The British and Irish Association of Law Librarians

Extract

At a conference on Law Librarianship held at Harrogate in 1968 the question of forming some sort of Association was tentatively discussed. It was felt by all present that there was need for an association that could bring law librarians together to discuss aspects of their work and so provide a common pool of experience and knowledge in which all who were interested might share. It was also suggested by some that the Association should become a group within an existing organisation and that membership should be confined accordingly. This, however, was not thought advisable for to do so would have meant excluding from membership almost all the great law libraries of the British Isles as well as the majority of their staffs. It would also have meant excluding many potential members from the smaller libraries, particulary those of a professional nature. And this itself would have been a negation of one of the principal purposes of the association, which was to embrace all who were interested in law librarianship, who worked professionally in law libraries and who were concerned with improvements in everything which tended to their administration and their service they offered.