LNB(UK) & Halsburys.. Hornets Nest

Written by Sean Hocking

At the end of January after a number of complaints about Halsburys  from UK legal librarians David Percik the BIALL(British & Irish Law Librarians) Liaison manager asked Lexis if they wouldn't mind issuing a general statement with regard to concerns about the future and direction of the product to the UK legal library community... Yesterday Percik posted Lexis' response (see below) on UK LIS LAW and asked for comments. It's quite some time since we've seen an issue rile so many librarians on LIS LAW. Below the Lexis response we highlight some of the issues concerning the library community Lexis Statement As the only complete narrative statement of the law in England and Wales, Halsbury's Laws remains excellent value. It is relied upon as the definitive legal encyclopaedia and is a unique product in its field. The price of new reissue volumes reflects the increased quantities of new material added to each current volume and the greater investment that we make in our authors and editorial teams, together with our production costs and the general overheads of our business at the time of publication. Just in the past year or so, there have been many hundreds of new cases, 43 new public general Acts and more than 1500 general Statutory Instruments, in addition to a wealth of quasi-legislative material and related content. As the volume of current law grows, the time taken to organize and distil the information into a format that can be used easily also increases proportionately. As you have noted, the law is changing more rapidly than ever. There have been wide-ranging and complex reforms in areas such as company law, employment and tax to name but three. Halsbury’s Laws volumes are reissued more frequently to reflect the pace of change and ensure that subscribers have access to the most up to date information. To minimise the risk of relying on out of date material, an ongoing subscription to the work is vital. We appreciate the apparent anomaly between the pricing of the set and the new reissue volumes. However, our desire is to make the benefits of Halsbury's Laws available to as wide a range of customers as possible. We work closely with our customers to provide them with the best research solutions and are consequently aware of the budgetary considerations that they face. The price of a complete set of volumes is therefore significantly lower than the cost of purchasing the same volumes individually to encourage entry to the work, and represents particularly good value given the wealth of material it contains. In summary, the pricing of Halsbury's Laws as a whole reflects the quality of the product and its utility to subscribers. If subscribers have any further questions, we suggest that they contact their account manager who would be pleased to discuss our services and pricing in more detail. We understand the query about how the 5th edition will work, and would like to reassure you on that front. The short answer to the question is "yes" - it will be a natural replacement, in the way that the reissue volumes work at the moment. In that sense it is a continuation of the reissue programme, and existing customers can treat each fresh volume in the way that they currently do. If a new volume is not an exact replacement of a previous one, we will give clear guidance on that. So for a time a complete "set" of Halsbury's Laws will be a mixture of 4th and 5th edition volumes. It is intended to be a seamless process, so that coverage remains comprehensive, but at the same time the 5th edition developments - including the reorganisation of the title scheme - will be introduced. We will ensure that subscribers are all kept fully informed of the materials that will go to make up a set of Halsbury's Laws for the period that it takes for the 5th edition to be complete. The Supplement and Current Service will continue to update the 4th edition material which remains part of the set. The Publisher of Halsbury’s Laws is writing to subscribers to introduce this process, and we propose to follow in due course with fuller details. So..What do the librarians make of this. Well..most seem pretty unimpressed and they seem to come down to two core issues A) The constant re-issuing of indices and citators that firstly cost too much. We learn from one poster  that Tables and Index Volumes are usually are over £350 each. Those commenting also mention that the colossal waste of paper producing these volumes that become superceeded information fairly quickly can't exactly be an environmentally friendly way to approach the problem. B) Information by subject matter. Some subscribers have to receive the publication as a all or nothing option and are increasingly weary of paying for a product of who's content they use only a portion One librarian also warns that if you cancel Statutes online Lexis may take away discounts on other services. In terms of alternatives it appears it's either PLC or a firms' own bank of precedents. And if you are loathe to throw out old citators and TOC's it is suggested by another library manager to get in touch with The Statute Law Revision Society, DX17212 Hereford 1,  Mr. Victor Stockinger email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Finally a little out in the wilderness there is one reluctant supporter who writes.... Whilst I hate to seem like I am defending Lexis over this- I'm not. But I do think it is important to get some perspective over this- if that all important volume of Halsbury's happened to be out of date then there would be an outcry of equal measure- it is a unique publication and uniquely useful. .... If only electronic versions were the way forward; but sadly (coming from someone responsible for e-resources), once you're committed to them long term, then expect to see the cost increase far more dramatically than for print and once you cancel the subs you will be left with... nothing to show for the investment. So. The hornets nest has been stirred we'll be interested to see if Lexis issue another statement.

 

< Prev		Next >