Last year the British & Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) celebrated its 50th anniversary. A year on and the feature article in the spring 2020 issue of Legal Information Management (LIM) marks 50 years since the journal was launched in 1970. The journal started its life as The Law Librarian with the subtitle, Bulletin of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. In 2001, it changed its title to Legal Information Management. During its history there have been two publishers – firstly, Sweet & Maxwell and then, from 2004, Cambridge University Press, our current publisher. The journal has been the main publishing vehicle for BIALL for 50 years and remains the leading journal in the British Isles concerning the law library and legal information industry.

The article, written by the current editor, follows the publishing journey of LIM over the past 50 years, observes the changes in the legal information landscape during that time, reflected in the content published by the journal, and gives an account of the progress that has been made by each of the six editors during its history. The article finishes by noting some of the challenges for the future especially in the context of the fast-changing world of journal publishing.

The article is available to read without charge on Cambridge Core: David Wills, ‘From The Law Librarian to Legal Information Management, From Bulletin to Journal: a Jubilee Year‘. (2020) 20(1) Legal Information Management, 4-16

Interested in BIALL and LIM? Follow along with the free BIALL Virtual Conference, June 11-12 2020.