Picture of  IALS Open Book Service on PC

OBserving Law

OBserving Law – the IALS Open Book Service for Law (http://ials.sas.ac.uk/digital/humanities-digital-library/observing-law-ials-open-book-service-law) is being developed as part of the School of Advanced Study’s Humanities Digital Library (http://humanities-digital-library.org/) open access book publishing initiative.

The School launched the Humanities Digital Library in January 2017 with monographs in history, law and classics. Over the coming months it will grow to include books from other disciplines researched in institutes across the School, implementing plans to take a flexible approach to scholarly writing, publishing monographs and edited collections as well as innovative research in longer and shorter formats. Each title is published as an open access PDF, with copies also available to purchase in print and EPUB formats.

We were delighted to launch the new service with the fourth edition of Electronic Signatures in Law. It is written by IALS Associate Research Fellow Stephen Mason, who is a barrister and leading authority on electronic signatures and electronic evidence.

Stephen Mason’s enthusiasm and commitment to open access in the current project builds on a successful earlier collaboration with the Institute to provide an open access online version of the innovative Digital Evidence and Electronic Signature Law Review published by the IALS on the School of Advanced Study’s Open Journals System http://journals.sas.ac.uk/deeslr/. His manifesto for future updates (http://ials.sas.ac.uk/digital/humanities-digital-library/observing-law-ials-open-book-service-law/electronic-signatures-0) illustrates the ambitions and opportunities for engagement and collaboration provided by the new service.

To further develop the IALS Open Book Service for Law and provide editorial oversight the Institute is establishing an Editorial Board and Advisory Board with representatives drawn from the UK legal research communities and scholarly professional associations for law such as the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS). The aim is to develop a broad team of consultant editors with particular subject expertise in law to help provide a new UK service with international reach.

Launch of the Humanities Digital Library album on IALS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Institute-of-Advanced-Legal-Studies-University-of-London-163748273259/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154820869113260