This issue of LIM is particularly special as it marks our move to Cambridge University Press, after many years with Sweet & Maxwell. The Editorial Board is delighted with the change and we are looking forward to a long and happy working relationship with the team at CUP. Your Editor's life should be made much simpler, as all the production processes will be managed at CUP, so there will be no more chasing up of recalcitrant printers and typesetters, nor of trying to (largely unsuccessfully) solicit advertising, as we will have our very own advertising and marketing person at CUP and all production processes are carried on within the company.

In a previous life I was a yuppie. Double breasted suit, briefcase and a state-of-the-art-library with views across the harbour from the top floor of a glass tower in downtown Auckland. I worked hard and played even harder. My time was charged in ten minute units and I can still remember the middle initial of every partner in the firm. So how on earth did I end up trading my well polished lace-ups for flip flops and the beloved kiwi Sauvignon Blanc for a dirty brown liquid called kava?

So there I am, late summer of 1986, in Toronto with a still-damp Master's Degree in Information and Library Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and I'm looking for a job. Not just any job. Nope, a job in Bermuda. Why? Well, it happens to be home and I've got this five year plan that says do five years in Canada with the new husband and get finished with education for both of us and find a job in Bermuda. So it's time to do just that. I've had quite enough, thank you, of the Frozen North, slipping and sliding on the roads and the sidewalks and winter is fast approaching yet again. Now where's that job?

The need to monitor competitor activity and anticipate competitive actions is a standard activity for most businesses. In order to succeed and grow, firms need to understand what rival firms are doing, and furthermore what is happening in the overall business environment. However unlike a manufacturing company, or a high-street retailer, or indeed many other businesses, obtaining intelligence on competitors is not so easy for professional service firms.

Elsewhere in this journal Arthur Weiss's review of competitive intelligence for legal professionals is careful to point out that CI is a lawful and ethical process. It is not, as some senior managers still believe, a cloak-and-dagger shady activity carried out by unscrupulous managers in the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), hi-tech or pharmaceutical sectors.

This article describes research which suggests that much more could be done to prepare Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates for a career in legal information, both in terms of greater career information availability and in greater preparation before working with legal information, such as knowledge of legal materials and ways of working. Greater promotion of this interesting and challenging information sector would ensure that LIS graduates are fully aware of law library work as a viable career path and are clear about what the work entails. Implications for CILIP, BIALL, Library Schools and university careers services are discussed.

Since I moved on from Herbert Smith to take up the post of Librarian and Head of Information Services at the Law Society in April 2001, colleagues have often asked me about the differences in working environment. Having had time to settle in (yes, it can take that long!) I think it is time to write a few words about this new experience and about the ser-vices which we offer to solicitors and to law firm librarians.

Watson Wyatt is a global consulting firm focused on human capital and financial management. We specialise in four areas: employee benefits, human capital strategies, technology solutions and insurance and financial services. Supporting these is Business Services, of which the Information Centre is part. We are based in the European headquarters in Reigate, Surrey. The firm itself has more than 6,300 associates in 86 countries around the world, and in the UK we have been included in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work for the past two years. We also celebrate our 125th anniversary this year.

It is a remarkable coincidence that we have been asked to write this article now as it is exactly ten years ago this month (November, at time of writing) that the first tentative steps that led to the development of Perspective occurred.

For many the subject of pensions is a tedious – perhaps boring – diversion, a matter which is rarely in good focus, and surely one in which little could be said by way of information resources. In fact the world of pensions in the UK is overwhelmed with legislation, burdened with regulation, and hardly short of information resources.

This article is a summary of the paper presented at the 34th Annual Study Conference of BIALL held in Cardiff, June 2003 by Nicki McLaurin Smith and Prue Presser. The paper consisted of a demonstration of LIST (Legal Information Skills Tutorial), which has been developed at the University of Melbourne Law School for the purpose of teaching legal research skills. The paper covered background information, evaluation, successes and shortcomings as well as extending an invitation for involvement in future collaborative projects of this nature with the Legal Resource Centre.

Does the Legal Practice Course (“LPC”) form a successful link between the academic study of law and legal practice? Are students passing the LPC properly prepared for their job as a trainee solicitor?

The effect of the Practical Legal Research (PLR) modules of the Legal Practice Course (LPC) course was the main focus of the discussions. The views within this article are general observations from the participants' experiences of working with trainee solicitors. The panel consisted of librarians from a range of different-sized law firms with representation from the academic sector. Comments were also received from our colleagues in barristers' chambers.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) was extended to higher education institutions by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA). The legislation applies to libraries, although other teaching and educational activities receive more coverage in the Act and in the explanatory literature that has developed to assist implementation.

The Social Model of Disability sees “disabled people disabled by physical, organisational and/or attitudinal/behavioural barriers in society. For instance it is not an inability to climb stairs that excludes wheelchair users from accessing the different floors of a library but the fact that a lift or ramp is not provided in the first place” (Jones, 2002)

From December 2003, for the first time, people looking for work and those in jobs or training will have a right to complain about discriminatory behaviour based on their sexual orientation and religion or religious belief. Similar protection against discrimination based on age should also some into force in 2006. It seems clear that these regulations represent a significant step forward in addressing unfair discrimination in the UK and in achieving a certain level of uniformity and coherence across discrimination legislation.

In five years at Pinsents I have seen three different library management systems. Our current system, OLIB7, has been in situ since September 2002 and for the most part is working well. But why have we had three in such a short space of time? Why did we choose OLIB7? And is implementing a new system really all that bad?

Selecting my title to span two conference topics, this year's and last, I admit could have been a little tricky, but my inspiration in the end came from music and hopefully you too will see, as we progress through this presentation, just how much our profession can learn from the musicians.

In this article I'll be covering the following:

[bull ] some widely held perceptions of distance learning

[bull ] how distance learning takes place within law at The Nottingham Trent University (NTU)

[bull ] the UK Libraries Plus national support scheme for distance learning students in the UK

[bull ] how I provide support for my distance learners

[bull ] the practical difficulties that distance learners face

[bull ] perceptions or misconceptions? – do my original perceptions still hold true?

[bull ] some ideas for the future

At this point, I should point out that I'm not promoting The Nottingham Trent University as a model of best practice, but just outlining our experiences. If anyone has any more sensible approaches or solutions to the issues I'll be covering then please let me know.

Adolf Sprudzs had a long and distinguished career as a foreign and international law librarian at the University of Chicago Law School, where he developed one of the premier foreign and international law collections in the United States. He was a leader among a generation of foreign and international law librarians who emigrated to the United States after World War II and were responsible for the collections and expertise that now exist in this country.