Essential Law for Information Professionals (2nd ed.)

Citation

Mullen, P. (2008), "Essential Law for Information Professionals (2nd ed.)", Library Management, Vol. 29 No. 8/9, pp. 805-806. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917503

This is a fabulous book and hopefully Mr Pedley earns enough royalties to take a nice holiday in the South of France from the proceeds. Paul Pedley works for the Economist Intelligence Unit and has had extensive experience in a number of information departments. He is also Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University.

The book is 278 pages and contains a very helpful subject index; table of statutes and cases. The only caveat I would place on the book for Australian readers is that it is English. Nevertheless, since there is no comparable Australian book, this text provides a very good starting point for any legal issues that may arise in the information professional's working day.

Mr Pedley writes in a very clear plain English style so the book is very accessible for any non‐legally educated reader. Most importantly, in every chapter he does more than just describe the law; he applies the law within the context of the information professional's everyday working life.

In the first Chapter Mr Pedley explains how the UK legal system works and the interaction between common law, legislation and the European Union Law. He then goes on to look at:

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  copyright;

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  data protection;

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  freedom of information;

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  the information commissioner;

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  the re‐use of public sector information;

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  defamation;

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  breach of confidence and privacy;

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  professional liability;

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  contracts and licensing agreements;

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  cybercrime and computer misuse;

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  disability discrimination;

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  human rights; and

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  legal deposit.

Personally, I found the chapters on copyright; professional liability and contracts and licensing agreements, particularly interesting.

In the Copyright Chapter Pedley explains how the copyright legislation operates in the UK. He then discusses what is permitted to be copied under the Copyright legislation and he looks at the library exemptions. Whilst Pedley is discussing English legislation the chapter does sign post what every Australian information professional should be careful about when copying material.

In the Professional Liability Chapter, Pedley notes that there has not been any instance of an information professional being prosecuted for negligence in the UK, however he then states, “there is no reason to be complacent”. Then he looks at how liability may arise under contract and tort. Finally, in the last section of the chapter he helpfully discusses how an information professional can reduce their exposure to any professional negligence claims.

In the Contracts and Licensing Agreements Chapter Pedley discusses what legal issues an information professional should be careful about when negotiating contracts with Publishers. In this chapter, Pedley looks at the issue of Perpetual Licenses. When you have journals or loose‐leaf in hardcopy and the subscription is cancelled you still have access to the back issues. However, the problem with online journals and loose‐leaf is that when you cancel the subscription you have no access to back issues. Pedley says this problem can be solved by the insertion of a perpetual license clause in the licensing contract. He notes Nature publishing has amended its site license policy so that customers have post cancellation access to back copies, subject to an annual access fee. Stanford University has also developed the LOCKKS system, which allows access to back copies in a local ‘”LOCKKS box”, which is acceptable to publishers.

At the end of each chapter there is a handy list of relevant organizations with addresses, phone numbers and website address and some very extensive notes and references for further reading.

There is so much helpful information in this book that is impossible to highlight them all in this review. This book should be on every information professional's bookshelf.