JLIB News
The Newsletter of the Jersey Legal Information Board
Issue 12 – October 2008
JLIB’s 10th Anniversary
JLIB is celebrating 10 years since its founding. To mark this occasion a reception and presentation took place on the 26th August in the Old Library of the Royal Court Building. Michael Wilkins, the Judicial Greffier, commenced the proceedings by looking back at the past 10 years and what has been achieved in that period of time. The website, JLIB’s flagship project now attracts some 15,000 visitors per month accessing in excess of 200,000 pages. The information now available on www.jerseylaw.je includes:-
• Enacted Laws and Revised Editions
• Jersey Law Reports and Judgments
• Rules and Practice Directions of the Jersey Courts
• Jersey and Guernsey Law Review
• Listings and contact information for Jersey Law Firms
• Sections for Citizens and Law Students
• A Seminal Library of Legal Texts
As the information available on the website has expanded over the years so have the facilities which now include:-.
• Simplified and improved search facilities for location of information within the site and for navigation to documents from search results.
• Implementation of RSS feeds.
• Improved access for users with special needs.
Professor Richard Susskind OBE, who has played a pivotal role in the past 10 years in JLIB’s development and direction, provided the audience with a glimpse into what the next 10 years might hold for JLIB. Professor Susskind, who as ever has his finger on the pulse, enlightened his audience about the direction that internet use is taking. It is clear that the users of the worldwide web are no longer passive observers but are interacting with the on-line community. It is believed that open source material will become more popular as well as more on-line legal communities being created in order to facilitate the exchange of experiences; such communities will include the legal profession. There will be greater opportunities created for e-learning and other such educational programmes. JLIB has the will and the ability to meet these new challenges and will continue to evolve and develop its website to retain its competitive edge and remain internationally very highly regarded.
As part of the 10 year celebrations JLIB has also organised a series of user forums the first of which took place in August. It is hoped several more will follow in the next few months. The participants of the first user form were provided with useful tips from the webmaster Barry Lewis concerning how to get the most out of the website by effective use of existing and new facilities. The feedback from the first forum has been extremely positive and the participants’ suggestions will be taken on board to ensure that the next user forum will be even more effective. These forums are not only for the instruction of the users but also so JLIB could receive input and feedback from its customers concerning the website particularly how the recent upgrades and new facilities have been received. All the feedback has been very positive. Users were also asked whether there were any concerns about the website and any further facilities they would wish to have provided. If as a user you wish to have your say, please use the LINK forum to publish your views.
On-line Library
One project that is coming to fruition is the creation of a seminal on-line library of Jersey law. Recent additions to the on-line library are the “Jersey Insolvency and Asset Tracking” by Anthony Dessain and Michael Wilkins: “Aspects of Sentencing” by Cyril Whelan. Coutume De Normandie by M. Pesnelle 4ème Édition 1771 and Grand Coutumier du Pays et Duché de Normandie 2nd ed. (1539) by Le Rouillé should follow shortly.
Wi- Fi Hot Spots
In preceding newsletters mention was made that Wi- Fi hotspots would be made available within the curtilage of the Royal Court building. This has now been achieved and is available free of charge to users of the Royal Court.
Jersey and Guernsey Law Review
In relation to the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review publications, a revision of the cumulative index has taken place to take into account the extensive number of editions that are now published on-line. It is hoped that users will now find that the index is more readily accessible and easier to navigate.
Annotated Laws
Work has continued in relation to annotating the Revised Laws, such that linkage to consequential and interpretive case-law can be effected electronically. It is anticipated that the first such Law namely The Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984, as amended, will be on-line presently as a pilot. This pilot scheme will be run in the closed area of the website to allow professional users the opportunity to provide valuable feedback in order that the most effective format can be devised. Once the pilot scheme is completed further annotated versions of important legislation will be published on-line.
Thank you
Finally JLIB is looking forward to its next 10 years of operation and wishes to thank all its subscribers, members and contributors past and present as well as its users for their support which has ensured its continued success.