Citation: 13 FCIL Newsl. 1 1998-1999

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Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Special Interest Section / American Association of Law Libraries

FC I L NewsletterVolume 13 October 1998 Number I

From the ChairMaria I. Smolka-Day

University of Pennsylvania Law SchoolBiddle Law Library

The FCIL-SIS has been very busy since the last stress here just a few issues.issue of the Newsletter. Fortunately, this Newslet-ter, although very important, is not the only form of As mentioned above there was a lot of dissatisfaction,communication with members who cannot attend the expressed both before and during the Conference, aboutAnnual Conference. Last Spring we started our ownour inability to influence effectively programming andInternet listserve moderated by Mila Rush. In scheduling of events addressing our special interestscombination with our Web Page (http:// during the annual meeting. Due to intensive communica-www.lawsch.uga.edu/fcil/fcil.html), edited skillfully tion within the SIS Council, as well as with representa-(together with this Newsletter) by Anne Burnett, it tives of the Annual Meeting Program Selection Commit-has served us well in preparing for our Special tee, with the AALL President and the Board, we hopeMeeting in Anaheim. Both the Special Meeting and that next year's programs and schedules will meet ourthe regular Business Meeting were quite productive needs better than last year's did. The AMPSC hasthis year (see Minutes inside this Newsletter). In selected six FCIL SIS-sponsored programs for the nextaddition to our regular activities we discussed Conference in Washington, D.C., including one all-daybroader issues relating mainly to our position in the workshop. Please see the report of the EducationAssociation and the relations between Special Subcommittee in this issue for details about the selectedInterest Sections generally and FCIL in particular programs. We also hope that committee and workingand various bodies of the AALL. This discussion group meetings will be closer to our traditional schedule.resulted in the FCIL Statement on Programming and Looking farther ahead we felt that our SIS should plan itsScheduling, which we addressed to Jim Heller, this activities with a perspective longer than one year. Weyear's President, and sent to other AALL officials. might also think about new forms of actions in addition toThe Statement, reprinted in this Newsletter, has been what we traditionally do. We felt that the section needsavailable on our Web Page since early August. The a strategic plan. A group of volunteers enthusiasticallypublication was then announced on the listserve. If continued on p. 2any of you haven't received any mailings from thelist, please make sure that your name is on themembership list, and that your e-mail address is In This Issuecorrect. We hope not to clog your mailbox withunnecessary mail (and subscribers to INT-LAW Book Review ....................................... 3know Mila's abilities to keep discipline), but the Annual Meeting Business,listserve will increase our ability to communicate Special, Committee,between issues of the Newsletter. & Working Group Reports ........ 4

Those members who did not attend the Anaheim FCIL Statement re

conference will find in this issue a lot of information Programming and Scheduling .......... 14

about it in the minutes of both the Special and Law Librarians Participate inBusiness meetings, reports from working groups and Sister-School Projects Abroad ........ 15committees, and in the Statement. I would like to

continued from p. Iresponded to this idea, and I was able to create theStrategic Planning Committee, consisting of CharlotteBynum, Gail Partin, Jack McNeill, Amber Lee Smith,Tracy Thompson, Dan Wade, Stefanie Weigman andchaired by Margareta Horiba of Tulane Law School.The Committee's mandate is to prepare for nextyear's Business Meeting a draft of a five-yearstrategic plan for discussion and adoption at thisMeeting. The Committee's work will succeed if it hasplenty of input from as many members as possible.Therefore, I want to encourage you to share withthem your thoughts and ideas about our futuredirections, our place in the Association and ourspecific needs as a group. Contact Margareta (phone504-892-8866) or any other member of the Commit-tee. If you still want to join them, they will welcomeyourhelp.

There were many initiatives and ideas coming fromvarious committees and working groups in Anaheim. Ihope that many of them will be pursued during thisyear. The proposal of potentially general interest formany of us came from the Electronic Issues WorkingGroup. You might already know about the AALL/Law Library of Congress Digital Law Task Force. Itsconcerns, articulated at the last Convention during theprogram, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: TheArchivability of Electronic Records," deal with thepermanency of electronic records, especially thosedocuments and publications which are distributed onlyelectronically. Our Electronic Issues Working Groupdiscussed these problems and came up with aninitiative to compile a list of documents (or theircategories) of permanent importance for internationallaw research. Preservation of such documents shouldbe treated as a first priority. By preparing such a listwe would use our expertise and directly contribute tothe general AALL Task Force of great importance.Let's make sure that this initiative is not forgotten.Each of us working with international documents canadd something to this project. During the next fewmonth we will start preparing for this project. Let meknow if you would like to get involved!

The initiatives of our working groups lead me to thelast issue I would like to discuss, namely, makingthese groups more "permanent" or "structured" bymaintaining a membership list of some sort. Thegroups (maybe just some of them) would keep a listof "core members" who would be interested inmaintaining some contact, conducting some activity,

orjust exchanging information and help during theyear. Working group meetings would still be open toeverybody, since some people might want just toparticipate in an annual exchange of ideas withoutfurther commitment. It would, however, give a betterchance of working on projects put forward at theannual meetings. Let me know if there is any interestin pursuing this idea, or if you think this is not a goodidea, and why. Let me know if you are a personinterested injoining in a particular working group.

If you want to contact me over the phone, please notethat my listing in the 1997/98 AALL Directory iswrong. My correct phone number is 215-898-7442. Ihope to hear from you soon.

The FCIL Newsletter is published in October,February and May by theForeign, Comparative,and International Law Special Interest Sectionof the American Association of Law Libraries.The main goal of this Section is "to serve as a forumEfor the exchange of ideas and information onforeign, comparative, and international law, and torepresent its members' interests and concernswithin AALL."

FCIL Newsletter is sent free to members of theFCIL SIS. It is available for that "exchange of ideasand information."

The newsletter can be read on the World WideWeb at http://www.aalinet.orgsis/fcilsis/fcilsis.htm.

Editor: Anne BurnettUniversity of Georgia School of LawAthens GA 30602(706) 542-5298FAX (706) 542-6800aburnett@ arches.uga.edu

Copy Editor: Carmen ValeroLuce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps

Deadline for next issue: January 15, 1999

New Global Legal Research Guide: A ReviewJean Davis, Reference Librarian and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law

School. Ian Merrill, International Business Law Fellow, Library Student Research Assistant,and International Legal Research seminar participant, Brooklyn Law School.

Accidental Tourist on the New Frontier: AnIntroductory Guide to Global Legal Research[hereinafter Accidental Tourist]. Edited by JEANNE

REHBERG & RADu D. POPA. Littleton, Colorado: FredB. Rothman & Co., 1998. Pp. xv, 294. $ 67.50

From its opening paragraphs, this excellent interna-tional, foreign, and comparative law research guideengages readers:

Those who love to travel know thefeeling: You yearn to get out of town, towake up every morning in a differentplace, with a clean slate .... And thenthe newness of traveling wears off andthere are the frustrations: reading roadsigns, train schedules, and menus inforeign languages; driving on the'wrong' side of the road; searching fora bagel outside of Manhattan;generally, doing without the comfortsof home. Like traveling in strangeplaces, research in foreign, compara-tive, and international law can befascinating, challenging, and reward-ing. And then there are the frustrations:overcoming language barriers, copingwith legal concepts and systems that

may sound American but are different,struggling to find a copy of a recentforeign law, maneuvering through thejungle of documents from internationalorganizations.

The introduction characterizes Accidental Tourist asa foreign, comparative, and international law primerfor the non-specialist. This is as understated as GaryCooper's performance in High Noon. AccidentalTourist will assist virtually all researchers. Legalpractitioners who need treaties and treaty status datashould refer to the clear, helpful charts in the "FindingTreaties and Other International Agreements"chapter. Information specialists who wish to developforeign law research skills and collections shouldreview the strategies and sources described in the"Finding Foreign Law" chapter and the "SpecializedTopics" section. Both Palmer School of Library andInformation Science students (in a summer instituteon international organizations) and Brooklyn LawSchool students (in a seminar on international andforeign legal research) have praised AccidentalTourist as a course text. Knowing that AccidentalTourist would aid Brooklyn Journal of InternationalLaw staff, International Business Law Fellows,Jessup International Moot Court participants, andmany others, our library purchased five copies --these books are hot items in the reserve collection!

Accidental Tourist includes 1) key differencesbetween U.S. domestic law research and foreign,comparative, and international law research (M.Kathleen Price), 2) a description of Library ofCongress "classes" for foreign, comparative, andinternational law (Jolande E. Goldberg), 3) an intro-duction to foreign and comparative law (Thomas H.Reynolds), 4) processes and sources for findingforeign law (Jeanne Rehberg and Mirela Roznovschi),5) an overview of international law (Reynolds), 6)characteristics of published treaties and treatysources (Rehberg), 7) a review of United Nationslaw-related activities and documents (Rehberg), 8) asurvey of European Union legal sources (Marylin J.Raisch), and 9) research chapters focusing ontransnational business law (Victor Essien), interna-

continued on p. 4

UDHR Web SiteDeveloped For 1998

Annual Meeting

As part of the 1998 Annual Meeting program,The Guiding Principles of the 21 st Century: The50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, Marci Hoffman of the University ofMinnesota developed a web site in celebration ofthe 50th anniversary of the Universal Declarationof Human Rights. It may be found athttp://www.law.umn.edu/mhoffman/UDHR/udhr5O.htm.

continued from p. 3tional tax law, international environmental law, andinternational human rights (Radu D. Popa). Thedistinguished chapter authors reference numerousprint works, microform materials, and electronic(LEXIS®-NEXIS®, WESTLAW®, Internet, andCD-ROM) resources. Authors who discuss interna-tional or regional organizations (such as Rehberg,Raisch, and Popa) describe official, and other com-mercially published, materials. Features such asRehberg's treaty research strategies for six typicalproblems and Raisch's "mad cow disease" exampleof the European Union legislative process reveal thatthis book is much more than a bibliography.

Be sure that your collection includes AccidentalTourist and the George Washington Journal ofInternational Law and Economics' newly revisedGuide to International Legal Research (3' ed.)."Accidental tourists" in the unfamiliar territory ofinternational and foreign law research and "seasonedtravelers" will benefit.

Annual Meeting Minutes & Re-ports

FCIL SIS Special MeetingA special meeting of the FCIL SIS was called for4:30pm-5:30pm on Sunday, July 12, 1998, in Anaheim.

Submitted by Jonathan Franklin

The meeting opened with Chair Bill McCloy of theUniversity of Washington Law Library introducingAALL President-Elect Jim Heller. Jim discussed theissue of SIS meeting and program scheduling for the1999 Annual Meeting in Washington DC. He notedthat he was endorsing the addition of 9 additionalhours when SISs could hold meetings or programs.Although not finalized, the hope was that all the SISscould schedule programming at the following times:

Sunday 7am- I pm& 4pm-6:30pmMonday 7am-8:30am & 4:15pm-6:30pmTuesday 7am-8:30am, 12 :15pm- 1:4 5pm, & 5pm-6:30pmWednesday 7am-8:30am

These added times would permit all the WorkingGroups to meet prior to the Business Meeting tenta-tively scheduled for Monday afternoon. Jim's revised

schedule was met with appreciation.

Jonathan Franklin read a brief statement supportingthe expanded schedule and expressing the need forcontinued support for the Working Groups of thesmaller SISs.

Amber Lee Smith of Los Angeles County LawLibrary stated that the SIS needed to do more forexperienced librarians, that these librarians hadcontributed to the five Institutes but had not beenpermitted to attend due to the Institutes' goal oftraining new FCTL librarians. Other than the NewEngland Foreign Law Librarians Meetings, not opento those outside New England, there were no othermajor educational opportunities in the US for experi-enced FCIL librarians. In particular, she noted thatthe FCIL working groups at the Annual Meetingwere the one opportunity for experienced FCILcollection development specialists to work togetherand share information face-to-face. She further notedthat the education for the Annual Meeting shouldaddress reference and collection development forexperienced FCIL librarians as well as the massaudiences.

In addressing the AMPSC education committeeaspect of program selection, she noted that there wasinsufficient feedback regarding why the program wasrejected, thereby making it difficult to revise theprogram for future years.

In response to Amber's comments, Marci Hoffmanof the University of Minnesota LAw Library notedthat the FCIL education committee does what it canwith the programs that are submitted. However, thecomplete turnover of the AMPSC means that everyyear the criteria are totally different and hence theproposed changes one year may completely conflictwith the goals of the following year's AMPSC.Furthermore, the program drafting guidelines changefrom year to year, requiring constant tinkering with arejected program to submit it in following years.Marci emphasized the need to follow the ProgramPlanner's Guide to increase the chance that theAMPSC will accept the program. Marci furtherstated that the AMPSC's interest in more advancedprograms changes from one year to the next. Marcireinforced Jim Heller' s point that programs could alsobe presented in the SIS timeslots outside of theAMPSC vetting system.

David McFadden of Southwestern School of LawLibrary noted that although programs could beoutside the system, there was no mechanism outsideof using SIS funds for paying speakers for theseprograms. Furthermore, to the extent the programsare not included in Final Program, the turnout is likelyto be much lower without extensive outside publicity.

Maria Smolka-Day, incoming FCIL SIS chair, of theUniversity of Pennsylvania Law Library noted thatfor Washington DC in 1999 and Philadelphia in 2000,there may be excellent speakers for advancedprograms who would be locally available.

Amber noted that AALL should fund the SIS-specific programs because the knowledge gained inthese sessions would create more informed FCILlibrarians, thereby aiding the AALL membership atlarge when they call on FCIL SIS members forassistance.

Gail Partin of Dickinson School of Law Librarysuggested that we should also publicize our programsto PLL SIS and ALL SIS in the hope that theirmembers would attend.

Jeanette Yackle of Harvard Law School Librarysuggested we approach PLL SIS to help the FCILSIS fund outside programs that would indirectlybenefit their members.

Wiltrud Harms of University of California at Berke-ley School of Law Library suggested that we shouldalso emphasize the growing importance of the fieldand that more and more general members will becalling on FCIL librarians in the future.

Lyonette Louis-Jacques of University of ChicagoD'Angelo Law Library noted that the 1999 AnnualMeeting had an explicit FCIL track and supportedthe inclusion of such a track for future AnnualMeetings as well.

Amber noted that funding could allow one outsidespeaker per session of programming outside theAMPSC selected programs.

Stefanie Weigmann of Boston University LawLibrary proposed seeking outside funding frompublishers for the non-AMPSC programs. Several

members mentioned that this had been explored inthe past and that there had been some problems withSISs individually soliciting funds from those donorswhom AALL was also approaching.

Maria Smolka-Day, incoming FCIL SIS chair of theUniversity of Pennsylvania Law Library stated thatthe coming year would involve the drafting of astrategic plan. The goal of the committee draftingthe plan would be to have an initial version com-pleted by the Washington DC Annual Meeting. Sherequested volunteers for the Strategic PlanningCommittee. Amber Lee Smith, Tracy Thompson,Dan Wade, Jack McNeill, and Stefanie Weigmannvolunteered.

Bill summed up the viewpoints and suggested thedrafting of a broad statement that would be made atthe Business Meeting on Wednesday on behalf ofthe attending members of the SIS. He furtherencouraged everyone to take five minutes to writedown their concerns and goals for the SIS so thatthese could be incorporated into the statement to beread at the Business Meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 and was at-tended by 31 SIS members.

1998 FCIL SIS Business MeetingAnaheimWednesday, July 15, 1998 at 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m.

Submitted by Jonathan Franklin

Bill McCloy of the University of Washington LawLibrary, SIS Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:30p.m. There were 27 members in attendance. Billwelcomed everyone, especially the Attendees fromAbroad, who were given a warm reception. Theminutes of the 1997 FCIL SIS Business Meetingwere unanimously approved.

Jonathan Franklin of the University of Michigan LawLibrary, FCIL SIS Secretary/Treasurer, gave theTreasurer's Report, noting that the SIS was underlast year's spending level and had not yet receivedthe annual income from SIS memberships. As of theAnnual Meeting, the SIS balance was $1748.31. TheTreasurer's Report was approved unanimously.

Mila Rush of the University of Minnesota LawLibrary raised the issue of archiving the FCIL SISlistserv for future access. She also encouragedmembers to update their e-mail addresses for im-proved access. Several members endorsed the ideaof archiving the listserv, but some were concernedthat internal casual communications could be inappro-priately forwarded. It was suggested that this issuecould be discussed on the listserv itself and decidedby its members.

Maria Smolka-Day of the University of PennsylvaniaLaw Library, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect of the SIS,reported on behalf of the Nominating Committee.She announced that Katherine Topulos had beenelected incoming Vice-Chair/Chair Elect and notedthat the Secretary/Treasurer serves a two year termand is only elected in odd years.

Stefanie Weigman of Boston University Law Libraryreported on behalf of the Teaching Foreign andInternational Legal Research Working Group.There is interest in starting a Web site with FCILsyllabi including PowerPoint presentations, possiblybuilding on the archive started by Christine Corcos.Jean Davis and Victoria Szymczak of Brooklyn LawSchool Library are teaching an 8-week "Introductionto International and Foreign Law Research" coursethis summer. Mirela Roznovschi, Jeanne Rehberg,and Radu Popa of New York University Law SchoolLibrary will be teaching a Palmer School institute onforeign law in the summer of 1999. Stefanie isteaching a full semester course on FCIL at BostonUniversity.

Ken Rudolf of Yale Law School Library on behalf ofthe Electronic Issues Working Group described theforthcoming Archiving Summit to be held in NewOrleans at the time of the January AALS meeting.He suggested that the FCIL SIS should try to havemembers invited who can address the issue ofarchiving electronic foreign and international docu-ments. Marie-Louise Bernal of the Law Library ofCongress reported that the Archiving Summit is beingcoordinated by Judy Meadows, outgoing AALLPresident, and Rubens Medina, Law Librarian ofCongress. She also mentioned that the list of attend-ees was not yet finalized. Maria Smolka-Day notedthat she had talked to Claire Germain about thearchiving of foreign and international electronic

documents and that Claire will be keeping Mariainformed of issues and progress on that front.

At this point, Bill introduced Roger Parent, AALLExecutive Director, who had asked to speak to theSIS. Roger announced that the InternationalFederation of Library Associations (IFLA) wouldbe meeting in Boston in 2001 (August 15-26). Thetheme of the meeting will be "Libraries: Making aDifference in theinformation Age." IFLA's 2001meeting is being cosponsored by the six national-levelAmerican library organizations. Larry Wenger of theUniversity of Virginia Law Library is a delegate tothe IFLA Organizing Committee.

Roger continued by requesting FCIL SIS memberinvolvement in the 2001 meeting, asking for volun-teers with organizational interests or language skillsfor coordination with various IFLA committees, andfor escorting and mentoring foreign IFLA members.He noted that IALL would also be in Boston thatyear, either before or after IFLA, so attendees couldgo to both conferences. He hoped that we would startpublicizing the 2001 IFLA conference in our newslet-ters and professional publications starting now so thatthere is sufficient advance notice when it comes.

Maria suggested that we try to get IFLA members toattend AALL in Minneapolis as well as IALL &IFLA, but noted that there may be too much timebetween them (one month). Roger noted that onereason to work hard on the IFLA conference wouldbe to raise the visibility of AALL and of the FCILSIS, hopefully increasing the number of members andthe prominence of law librarians in general. Afterconcluding his remarks, Roger remained for the restof the Business Meeting.

Stefanie Weigman reported on behalf of the LatinAmerican Law Working Group that she was theInternational Documents Task Force (IDTF) liaisonto the OAS for GODORT. She also noted that Pedro.Padilla might be proposing a program on Cubathrough the SIS and that Dan Wade was working todetermine if the New England Foreign Law Librar-ians Coalition could get access to the legal texts inGLIN (the Global Legal Information Network ofthe Law Library of Congress).

Maria Smolka-Day reported on behalf of the AsianLaw Working Group that they discussed Chinese

legal databases, particularly CEILaw, which is free upto 1996 and $200 for 1996 on. There are databasesavailable in China that are not marketed here, and weshould encourage foreign database producers tomarket their systems in the US. Wei Luo of Washing-ton University in St. Louis has instructions for a fewChinese legal databases on his Web site as doesMirela Roznovschi on hers. The Asian Law WorkingGroup also discussed access to GLIN.

Roger Parent noted that the AALL President and theExecutive Director generally pay an annual visit tothe Law Librarian of Congress and that he wouldaddress the issue of GLIN access at their meetingthis year. He solicited further talking points for thisforthcoming meeting.

Amber Lee Smith proposed that GLIN offer an NGOmembership where you could get access to GLIN'slegal texts in exchange for indexing or specializedlanguage knowledge. Bill McCloy noted that theUniversity of Washington Law Library has alreadybeen talking with the Law Library of Congress aboutsuch a partnership related to Chinese legal docu-ments.

Tracy Thompson of Yale Law School Library re-ported on behalf of the CIS and Eastern EuropeanLaw Working Group. Mary Strouse will be propos-ing a program for 1999 on the dissemination of legalinformation by Eastern European governments.Furthermore, given the location, there was hope thatCEELI (the Central and East European LawInitiative of the A.B.A.) might be willing to partici-pate in the 1999 annual meeting. There was discus-sion about compiling English language translations orsummaries of Eastern European constitutional courtdecisions, especially those of the Polish court, as wellas compiling sources for English translations moregenerally (including legislation). The group alsodiscussed creating an annotated list of contacts(particularly in foreign libraries) who have specialexpertise and would be willing to help in a foreignlegal area. It was further noted that if these materialsare to be put on the Web, Anne Burnett at theUniversity of Georgia Law Library is the person tocontact.

Dennis Sears of Brigham Young University LawLibrary and Marci Hoffman of University of Minne-sota Law Library presented the Education Commit-

tee Report. There were five FCIL SIS programssponsored in 1998, out of ten proposed. In the comingyear, Marci and Gail Partin will be stepping down andKatherine Topulos will co-chair the committee withDennis. The deadline for program proposals to bereceived at AALL Headquarters is August 17th, soany FCIL proposal must get to the EducationCommittee by August 7th.

The Education Committee discussed the issue ofadvanced vs. mass appeal programs. In the contextof this discussion, they addressed the possibility of anadvanced level program which would involve meetingwith the subject specialists at the Law Library ofCongress on the Friday before the 1999 AnnualMeeting. Marci also noted that the SIS will beproposing a workshop on Treaties, co-coordinated byMarci and Stefanie. Other proposed programs for1999 include Cultural Property (Tracy Thompson),Offshore Jurisdiction/Gambling (Jonathan Franklin/Patricia Kasting), Cuba (Pedro Padilla), and TRIPSDispute Resolution for 2000 (Jonathan Franklin).

Dennis addressed the fact that the 1999 meeting hasan FCIL track, so we have up to 10 slots to fill withFCIL programs. He encouraged any proposals andnoted that other SISs are drafting proposals at themeeting, rather than afterwards. He further notedthat Working Groups could propose programs onparticular geographic areas. Maria noted the impor-tance of following the Program Planner's Hand-book. The use of buzzwords and active verbs seemsto improve the odds of acceptance by the AMPSC(Annual Meeting Program Selection Committee)regardless of the intrinsic quality of the program.

There was no report from the African Law WorkingGroup.

There was no report from the Publications Subcom-mittee.

Everyone expressed their thanks to Anne Burnett forher excellent work on the FCIL SIS Newsletter,and Stefanie volunteered that she would be interestedin contributing to it.

David McFadden reported on the Clearinghouse forInternships and International Personnel Ex-changes. The Clearinghouse's questionnaire hasnow been translated into Chinese and will be sent out

with a cover letter this year. They are pursuing havingit translated into French and Portuguese. The possibil-ity of distributing the questionnaire on INT-LAW andEURO-LEX was also discussed.

At this point in the meeting, Bill turned the gavel overto Maria Smolka-Day, the incoming Chair of the SIS,for the New Business portion of the agenda. As thefirst item of new business, she asked Bill to report onthe Special Meeting held on Sunday to discuss theconcerns of our membership regarding programmingand scheduling at the annual conference.

Bill reported that he had rewritten the draft statementread at that meeting and incorporated the oral andwritten comments from Sunday's lively discussion.He then read the revised statement prepared forAALL President Jim Heller, the AALL Execu-tive Board, and the chairs of the other SISs (NOTE:this statement has since been mounted on the SIS'sWeb site and is reprinted elsewhere in this newslet-ter). The statement was met with widespread praiseand appreciation for both its substance and tone. JohnPerkins of Oklahoma City University Law Librarynoted FCIL's importance to libraries without majorforeign collections and agreed with the statement'scharacterization of the FCIL SIS's widespreadbenefit to all AALL members.

Roger Parent noted that it was the right tone and thatit reinforced the need for long-range plans for eachSIS. He further encouraged us to consider havingnarrower programs put on by working groups duringtheir scheduled meeting times as well as more in-depth seminars. Maria noted that the problem withworking outside the program structure officiallysanctioned by the AMPSC is the lack of funding andpublicity for these programs.

Bill and Amber both spoke to the need for publicityfor any such programs in the Annual Meeting pro-gram guide.

At this point, Maria introduced her plan for a Strate-gic Planning Process to occur over the comingyear. Five people volunteered on the spot, and Mariaindicated that she would ask for further volunteers onthe FCIL SIS listserv. If the group of volunteers islarge, they might break into working groups initially todraft specific portions of the plan and then discuss thedrafts as a group.

Malo (Marie-Louise) Bernal brought materials fromIALL including the program guide for the Romemeeting and also a copy of the International Jour-nal of Legal Information. She is editing IJLI andrequested submissions from SIS members.

Rebecca Rungsang asked anyone interested in Thailaw or in her volunteer work assisting Thai womenwith late stage AIDS to see her after the meeting.

Maria as the new Chair thanked everyone andparticularly Bill for working so hard over the pastyear.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m. and wasimmediately followed by the annual Reception forAttendees from Abroad.

Asian Law Working Group Business MeetingJuly 1998, Anaheim

Submitted by Wei Luo

Attendees:

Bill McCloy, University of Washington Law Library;Maria Smolka-Day, University of Pennsylvania LawLibrary; Dan Wade, Yale University Law Library;Mirela Roznovschi, New York University LawLibrary; Faith Gan, Drew and Napier, Singapore;Rebecca Rungsang, Tilleke & Gibbins; Wei Luo,Washington University Law Library

The Asian Law Working Group business meetingwas held at the Anaheim Hilton on July 15, 1998. WeiLuo, the chair of the group, convened the meeting.Because the meeting schedule was on Wednesdayand started so early (7:30 am), only eight peopleattended the meeting this year. Asignificantly fewer number of librarians joined themeeting than did last year. The meeting started withlibrarians introducing the current status of Asian lawcollections from their institutions. A number ofinteresting topics and issues were raised and dis-cussed during the meeting.

Faith Gan is the first law librarian from Singaporeparticipating in the meeting. She offered her willing-ness to help us with Singapore law if we have

reference questions. She can be reached via e-mail atfaith.gan @ drew-and-napier.com.sg.

Rebecca Rungsang mentioned that her firm inThailand publishes and maintains a series of introduc-tory articles to Thailand's laws on her firm's Web siteat http://www.tginfo.com. These publications are veryhelpful for those who are not familiar with Thailand'slaws.

Bill McCloy reported the University of WashingtonLaw Library has finished its recon project of all CJKand the new bibliographical records should be down-loaded into RLN soon. He is now undertaking acooperative project to help New York UniversityLaw Library to catalog its CJK law collections onRLN. Bill also shared his discovery of the JapaneseSupreme Court Web site athttp://www.courts.go.jp/english/ehome.htm, whichincludes Japanese Supreme Court decisions publishedin Japanese.

Maria Smolka-Day reported that her library maybegin collecting Chinese law books sometime in thefuture because her law school has hired a tenure-track professor who teaches Chinese law.

Dan Wade reported that his library may expand theChinese law collection because one of the membersof the law faculty was appointed by the White Houseto be an advisor to a program promoting the rule oflaw in China. Also, many of the law students at Yaleare requesting theaddition of Chinese law courses to the curriculum.

Mirela Roznovschi raised the issue that the generalpublic cannot access the GLAN database. All theattendees agreed that they would like the FCIL ofAALL to negotiate with the Library of Congress toseek the possibility of letting law librarians get accessto the GLAN database.

Wei Luo reported that Washington University LawLibrary (in St. Louis) has been trying to build up itsChinese law collection since 1997. Recently, the lawlibrary acquired 400 volumes of Chinese law bookspublished in China in recent years. Among thesebooks, two case report publications are worthy ofmention here. They are:

(1) Renmin fayuan anli xuan = Jen min fa yuan an li

hsuaan (Selective Compilation of the People's CourtsCases), Pei-ching : Jen min fa yuan ch'u pan she,1992-. 4 issues annually. This is an official compila-tion of cases published by the People's Court Press.The Supreme People's Court authorized the ChinesePracticing Law Institute (Zhongguo Yingyong FaxueYanjiusuo) to select and compile this publication fromthe influential, important or controversial cases whichwere tried and decided by various level of courts. In1997, four volumes of 1992-1996 Cumulative Compi-lation were published.

(2) Zhongguo shenpan anli yaolan = Chung-kuo shenp'an an li yao Ian (Important Collections of Chinesejudicated Cases), Pei-ching : Chung-kuojen min kungan ta hsueh ch'u pan she, 1992-, annually. Thispublication is compiled and edited by the TrainingCenter for Chinese Senior Judges and People'sUniversity School of Law and published by ChinesePeople's Public Security University.

The Washington University School of Law Libraryalso subscribes to CEILaw: CEI Chinese Law andRegulation (http://www.ceilaw.com.cn/) on the Web.This Web site is hosted by the State InformationCenter, a Chinese central government agency. Thecontents are in Chinese but some laws and regula-tions have an English version as well. It includes twomajor databases: the National Laws and RegulationsData Bank which is a free and searchable databasefor Chinese laws and regulations covering from Oct.1, 1949 to the end of 1996; and the New Laws andRegulations Online Searching which is free forsearching although only subscribers can download thetext of laws. The New Laws and Regulations data-base is updated daily and includes a list of lawspublished in the last 60 days. The databases includenot only Chinese laws and regulations, but also casesand judicial interpretations. This Web site is probablythe most reliable place to search and retrieve Chineselaws and regulations on the Internet. However, todownload the files from the New Laws and Regula-tions Online Searching Database is quite complicated.Wei Luo wrote detailed instructions on how to set upthe computer system to download the files. Thisinstruction can be accessed at http://ls.wustl.edu/Infores/Library/Webscript/ceilaw.html.

Joan Liu, Serial Librarian from New York UniversitySchool of Law Library, did not attend the meeting thisyear because she went to Beijing, China with her

boss, Kathleen Price, the Director of NYU LawLibrary, during the AALL Annual Meeting. Shereported they attended a workshop called CHINACENTER FOR AMERICAN LAW STUDY (July 3-18, 1998) held by the PRC's State Education Com-mission and Ministry of Justice and the US Commit-tee on Legal Educational Exchange with China.Kathleen Price co-directed the workshop. She andJoan Liu did a program to show how to do legalresearch via the Internet. Besides introducing theAmerican/Chinese law databases and other resourceson the web to the participants, they also emphasizedresearch methodology and reviewed the most currentdevelopment of legal information access in the world.They received very good feedback from the partici-pants via e-mail after the workshop.

[Note: the following includes reports from both the1997 and 1998 meetings]

FCIL Clearinghouse for Internships and Interna-tional Personnel Exchanges20 July 1997, Baltimore

Submitted by David McFadden

Attendees: David McFadden, Telle Zoller, MariaSmolke-Day, Suzanne Thorpe, Lyonette Louis-Jacques, Katherine Topulos, Catherine Krieps,Charlotte Bynum

There was a discussion of ways to distribute thequestionnaire through Int-Law, EURO-LEX, andother lists including Canadian, Australian, NewZealand and others.

There was also a discussion of other ways of con-tacting potential libraries for exchanges and visits andother ways to distribute the questionnaire. It wassuggested to distribute the questionnaire throughforeign legal scholars visiting the United States. Itwas suggested that the questionnaire be translatedand put on the Web. It was later suggested to havethe English version of the questionnaire on the Webas well. Bill McCloy said he could arrange a Chineseor Japanese translation of the questionnaire. Anothersource of information was librarians doing internshipsfrom abroad. It was discussed that we should have anarticle in the AALL Spectrum about the Clearing-house and foreign exchange/visits. Having lawlibrary directors help with the Questionnaire. Contact-

ing the AALS Exchange Committee was anotherplace for information about exchange/visits and a wayof possibly distributing the questionnaire. Workingwith Summer Law School Programs was suggestedas a means to disseminate and gather information forexchanges and visits. Other specific contacts werealso discussed.

A number of members of the subcommittee volun-teered to work on some of these suggestions.

FCIL Clearinghouse for Internships and Interna-tional Personnel Exchanges12 July 1998, Anaheim

Submitted by David McFadden

Attendees: David McFadden, Anne Burnett, JeanetteYackle, Maria Smolka-Day, Bill McCloy, LyonetteLouis-Jacques, Katherine Topulos, Charlotte Bynum,Tracy Thompson, John McNeill, Rick Goheen (otherswere in attendance since the Special FCIL Meeting wasbeing held at 4:30 in the same room.)

It was reported that the clearinghouse questionnaire hadbeen translated into Chinese by Nongji Zhang ofHarvard. Bill McCloy will help select libraries with lawprograms in China to send the questionnaire and coverletter. Katherine Topulos and Catharine Kriepsvolunteered last year to do the French translation andwill continue to work on that. Jeanette Yackle agreed todo the Portuguese translation. It was also suggested thata request for other help with translations of thequestionnaire be posted on Int-Law and the FCILlistserv.

David McFadden agreed to arrange to have thequestionnaire posted in English on Int-Law and EURO-LEX.

Lyonette Louis-Jacques volunteered to draft a letter forall AALL/AALS law school deans and library directorsto solicit their help in distributing the questionnaire and inother ways helping us gather contacts for possibleforeign visits/exchanges. Her deadline is the end ofSeptember.

Anne Burnett will help with getting questionnaireinformation in the FCIL Newsletter and on the Web site.

Lyonette Louis-Jacques also agreed to help identify

other organizations and groups that have librarianexchange programs that we could work with. Herdeadline is the end of September.

Charlotte Bynum will be contacting all of the librariesthat have previously responded to the questionnaire,which was last published in the FCIL Newsletter,Vol. 10, Nos. 2/3, February/May 1996, and update theirinformation.

Report of the East European Working GroupJuly 14,1998, Anaheim.

Submitted by Tracy Thompson

The East European working group was held onTuesday, July 14, 1998. The eleven attendees repre-sented a wide range of interest and expertise in thesubject matter. Some members had a personalinterest, others had a professional interest but lackedinstitutional support for collection development in thisarea, and others had intensive institutional collectiondevelopment interest. In attendance were MaloBemal, Mary Strouse, Jim Licke, Xinh Luu, MariaSmolka-Day, Michael Estle, Bill McCloy, MartaKiszely, Dan Wade, Margareta Horiba and TracyThompson.

The group developed four goals for the coming year:

1. Develop a program to examine the modes ofdissemination of government information in EastEuropean and other non-U.S. governments. MaryStrouse (Howard U.) will pursue this idea. We hopeto tap the resources of CEELI (Central and EastEuropean Law Initiative) in D.C for this program nextyear.

2. Compile a list of English-language sources ofConstitutional Court decisions, as well as otherprimary and secondary legal materials. This would bean on-going project to which we would add sourcesas we come across them in our day-to-day work.

3. Compile a list of contact persons in variousinstitutions, both here and abroad, who haveshown a willingness to assist librarians in theacquisition of East European legal materials. The ideais not simply to create a list of those who are inofficial positions of responsibility for this kind of

support, but rather a list of people known to usthrough our own experience to be helpful,knowledgeable and willing to assist in this manner.

4. Disseminate the information that we gather in#2 and #3 above via the FCIL website. In this regardthe group intends to contact Anne Burnett to discussthe feasibility of space on the FCIL website forworking groups to convey information.

In addition to these goals, the group discussed thepossibility of using working group time slots forspecialized programming in future years. Suchprograms could include invited speakers, and wouldbe open to the Association at large, but would focuson an area of specific interest to the working group.We also shared information regarding relevant Websites, vendors and other potential sources foracquiring East European materials.

Anyone with an interest in East European sources isencouraged to attend next year's working group. Ifyou have comments or questions about the group orits goals, please contact tracy.thompson@yale.edu.

Report of the Education SubcommitteeJuly 11, 1998, Anaheim

Submitted by Dennis Sears and Katherine Topulos,co-chairs FCIL Education Subcommittee

The Education Committee met on Saturday, July 11,1998 at 5:00 p.m. at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers.The Education Committee focuses on the develop-ment, review, and submission of program ideas forthe Annual Meeting. One of the principle issues wediscussed was the concern of several FCIL SISmembers regarding programming, especially for themore experienced members, who have a need foradvanced, in-depth programs.

The FCIL Education Subcommittee generated someideas for programs in Anaheim. We received a batchof interesting and thoughtful proposal ideas fromFCIL SIS members as well. The Education Subcom-mittee reviewed all the proposals before sending themto AMPSC. We didn't rank the proposals this year,on the theory that they were all worthwhile. Six out ofeleven proposals were accepted; among them is anall-day workshop at the Library of Congress to meetwith their foreign law specialists. The accepted

proposals are listed below in alphabetical order:

The Cuban Legal System: Challenges for the 21 stCentury

From Russia with Law: Research in the Laws of theRussian Federation and Newly-Independent States

Keeping Art or Sending It Back: The Repatriation ofCultural Property

Meet the Legal Specialists: Expert Advice on Re-search and Acquisitions of Foreign Law in theVernacular (an all-day workshop)

Official Gazettes: The Ultimate Source for ForeignStatutes

Our Neighbors to the North and South: The LegalSystems of Canada and Mexico

[Note: the following includes reports from both the1997 and 1998 meetings]

Report of the Electronic Issues Working GroupJuly 1997, Baltimore

Submitted by: Marylin J. Raisch

As usual for the past few years that this interestgroup has met, a lively discussion took place amongthe attendees, who represented the major researchlibraries and some overseas institutions as well. Thesuggested topics for discussion which emergedranged across the following areas:

0 CD-ROMs as indexing and archival tools,problems and prospects• Subscription and fee-for-use databases,especially via the Web* Home Page creation

Several attendees talked about the use of the Web intheir work and the projects underway at their severalinstitutions. Many talked of how to manage the vastamount of information about sites. Bill McCloy of theUniversity of Washington indicated the he felt theAsian law Web world was really mushrooming; it isvery hard to keep up with the explosion ofinformation. Lucia Diamond of Boalt Hall, Berkeley,indicated that she had hired a computer medievalist,although windows and new software had made many

Web-related tasks easier, such as bookmarking andhome page creation. Maria Smolka-Day of BiddleLaw Library of the University of Pennsylvaniaannounced that the bibliography of English languagematerials on Ukrainian law by Marta Tarnowskywould be on their home page by September, 1997.Lyonette Louis-Jacques of the University of Chicagospoke of Webmasters and of the new possibilities tomake Web home pages for oneself so that links arealways available and do not just sit on a machine, asdo bookmarks.

There was some discussion of the FCIL page andlinks to foreign sites. Bill McCloy pointed out thatsome regional sites are not as well linked as othersfrom various major sites, particularly those for Africaand Asia. Lyo Louis-Jacques commented on the goodwork done by the Asian-American Law Librarians'Group on their page. Almost everyone agreed thatoverall, the explosion of pages and organizing one'sown work was like creating a whole new job foroneself, and in some cases for a consultant. KenRudolf of Yale talked of the need for continualupdating of Web material as successive "editions."

With regard to CD-ROMs and fee-based databases,many people agreed that several products hadformatting and printing problems, such as the UNOptical Disk System and the UN Readex index. Itwas mentioned that the World Treaty Index, ed.Peter Rhone, may become a CD-ROM product. Tosome extent there was a feeling that electronicalternatives had been oversold for archiving purposes,so that library planners might believe that no morespace was needed for books. However, BarbaraTearle of the Bodleian Law Library, Oxford, UK,pointed out the new space needed for consultation ofelectronic sources, such as for laptops, etc. Everyoneagreed that CD-ROMs were a problem for end-users, but may be necessary for archival purposes.There was general dismay that some sources may nolonger exist in print. Lyo Louis-Jacques pointed outthat we as librarians need to tell publishers why wewant certain titles continued in print.

At the conclusion of the talks, all attendees felt thatthese discussions are useful, and that the world ofelectronic information may become somewhat easierto manage but that in the meantime, informationtechnology was requiring almost the same amount ofattention from foreign and international librarians as inany other branch of the profession. Contrary to

reality, the increasing expectation of users is that theinformation they need is "all online or on the Web!"

Report of the Electronic Issues Working GroupJuly 1998, Anaheim

Submitted by Kenneth Rudolf

Nine people attended the meeting of the ElectronicIssues Working Group in Anaheim on Sunday, July12. Scheduling conflicts are probably the primaryreason why this year's attendance was smaller thanusual. The topics included ranged from using elec-tronic media in teaching FCI legal research, toarchiving electronic documents disseminated byIGOs, to ideas for future directions for the workinggroup.

Most of the conversation centered around the issue ofarchiving electronic documents. Because manylibrarians are concerned that government agenciesthat disseminate documents electronically may notkeep these documents available on a long-term basis,AALL and the Library of Congress are planning asummit to discuss the possibility of developing aprogram to archive these documents. The workinggroup felt that the same issues apply to documentsdisseminated by IGOs and foreign governments. Itwas suggested that the FCIL SIS should recommendthat the summit include IGO documents in its discus-sion and that the SIS should be included in discussionsabout archiving IGO documents. Maria Smolka-Day,incoming chair of the SIS, said she would follow upon the discussion with Claire Germain, who is partici-pating in the summit. There was additional conversa-tion on various ways the SIS could become involvedin the summit process.

During the discussion of using electronic media inteaching FCI legal research, Lyonette Louis-Jacques (University of Chicago) suggested that theworking group might be a resource for people tryingto incorporate new media into their teaching. MaryStrouse (Howard University) reported that ALA usescommittee times to present educational programs.There is a possibility that the Teaching Foreign andInternational Legal Research Working Group and theElectronic Issues Working Group might cooperate ata future Annual Meeting and present a trainingsession rather than the usual roundtable discussion.

Report of the Latin American Law WorkingGroupJuly 1998, Anaheim

Submitted by Dan Wade

Fourteen librarians convened the meeting of the LatinAmerican Law Working Group on July 14th at the1998 Annual Meeting of the American Association ofLaw Libraries. Several important developments wereannounced at the meeting:

0 The group celebrated the publication of theircolleague, Lynn Shirey, bibliographer for LatinAmerica at the Harvard Law Library, LatinAmerican Writers, 1997, published by Facts on File.

0 Stephanie Weigmann, Boston University LawLibrary, has accepted the role of GODORT liason tothe Organization of American States. She will invite arepresentative of the OAS to next year's meeting.Stephanie also agreed to be the convener for nextyear's meeting. Agenda items for the meeting may besent to her.

* The group voted to support the programproposal of the University of Puerto Rico's focusingon Cuba (the proposal was subsequently submitted tothe AALL Program Committee). The University ofPuerto Rico is collecting heavily in the law of theCaribbean region. They offer to send theirAcquisitions list to those who are interested in it.

0 Tim Mulligan, University of Houston,announced that he was working on a USAIDresearch project that would create a pathfinder thatwould facilitate legal cooperation between the UnitedStates and Mexico. The University of Houston isacquiring most of their Mexican law books through aPuvill approval plan.

0 The group following the Asian Law WorkingGroup agreed to bring information on the publicationof Constitutional law reports to the meeting nextyear.

0 It was announced that Liberia GarcfaCambeiro distributed publications lists via email. Theyalso are publishing a print catalog, the BoletinBiliogrdfico Latbook. Their Web site can be founda http://www.latbook.com.ar.

0 Jeanette Yackle, Harvard, declaring nocivilized person would awake at the hour the AsianLaw Working Group convened, announced thatresearch guides on East Asian legal systems werebeing developed at the Harvard Law School. Shepromised to let the group know when these werepublished and available for acquisition.

FCIL SIS Statement RegardingAnnual Conference Programmingand Scheduling

To: Jim Heller, President, AALLFrom: FCIL SISSubject: FCIL Programming and Scheduling at theAnnual Conference: Concerns for 1999 and BeyondDate: July 17, 1998

Cc.: AALL Executive Board; Tim Coggins, Chair,Annual Meeting Program SelectionCommittee; Bob Oakley, FCIL Liaison, 1999 AnnualMeeting Advisory Task Force; RogerParent, Executive Director, AALL; SIS Chairs

Scheduling Changes Appreciated

The FCIL SIS strongly supports the three proposedchanges to the Tentative Schedule for the1999 Annual Meeting that were proposed in the SISCouncil Meeting in Anaheim and endorsedby you at the special meeting of the FCIL SIS whichyou attended. The revised schedule will permit ourWorking Groups to meet on Sunday, our BusinessMeeting to be held on Monday,and SIS-chosen programming to be presented onTuesday and Wednesday. The back-to-backscheduling of our Working Group block is particularlyimportant for the professional development of ourmembers.

Concerns About Scheduling and ProgrammingLong-Term

We are concerned that such scheduling commitmentsbe long-term, not just for Washington, andthat consistent program criteria as well as clear,predictable feedback on programs accepted or

rejected become the norm for the future. In thisregard, we wish to acknowledge that the ProgramPlanners Handbooks prepared for the 1998 and 1999annual meetings are a step in theright direction in providing clearer guidelines as towhat types of programs are most likely to beselected by the Annual Meeting Program SelectionCommittee. After discussions with you andothers, we feel much more positive at this point aboutthe 1999 Washington Conference.Nevertheless, as the concerns of our SIS are of along-term nature, reaching beyond that meeting,we have determined to appoint a Strategic PlanningCommittee for our SIS and to convey to youin this communication what we see now as theongoing needs of our SIS as well as our uniquecontributions to the Association.

A "Minority" SIS

The FCIL SIS is a relatively small group within theAssociation. However, our meetings andprograms benefit all of AALL out of proportion to oursize. We have taken as one of our chiefpurposes to put on programs, workshops, and insti-tutes on foreign and international law whichserve non-specialists within the Association as well asour own newer, "specialist" members. These basic(or "broad-based") programs and institutes havegenerally been acclaimed by a broadrange of "cross-over" members from other SISs andare not difficult to have accepted by theAnnual Meeting Program Selection Committee.

Unfortunately, as a small group within a large Asso-ciation, our needs are not promoted whenprograms are selected based on criteria gleaned fromsurveys of what Association members want.When the majority rules, we lose. We are concernedthat the need for narrowly-focused FCILprograms is not appreciated by the Association andthat such programs are not likely to beapproved by the AMPSC. Although slots are beingproposed for the Washington conference forSIS-selected programs (as well as a foreign andinternational programming "track"), there isconcern in our SIS that in order to do the type ofprogramming we need to do long-range(especially, for example, successive programs onmultiple foreign jurisdictions) that we need boththe assurance that this FCIL track will be continuedand that we can have more control in thefuture over what programs we can put on in such

designated slots.

It has been suggested that in the future, SISs couldpresent programs aimed at a narroweraudience during Working Group meetings or inguaranteed SIS program slots, submitting to theAMPSC only programs of broad potential interest.While this might work very well for our SISand others, we are concerned that opting to produce"programs" by whatever name outside theslots controlled by the AMPSC could mean a loss ofthe Association's support for speakers,rooms, and publicity. Fostering a dialog on theseissues would be extremely helpful. We wouldsee written guidelines similar to those in the ProgramPlanners Handbooks as an extremelypositive natural outgrowth of this process.

The Importance of the Foreign and InternationalLaw Specialty

Foreign and international law teaching and practicehave grown exponentially in recent years inmost of our schools and firms. We feel it necessary topoint out that highly specialized, esotericprograms (which may attract 25 or fewer attendees)can and do benefit all AALL members, notjust the specialists. Whether it is a Working Group onAsian law or a program on the acquisitionof foreign official gazettes, when the specialists caneducate themselves in these areas, firm andlaw school librarians without special collections orexpertise have someone to call when theirattorneys, faculty or students need documents oranswers to foreign or international questions.Before we can serve you, we must have the meetingslots and education programs to educateourselves in these complex issues at what has beenthe only chance during the year for most FCILlibrarians to gather professionally. Regrettably, someof our members have become so frustratedabout programming and scheduling problems in ourSIS that they are talking about or havealready chosen to affiliate themselves with othergroups such as the International Association ofLaw Libraries or the American Society of Interna-tional Law, dropping their AALL memberships.We are doing our best to address these issues withinour SIS through intensive discussions andthrough the Strategic Planning process. It is oursincere desire that the Association will take ourconcerns seriously as well.

We will look forward to continuing to discuss theseissues with you and with others in theAssociation. Please accept our best wishes for asuccessful and productive tenure as the newPresident of our Association.

Law Librarians Participate inUSIA-Funded Grant

Projects AbroadLaw librarians at the Vermont Law School (VLS)and the University of Georgia School of Law(UGA) are involved in sister-school programsfunded by the United States Information Agency.VLS recently received a $300,000 grant to furtherdevelop ties with Russia's Petrozavodsk StateUniversity. Carl Yirka, Director of the Julien andVirginia Cornell Library and Associate Professorof Law at VLS, will serve as the program'sdirector. In addition to aiding in the development ofcourses and a clinic, an important aspect of theVLS-Petrozavodsk program involves the develop-ment of the law library in Petrozavodsk. The VLSLaw Library will serve as the model for upgradingthe Petrozavodsk Legal Information and LibraryResource Center.

At UGA, the USIA grant money is funding athree-year project affording faculty members atUGA and the Universidad del Salvador in BuenosAires, Argentina, the opportunity to cooperate inteaching and in curriculum development activitiesrelated to alternative dispute resolution. A discretecomponent of the project will focus on cooperationbetween the law libraries of the two faculties inthe acquisition and exchange of educationalmaterials and information about the legal systemsof Argentina and the United States. UGA'sForeign & International Law Librarian, AnneBurnett, will visit at the Universidad del Salvador inNovember 1998, followed by Computer ServicesLibrarian Carol Watson in July 1999, to work withtheir counterparts at the Universidad delSalvador's library in developing efficient means ofexchanging information and in supporting theteaching and research efforts of both faculties.

Our Best Wishes

FCIL Newsletterc/o Anne BurnettUniversity of Georgia Law LibraryHerty Drive

Athens GA 30602

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