Since September 2016, over 1,200 legal texts have been donated by judges, and the courts and library staff in the UK.
Courts across the country, from Truro to Norwich, Nuneaton to Cardiff, Newcastle to Croydon, Warrington to Westminster, Birmingham and the Rolls Building and the RCJ, have collected valuable legal texts and delivered them to the ILBF. Thanks to the donations from the judges and HMCTS, judiciaries, law schools, universities, and bar associations across the globe have received good quality, relevant legal texts whose impact is immeasurable in helping to promote the rule of law and advance legal education. Just recently large shipments of books arrived in Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and The Gambia: further shipments are planned to several countries during the rest of this year and will include books donated by HMCTS.
In January last year, a shipment was sent to the Supreme Court in Guyana which included books from Cardiff, and the ILBF received this feedback:
‘The Supreme Court of Guyana has been the recipient of a donation of law reports, text books and other reference material through the kind assistance of donors in the UK and more particularly that of the International Law Book Facility. These books are now a much-valued addition to our library resources and will no doubt be of great use to Judges, Magistrates, Lawyers and Law students. The Supreme Court of Guyana is deeply grateful and appreciative of this donation.’ Chancellor Carl Singh, Supreme Court of Guyana
Halsbury’s Laws in the Supreme Court Library, Guyana
The ILBF is very grateful for the support of HMCTS. This year, the ILBF broke the 50,000 books barrier, in no small part helped by the donations from the judges and HMCTS. We are now at 53,000 books shipped to 190 organisations in 51 countries since 2005.
And support does not end with books. Colleagues at the RCJ library have held several successful cake sales to raise funds for our shipments.
Cake sale at the RCJ library
The ILBF is delighted to work with the HMCTS to ensure that texts no longer needed in the UK will find a good home and play their part in sharing legal knowledge in support of the rule of law across the globe.
Katrina Crossley, Chief Executive, ILBF