This article, written by Kate Faulkner and Wendy Lynwood, considers the skills of law librarians and shows how they can assist those who also hold a copyright specialist role. Most librarians encounter some aspects of copyright within their role. However, the understanding that law librarians have with regard to law, legal research capabilities, teaching and liaison skills equips them to take on copyright, sometimes in addition to their law library role, or to move into a full-time copyright specialist role.

In this article David Wills, the Librarian of the Squire Law Library, offers a brief description of the extraordinary range of architecture at the University of Cambridge with particular reference to the David Williams Building, designed by the world-renowned architects Foster + Partners. He suggests that, in the context of the Squire Law Library, which occupies the top three floors of the David Williams Building, the building has truly come of age; he looks at some of the features and challenges of its modern design; and notes that the building looks set to play a major part in the education and research activity of legal scholars and university students into the distant future. This article is a personal reflection based on the author's experience of using and working in the building for some 26 years since it was constructed and opened in the mid-1990s.

Goldsmiths, University of London, started teaching LLBs in Law in 2019/2020. Greg Bennett was hired in 2018 to be the subject librarian for law, and to stock the library before teaching commenced. In this article, based on his presentation at the BIALL Online Annual Conference in June 2021, the author will discuss his decision-making and selection processes regarding his choices about what to include, and what not to include in the collection.

This article, by SarahLouise McDonald, is an examination of the history and recent refurbishment of the Law Library located at the Old College campus at the University of Edinburgh. This article describes notable incidents in the history of the School of Law, and explores how these have combined to create a multifaceted identity for the Law Library. The author considers the challenges which library staff have faced during the latest upgrade to facilities and how this has affected daily operations. Finally, the effect of recent global events on the library's approach to service delivery is discussed, and opportunities for positive growth are identified amongst a complex landscape of resource purchasing and access.

This article written by Helen Garner, the Bodleian Law Librarian, reviews three different building projects that have taken place at the Bodleian Law Library (BLL) between 2010 and 2020. The three projects were all undertaken independently of each other and have transformed the BLL. This article discusses each project and explains the work that was completed. This is followed by a summary of the impact of the projects and the lessons learnt.

In this article David Gee, the Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), describes the recent two year ‘IALS Transformation Project’ that Charles Clore House at 17 Russell Square has undergone and the benefits for the Institute and its library that have resulted from the refurbishment work that has been carried out. He looks at the aims of the project, explains how a continuity of services and activities during the works has been assured and how the transformation of the building meets the needs of the postgraduate law students and legal researchers of today.

The Squire Law Library has designed and run a series of popular escape room-style events, aimed at masters and undergraduate law students. Intended to prompt students to explore the full range of legal resources available to them, the games typically challenge participants to open a locked safe: relying on legal databases, the library catalogue and print materials to decipher a six-digit combination. This article, based on Lizz Edwards-Waller's presentation at the BIALL (virtual) conference 2020, reflects on the practicalities of running and promoting code-breaking events within the library and considers the benefits of this style of event in addition to, or instead of, more traditional law library orientation tours.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the annual Academic Law Library Survey that is jointly sponsored by the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL). It has been compiled and written by David Gee, Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, a part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London.

Current debates about decolonisation and diversification raise practical issues for librarians. The Bodleian Law Library is engaging with these challenges, in co-operation with the Oxford Law Faculty, the wider Bodleian Library and the collegiate university. This article by Margaret Watson describes how the Library is taking a fresh look at its collections and their organisation, with a view to acquiring, revealing and collocating material that might otherwise by overlooked.

In this short article, David Ibbetson, the Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Cambridge, writes about the value of the law librarian in the academic context. His wide-ranging interests cover English and European legal history and, in particular, the historical relationship between English Common Law and the legal systems and legal thought of the rest of Europe. His experiences of using law libraries and receiving assistance from academic-based law librarians has led him to acknowledge the true value of the profession.

In this article Dunstan Speight, President of BIALL 2018–2019, provides a short overview of current challenges and opportunities facing the profession. In addition to trends affecting all types of law libraries, the article discusses some of the main issues facing the three main types of information service: academic, law firm and chambers, and professional bodies. The article concludes with a discussion of how core skills and experience are still relevant in the fast-changing world of legal information.

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.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the Society of Legal Scholars and BIALL Survey. It has been written by David Gee, Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

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.

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.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the Society of Legal Scholars and BIALL Survey. It has been written by David Gee, Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

This article concerns the international law collections at the library of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) in London. It is based on a talk given by Hester Swift at the training day entitled ‘Socio-Legal Sources and Methods in International Law’ which was held at IALS on 25 November 2016.

In this paper Lesley Dingle provides a detailed account of the historical development of the public international law collections at the Squire Law Library in Cambridge. She explains the close involvement of the academic lawyers and the librarians, past and present, in developing an important collection which reflects the significance of the subject at Cambridge's Faculty of Law. Finally, she brings things up-to-date by detailing the extent of the electronic provision which benefits the modern scholar in this discipline.

The concept of placemaking has been widely utilized by public and university libraries to create spaces with library users in mind. This article by Lee F. Peoples describes how academic law libraries can employ placemaking concepts to support their parent law school's program of legal education, encourage collaborative learning, and connect students with their school's community, values and traditions. This article explains how academic law libraries can assess placemaking activities and other uses of library space and demonstrate a return on investment made into library spaces. The article concludes with some predictions for the future of assessing library space use.