Know How, the blog of the Great Library

New Books for the New Year

Here’s a selection of new books in our collection – covering current issues from cannabis and liquor laws to expert witnesses and family arbitration:

Here Comes Santa Claus(e)

Digital legal research is amazing but the hype – particularly around AI – is a bit like Christmas magic. It involves a lot of wishing.

As the Great Library’s staff heads off to spend the holidays with family and friends, and the doors close for the year, I can sneak in this guest post unobserved, like a night-time intruder in a chimney flue. As visions of sugar plums dance in my head, I can’t help wonder if the AI in legal publishing research databases dreams of Santa. Or if it’s not quite clear on the concept. Sometimes Santa’s little legal research helpers need a bit of guidance.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

December is known as Universal Human Rights Month. This year marks the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in Paris on December 10, 1948. The milestone document consists of 30 articles setting out the basic human rights and freedoms – civil, political, economic, social and cultural for “all peoples and all nations”.