ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal information profession within law firm libraries in Britain and Ireland. As the pandemic only began the year before commencing this research, few studies had been conducted on the topic, thereby a clear opening for this study emerged. This study uses a survey research strategy comprised of a mixed methods research approach. Desk research in the form of a literature review opens the study. A questionnaire and 5 semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted. To understand the impact of the pandemic on the legal information profession within law firm libraries, the research objectives break the topic down into 4 areas that give insight into the consequences of the pandemic. The research found that A) working from home was the major impact faced due to the lockdown in spring 2020;B) use and spending on print resources declined;C) the role of legal information professionals has not significantly changed;and D) future legal information professionals will need to upskill due to technological developments and improve the image of the profession. Owing to the recent outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to compare the findings of this research to similar future studies to determine the validity of the results.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the company called CB Resourcing has established itself in the recruitment business and regularly advertises for positions in the knowledge management, business research, legal tech and law librarianship worlds. In this short article one of the Directors of CB Resourcing, Simon Burton, offers some thoughts about the recruitment business, the current state of the market and describes the services that are provided by the company. The article has been written in the form of an interview with questions posed by the editor of this journal and answers given by Simon Burton.
ABSTRACT
In Autumn 2021 the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) carried out a follow-up survey to the May 2020 ‘Covid-19 Industry Survey'. BIALL President, Catherine Bowl, gives an overview of the findings of ‘State of the Nation' survey which was published in December 2021. The results of the survey are to be found on the pages that follow this introduction.