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Law Library Services and Resources

Members of the legal profession can visit the Tasmanian Law Libraries located in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie to view physical resources held in each collection. Full access to the range of services and online resources offered by the Library (as listed below) is available to Society members. To become a Society member see Apply for a PC or Associate Membership. For more information about access, resources and locations visit the library website.

Society members are entitled to visit the Tasmanian Law Libraries listed below under Tasmanian Law Library Locations and Contact Details to view the physical resources held in each collection.

Library Levy
Society members who pay the library levy under Regulation 70 of the Legal Profession Regulations 2008 can access the full range of services offered by the Tasmanian Law Library, which is provided for the legal profession in Tasmania as a partnership between the Society and the Department of Justice. This membership is required if a practitioner wants full access to the services, resources and electronic content available through the Library as listed below under Resources and Services.
The library levy is $782 (and GST exempt). For some PC types, this is automatically included – see how to apply for a PC above.

  • Hard copy, online and the Thompson Reuters desktop services – Membership entitles a Society member to extensive hard copy and online materials to assist with identifying and locating primary and secondary legal resources, as well as desktop library services provided by Thompson Reuters.
  • Catalogues – Access online catalogues for each location from the library website.
  • Due to licensing and publisher restrictions, the resources with a ‘padlock’ are not externally available to Society members, however, they can be viewed and searched from the Library or a request for particular content, such as a dictionary definition or a report/ article, may be made and the Library will download and email to the practitioner.
  • The external databases that Society members can access are identified on the website by a stylised ‘book on a computer screen’ symbol.

Access to the Library’s legal resources and services will save a practitioner’s time, and provide practitioners with the confidence that the advice, or precedents being drafted, contain the latest authorities or legislative provisions.

What services do the library offer?
The Tasmanian Law Library can assist practitioners with research needs, and staff are available to provide practitioners with a range of information services, and can:

  1. Assist with identifying and locating both primary and secondary legal resources.
  2. Provide training on the use of legal databases and help develop an appropriate search strategy which is both efficient and effective.
  3. Provide general assistance with legal research queries.
  4. Provide a weekly current awareness service to ensure practitioners are kept up to date with the latest developments in the law.
  5. Provide a virtual reference service 5 days per week between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm (Monday to Friday).

In addition to these services, the Library offers remote access to a wide range of electronic resources from a variety of subscription databases. Thousands of authoritative titles are accessible exclusively by Society members. The external databases currently available are listed below.

AGIS + Text Practitioner Access
Journal index (including some full text articles) from 1975. Content from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region plus selected articles from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada starting from 1999

Australian and New Zealand Newsstream Practitioner Access
This offers access to leading Australian and New Zealand newspapers. Combining content from Fairfax Australia and Fairfax New Zealand, News Limited, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and AAP Newswire; Australia & New Zealand Newsstream provides access to local, regional and national news.

Lexis Red Digital Library
Lexis Red is a digital lending library that contains hundreds of titles available to “borrow” and download to a device (desktop/laptop/iPad). It includes the major legal encyclopaedias, loose-leaf services and a selection of books published by LexisNexis. A small selection of titles are identified below.

  • Austin and Black’s Annotations to the Corporations Act
  • Australian Corporate Finance Law
  • Australian Corporations Law : Principles and Practice
  • Australian Corporations Legislation
  • Australian Defamation Law and Practice
  • Australian Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents
  • Cheshire & Fifoot Law of Contract
  • Civil Liability Australia
  • Civil Procedure Tasmania
  • Cross on Evidence
  • Delegated Legislation in Australia
  • Halsbury’s Laws of Australia
  • Kelly and Ball’s Principles of Insurance Law
  • Personal Property Securities in Australia
  • Statutory Interpretation in Australia / Pearce
  • Workplace Law : Fair Work

Oxford Scholarship Online : Law : Practitioner Access
Over 1,800 legal titles published by Oxford University Press, available to browse or search. New books added monthly.

ProQuest Ebook Central
Large database of ebooks from a variety of publishers worldwide. A selection of LexisNexis titles are also available to view or download from this platform. Content not “owned” by the Library may be searched and viewed for 5 minutes. Requests for the purchase of an e-book from this collection may be made.

WestLaw Practitioner Access
External access to the following resources is currently available.

  • Australian Bankruptcy Cases
  • Australian Commercial Precedents
  • Britt’s Comparable Verdicts in Personal Injury Claims
  • Commonwealth Law Reports [complete series – authorised reports of the High Court of Australia]
  • FirstPoint: A combination of the Australian Digest and Australian Case Citator. FirstPoint provides access to case references, citation history and digest information for Australian cases since 1825.
  • Laws of Australia: Encyclopaedic reference tool covering all major areas of the law. It provides both an overview of relevant legal principles and detailed commentary.
  • McDonald Henry & Meek’s Australian Bankruptcy Law and Practice
  • Tasmanian Reports [1992 + – authorised reports of the Supreme Court of Tasmania]
  • Unreported Judgments

How to access these resources and service
Access to electronic content is via the library website. The Library also provides links to a wide range of free legal resources for ease of access, and eBooks are discoverable via its library catalogue. For additional information, or for a demonstration of what the Library has to offer, contact Deb Bowring, Manager, at deb.bowring@justice.tas.gov.au or on (03) 6165 7412.

Andrew Inglis Clark Law Library Hobart
Lower Ground Floor level, Supreme Court Building, 5 Salamanca Place, Hobart (opposite Parliament House). Access through Supreme Court Civil Building Foyer. Hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday – Friday
library@justice.tas.gov.au
(03) 6165 7412

Launceston Law Library
Ground Floor, Staffordshire House, 56 Charles Street, Launceston
24/7 ‘pass’ access is available, direct enquiries to Launceston Law Library
When Library is unattended contact the Andrew Inglis Clark Law Library on (03) 6165 7412 for assistance. Hours: Monday – Thursday 9:00 am – 1:00 pm. Email: ltonlawlibrary@justice.tas.gov.au
(03) 6331 2666

North West Law Library
1st Floor, Supreme Court Building, Alexander Street, Burnie
Hours: Contact the Andrew Inglis Clark Law Library on (03) 6165 7412 for assistance.
library@justice.tas.gov.au