research

Legal citations 2.0

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Post by Kate Galloway and Melissa Castan. Cite as:
Kate Galloway and Melissa Castan, ‘Legal Citations 2.0’ Katgallow (21 June 2017) https://kategalloway.net/2017/06/21/legal-citations-2-0/

Library

The leading work on legal citations in Australia is the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (‘AGLC’). The AGLC, currently working on a 4th edition, provides users with a comprehensive style guide for all legal writing from use of capitals, through to citation of international treaty materials. (For an example of the current application of the AGLC, see eg this article.)

The explosion of online and other digital sources poses a challenge to most standard r

eferencing styles – as is clearly articulated by Prof Patrick Dunleavy, in this post. For legal citation in Australia, much of this development has occurred since the publication of the third edition of the AGLC, making it timely to reconfigure some of the key guiding principles behind legal citation.

As editors of the Alternative Law Journal and the Legal Education Review respectively, Melissa Castan and I increasingly encounter diverse forms of reference and referencing. In response, and this post, we propose a reorientation of the analogue focus of the AGLC to adapt and address the digital landscape of legal scholarship.

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Research repositories: should I stay or should I go?

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On 17 May, SSRN the open access academic research repository, announced that it had ‘joined’ publishing giant Elsevier. Academics use the repository as a free means of disseminating their research, by uploading a work in progress or a pre-publication paper. This is good for academics who derive exposure for their work, but also for the public that can access scholarly publications for no cost.

The acquisition raises some serious questions for academics who are member of the SSRN community. Will Elsevier’s acquisition harm academics’ quest for true open access to research? And, it is right for a corporation to profit from the labour and metadata of academics and users of the otherwise free platform?

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Social media and research – a librarian’s perspective

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On 7 October I presented a webinar for the Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation (‘QULOC’) Research Support & Learning and Information Services Working Parties. My brief was to outline the way in which I use social media in my academic practice.

My presentation provided a background of my conception of academic work, followed by an overview of two forms of social media I use – blogging and Twitter. I referred to an idea that Inger Mewburn, @thesiswhisperer, had shared on Twitter a few days before my presentation. Her idea was that Twitter is a tool for cultivating an audience, and amplification of research.

Using this framework, I presented a couple of case studies of how my academic practice, notably my research, has been enhanced through my use of social media. I concluded with a brief reflection on how university librarians might assist academics through social media. Certainly I have been greatly assisted by my own colleagues in the library at JCU.

My presentation has been recorded, and is available on YouTube, or you can watch it here.