ALLA (WA) News Blog

Natalie McDonald has commenced at Ashurst as a Research Librarian.  This is part time (Monday – Wednesday) replacing Lei Lin who is on maternity leave.  Natalie is also working part time at Williams& Hughes (Thurs & Friday) as a Librarian. Gisella Warman has commenced at Tottle Partners as an Information Resources Manager replacing Kirsty McPhee.  Gisella is working part time, Monday and Wednesday. Kirsty McPhee will be leaving Tottle Partners to take a position with Hancock Prospecting as an Assistant Information Manager.  Kirsty will commence her new role on November 26.   Kirsty will be staying on the ALLA Board as her role is a combination of litigation support and information management.  Kirsty can be contacted via LinkedIn . Congratulations to everyone!

Earlier this year the online legal database Justis and case citator JustCite combined to form the new platform JustisOne . The JustisOne case citator cross-references case law with UK legislation and continues JustCite's excellent feature of providing access to reported versions of cases via direct links from citations to the source of the report (where they are available) from publishers as diverse as Westlaw, LexisNexis, and ICLR. A free-to-ALLA (WA) members web-based training sessio n will be held at 3pm Perth time Tuesday the 27th of November . Participants need a reliable internet connection, a PC with audio output (ie: speakers or headphones). The session will last approximately 45 minutes. For further information and to sign up to take part, please email Stephen Griffiths by 4pm Thursday the 22nd of November.

Of interest to those consulting Western Australian legislation, the Legislation Bill 2018 had its third reading speech yesterday in the Legislative Assembly. The Bill seeks to give official status to the electronic versions of the Government Gazette and other WA legislation! From the explanatory memorandum : This Bill proposes to modernise the processes for publishing WA legislation. It will enact a new Legislation Act that sets out the responsibilities for publishing WA legislation, provides for the official status of both hard copy and electronic versions of WA legislation and gives Parliamentary Counsel’s Office (PCO) a more useful set of editorial powers so that WA legislation can be kept up-to-date, modernised and simplified, and errors in it can be corrected, without the need for the changes to be enacted by Parliament. Important restrictions on the exercise of those editorial powers will remain. The Reprints Act 1984 will be repealed. In line with conferring official s...

We would love for members to join us for a scrumptious buffet breakfast to celebrate the festive season. Where: Miss Maud Restaurant - 97 Murray Street, Perth WA 6000 When: Wednesday 5th December, 2018 Time: From 7:15 am Cost: $10 per person. Payment by cash or email David McDowell for bank details to pay electronically by 23rd November 2018. RSVP: by COB Friday 23rd November 2018 via email to David McDowell .

A full time Library Team Leader position has been advertised on the WA Public Service job site.  The Department of Justice is  seeking a qualified law librarian with considerable knowledge and experience who can make a significant contribution to the delivery of a high level library and information service to judicial and legal officers and to the legal profession in Western Australia. A pool position for librarian has also been advertised.   Applications for both positions close 2 November 2018.

Sunil Saale, Minter Ellison's Head of Cyber and Information Security, presented a lunch time seminar on cybersecurity on the 10th of August 2018 - a recording of that seminar is now available for ALLA members to access on the ALLA National website .

ALLA (WA) and our sponsor BarNet Jade invites you to the 2018 Spring Icebreaker. During this event we will hear from a few attendees of the 2018 ALLA conference in Darwin. Where: The George (London Room) -216 St Georges Terrace, Perth When: Wednesday 12th September 2018 Time: 5:30 - 8.00 pm Cost: $10 for members / $20 non-members. Payment by cash or email David McDowell for bank details to pay electronically by 5th September. Cost includes 6 canapes per person. Drinks will be available for purchase but not included in cost. Please RSVP by COB Thursday 6th September 2018 to David McDowell: dmcdowell@jacmac.com.au 

Where: Geographe room, State Library of Western Australia When: 29th September 2018 Registrations from 10.30am, Workshop from 11am -12.30pm. To register please use the form here. Cost: Gold coin donation. Places are limited! Why: This workshop will help LIS professionals identify skills they already have and how they can transfer these skills to the job they aspire to have - in a fun way! Librarians and Dragons uses gamification to promote professional development for librarians, and to encourage a different way of thinking about the skills that we can bring to the table to enter the industry or progress within it. It brings together ideas and concepts from games, such as Dungeons and Dragons and escape rooms, to offer an alternative way of viewing our professional development. The workshop will take participants on a quest through a library experience, using pre-developed characters, before tasking everyone to develop their own character profiles. The profiles foc...

Melbourne-based Legal recruitment firm Gatehouse Legal has released a its 2018-2019 Private Practice/Australia Salary Guide , with separate documents for private practice earnings and legal support professionals. The Legal and Office support guide shows earnings ranges for legal receptionists, legal secretaries, paralegals, senior conveyancers, mailroom clerks, administration assistants, payroll officers, account managers, finance directors, etc. but does not include any information about pay rates for law librarians or other information professional categories. The guides can be obtained from Gatehouse Legal's website .

A discussion  paper on the impact of next year's copyright law changes on Australian libraries  is available over at  National and State Libraries Australia .  

The Supreme Court of Western Australia will live stream a trial for the first time in the Court’s history commencing next Monday, 16 July 2018. The Court will stream the civil trial arising from the bushfires at Mt Helena, Parkerville and Stoneville, Western Australia, that occurred in January 2014.  Members of the public can log on to the Supreme Court of Western Australia website at www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au to view the trial which starts at 10am. The trial is set down from 16 July – 31 August, and will be presided over by Justice Rene Le Miere. The link will be on the Court’s home page, under the ‘What’s New’ banner. For more information, see the media statement . 

ALLA (WA) members are invited to the ALLA (WA) Annual General Meeting on 4th July 2018 at The George commencing at 12.30pm . I would like to take this opportunity to thank Greta Dye and Thomson Reuters for sponsoring our AGM. Unfortunately, we did not receive enough nominations to fill the office bearers positions of Vice President and Secretary.  If additional nominations are not received, in order to ensure that ALLA (WA) can form a committee of management several nominated committee members may volunteer to take on dual positions.  This will be confirmed at the AGM. The AGM will be followed by lunch and a presentation by Lucas Frederick, Senior Product Developer from Thomson Reuters.  Lucas has worked for Thomson Reuters for almost 15 years and has been involved in various aspects of legal publishing.  Lucas will present on Thomson Reuters international Sweet and Maxwell, Carswell and Brookers titles. I look forward to seeing as many as possib...

Yes,Senator: behind the scenes of the Australian Senate | ABC Radio An interview with  Dr Rosemary Laing, Clerk of the Senate for seven years. Inside the jury room | Radio National A co-production between Law Report and the University of Melbourne law school, looking at what happens when the jury system goes wrong.

Do you like to share your ideas?   Are you interested in collaboration?  Would you like be part of a professional team? If you do then the ALLA(WA) Committee is looking for members like you! The 2018/2019 ALLA(WA) Committee nominations will be sent out soon and all positions (except President) are available for nomination.   Being a Committee member on the ALLA(WA) is a great way to   learn new skills, increase your network and gain a greater understanding of the industry. There are many areas that you can be involved in, including -   organising CPD events and activities on a professional and social level managing social media and web pages of the ALLA(WA) liaising with legal publishers and other professional bodies monitoring legislative updates that affect our profession If you would like to know more about the positions please email  allawaexec@gmail.com  and we will send you the position des...

With a new Committee working hard, we thought it was time to share a little bit about who the Committee is behind the scenes. Over the next few weeks each committee member will answer a few questions so you can get to know them better. Don't forget you can meet them in real life at our  events .  CATHERINE KAFENTZIS, ALLA (WA) COMMITTEE MEMBER 2017-2018 1. Who is a hero who has inspired you in your career? It is hard for me to attribute one person who has inspired me in my career. In the words of the well-known proverb “ It takes a village to raise a child ”, I can say that many people have inspired me throughout my career thus far: my family and friends, lecturers, practicum supervisor and peers and colleagues – just to name a few! 2. What is the proudest moment in your professional life? It is difficult to pinpoint one proudest moment in my professional life so far. A couple come to mind: Last year I attended the inaugural WATOL event and...

[Cross-posted from the ALLA National list] Notice is hereby given that a General Meeting of the Australian Law Librarians’ Association Ltd (ALLA) ACN 158 242 696 will be held on Thursday 3rd May 2018, at  4.10pm – 4.45pm ACST as part of the ALLA 2018 Conference. Double Tree by Hilton Esplanade, Reflections Room 116 The Esplanade Darwin NT 0800 AGENDA 1. President’s Welcome 2. Introduction and remarks of Representatives from International Associations 3. Apologies 4. President’s Update 5. Membership Update 6. Treasurer’s Update 7. General Business 8. Meeting Close NOTES FOR YOUR GUIDANCE Please note that this is not the ALLA Annual General Meeting and as such there will be no elections for positions until the AGM in September 2018. Proxies As a financial member at the time of the AGM, you are entitled to vote. Every member is entitled to one vote on each matter. To have a vote at the meeting you must be either (a) present i...

The Australian Law Librarians’ Association Ltd (WA Division), is delighted to offer a bursary of $1500 for one of our members to attend the Australian Law Librarians’ Association   2018 Conference held in Darwin, 2-4 May 2018.   The successful candidate will be expected to prepare a report on the conference and present it to ALLA (WA) members upon their return. Further details and selection criteria for bursary applications [download] .  For details about the conference, please visit the 2018 ALLA Conference website . The closing date for applications is   5pm   Monday 16 th   April 2018.    The successful applicant will be notified by   Friday 20 th   April 2018 .  We apologise for the short turn around.   Applications addressing the selection criteria  can be emailed to  Stephen Griffiths .   Good luck!

On Friday March 16 th the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office took over the hosting of the WA legislation website from the State Law Publisher. The new web address for WA legislation is now  www.legislation.wa.gov.au .   The website functionality is unchanged, but it is now badged as Department of Justice/Parliamentary Counsel’s Office rather than Department of Premier and Cabinet/State Law Publisher.

The Queensland Judgments   website has just been launched by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland and the Supreme Court Library of Queensland. It contains a complete set of the Queensland Reports , published in both its original format (PDF) and in a searchable online format. The website also contains a number of other valuable features: a complete set of recent unreported Supreme Court judgments (from 2002), which is being gradually expanded as the Library’s full print collection of unreported Supreme Court judgments is digitised. an appeal database, which provides current and historical data about appeals from judgments in the collection. a new UCPR service, which seeks to identify the leading judgments on civil procedure in Queensland. The website is currently being published in a beta version, to give users an opportunity to suggest improvements. I encourage all members to visit the new website and r...

When: Tuesday 27 March , 7:30 am. Where: Miss Maud Restaurant, 97 Murray Street, Perth Cost: $27.00 per person, please bring cash as no split billing. RSVP: Judith Allan  by Friday 23 March

ALLA(WA) invites Western Australian Law Library professionals to participate in our Employment and Salary Survey for 2018.  The survey will be open from Thursday 22 February and closes Friday 16th March and takes no more than 5 minutes to complete.  In the past, the survey has proven useful to law library professionals in their annual salary negotiations. Please respond to the survey only once unless you work in multiple organizations. Please click the following link to access the survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RMLGWPR Please contact  Stephen Griffiths  with any questions.

When:   5.00pm (for a 5.15pm start), Tuesday 13 March 2018 Where:  LexisNexis, BGC Conference Centre               Ground Floor, BGC Centre   28 The Esplanade, Perth RSVP:   By COB 9 March 2018 to  Judy Allan Following advocacy from ALLA (WA), this session is an opportunity for ALLA (WA) Members (excluding publishers) to have their concerns and experiences with Lexis Advance heard. Presenters from LexisNexis will include, Simon Wilkins (General Manager, Australia), Jo Wade (Head of Project Development, APAC) and Cormac Maguire (Customer Experience Manager, Australia). LexisNexis will be hosting a catered 90 minute session that will take the following format:  A snapshot based on the most common questions LexisNexis receives; o    Authentication o    Content o    Upgrade Timeline o    Review of the platform enhancements since launch ...

May is fast approaching... Have you got your ticket for the 2018 ALLA conference yet? Discounted Early bird registration rates are available till 2 March with a range of full registration and day registration options available.  In addition two days of fantastic speakers, you can also register for pre-conference workshops and tours.  The registration portal is available at  http://allaconference.com.au/2018/index.php/register/   We can't wait to #seeyouinDarwin  Have you seen the line up? In addition to an exciting program, the Conference Committee is delighted to bring to ALLA 2018 three keynote speakers who represent the conference theme of Local Footprint, Global Impact: ·         Ruth Bird, EIFL ‘elibrary Myanmar Project Capacity Building Manager’ and former Bodleian Law Librarian ·         Danial Kelly, Senior Lecturer in the Charles Darwin Univerisity (CDU...

The Parliamentary Library hosted a fantastic demonstration and tour for ALLA (WA) and Curtis students on February 7 2018. We heard from Niamh Corbett and other members of the of the library team who do reference, including late nights when parliament in sitting, maintain a fantastic media database for the members, keep biographies of members current and do collection development in an environment where the requirements of the parliamentarians can vary according to the latest policy directions. The service this team provides was mind blowing! The team shared a delicious and generous morning tea with us Afterwards most of use went on a tour of the parliamentary chambers, and learnt some tidbits that can be new even to experienced law librarians, such as a detailed information on notable women in parliament. We are most grateful to Niamh, for Judy Ballantyne for setting it up, to the team for spending their time sharing what they do, and to Sarah, our guide for the tour....

In a Legal Insight post from 2014, ‘The Future of Law: Disappearing Legal Library and Virtual Firms’ an infographic showed that by 2044 45% of respondents surveyed believed that their legal library would virtually disappear. Ignoring the opportunities to analyse the phrase “ virtually disappear”, I’m choosing to assume that this is in reference to physical floor space. Sure, there’s our physical collections will continue to shrink – but even by 2044, I doubt that everything we hold in print will be available electronically. Or at least in a functional way. A more recent Thomson Reuters Whitepaper, Law Libraries’ Digital Revolution , discusses the benefits of moving to eBook collections.  Now, I’m pro eBook in theory. If only they worked the same as a hardcopy.  Consider: Mental topography, or, when we read on dead trees, do we retain more? (See: The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens ). eBooks don’t necessa...

The latest issue of AALL Spectrum has a great article about how law librarians can use coding to create customisations within their work flows. The article doesn’t focus on any advanced coding languages (think Python or Ruby) but instead focuses on the codes that form the building blocks of the web and how these can offer real-world applications for libraries. In ‘Coding with the building blocks of the web’ the author, Nick Szydlowski, offers advice on how to use, learn and maintain coding all while leveraging existing skills. Szydlowski suggests that “law libraries may benefit from embracing a culture in which staff are encouraged to invest in foundational  technological skills. … there can sometimes be more emphasis on learning consumer-level tools, in the form of new vendor products and features, and not enough emphasis on the type and fundamental skills that can be re-used project after project.” The article presents a great think piece for those considering branching...

APS6 Legal Library Officer (Canberra, ACT) - 12/m Librarian role at $75-85k p.a. + 15.4% Super   Ashurst Research Librarian (Perth, WA) - 12 month Maternity Leave cover Librarian Role 

Ever wondered what goes on within the walls of Parliament Library?  Come and learn about Bills, Hansard, retrieving EMs, investigating committee papers and much more in the 1 st ALLA (WA) event of 2018! This event will include a tour of the Parliamentary Library, followed by morning tea and a tour of Parliament House and the Chambers. When: Wednesday 7 th February, 2018,  9am – 11.30am Where: Parliament House main entrance RSVP to Alice Hewitt – alice.hewitt@cdpp.gov.au by Friday 2 nd February, 2018. Please confirm if you are intending to attend the tour of Parliament House (start 11am). ALLA (WA) thanks the WA Parliamentary Library for hosting this event.  More information on Parliament, including what you can and cannot bring on the tour.

Worried about your library and your job? Despite frequent gloomy predictions, the demise of the library sector hasn’t happened – and as one article reveals, sloppy research can be the cause of the faulty prediction. Libraries and Librarians Aren't About to Disappear A widely shared article declaring libraries and archives to be among the fastest-declining industries in America has been debunked. Takeaway message – make sure you have all the information before extrapolating …. The Extinction of Libraries: Why the Predictions aren’t Coming True While this article is about public libraries, and how, despite predictions that they will wither and die, they are still around and generally growing, there is a message that is relevant to all libraries: The key to continued support of libraries is engagement equals ownership. As humans we have an innate need to feel wanted and valued, to know that what we say matters. When libraries engage communities by asking for their...

The Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ITTIG) is calling-for-paper (abstract only) for participation in the LAW VIA THE INTERNET CONFERENCE 2018 , to be held 11-12 October 2018, in Florence, Italy.   All details of the call for papers are available here .