The British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL, http://www.biall.org.uk/) is a professional body which represents information professionals working with legal information. BIALL is a self-supporting association which draws its income primarily from membership subscriptions.

History

BIALL was set up in 1969 following workshops on law librarianship held at

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

in 1968 and 1969. Two strands led to the formation of BIALL. Firstly, the law librarians in London, Oxford, Cambridge and Ireland had been in contact and working together since the late 1940s, reinforced by their membership of the International Association of Law Librarians (IALL). Secondly, the outreach programme of Leeds Library School led to one of the school's staff, Don Daintree, organising Workshops on Law Librarianship in Harrogate in 1968 and 1969. They brought together the foremost law library figures as speakers and those few people who were working in law libraries as students of the Workshops. The inspiration for the Workshops was the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2002 as a merger of th ...

's List C papers on the bibliography and librarianship of subjects. The 1st Harrogate Workshop in February was held at the Russell Hotel and a meeting at the end of the Workshop set up an ad hoc Committee to look into the possibility of establishing an association of law librarians. Committee members were

Wallace Breem Wallace Wilfred Swinburne Breem (13 May 1926 – 12 March 1990) was a British librarian and author. He was the ''Librarian and Keeper of Manuscripts'' of the Inner Temple Law Library. His writing included non-fiction pieces, but he is probab ...

, Don Daintree,

Betty Moys Elizabeth Moys (26 June 1928 – 1 February 2002) was born in Wickford, Essex, England. She grew up in Kent, attended Sidcup County School for Girls and graduated from Queen Mary College in London (1949). One of her first jobs was at the Crayfo ...

, Willi Steiner and Derek Way. The 2nd Harrogate Workshop in April concluded with a meeting which set up an Association of Law Librarians. This was the inaugural meeting and those who were present are BIALL's founder members. The first AGM was held in a basement room of the old IALS building in

Russell Square Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton (property developer), James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Mus ...

on Monday 22 September. It was chaired by Willi Steiner, several hours were spent debating the minutiae of the draft Constitution. One of the decisions was to form a separate organisation, not affiliated to, or part of, the Library Association, resulting from strong arguments that organisations (especially law firms) who had no professional librarians, would be excluded from membership if the Association were part of the LA. The principle of welcoming professionally qualified and non-qualified law librarians into BIALL has prevailed ever since. The first officers were Don Daintree (chairman),

(secretary and treasurer) and Betty Moys (editor). An executive committee was subsequently elected and in November it set up a Sub-Committee of Betty Moys, Allan Appleby of

Sweet and Maxwell Sweet & Maxwell is a British publisher specialising in legal publications. It joined the Associated Book Publishers in 1969; ABP was purchased by the International Thomson Organization in 1987, and is now part of Thomson Reuters. Its Britis ...

, and

to produce a journal.

BIALL Conference

BIALL organises an annual Conference every year which all BIALL members are invited to attend. The Conference is an opportunity to listen to talks delivered by Legal Information Professionals and Industry experts as well as network with colleagues. The 2020 and 2021 conferences were moved online due to the

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic, but the 2022 conference is due to be held in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

on 6–8 July 2022. Previous Conferences have taken place at

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

(2019) (the 50th anniversary of both the organisation, and the conference),

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

(2018),

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

(2017),

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

(2016),

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

(2015),

(2014),

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

(2013),

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

(2012),

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

(2011),

(2010),

(2009),

(2008),

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

(2007),

(2006),

(2005),

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

(2004), and

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

(2003).

Awards and other activities

BIALL administers and presents several awards at its annual conference dinner including the BIALL Supplier of the Year Award, the LexisLibrary Awards (formerly the Halsbury's Awards), the biannual

Award, the

Award, the Legal Journals Award, and the Wildy Law Librarian of the Year Award.

Publications

Legal Information Management http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=LIM
Handbook of Legal Information Management
2nd ed (2014)
Moys Classification and Thesaurus for Legal Materials
(2012)

References

External links

BIALL Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:British And Irish Association of Law Librarians * * Library associations in the United Kingdom Legal organisations based in Ireland 1969 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1969