ALLA (WA) News Blog

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday break. We will see you all in 2018!

It's almost Christmas, and with only a few days to go before the holiday break I've realised that the last day of work for the year is actually the longest day of the year as it's the summer solstice. So with that in mind, here's some light reading for those of us lucky enough to have a slow day. Check out our previous blog post from 19 December 2013: Christmas Decorations . 

Adieu or au revoir? Goodbye or see you later? We certainly hope to see Alison, Margaret and Noelle again but whether the Department of Premier and Cabinet Library will resurface is anyone’s guess. On 15 December 2017, the Library formally ceased to exist. The collection and two of the library staff have moved to the State Library with a view to implementing a service to the Department. The fate of the Government Libraries Directory is yet to be decided. It would be a shame if it didn’t continue, if only as a reminder of what once was.

So it’s that time of year again – lists and more lists – apart from Santa’s Naughty and Nice lists, there are lists of people and presents, food to prepare, what to pack for the trip [if you are lucky enough] and then there are the Lists of the Top whatevers for the Year. From the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog comes such a list: Top ten 3 Geeks blog posts for 2017 . Of particular interest are numbers 3, 4, 6, 7 & 8 by Greg Lambert, current President of the American Association of Law Libraries, with my favourite being "DoYou Miss Me Yet?" – Re-establishing the Corporate Librarians In this era of readily accessible information, we do not suffer from a lack of information resources, we suffer from an abundance of irrelevant information that looks on its surface to be relevant. Information professionals are your line of defense against the abundance of information, and are your due diligence agents for identifying the resources which best fit your needs and your budge...

The Victorian Legal Services Board & Commissioner has let us know that the Legal Profession Uniform Law Library (Australia) is now available on AustLII The library contains all Statutes, Rules, Regulations, Guidelines and Directions, and a growing body of DLRA determinations relating to the Legal Profession Uniform Law, together with all published decisions made under the Legal Profession Uniform Law since it commenced in NSW and Victoria on 1 July 2015. The creation of the online library ensures all material pertaining to the Legal Profession Uniform Law is now contained in the one place allowing for easier keyword searches for cases involving the Uniform Law. You can access the Legal Profession Uniform Law Library (Australia) on AustLII here .

Alison Jones, a Knowledge Manager and Librarian posted the following on her LinkedIn: Was pleased to write this guest piece for Vable on the one thing that surprised me about being a librarian... which was coming to the realisation that while the lawyers I work with are experts in the law, their librarians are the experts in legal research. And how having the confidence to assist them with legal research, especially through training, has assisted with the library being well regarded within my organisation. In the Vable piece, 'The One Thing That Suprised Me About Being a Librarian' Alison speaks about how our value as librarians 'resides in our ability to mediate between the collection and the people we serve.' Speaking about the Library as a Collection and the Librarian as an Intermediary, Jones goes on to discuss the knowledge gap between legal research required at law school and legal research required in a law firm. What do you think of what Jones' says...

Unfortunately, due to insufficient contributions, we have been forced to delay the publication of the journal till the new year. A combined Issue 4 2017 and Issue 1 2018 will be published in March next year. Because it will be a combined issue the journal is seeking articles on two topics: Professional development Share your experiences on mentoring, being mentored and growing as a professional Library, Information and The law As library and information professionals, many of us spend our days researching the law, with this issue we take the time to reflect on the law. Share your thoughts on the latest developments in the law. Contributions are needed by 20 January 2018.  We also warmly welcome articles outside of these themes. The journal is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to your field by sharing your knowledge and learning with the wider profession and I hope you will consider contributing. Regards, Alex Cato Journal Editor, ALLA Ltd This wa...

Ever needed to find out what the ratification status of human rights treaties are? Take a look at this interactive map from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This is a reminder post that RSVP's close Monday, 11 December 2017. ALLA (WA) Members are invited to our annual End of Year Celebration. When:  Tuesday, 19th December 2017 Time:  5.30pm-7.30pm Where:  Great Southern Room, State Library of Western Australia RSVP  to  Judy Allan  by COB Monday 11 December 2017. Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements. This fully catered event is exclusively for ALLA (WA) members. If you are not a member of ALLA and would like to join to take part in these, and other important ALLA (WA) initiatives and events, see the  ALLA Ltd. website .