Derek Georg Law

Derek George Law (born June 19, 1947) is a British librarian and Emeritus Professor of Informatics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Derek George Law
Born	(1947-06-19) June 19, 1947
Education	University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde
Occupations	Librarian, Emeritus Professor of Informatics

Career

In 1969 he obtained an MA with distinction in Medieval and Modern History from the University of Glasgow, and in 1970 a dipl. librarian from the University of Strathclyde.

From 1970 to 1977, he worked as Assistant Librarian at the University of St Andrews. He then worked at Edinburgh University, where he was responsible for collection acquisitions until 1981. He spent the next two years as the Librarian at the Erskine Medical Library in Edinburgh. He then returned to Edinburgh University as Director of Library Automation, preparing the Library for computerization from 1983 to 1984. Since then, library computerization has become his main field of interest.

From 1984, he linked his professional career for 15 years with King’s College London, where he served as College Librarian until 1993, and then as Director of Information Services & Systems until 1998. In 1998 he returned to Scotland to take up the position of Librarian and Director of Information Strategy at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, and from 2002 to 2008 as Head of the Information Resources Directorate. As Professor Emeritius, he serves his university as a consultant.

Organisational affiliations

Derek G. Law is a member of numerous professional associations, including the American Library Association (1972), FLA (1989), Institute of Information Scientists (1994), Fellow of King's College London (1995), Royal Society of Edinburgh (1999), and the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (2002). He is a founding member of the Society for Learning Technology. Due to his interest in the Navy, he is also a member of the Navy Records Society, the Society for Nautical Research, and the US Naval Institute. Among his countless activities he carried out in professional bodies, it is impossible to overlook at least a few of the most important ones, which influenced the development of libraries and modern information services based on computerization, such as the UKOLN Steering Committee or the UK National IFLA Committee, and in the maritime field, the British Commission on Maritime History.

He has served as a member of the editorial boards of many journals including: Alexandria; British Journal of Academic Librarianship; Health Libraries Review; Information and Learning Science; Internet Research; International Journal on Gray Literature; Journal of Information Networking; Libri; LISA (Library and Information Study Abstracts); New Library World; New Review of Information Networking; OCLC Micro; Scholarly Communications Report, Scholarly and Research Communication, The Electronic Library, and Uncommon Culture.

Derek G. Law has been involved in projects and research in over forty countries, including providing support to government organizations. He is also an expert for the European Commission, including the Telematics for Libraries Programme, the Cultural Network Programme, the eContentplus Programme, and the Horizon 2020 Programme.

Law focuses particularly on digital libraries and electronic resource development. At the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland) he collaborated on the establishment of the International Center for Information Management, Systems and Services, where from 1997 to 2001 he taught courses on Digital Libraries for library and archive managers from Central and Eastern Europe. He has also been a visiting professor at British universities: Manchester Metropolitan University, The Robert Gordon University, University of Sheffield, University of Central England, University of Portsmouth. He has also served as a PhD External Assessor at the following universities: University of Loughborough, University of Cambridge, University of Sheffield, University of Northumbria, University of Strathclyde, University of Southampton and University of Portsmouth.

Recognition

His work has been recognized by numerous institutions, including awards such as the Cyril Barnard Triennial Prize for his contribution to medical informatics (1993), the IFLA Medal (2003), and the OCLC Distinguished Scholar title (2006). In June 2000 he received an honorary doctorate from the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle. The decision of the Board of Directors of the University of Paris III to award an honorary doctorate to Derek George Law, Director of the Strategic Informatics Department of the Library of the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, United Kingdom, was approved by order of the Minister of National Education of June 26, 2000.