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The Annual Academic Law Library Survey, conducted by David Gee and Laura Griffiths at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on behalf of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) and British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL), provides a snapshot of the staffing, expenditure on acquisitions, subscriptions to databases and range of services provided in the academic year by university and college libraries in the UK and Ireland.

It is the only survey of its kind and provides data which academic law library managers use to benchmark their own services and law course validation bodies note when appraising the provision of institutions seeking to run law courses.

Winner of the Wallace Breem Memorial Award 2016

IALS Library was thrilled to be awarded the Wallace Breem Memorial Award 2016 by the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians in recognition of its work on the annual BIALL / SLS Survey of Academic Law Libraries and the work on the Current Awareness column, which is published in Legal Information Management and made available through the free caLIM database.

Recent Surveys

Current Survey Questionnaire

2018/2019

Download a copy of the current survey questionnaire (PDF)

Survey Report 2017/2018

Gee, David (2019) SLS/BIALL Academic Law Library Survey 2017/2018. Legal Information Management, 19 (3). In press. ISSN 1472-6696

The survey report outlines the activities and funding of academic law libraries in the UK and Ireland in the academic year 2017/2018. The figures have been taken from the results of a survey questionnaire undertaken by Academic Services staff at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on behalf of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS).

The report is based on returns from 93 university and college libraries in the UK and Ireland (institutions offering either undergraduate, postgraduate or vocational courses) who responded to the survey conducted in March 2019. The report includes a summary of key findings, a compilation of the statistics, conclusions drawn from the figures and illustrative diagrams.

Many thanks as ever to all the law librarians making the time and effort to complete and return the survey questionnaire. The 2017/2018 survey was funded by the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS).