The twenty-first century is already proving to be the real dawn of the information revolution. The internet is now officially coming of age and highly functional mobile devices are everywhere. The youth of today are permanently connected and the media world is shifting to a “born digital”, “on line first” mentality. Every part of our society is feeling the effects of this revolution and is reaping the benefits of “real time information everywhere” ... or are they? Adrian Dale, in the second Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture, suggests that the reality is that many businesses are failing to keep pace with information growth and desperately need help – the question is from whom?

In this article, which closely relates to Adrian Dale's topic for the Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture, Derek Sturdy explains what ECM is. He discusses the storage, editorial and publishing processes involved in ECM. He explains the importance of workflow and considers the advantages and disadvantages of potential software solutions to manage the process.

This Conference paper by Martin Farley gives an outline of four wikis in the legal sector and examines why they were established, how they operate and how successful they have been at achieving their objectives. It also includes a brief introduction to wikis, a list of examples of other possible uses within the legal sector and a broad overview of advantages, disadvantages and probable future developments. It aims to provide an idea of what is practically possible at the moment and where the potential of law wikis lies.

In her Conference presentation Kathryn Pearson discussed Bird & Bird's approach to Knowledge Management (KM). She considered the skills needed to become a legal knowledge manager and how these differ from those needed in Library and Information Services (LIS). She reviewed the merits of KM and the firm's approach to KM from three angles: people, process and technology, giving examples from recent KM projects.

Within UK law firms, marketing or business development departments have traditionally been responsible for the provision of business information. Sue Lamond, from Addleshaw Goddard, explains how her firm differs in that the Information Services department is responsible for this provision. The department compiles company and sector profiles and analyses, and is directly involved in the pitch process for new work from clients, supporting client partners' information and development needs.

Rob Brown gave the opening presentation at the BIALL Conference and filled us all with confidence on how to network at either a social or business event. He gave lots of helpful hints on how to prepare for an event, whom to approach on entering a room and then ten practical tips on how to behave at the event to ensure successful networking.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the Society of Legal Scholars and BIALL Survey. It has been written by Peter Clinch, Senior Subject Librarian for Law, Cardiff University

This article by Ivo Vogel and Dr Jochen Haug of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin describes an ambitious project to build a portal to a huge legal information resource covering German primary and secondary legal sources currently available on the internet. It will act as the first port of call for all legal researchers and it is hoped to extend the project to include hard copy sources eventually.

This study by Dragomir Cosanici provides a bibliometric, comparative study of the citation practices of the state supreme courts in the common law jurisdictions of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio, USA during a recent ten-year span (1994–2004). It focuses on the type of legal materials most frequently cited as authority, examining the importance of both primary and secondary sources. It specifically analyses the growing usage of electronic citations by the four supreme courts.

In this very practical and useful Checklist, Anne Coles and Davina Gifford of LG guide us through the steps involved in moving a corporate library to a new building, whilst at the same time re-branding the information service. They highlight the most important issues to consider at the pre-planning and planning stages; the move itself and after the move. The most important message is not to enter unwinnable battles and to prepare as thoroughly as possible.

Compiled by Katherine Read and Laura Griffiths at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies