A little bit about product placement....

So for one (intellectual property) reason or another it became necessary in the law library this past week to take a crash course in product placement. Here's a little summary of what we learned...

- Product placement is simply where a brand owner will pay to have their product featured in a TV show or film, for example. It's been allowed in the USA for some time but was only made legal in the UK in Feb 2011. Prior to this advertising could only take place in the ad breaks.

- There are quite a few famous instances of product placement in the US - famous because they have been criticised for being a bit OTT. You might already know some of them - the dating website 'Plenty of Fish' features prominently in music videos by both Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, while Virgin Airlines and other products received substantial coverage in several episodes of popular sitcome 'Friends'.

- In the UK, product placement cannot take place in news or children's TV shows, nor can products such as cigarettes, high fat foods or baby milk be used in placement deals. There are other prohibited items too, for exmaple things that cannot be advertised in the UK eg. guns.

- One of the reasons that product placement often attracts such criticism is because there are specific Ofcom guidelines that state that product placement must not be overly prominent; in other words, you shouldn't be able to take one look at a scene and realise that product placement is occurring! This is often one of the reasons why it attracts so much controversy.

- In the UK, if a show features product placement, a logo must be shown at the start of the programme to inform viewers this is going to happen.

The one major thing that stood out to me was that product placement is still very much in it infancy in the UK, whereas in the US it has been going on for years. In the last year there have only been about 20 product placements on UK TV! There has been suggestions that Ofcom guidelines are too restrictive, but there are no plans to change them going forward. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Let's hope that the critics aren't proved correct and UK television becomes chock-a-block with brand promotion!

Articles of interest:

What Hinders UK Product Placement Growth: Rules, 'Free Prop'-agenda
Feb 29 2012
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/02/29/UK-Product-Placement-022912.aspx

Will product placement change TV?
Feb 16 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12449502

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Managing your time more effectively - where do we begin?

Mind mapping
Time management is something that every busy professional thinks about from time to time - are we getting the best out of the time available to us in the working day? How much time do we simply fritter away, starting one task, starting another, and feeling like we never really fully accomplish what we set out to achieve?

I took part in a session really which was all about the concept of 'mind mapping' and how this tool can be applied to many aspects of life - not just to help you become better organised at work. It can be used to help you plan a project, or assimilate a large amount of information such a studying a particular topic for an exam.

I was intrigued to discover that I have been using mind maps on a basic level since I studied for exam at school - and also for planning essays! Basically, you start off with a blank sheet of paper and in the centre of that sheet of paper, you write down the topic/subject, and then from that, you have a number of different branches stemming from this main topic. These branches you draw initially are the 'parent' branches, and are labelled with just one key term. From these parent branches you then add sub branches, allowing you to drill down into a particular key topic by as many level as you wish. It was also suggested that if there are any links between ideas on different branches, then show this link with a dotted line.

You can also use images on your mind map - a lot of the time it just depends how your mind works - some people remember things better in graphic form, others (like myself) are more 'wordy'. That having been said, I did study for a physics exam at school by illustrating practically every unit in my textbook into a mind map!

I don't think the concept of mind mapping is necessarily new - in fact it is in my eyes more of a step up from the 'spider diagrams' we were taught to use at school, for example when brainstorming ideas for an essay. I think they are a great way of breaking information down though, and in the workplace, I would like to consider using them more for large scale enquiry project planning, or where I am simply trying to think of all the various options open to me when carrying out research.

The session I was involved in definitely reminded me that mind maps can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be, but fundamentally they are an excellent way of helping you organise your thoughts, problem solve and analyse situations.


Improving time management

I came across an interesting white paper produced by Citrix online which focused on how to run meetings in the workplace more effectively. This is definitely something that I have always found particularly frustrating - when a meeting is allowed to drift on long after it's 'official' finishing time. This can often be caused by poor chairmanship - it is up to the person running the meeting to ensure that it does not overrun significantly. The key suggestions to prevent this from becoming an issue are:

- Determine who exactly needs to be at the meeting in order to achieve the desired objectives - eg. who are the primary decision makers; who only needs to be there for a short time and so on.

 - If you are chairing the meeting, make sure that the agenda also fits in with the objectives and what you want to achieve, or be decided by the end of the meeting. Make sure you politely stop people who simply like the sound of their own voice! Summarise decisions/results as you go along to make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what is happening.

- View the agenda as the plan for the meeting - and make sure you stick to it. If you run out of time, suggest another meeting rather than letting this one drag on painfully.

- Someone should always make sure that minutes are taken and consequently all decisions/discussion outcomes are documented. If you don't do this then the meeting will have been pointless.

It is interesting to know that only 20% of meetings produce 80% of the results - food for thought next time you are planning that team meeting!


Controlling the inbox
Time management also touches upon a subject that is of great interest to me - information overload. The white paper gives us a few suggestions with regard to how to keep on top of your inbox and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.

- Decide quickly whether to respond to a message immediately, archive or delete it.

- Remember the telephone! Nowaday it's almost instinctive to hit the 'compose new message' button but sometime a 60 second call can clarify what a chain of emails will take far longer to!

- Don't feel that you need to respond to people immediately - within 24 hours is normally acceptable.

The last point is one which can't really be applied in the law library - if we were to simply leave enquiries sitting in our inboxes, we would not curry much favour with the fee-earners! However there are other emails that we can put this into practice with, eg. non-urgent communication from suppliers and so on.

Email overload is also looked at from the opposite perspective, i.e. what can we do to make sure that we don't contribute to other people's overload? This is a point that I have addressed in the past - as information intermediaries, we are at risk of bombarding our users with too much information - how much is too much is the million dollar question and to be honest, it varies from lawyer to lawyer in my experience!

The white paper suggests ensuring your subject line is clear and concise, a well-structured email using short sentences, bullet points and paragraphs to ensure that the reader isn't immediately overwhelmed by a wall of text!

If you are giving someone instructions make sure you only include a small number and you give a clear deadline.

I think these tips are definitely useful to me from my perspective of giving people instructions by email. Sometimes if I am managing a particular enquiry project, I try hard to ensure that the email containing the details is as clear and concise as possible. It is very important not to ramble, but to ensure that everything included in the email is non-repetitive and necessary.

Conclusion
I think that time management will always be something that will be of significance to any law librarian, because the lawyers we work for are often working to very tight deadlines and this pressure is tranferred to us as a result. It's important to be as efficient with how we use our time as possible, in order to ensure maximum productivity, but also ensure that we feel in control in the workplace and not overly stressed.

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An interesting enquiry - and happy 2012!

Where on earth do I start with this one?

 So my first post of 2012 - happy new year to all!

One of the things I wanted to do with this blog from the outset was talk a little bit about any unusual enquiries we receive in the law library! I think the most unusual one that I was asked to tackle in the week before Christmas was trying to find out how many times a well known and long-running cartoon has been broadcast in the UK. It was definitely one of those questions where you read it and think to yourself, where on earth do I start?!

General internet searching (if in doubt, turn to Google - although obviously we don't tell the trainees that!) threw up a whole host of references to the cartoon, but one of the initial problems was that it has been broadcast on a whole range of terrestrial and satellite/cable channels. Therefore it was not simply going to be a case of contacting one particular channel or broadcasting company.

I approached it ultimately in a sort of two-pronged approach. Firstly, I decided to try and ascertain if there exists some kind of database that holds all this kind of information about TV broadcasts, and secondly, to contact the BBC, who seemed to be the principal terrestrial broadcaster. I was of the opinion that with this kind of enquiry, we would be lucky to obtain any kind of data, therefore even if I was only able to obtain information from them, it might be sufficient to give the fee-earner a general indication of how often the programme has been shown. Experience has taught me that sometimes even just a bit of information will be better than nothing.

I had hoped to get through to the archives department of the BBC, but this was a fruitless task which involved being past from pillar to post, but never quie seeming to reach anyone who could assist me.I ended up being put through to the audience enquiries department, who were certainly very polite and sounded like they wanted to help, but were unable to answer such a query over the phone. I was asked to put the request in writing in order for one of the researchers to look at it. I have to admit that I was quite hopeful about this, although the fact it was 4 days before Christmas, and the information was needed early in the first week of January at the latest, I didn't hold out much hope in hearing from them before the deadline. Anyway, I sent the letter and moved onto my other approach.

Various internet searches led me to the British Film Institute as a potential source of information. I spoke to someone in the library first of all, who said that they do not have access to this kind of information, but suggested that I contact the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC) as they would have access to some databases that might be able to help.

It turns out that there are some databases out there that comprise of TV show broadcast information! One is called TRiLT, the other TvTip. The only problem - and it's a big problem! - is that they are for academic research purposes only.

TvTip (this covers the period from 1955-1985)
TVTip provides a unique searchable index to the London edition of the TVTimes, the listings magazine for ITV broadcasts, from September 1955 to March 1985.

TRILT - Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching (this covers TV listings from the period 1995-present)
The Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching is the best source of UK television and radio data on the web.
 - Listings for more than 300 TV and radio channels since 1995

Admittedly this means there would be a gap in the data as the period from 1985-1995 is not covered, but again, if I could just access those databases, we would be able to get a very good broad overview of how frequently the show was broadcast.

The only way that we would be able to access the databases would have been to become corporate members of the aforementioned BUFVC. Unfortunately, it was prohibitively expensive when the fee-earner determined how much use we would actually get out of it apart from for this enquiry. However, I was very fortuate indeed to speak to someone at the BUFVC who was willing to do a very basic query on the TV show name for me on the TriLT database. This threw back a specific number of results and covered terrestrial/cable/satellite channels. Any more in-depth research could only be performed if we were members.

In light of the tight deadline and the difficulties involved in obtaining this kind of information, the fee-earner decided that even just obtaining that number was helpful. However, since then I have been able to make contact with someone in the Archives dept at the BBC, and I am awaiting their response to see if it is something they might be able to help with - even though we are now past the deadline, I am loath to let it go! Also, it is always useful to know what information is available for future reference....you never know when you are going to be asked something so obscure again!

Image: 89studio / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Trainee training 2011 - so how did we do???

Well, who would have thought it - it's nearly Christmas and this blog is still going strong! It is very amusing to look back to my first post - I was exceptionally nervous, apprehensive, unsure - you name it - of how I would use the blog, what I would write etc. It is good to know that I have managed to overcome those feelings (well most of the time!) and so to everyone who has been following me - thank you!!!

You may recall earlier in the year that I talked quite a bit about our trainee training programme that kicks off every September when the new trainee lawyers start. Just to recap - we run our sessions over a period of about 8-10 weeks, in contrast to some firms I have worked at whereby the library sessions with the trainees are all finished within their first couple of weeks.

The sessions are run by myself and one of my Managers. This year, we ran the following sessions:

1) Introduction to the library: how we work, what we can supply, charges, plus an overview of copyright restrictions (very important to try and develop an awareness of that early on!)
2) Caselaw: an overview
3) Legislation: an overview
4) Forms and Precedents
5) European caselaw and legislation: an overview

Each session involves a lecture-style presentation from myself and my manager, a chance to ask questions, and ends with the trainees answering questions relating to that session. We then go through the questions with them and explain anything they had difficulties with. For this part of the session we take them to the IT training room, where they have access to our online resources and so can work through real-life examples.

The reason we go back to basics and explain the fundamentals of caselaw and legislation is simply because our trainees come from a variety of backgrounds - some may have studied law at university before sitting their LPC, while others will simply have done another degree, followed by a conversion course and LPC. The LPC is the last stage of law school. However, this means they have all different levels of experience, therefore we have come to the conclusion that all of them will benefit from a recap of the basics, and it ensures that they are all starting from a similar point once they have reminded themselves of this base knowledge.

The one thing that we felt this year should be revised going forward, however, is the length of the sessions. Traditionally we have taken a comfort break halfway through our presentation; this year, however, we got the impression that the trainees found this a little frustrating, and would rather just press on and finish early! We tried this out in our last session and it worked really well, therefore I think it's something we will always offer in our sessions going forward - that way if they want a break, they can have one, but if they want to just keep going, we will do so.

We got very good feedback in terms of the content of the sessions, with some of the trainees saying in particular that the European caselaw/legislation material was particularly helpful, because they had no idea that so much pre-legislative material is freely available online. For the record this kind of material can be of particular interest to the trainees if they are asked to carry out research on a particular piece of EU legislation - there can be some excellent background material in there. We also produce some handouts each year - not for every session, but a handbook in the first session and an excellent guide to European legal research written by one of our PSLs. We got great feedback on this as well. I think the handbook in the first session is very useful to them, because that first session comes very early on in their time with us, and judging from the stunned/exhausted faces we always see before us, I don't think they are physically able to take in everything we tell them! So it's definitely useful for them take that book away to their desks. We include information not only on library services, but tips on Boolean searching, what resources are best for certain kinds of research and so on.

From our point of view, this year's training sessions on the whole went smoothly (I say on the whole - there were the inevitable IT blips/online examples that worked fine at my desk, but failed at the first hurdle in front of the trainees....!) - but I think one thing that both myself and my manager notice more and more with every year, is that many of the trainees give the impression - at least for the first couple of sessions at least - that they do not need to be there. I think the perception of the 'library' is one that they associate with their academic libraries. They have no concept of just how important we are to the fee-earners - although many learn very quickly once in their seats and being asked to carry out research! But in all seriousness, I find it rather sad that yet again, we face these ongoing preconceptions of what people think a library is like - they assume that all we do is manage the book collection and that's as far as it goes. For the most part, I can laugh it off, as one way or another, they come to realise that a corporate library is very different to the one they had at uni/law school....but at the same time, it's also frustrating that simply because of our job title, we are regularly having to justify our presence. When any of the fee-earners find out that we are actually all qualified to MA/MSc level, they are utterly dumbfounded. It is a sad fact that librarianism as a profession is sorely undervalued across the board.

Anyway, on the plus side, this year's trainee training is all done and dusted, the trainees have settled into their seats very well, and my Manager and I have given a collective sigh of relief that that is it out of the way for another year! I really do think we both have learned a lot from this year and have been able to critically evaluate how we did, both in our own opinions as well as taking into account the feedback given to us by the trainees themselves - thereby giving us some food for thought for next year....

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Secondees - to help or not to help?

So one issue that has come up for discussion on more than one occasion this week is how to deal with our trainee lawyers who are out on secondment at one of our clients. This is quite a common practice in a lot of the commercial firms - basically, some of our trainees will spend one of their 6 month 'seats' at one of our major clients. They will be based in the in-house legal team and so will get exposure to a whole new environment. The problem that we have encountered this year though, is that we are getting more and more research queries from our secondees. Now on the one hand, that's great cos that's what we are here for...especially when they are out of the office and don't have access to a lot of our resources. The line that we have taken in the past is that we will assist secondees when they are on secondment, but usually just with accessing things they can't possibly do when away, eg. textbooks, certain caselaw searches....however in recent months, I have started to do quite a lot of research for one of them because he's with one of our key IP clients (I work mostly with the IP team). This has caused a little bit of consternation with the bosses, just because in theory, a lot of the research is not being done on any specialist resources....and it's for the client - therefore they are making money out of us, as opposed to if the trainee was office-based and asking us to help with research that is for a fee-earner....

So the question is - where do we draw the line? It's a really tricky one, because at the end of the day, our whole purpose is to assist the lawyers, and if a trainee is on secondent, got loads of work on and needs our help, it's very hard to say no!

It looks like the solution we are going to implement is simply to treat each secondee enquiry on a case-by-case basis....if we are pushed for time - as is the case most of the time! - and we get sent an enquiry that is time-consuming, but in theory doesn't necessitate use of textbooks and other restricted sources, then we may just give a general overview of the topic, and let the trainee extract the specific bits of info themselves - or at worse, push it back to them, giving them a few ideas of searches/places to look. Have to admit I do find it hard to say 'no' at the best of times, so it's not always the easiest thing for me to push work back to the trainees - even though sometimes it's for their own good, as they do need to learn to do their own research rather than just rely on us for everything!

But in all seriousness it's definitely an issue that I have never encountered before. I'll keep you posted on how it goes over the next few months...

Image courtesy of: <p><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net">Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>

Something I learned this week: searching for images using Lexis.com

Just a little something that I learned this week, that in all my years of using various Lexis platforms to search for articles, I didn't know was possible until now!

At present we use the American platform, Lexis.com, to run searches for press articles worldwide. When articles are put on Lexis, they don't come with their original images, eg a newspaper article may have a picture or several pictures, often with captions. These actual photographic images do not show up on Lexis - but the caption does, along with the word 'graphic'. I was asked if it was possible to search by image on Lexis.com - so we were looking for articles that had contained a photograph of a particular item. Initially I didn't think it would be possible - but it turns out that you can run a 'graphic' search, where Lexis will search the captions that accompanied the various images that were in the original article. The fee-earner was delighted, and even though we would need to resort to obtaining original copies of the article if we want to actually see the image being referred to, the fact that we could identify articles with this particular image was a great start.

I have to admit, I do love it when I learn something new like this!!

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Thing 17 - Prezi

Oh. My. God. Yes, those were my actual words when I first got a look at what Prezi could do to my presentations. What. A. Tool. Okay, now I'll stop writing like that, I promise. But be prepared - this post is going to be pretty enthusiastic....

So it's no surprise if I say that until I read about Thing 17, I had never heard of Prezi in my life. Never knew such a thing existed. To me, Powerpoint has its place - like Ange says, it's important not to get too caught up in it and become a bit too involved with jazzy fonts and fading in and out etc, but there's no harm in getting the very key points of your presentation up there, just to give the audience an overview of what you are going to elaborate on. I mostly use Powerpoint at work for some of my trainee training presentations, and sometimes if I am doing a team training session (the seniors/managers all take turns in our team meetings at talking about one of our more 'specialist' areas of legal research etc). Other than that, there isn't much call for it in my particular role.

At work whenever we do a presentation, we are obliged to use a firm template, which means that each slide has our colour scheme and firm logo on it. Obviously something like Prezi is a world away from that, and for that reason I guess I do have the slight concern that while to all intents and purposes, Prezi is the obvious next step for all Powerpoint users, at the same time I wonder how well the 'look' of Prezi would go down with some of our lawyers!

That aside, I cannot stress enough how much I loved playing around with Prezi. I just signed up for the online, free basic sub, and after watching a 6 minute tutorial, started just messing about and getting a feel for it. The thing that strikes me most is just how amazing it looks - if I were to present to the trainees using even half of the Prezi functionality, I am sure I would definitely retain their attention just a bit longer. Funky diagrams and text could even make Statute law training a little bit more enthralling!

I also love the fact that you can embed videos, filed, photos etc on your screen. Now THAT is pretty amazing. I tried just including a Brandon Flowers video on mine - so easy, all you do is insert the URL and bingo! The YouTube video is on your screen as part of your canvas. I love the way you can reposition everything as well and at any angle, anywhere on the screen.

The one thing I didn't like quite so much was using the pathway functionality. It was probably just me being a bit slow, but I had to go and re-watch that but of the tutorial in order to understand how to use it, and even then I didn't really like it. But that's just a minor, personal gripe. Otherwise - how can this NOT be the future of presentations?!! Showed my practise one to Mr Law_Lib_Extraordinaire and he was suitably impressed!

On the other hand, however,  I have to admit I was not feeling the love for the second part of this week's Thing - or at least, the suggestion that a virtual CV could be the future of CVs! Can I just say one last time Oh. My. God. I mean, really? REALLY?!?!?

It was one of the most tacky, cliched, cheesy etc etc things I have ever had the misfortune of watching. If my manager received a CV in that format she would have a blue fit. In fact, if I received a CV in that format, I would first of all laugh myself silly, and secondly, question the candidate's mental health. Sorry, but I don't quite see that kind of thing going down well in a law firm. Maybe one day - but let's hope it's not until I have retired!

As for Slideshare - well, I don't really feel the need to use it myself, but I have to say it has often come in handy to me when I am perhaps looking for information on a particular individual for one of our fee-earners. If they have done a presentation at a conference, for example, to be able to send the fee-earner a link to the actual slides. Great insight for them into what the target individual specialises in etc. So while there's not really any need for me to use it in the law library, I am all for people using it in general as there can be some really useful stuff on there.

In closing, I will just add that while I am all for Prezi, I do admit that just like Powerpoint, with so much amazing functionality at your fingertips, you could get waaaaay too caught up with making your canvas as jazzy and glitzy as possible, that you do quite literally blind your audience by science. I think moderation is definitely the key...

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Jack of all trades, master of none? Should a law librarian specialise in one area of law?

Jack of all trades...?

It seems to me that law firms tend to take very different views of a law librarian becoming a practice area-specific information specialist. Some of the very large law firms seem to have this as a matter of course, along with one central information/resources department, while the smaller ones tend to only have the occasional practice area specialist.

Part of my original remit in my current role was to work closely with the intellectual property (IP) group, and seek to provide them with a very tailored current awareness and research service. This was without a doubt a daunting task - the firms I had worked at previously had only very small IP groups, and they were all pretty self sufficient, therefore I had almost no prior knowledge of this practice area at all! The only thing I knew was the key textbooks, simply because I had been in charge of acquisitions in London in my last role, so I was pretty clued up on the core texts for most of the common practice areas in a corporate law firm.

The first thing I did was speak to a close friend who works as an insurance litigation specialist in one of my previous firms, in a bid to try and understand how she had developed her expertise in this area. One of the most helpful tips she gave me was to try and get a handle on as quickly as possible of who their key clients are and what sort of work they're doing most frequently. This in turn would enable me to get a feel for what current awareness information would be most relevant to them.

My first few months in the role were quite literally a baptism of fire. There was a huge amount to take in - I had no technical knowledge of trade marks, copyright or any other facet of IP, so I took it upon myself to do a lot of background reading in my spare time. Fellow law librarians will agree that the best to place for this kind of easy to understand overview is PLC (Practical Law Company - subscription database). I felt that by acquiring an understanding of what, for example, a trade mark actually is, why you register them etc etc, would mean that I would at least know the terminology when all the enquiries started coming through.

There was quite a strong expectation that I should also be taking an active part in the IP team's weekly meeting; for example providing them with solutions to projects/research questions, and in doing so, basically promoting the work of the Information Centre (the law library) to the team. Yet again, this was in all honesty pretty horrendous for me to begin with! I had never had to attend another team's meetings, so to do so on my own was nerve racking. What also made it worse was that this team had traditionally been pretty self sufficient and were, shall we say, slightly sceptical that there could be anything I could assist them with. (You can imagine the sheer satisfaction I feel now, 18 months down the line, when I go on holiday and all hell breaks loose because they are actually now quite dependent on me!) However in the first instance, my efforts to try and develop a relationship with the team were met with a lot of resistance, and looking back, I think it was only through sheer dint of pretty much forcing myself upon them at every opportunity and promoting our services as much as possible, that got me to the stage where I am now.

In the time I have been doing my current job, I have actually developed a genuine passion for the work I do relating to the IP team. It seems to me that you can't have it both ways, and this is where I think the biggest law firms have the right idea when they have specific practice area information specialists - and that is what they are; their role is clear and they can put all their efforts into one practice area, and in providing those fee-earners with a high level service.

On the other hand, many law librarians are traditionally a 'jack of all trades, master of none' - and I don't mean that in a derogratory way, because there's still a big part of my role that necessitates that! But I am just trying to show the differences between the 2 types of law librarian. Working in the general Information Centre as I do, until I joined there wasn't really an official assigned analyst (what we call ourselves in the firm) to any practice area. It was well known that 2 of my managers are insurance and litigation supremos (and i am not kidding. there is NOTHING they don't know!), but they weren't officially in charge of any of the associated practice areas. As a rule, law libraries like the one I am in now require the law librarians to be flexible, and able to pick up any enquiry from any practice area and turn their hand to it. Very often this involves doing a bit of quick reading first, just to try and actually understand what they're asking about at a very basic level!

 I still do enough non-IP enquiries to ensure that I keep my hand in at other practice areas, but I think further down the line, I may need to decide how I want to move forward in my career, and if I would like to focus on IP more than anything else. As I said earlier - and sad as it may sound - I genuinely find this area of law interesting and I never thought that would happen! So it would seem a shame to have come so far with it, to just drop it in my next role (whatever that may be). However, there is the downside that perhaps I am limiting myself quite severely to IP-information specialist roles only - and I do wonder if that is the wisest thing to do, given the ongoing poor economic climate...

Nonetheless, I think the question of law librarians specialising in one field of law is a very interesting one, and I would definitely be keen to hear others' views on this...

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Thing 14B - Mendeley

It looks like this week's Thing is going to be fairly brief for me, as I have ruled out Zotero owing to the Firefox restrictions, and having had a look at the 'citeulike' tour, I don't think it's quite for me - although I can see a lot of benefits with regard to writing collaboratively. I think the ability to share articles and references in such a way is great - it just doesn't really relate to anything I do, so while I am glad to have actually found out what it is, I am not going to go any further with it at this stage.

I decided to explore Mendeley instead, simply because I am in the early stages of writing an article for a journal, and consequently have what feels like about a zillion different articles that I'm in the process of reading through, or have decided could be useful in terms of extracting material from. So to find a tool that will help me to keep track of all this is fantastic. I completely agree with Isla - the last big piece of written work I did was my MSc dissertation, and the manual insertion of all the references was something that took me quite literally hours, as I was so worried about making a mistake that I ended up checking them through several times - and nearly losing my sanity in the process!

Mendeley is not only great because I have been able to upload all my PDF articles to one place, but it also will hopefully enable me to create my final bibliography with a lot more ease than the manual job I had at dissertation time. I also love this annotation functionality - I used to have to work from hard copies because I like to highlight/annotate as I read, which you can't normally do in an PDF onscreen. With Mendeley you are able to do this, and then you don't even lose your annotations when you print - brilliant!

While this tool definitely has a lot of potential use in terms of writing articles, or even keeping track of current awareness materials that are particularly interesting, it doesn't really have any relevance to me in my day to day job - nor is it really something that we would be promoting to the fee-earners; simply because this kind of tool is not something we actively use in the corporate law library. I could see great potential for people who work in academic/education libraries, but less so for corporate users. Nonetheless, I am really happy to have discovered this tool - I had no idea such applications even existed!

Social media at work - Facebook

 I don't think there is any doubt nowadays that social media - for better or worse - has become a part of our working lives. Those of who have been following some of my other posts will be well aware that in this particular law library - and indeed law firm - all social networking sites are blocked. To my knowledge, there are no plans to review or change this policy going forward. Yet what with taking part in cpd23, and reading so much about ways to engage with social media, I am more aware of it than ever, but definitely think it is a concept that many law firms simply don't know how best to handle - therefore it's safer to remove the issue altogether, as fears of employees tainting the brand/employees frittering away precious time continue to grow.
Because of the fact that websites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked in our office, I always pay particular attention to articles discussing the pros and cons of using such media in the workplace - therefore I enjoyed a recent post on the Stephen's Lighthouse library industry blog titled Infographic: Social Media Policies in the Workplace, in which he refers to a post from the Marketing Technology Blog that discussed the results of a survey into social media in the workplace.

It was very interesting to note that in this global survey, approx 70% stated that social networking sites were actively blocked in their workplace, and more than half of the respondents stated that there is a policy in place regarding social networking - and often usage inside AND outside of work. However, a quick search of our Intranet here in the UK did not retrieve any mentions of social networking practices at all. Could it simply be that there is an unspoken assumption that employees should not use social media in a way that could damage our firm's reputation and so on; in other words, it's a kind of 'common sense' policy?

Having worked in a few different law firms over the last few years as social media usage has increased dramatically, the one thing that initially all of the firms had in common was that they were completely against it being used in the workplace. In one of my previous firms, one of the reasons given for certain sites being blocked was simply that it would encourage time wasting and potentially lead to the network becoming overloaded. It's hard to say whether this would be the case, but given the fact that I sometimes log in to Facebook for 5 minutes -and then 30 minutes later I am still on there - it's a fair point! However, attitudes in the legal domain have slowly but surely been evolving - an article last year in Legal Week is testament to this: Social media grows - new survey show more acceptance of technology among lawyers. An annual survey of the American Bar members showed the following:

"Large firm respondents were the most likely to report personally maintaining a presence in an online community/social network (63%). The highest percentage of respondents reported maintaining a presence in LinkedIn (83%), followed by Facebook (68%), Plaxo (18%), martindale.com Connected (4%), LawLink (2%), Twitter (2%), Avvo, LegalOnRamp, and LegallyMinded (1% each) and 4% other social networking websites."

It seems to me that the advent of LinkedIn has definitely helped to increase acceptance of social networking in law firms. Often dubbed the 'professional' version of Facebook, it is worth noting that I have never known this site to be blocked, although the fundamental concept and means of using the site is very similar to Facebook.

It is also worth noting that every law firm I have worked at has also had a 'network' on Facebook which employees can join - something which I find a bit contradictory, in all honesty. What's the point of having a network that is potentially a marketing tool, on a site to which staff only have access out of the office? To me this highlights the reason why I feel that your Facebook life and your work life should never be mixed - if the boundaries become blurry, it potentially makes people feel that they can't ever get away from 'work'. Even though I barely ever post any comments on Facebook at all - so there is nothing on there that would offend them - I still don't ever join my employers' networks on there - it's just a bit too 'Big Brother' for my liking.

However, I am well aware that I am often in the minority camp with these opinions when it comes to fellow law librarians! Information professionals in general appear to be at the forefront of the social media revolution - the fact that cpd23 has attracted so many participants is tantamount to the interest the profession has in staying up to date with such technologies. I am certainly not against social networking per se in the workplace; I just think that there's a forum for 'social' social networking (Facebook), and a forum for professional networking (LinkedIn). I am happy to market my personal brand and indeed employer on LinkedIn, but don't feel the need to do that elsewhere. In addition to that, I think there are some firms which are more suited to marketing themselves on Facebook - for example the leisure industry...but I don't think it's quite the same for a corporate law firm!

By the way, I realise that we haven't really covered the use of Twitter in the law library - and on a broader level the law firm...think we'll save that one for another day!

 Image courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1708

Take a nap at work - not in the law library you don't...

It did make me chuckle when I saw this particular tip from Harvard Business Review, titled 'Take a nap at work'. The author explains how the more hours a person works without a break, the more their productivity actually declines, therefore taking a short nap between 1 and 3pm will revitalise you and thereby kickstart your productivity levels again. There's no arguing with this, I admit - but how many people out there would actually be in a position to take a lunchtime/early afternoon siesta??

The author suggests 20-30 minutes - any longer leaves you hazy, apparently. The three steps to getting your sleep are to schedule a time, find a quiet place, and tune out, setting your alarm of course so you don't end up going AWOL for the rest of the day.

The reason it made me smile was simply because this would never be feasible in any law library I have worked in. Scheduling a time would be the first hurdle - although we have agreed, staggered lunch hours, I find mine is rarely when it should be, because if an urgent enquiry comes in, it needs to be dealt with, and saying I had a nap scheduled wouldn't quite cut the mustard with my managers! Second problem would be finding a quiet place - short of retreating to the ladies toilets (and even then I don't think they are particularly quiet, given how many people share them!) - there is nowhere I could go that would ensure I wouldn't be disturbed. I think this would be different if you had an office, but even then, our firm is not the kind of firm where doors can be closed and privacy reigns - they are glass panelled, so discretion would be impossible!

The third step in the napping at work process is to 'tune out' - but in our library it's something I find very difficult to do. When it's all systems go and there are several enquiries being dealt with at once, I struggle to simply switch my mind off from it all, say, if I slip out at lunchtime. Therefore while a peaceful, daytime power nap would be lovely I'm sure, I think actually falling asleep at work goes against every mental belief I have - it's against my nature to associate the law library with a peaceful sleep!!

Having said that - kudos to anyone who can pull this feat off!!

Image courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2125

It's a bit like being a detective - those pesky requests for foreign company information...

If there is one thing that I get asked to do very regularly, it's to find out as much as I can about a particular company, or indeed group of companies. Simple enough, you might think? Ah, if only! The problem that we always encounter is where a company is not based in the UK: unless it's a pretty big operation, the chances of finding out anything authoritative can be very slim indeed. The main reason for this is that filing requirements differ drastically from one country to another - and just to complicate things even more, in the USA, the requirements vary from state to state.

Please note that this is by no means an authoritative guide to looking for company information - this is just to give you an idea of the kind of things we often do when we are asked for this kind of info. Every law library has its own methods/resources/preferences in terms of procedure.

One thing to bear in mind from the outset - whether it's the UK or USA, make sure you establish the correct company name. If you are looking at one little company that's part of a big group of other little companies, they can all have very similar names. Make sure you are looking at the correct entity, and not just a company with a name that's almost the same as the one you were given.

Anyone who does this kind of research regularly will know that in the UK, we are quite lucky when it comes to being able to obtain basic information on a company, because generally speaking, (and I am being VERY GENERAL here -  if it's a partnership for example, there will  be less available - but we won't go into that now!) we can pay for and download a number of documents from Companies House. So if the company has been alive long enough to have filed a set of accounts and an annual return, we can obtain these documents, which give us information like who the company directors and shareholders are, for example. If the company is only recently incorporated then there won't be any of these documents available, but there will be the set of incorporation documents, which will show the directors at the time of incorporation - which is a start at least!

If we're looking at non-UK companies from the outset, then we will often check and see if it is possible to obtain any information free or at cost from the company registry of that country/US state. We also have access to a number of subscription company information databases which we can go to and see if the company is on there. These databases pull their information from a number of sources - sometimes local registry filings, sometimes a wide range of other reports - we try not to rely on them wholly though, as you rarely can be 100% sure that the information is accurate. Where possible we would rather obtain a source document ourselves, but if this can't be done, then databases like this can be invaluable. If we do rely on them, we make it clear to the lawyer where the information has come from and warn him that it may not be 100% authoritative.

If the company is a very large (and if so, it's generally listed on a stock market) then always check the company website. If it is a publicly listed company, then they are required to publicly file annual reports and a plethora of other financial information. So for example, if it's a US public company, they are required to file at the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) - if you look for a form 10-K for that company on the SEC website itself, OR in most cases on the company website as well, then you will be able access a wealth of information, as the 10-K is an annual report. Along with this report and all the information about the business it does, the directors and so on, if you look at the list of Exhibits filed with it and go to Exhibit 21, you will find a list of that company's main subsidiaries - this can be invaluable for many reasons.

If we are looking into a non-UK, very tiny company, and we can't find anything at the local registry AND there isn't any information on any of our databases, then sometimes there is nothing else to do but general internet searching (ssshhh - obviously we don't encourage taking information from unauthoritative sources, but when all else fails, it's a good last resort!) Press searches are worth a shot too, as by this stage, you are often so desperate to just find anything to prove that the company does - or did - actually exist, that even just a random article mentioning them can make your day! Moreover, this kind of searching may not lead you to the company name you have been given by the fee-earner, but it might just lead you in the right direction somehow - you might find a company owned by the same group, for example, which might in turn provide you with another lead for the company you were looking at originally...

Sometimes after establishing who is behind the company, we then go onto find out information about them - if they are individual people we will try and find out what other companies they are associated with; and if it's another company that owns the company in question, we will try and find out more about it. Often you end up tracing the chain of people/companies involved back further and further until you either reach the top of the chain, or you find that you come across an entity that is registered in somewhere very remote like the British Virgin Islands - and suddenly you will find that your searching almost grinds to a halt!

Companies registered in places like the Cayman Islands/British Virgin Islands and so on, are generally filed there for a reason - the main reasons being that there are various tax benefits AND the filing requirements are minimal - so it's good for the company owner, not so good for us back in the UK trying to obtain authoritative information on them. These offshore types of registries do make it very difficult to obtain any information at all - the process is often extremely protracted and if you do manage to follow it through without losing your sanity in the process, then you often find that all you get at the end of it is little more than an incorporation date!

It's times like this where we can offer our lawyers the services of a specialist company information provider. Most law firm libraries tend to use one - the prices for obtaining information on non-UK entities can be pretty pricey, which does put a lot of our lawyers off using them, but if they are really desperate, there is often no other way. These providers often have links to agents in the very country in which you're interested, so they can obtain information a lot easier than we can back in good old Blighty....

Well - there you have it - a VERY general look at the problems and pitfalls of conducting research on non-UK companies. Sometimes it really does feel like being a detective, as one small piece of information from the most random place can lead you to the very information you need on a particular company.

 Now I wonder what jurisdiction I'll be looking into this week...anyone know the filing requirements in Albania....?!! :)

Image courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=809

cpd23 - the challenge has begun!

Today is the day so many of us have been waiting for - the start of the cpd23 challenge!

I know I told you a little bit about myself in my very first blog post, but I'd just like to take that a bit further in light of getting started with 'Thing 1' - why I'm taking part in this course and what I hope to get out of it.

To recap, I work for a law firm in the City, in what we refer to as the Information Centre - which is also commonly known in its more traditional sense - the Library. However, although we're often referred to as the Library, we have quite a wide-ranging role, traditional library duties being merely a small part of that role. We handle a wide range of legal research enquiries, along with a great deal of business development work; that is, compiling reports and obtaining other intelligence on companies/individuals worldwide in order to assist fee-earners with pitches for new business.

I have worked in law firm libraries for about 5 and a half years now; my background prior to this was chiefly in the insurance industry. I obtained my MSc from City University in 2010 after studying part time over two years. I decided to take part in the cpd 23 project because I am now working towards my CILIP Chartership qualification, and I felt that this would be a really good way of trying out things that I would normally not even consider - a blog itself being one of those things! I am hoping that the programme will give me more opportunities to get involved in areas that I wouldn't otherwise, as well maybe even make some new contacts! Not only that, but the fact that reflection on professional development forms an important part of the Chartership process means that this blog gives me another forum in which to do so. I am hoping it will help me to get as much as I can out of all of the 'Things' in the programme, as well as anything else that I do outside of the programme.

I have already written a post about a couple of training sessions I attended recently on recruitment/interviewing skills, so I am hoping to write about such things in conjunction with my posts on the cpd 23 challenge.

In the meantime, I look forward to checking out some fellow participants' blogs!