This article, by Daniel Hayter of Bloomberg Law, is based on a series of seminars presented to legal information professionals during 2007–2008. It includes a guide to corporate finance and methods of raising money in the capital markets. The author also describes the topical area of mortgage-backed securities.

The purpose of this article, by Stephanie Biggs of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP, is to give an introduction to private equity. The article provides a brief overview of the industry, then looks in more detail at the two key processes in which private equity lawyers are involved: fundraising and doing deals. The author also looks at the resources available for researching private equity and provides a glossary of commonly used terms.

Janice Edwards of Maclay Murray & Spens provides a brief guide to sources of both primary and secondary company information.

John Furlong of Matheson, Ormsby Prentice LLP briefly describes the services provided by the Companies Registration Office.

In a paper given at the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, Sue Hill MD of Sue Hill Recruitment, discusses the current issues affecting law librarianship and looks at potential future changes. She then suggests how legal information professionals can stay ahead of the game.

In a paper given at the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, Samantha Steer covered key findings from the 2007 Sweet & Maxwell Survey Information Managers in the 21stCentury. The survey was prompted by changes in the legal market, including those that will follow from the Legal Services Act, and the wider availability of new technology, altering the delivery of legal information. The findings cover past changes to the information management role, and perceptions as to how the role will continue to change over the coming years.

For over 100 years colleges of higher and further education have played important roles in the education of library and information professionals. However, the last decade has seen some significant changes in both the structure of teaching departments and the types of courses they deliver. This paper, delivered by Martin De Saulles at the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, outlines some of the pressures currently facing the library and information profession and describes how teaching departments have responded in terms of course developments.

What are Web 2.0 applications and which ones will you be implementing in your library? Do “Baby Boomers” fear change and rely too much on email? Are “Gen X-ers/Gen Y-ers” more computer savvy in today's rapidly changing environment? Can social networking technologies enhance our productivity, or are they time-wasters in a professional environment? In this article, based on his paper given at the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, Stephen Weiter attempts to answer these questions.

In a paper presented at the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, Victoria Jannetta, described how her firm implemented a new tool to help better exploit its internal information resources.

This paper, taken from a presentation given by Melanie Farquharson, 3Kites Consulting, to the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, discusses recent developments in the provision of federated search systems and how they can ease the legal research process. It also considers the attitude of legal publishers to such systems.

In a paper presented at the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008, Janine Miller described the development of CanLII by Canadian law societies from its earliest incarnation to the huge free legal resource that it now comprises.

This paper is based on the presentation given by Heather Semple of the Northern Ireland Law Society to the 39th Annual BIALL Conference held in Dublin in June 2008 and covers the historical and constitutional background to the country. The paper then considers sources of legislation and case law and provides helpful tips on how to undertake research within the complicated and difficult system of legislative publishing.

This article by David Ogden addresses the census collection of Great Britain. The 100 year rule regarding the public release of information is examined and explained, as is the Census Act 1920, as amended in 2000. It also considers the impact of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of the release of records by repositories. The 30 year standard closure on official papers is considered.

This checklist by Ruth Bonino and Gemma Rosenthal of Reed Smith is the latest in our practical checklist series. They explain the meaning of flexible working; who is entitled to request it; the mechanics of requesting and the procedure to follow if the request is denied.

This article has been written by Janice Sayer, a freelance information manager, who has extensive and unrivalled experience of working on the content of the Westlaw UK legislation database.