This paper by Victoria Elizabeth Baranow is a reflective piece after co-moderating a session at the 2017 CALL Conference in Ottawa with Shaunna Mireau. The session was titled ‘Unconference Through the Fishbowl: The Changing Role of Law Librarians in the Mix of an Evolving Legal Profession.’ A play-by-play article on the session was written based on notes and recollections from the session and published in the TALL Quarterly, the journal by the Toronto Association of Law Libraries.1 The article was used as the basis for this paper; which goes one step further in attempting to answer some of the big questions we are faced with each day while also questioning some of the assumptions and wider cultural forces at play in our law librarianship profession.**

Today's students have come to expect library services that are quite different from their predecessors and law librarians must evolve to meet their needs. As law libraries in the United States face the realities of declining enrolment and decreasing budgets, it is imperative that we find new and creative ways to build positive relationships with our students while also preparing them for the realities of practicing law in an environment driven by rapid technological change. Three law librarians from the United States, Brian Detweiler, Kimberly Mattioli, and Mike Martinez, Jr., discuss their successes and failures in reaching out to their student populations, creating and evaluating various student-centred instructional programmes, and in establishing a strategic plan to meet the needs of millennial law students.

Knowledge professionals are often responsible for document automation projects in law firms and in-house legal departments. This article by Robert Lankester is written to provide insight for a wide range of knowledge professionals (in fact anyone curious about document automation), from those for whom it is a new concept to the experienced document automation specialist. First is a discussion of what document automation is (and is not), and the benefits for knowledge management (KM). The main focus of the article is guidance on project implementation, with a specific focus on resourcing. Specific tips for preparing a document for automation and alternative project ideas are included. The article concludes that document automation is a powerful tool for internal knowledge development, enabling deeper collaboration with clients and changing the way legal services are delivered. Resourcing document automation can be approached in a number of ways but whatever the approach, the key is to ensure that business engagement is appropriately catered for.

Against a backdrop of increasing data security and privacy concerns, current data protection law will soon be overhauled by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Previous research has indicated a lack of data protection management in libraries, however, it has been nine years since the latest study. This article by Josephine Bailey aims to provide an updated review of the extent of data protection management in UK library and information services and gauge preparation for the incoming GDPR.

Technology is transforming the way legal work is being delivered. It is influencing what law firms, clients and legal departments are expecting of their employees and what employees are expecting of their employers. It is reshaping legal education and careers; lawyers are becoming legal knowledge engineers, information professionals and knowledge managers are working closer than ever with IT teams. In this article, Ann Hemming and James Wilkinson will be considering lawyers’ training and BIALL members’ role in the landscape being reshaped by legal technology.

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are successfully used by many institutions to provide content which supports and enhances taught courses. In this article, Lizz Edwards-Waller explores the role of the library in uploading articles, case notes and book excerpts to a VLE for law students, and discusses the need for librarians to collaborate with course leaders and administrators. The article also considers the decision-making process involved in determining which resources to make available and highlights some key copyright issues to be aware of.

In this article, David Gee, Deputy Librarian & Academic Services Manager at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) in the University of London, writes about the launch of IALS Digital. As a way of placing the launch into context, he outlines the growth of the IALS Library over the past 70 years and describes the development of a wide range of digital initiatives over the past 30 years.

Although all the international instruments (treaties, conventions, etc), that shape criminal policy concerning drug trafficking in the Latin American region, converge and given the commitment of the states to go in the same direction, nevertheless it is quite difficult to conduct good research in the subject. This is due to multiple, and constant, reforms in the local legislation, the use of different legal terms and the context of the right to privacy in each country. This article, written by Gloria Orrego Hoyos and Esteban Pizá, addresses the main legal instruments applicable to the general topic of drug trafficking, and concerning personal consumption or minimum dose, and highlights the problems and obstacles faced with regard to conducting research about drug trafficking in the Latin American region.

During its 70th Anniversary celebrations the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London launched IALS Digital - a new name for established and evolving online services at IALS, bringing together resources, opportunities for new legal information initiatives, research projects and partnerships, and delivering support for digital legal scholarship. This paper written by Steven Whittle, IALS Digitial Manager, developed from presentations at the launch in November 2017, reports on the event and describes what the Institute plans to achieve through IALS Digital, explaining what it is, how it has developed and how it fits well with the IALS national role in the promotion and facilitation of legal research.

In this article Caroline Mack provides an introduction to knowledge and information management services in the Legal Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She describes the development of the organisation's library services in recent years, then traces the development of her own role from a Legal Librarian to a Knowledge and Information Manager. While continuing to maintain a print and electronic library service for its lawyers, the Legal Directorate has increasingly recognised the value of effective knowledge and information management in all areas of its work. The article outlines the decision to implement a Directorate-wide knowledge and information management Strategy and the impact this has had on its work. The article also considers how the provision of library and information services are affected by external pressures and events, such as the change in priorities brought about by the EU Referendum result.

This article, written by Josephine Bailey and Kate Faulkner, discusses the collection of library usage data at the Squire Law Library, an academic law library embedded in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. Two initiatives were employed to survey usage: firstly, regular headcounts of library users and secondly, occasional spot-checks of university cards. This article details the data that was collected and how it fits into a wider ethnographic approach to understanding how students and researchers use libraries. The article also discusses how the pilots have developed into long-term procedures, and how this has led to improvements to the delivery of the service.

This article, by Claire Fox, is designed to share tools and techniques to help with business planning. It will focus on sharing real life knowledge and experience, with practical tips for developing your own business plan. It will lead to a better understanding of why a formal business plan process is crucial to helping teams prepare for the future and remain relevant and necessary to their organisations.

In this article Terry McDonald provides an introduction to the Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) with particular emphasis on the legal resources available to students and visiting readers. She outlines the history and the current nature of the library and the University's School of Law before turn attention to the law collections, the legal deposit status, the role of library and its law subject specialists, particularly in the context of supporting the teaching objectives of the Law School.

In this two-part feature, Dr Matthew Terrell provides a brief introduction to a new initiative that was launched by Justis in 2017: the inaugural Law and Technology International Writing Competition. This was a competition aimed at attracting students to write a 1,000 word piece in the style of a blog entry. The winner was Róisín Costello from Trinity College Dublin and her article, entitled ‘The Tortoise and the Hare? Due Process and Unconstitutionally Obtained Evidence in the Digital Age’, follows this introduction.

This article by Stuart Stone, Librarian at the Radzinowicz Library at the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge, examines a selection of online information resources used by criminologists and compares their particular features and deficiencies. The author's involvement in training early career researchers, both in formal training sessions and one-to-one sessions, over a long period, allows for user responses and experiences of the resources to inform this examination.

In this article, Barry Vickery explains the history of InfoTrack during his tenure as General Manager of Corporate Services, and outlines the reasons for their success. Barry will discuss the world of technology and how, by understanding the blend of law firms’ needs, customer insight and technology, InfoTrack are disrupting the legal market.

In this article, where Liz Murray, Information Resources Manager at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) in London, interviews Claudia Holland, Head of the Library of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, the strategic direction of the new Head Librarian is explored. The strengths of this major international, comparative private law library are considered and the balance between providing electronic access to law resources while still maintaining an excellent legal print collection is examined. The importance of networks and collaboration is also highlighted.

In this article Jackie Fishleigh takes a look at the art of negotiation as a skill when trying to reach a fair deal. She draws on her experience in the information and library business whereby she has dealt with publishers and suppliers and, at the end of her article, she provides her own checklist of ten top tips on negotiation.

Under Moore's Law the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles relative to cost and size every two years. In practical terms this means personal computers become twice as powerful and half as large every 24 months. However, this rapid rate of proliferation and improvement has not been mirrored in law.