The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 will be fully implemented by January 2005 having received Royal Assent in April 2002. The Act will introduce important new rights for all to access information held by Scottish public authorities. This article by John McNairney sets out the key provisions of the Act and the mechanisms supporting the delivery of open government in Scotland.

Ruth O'Flaherty briefly discusses the provision of library and research services in the Office of the Attorney General.

Jacki Sleator outlines the origins of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) and how the organisation made its transition from a small organisation to one of the biggest legal departments in N Ireland.

Sara Berry, Head of Information Sourcing at Clifford Chance, recounts her experiences of moving her library from the City of London to Canary Wharf – the article contains a useful checklist of items to consider.

This paper by Dr. Mohd Muzzammil concerns the legal information resources at the Supreme Court of India Judges’ Library (SCJL). The article is based on a survey conducted by the researcher as part of his PhD work. He describes the Court and the library collections that support the work of the SCJL, and notes that print legal information resources are used more than electronic resources. The study also realised that a significant percentage of the library budget is expended on subscriptions for journals.

This article is designed for law librarians based outside the United States. The paper, written by Marcia Zubrow, provides basic information about the United States legal system and its sources. This background foundation to the article is important in understanding how to effectively use the two major U.S. databases, Lexis and Westlaw. The author describes the contents of the two databases within the context of the background information. Search techniques, including advance searching strategies, are described.

This article by Sue Westcott discusses some of the changes in government policy since the election of the Coalition Government and the implications of local decision making for public services. These changes in turn will change the type of sources that will be relevant to legal information work relating to public policy.

This article by Michael Saporito, Access Services Librarian at the Boston Social Law Library, discusses the new co-operation scheme which has been put together by two leading law libraries to exploit their document delivery schemes for the mutual benefit of their clients.

The calm and courteous mannerisms that Professor Len Sealy's interviews radiate belie a pragmatic determination that has been the hallmark of his long and productive career. For nearly six decades he has been a legal pioneer, working assiduously to elevate the law of commerce, and in particular company law and insolvency, to scholarly respectability in academia and practical understanding in boardrooms. Yet typically, for one who spent his entire professional life collaborating with wealth creators of the commercial world, he eschewed direct personal involvement in such activities. His loyalty to the scholastic tradition, mirrored in his unstinting service to his college and the Faculty, has generated a legacy of fond regard and intellectual respect. These reflections by Professor Sealy are based on interviews with Lesley Dingle at the Squire Law Library during February and April 2013. They should be read in conjunction with Professor Sealy's entry in the Eminent Scholars Archive1.

Penny Bailey recounts the challenges she has met and dealt with in her unusual progression from a law librarian to running her own software company, Bailey Solutions.

This article developed from a talk delivered by the authors, Timonie Green and Diane Miller, at the BIALL Annual Conference in June 2018, whereby they looked at how the Library and Information Services in both of their firms have managed a move to agile working. Withers, at the time, were deep in preparations for the move, whilst Gowling WLG had been working agilely for some time. The hope is that by telling these stories, and talking about the issues encountered, some pointers and ideas can be given to other firms facing the challenge.

Developing an enquiries tracking database can provide library services managers with data about how their services are being used and by whom. The software should to be configured to the requirements of the individual team in order to provide actionable data to help predict future needs and connect users with the right services. This article, written by Jas Breslin, follows one firm's journey to identify and roll-out a new research tracking system, Quest, under tight time constraints.

The UK's legal deposit libraries play a crucial role in ensuring the country's intellectual and literary output is systematically captured for the use and enjoyment of readers, listeners, and researchers, now and in the future. This article, by Kieran Lee Marshall and Kate Faulkner, summarily examines the legislation that underpins that scheme – the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 and Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013. Over three parts, it explores the historical development of legal deposit in the UK; its operation in the context of the modern deposit library – using a university library as its primary paradigm; and considers ways in which the current law and policy may be developed to better support deposit libraries, the information professionals that run them, and the library and archive users who greatly depend upon barrier-free access to deposited resources. It concludes by outlining three areas on which prospective reform may focus.

This article by Stig Marthinsen describes the background to the establishment of the Caselex database and outlines how it is being currently developed and the plans for its future.

This article by Clare Brown is based on a presentation given at the BIALL Online Annual Conference in June 2021. It takes the form of a case study that illustrates how library and information professionals can control the flow of information so as to avoid users being overwhelmed by news.

This article by Jennifer Findlay describes the history and the current library service and research support provided for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). The library team manage resources across all the SCTS sites in Scotland. This account looks at the history of the SCTS, the current library service and the future.

This issue of LIM has a theme of Scottish legal information and David Hart the highly respected and long-standing (ex) Scottish law librarian, kindly agreed to talk to the Editor about his long career on law librarianship and his involvement with BIALL

In this article Sara Berry provides an account of some of the history relating to the Advocates Library in Edinburgh. She explains how the Advocates Library played a key role in the Scottish Enlightenment and acted as Scotland's national library up to the foundation of the National Library of Scotland in 1925. The article also looks at the library's integral role in supporting Faculty Members and the Scottish justice system through history to modern day. The last section looks at some of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Members, library staff and working practices.

Claire Fox presents a case study to show how information services at a London law firm were improved by developing good working relationships between the library and the rest of the firm.

Gerry Power of the IALS writes about the benefits of compiling a portfolio which records and reflects on the skills he has aquired through work and which he can apply in his work as a mentor.