18 June 2010
Expressions of interest sought
The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII - http://www.austlii.edu.au/) is seeking expressions of interest for new positions which may become available at AustLII. Positions can arise as a result of Australian Research Council Linkage and LIEF grants, AusAID grants and from other funding. We encourage people who are suitably qualified and interested in working at AustLII to send in their expressions of interest. The types of positions that regularly become available are described below.
AustLII's staff are located primarily at AustLII's offices in Building 10 at the City Campus of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). AustLII is a joint facility of the Faculties of Law at UTS and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and positions may be offered via either University. Positions at AustLII are generally offered as full time positions but opportunities are available to accommodate the completion of tertiary studies or, in appropriate cases, on a part-time basis.
Expressions of interest are welcome at any time.Background on AustLII
AustLII is the world's largest provider of free access to legal
information, and an international leader in the development of free
access throughout the world. It is also a leading research centre
in legal information systems.
AustLII provides over 400 databases of Australasian legal materials for free access. AustLII also operates the Asian Legal Information Institute (AsianLII), the Commonwealth Legal Information Institute (CommonLII) and the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII). In combination with other members of the Free Access to Law Movement, they provide access to over 1,100 databases from 123 countries and territories.
Project Officers and Systems Developers
Project Officers and Systems Developers at AustLII work with other members of the database team and are involved in processing primary materials (case law, legislation and treaties) and secondary materials (eg law journals and law reform reports) to produce databases on AustLII and related systems.
The main responsibility of Project Officers and Systems Developers is to prepare and process data using standard conversion tools. AustLII receives data feeds in a variety of formats from hundreds of data providers in Australia and internationally. Responsibilites of Project Officers and Systems Developers also include running existing processing scripts to convert 'standardised' data for online publication as well as customising them for different data formats. Some editorial work may need to be performed especially in processing secondary materials and in relation to scanning back issues of printed law journals and law reports. Some contact with AustLII's data providers may be required.
Project Officers and Systems Developers at AustLII focus on one or more of the following areas:
- development and maintenance of case law databases on AustLII and related LIIs;
- digitisation and backcapturing of printed materials including law journals, legal scholarship and historical cases, as well as extracting related metadata; and/or
- development and maintenance of international databases for inclusion on AsianLII, CommonLII and WorldLII.
Positions at AustLII are particularly suitable for those with a background in both law and IT, with varying levels of IT skills required depending on the position. Facility in other languages, particularly Asian languages, is also likely to be relevant.