This is a topic I'd been thinking about lately, even before the national library was lost.
I've been wondering what role AALL does or could play in developing law
librarianship abroad.
I know the ALA has had various international librarian exchange programs; the ABA
has several programs for legal institution building, as does AALS. Individual
librarians have been involved in these projects and many have perhaps worked
through IFLA. But I'm not aware that we have as a profession stepped up to offer
our expertise. For example, in the ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center
project description (http://www.abanet.org/intlaw/ilrc/) legal education, supporting
electoral bodies, and strengthening local institutions are listed as work areas. Those
sound like areas where law librarians have a great amount to contribute, but none of
the positions offered seem to be geared for librarians. Nor do they seem to build in
a way for this particular legal expertise to be shared.
Does AALL already work with the ABA and AALS in their programs? (That could well
be, and I've just missed it.) If not, is it something we would want to do?
>
>
> A national library (and a national museum) have been completely
> destroyed. Imagine in your mind if this were to be the Library of
> Congress and the Smithsonian, onlyseven or eight hundred years
> older. This is not a nation's loss, it is humanity's loss.
>
> Now the available option is can we help rebuild it?
>
> If memory serves, the Code of Hamurabi is the oldest known law
> collection of humanity.
>
> So do law librarians feel anything at all about loosing their most
> senior document?
>
> I feel a need to rebuild.
>
> Daniel Mitchel, reference librarian, Sacramento, CA
>
>
Kimberli A. Morris | Head of Electronic Services
Jacob Burns Law Library | George Washington University Law School
kmorris2@law.gwu.edu | 202.994.4225
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