you need to position yourself to let good things happen. That means: put yourself out there, be engaged, be a contributor rather than an observer. 4. What’s your favourite legal research tool? Legify is pretty nifty for finding...

Good news from the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (ALCC). The ALCC has released a media statement saying that there will be no extension to authorisation liability under the current online copyright infringement proposals, which were outlined last week by the Communications Minister and Attorney-General.

December is Human Rights Awareness Month and to mark Human Rights Day on December 10 the Oxford University Press' Blog has produced a interactive case map. The map includes 50 landmark human rights cases chosen in conjunction with the editors of the Oxford Reports on International Law , part of Oxford Public International Law . The cases include a brief description and a link to a free article or report on the case from these databases. Australia even gets a mention in the map. Take a look here .

Here at the ALLA(WA) Blog, we are taking the chance to help members to get to know their Committee a bit better. Introducing: Jaya Ralph , Librarian, Curtin University Library 1. Who is a hero who has inspired you in your career? Before I became a librarian I worked at a building company designing brochures. One of the tradesmen would regularly chat to me about his wife’s job as a librarian and how much she loved what she did. This inspired me to turn my career down this path and I now have a job that I love too! It is thanks to him for sharing his wife’s experiences that I find myself in this role today. 2. What is the proudest moment in your professional life? I have had many proud moments but the best reward is when you see the look of relief in a student’s face when they see that you are willing to help them. Quite often they have been passed on from one person to the next and you are their last hope. I feel like a lifeline. 3. Career advice – what’s your top tip? ...

Position: Research Librarian - 6 month contract positions (full-time) Organisation: Herbert Smith Freehills Location: Perth Knowledge Centre Description: A fantastic opportunity exists in the Perth Office of Herbert Smith Freehills for a Research Librarian. We are looking for a qualified and experienced librarian with a demonstrated commitment to providing high quality legal and business research to join our busy Perth Knowledge Centre. The role is a 6 month full-time contract positions available immediately. Previous experience in a law library is desired. Primary responsibilities will include : Provisions of high calibre legal and business research services Current Awareness and Knowledge Sharing Knowledge Centre promotion and research skills training   Applications: Please submit your application by Tuesday 23rd December to Fleur De Leo, Senior HR Advisor, via email Fleur.DeLeo@hsf.com   Further Information: For a copy of the Position Description ...

The Supreme Court Library Queensland (SCLQ) is Queensland's principal legal information provider, delivering innovative information services to members of the judiciary, legal profession and community. Its extensive resources span local, national and international materials, accessible online via the Library catalogue, as well as a comprehensive collection of print research materials, totalling more than 150,000 items. The position reports to the Information Services Librarian and assists with the delivery of high quality information services for library users. The position is initially for 4 months, from mid January to mid May 2015, with potential for extension and/or more permanent employment. Responsibilities Provide high quality information services for members of the judiciary, legal practitioners and other library users, both in person and remotely via telephone or email Specifically - Provide prompt and professional responses to legal research enquirie...

The latest issue of Legal Information Management has been published and contains a number of interesting articles. Some of the interesting information contained in this issue includes: It is GlobaLex's 10th anniversary in February 2015; A range of free to use Irish legal resources including case law, legislation and commentaries; Five essential attributes of the modern information professional;  The role of the information professional in the new 'big data' environment; and Much more from the BIALL Conference 2014. ISSN: 1472-6696, EISSN: 1741-2021 Legal Information Management http://journals.cambridge.org/LIM Volume 14 / Issue 04 , December 2014, pp 243 - 307 Published Online on 10th December 2014 PDF version of this Table of Contents ...

On December the 3rd, members and guests of ALLA(WA) joined in a festive fête at The Butterworth in the Perth CBD to close out 2014. While good food, drinks, and conversation were enjoyed by all, four members can away especially lucky, winning gift vouchers for David Jones. Congratulations to the lucky four: Megan Fitzgibbons, University of Western Australia Stephen Griffiths, Department of the Attorney General Jennifer Moore, Edith Cowan University Luise Crisafulli, Francis Burt Chambers ALLA (WA) extends our gratitude and thanks to LexisNexis for their generous ongoing sponsorship of ALLA(WA) and our Christmas event. Thanks also to the hard work of our committee members in organising such an enjoyable event.

Here at the ALLA(WA) Blog, we are taking the chance to help members to get to know their Committee a bit better. Introducing: ALLA(WA) Treasurer Justin Booker , Knowledge Professional, Corrs, Chambers, Westgarth 1. Who is a hero who has inspired you in your career? Kirsty McPhee; she always manages to do so much. 2. What is the proudest moment in your professional life? Hard one to answer but just this week I was training some Seasonal Clerks and three of them remembered something I told them way back in a first year lecture from when I worked at the UWA Law Library. That made me pretty proud. I must have made an impression. 3. Career advice – what’s your top tip? Talk to people. I need to do it more myself. 4. What’s your favourite legal research tool? Anything that allows me to use proximity locators. 5. If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be? HAL, so I can finally get it done. 6. Librarian cliché: What is your f...

For your information: Please update your contact details for the Herbert Smith Freehills Knowledge Centre. Telephone number: (08) 9211 7942 Email knowledgecentreper@hsf.com

Here at the ALLA(WA) Blog, we are taking the chance to help members to get to know their Committee a bit better. Introducing: ALLA(WA) President, Mawghan Elverd , Acting Knowledge Manager, Jackson McDonald   1. Who is a hero who has inspired you in your career? Dewey The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (he was a cat, that lived in a library…) 2. What is the proudest moment in your professional life? Being asked to present to library students about law libraries. Trying to get them to see that it’s not all about public and school libraries. 3. Career advice – what’s your top tip? Just say yes!  If you think you can’t do it, or you don’t have enough experience just say yes and give it your best shot.  You will surprise yourself and learn what you are truly capable of. 4. What’s your favourite legal research tool? The legal dictionary. Especially when you are first starting in legal research and someone is asking you to research ultra v...

Lavan Legal is an independent Western Australian law firm with a team of over 170 employees including 21 Partners. Our law firm has an excellent history and reputation for providing clear, commercially focused legal advice and we strive to live up to our ideal of being “leaders in law”. Due to the upcoming retirement of our long serving Legal Information Manager we are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced Librarian to lead our library team. About the role Reporting to the Managing Partner, this position is primarily responsible for managing the Lavan Legal library in an efficient and cost effective manner and satisfying all the information needs of the Firm. Key responsibilities There are many responsibilities for this position, with the key ones being: Provision of in-depth legal research. This involves working closely with solicitors to analyse and provide answers to complex questions of law. Solicitors are provided with comprehensive current  awareness services and th...

Taylor & Francis have released a white paper that reveals research showing that 88% of librarians think that social media will become more important in the future. The white paper, Use of social media by the library  is available on the Taylor & Francis LibSite which states: "This white paper has been research and compiled by Taylor & Francis to provide an overview of current practices relating to the use by libraries of social media, from a world-wide perspective, against which individual institutions can benchmark their own activities and be inspired to try new approaches" If you don't have time to read the full paper, take a look at the companion infographics: Current Use and Practice Social Media Applications Measuring Effectiveness The Future of Social Media

Arts Council England launched a new journal on 18 November – Create : a journal of perspectives on the value of art and culture .  In the inaugural issue, authors Neil Gaiman and Toby Litt “discuss the power of libraries and literature to imagine our future”.   This article can be found at http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/value-arts-and-culture/state-arts/create/society/ . Thanks to Fiona Archibald for this contribution.