FCIL Newsletter / October 1995

Minutes of the 1995 Business Meeting

The annual business meeting of the Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries was convened at 4:45 p.m. by the outgoing Chair, Lyonette Louis-Jacques. Approximately fifty members and visitors were in attendance.

Lyo announced the tenth anniversary of the SIS and had made arrangements to mark the event in a fitting manner after taking care of business.

She reported that it would not be advantageous to the SIS to go with a publications package plan, as discussed by AALL Headquarters, and that the SIS would stick with individual subscriptions.

She regretted that the regular Sunday meeting schedule had been disrupted by the National Conference on Legal Information. Under normal circumstances the working groups meet for one hour. They provide, she said, an important opportunity to get involved in the FCIL SIS.

The reading of the minutes from the Seattle meeting was dispensed with and approved as published in the October 1994 issue of the newsletter.

Margareta gave the treasury report, with the balance as of that day being $169.23, inclusive of known and estimated expenditure.

Lyo gave the election results and introduced Margareta Horiba, the new Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, and Radu Popa, the new Secretary/Treasurer. Radu Popa was not in attendance.

Under reports from subcommittees and working groups Jolande Goldberg gave the report for the Education Committee (published separately in the newsletter).

Kenneth Rudolf, editor of FCIL Newsletter, acknowledged the considerable contribution to the newsletter by Janice Selberg and Carmen Valero. He said that INT-LAW has taken over the role of small notices. A column on professional activities of members is edited by Mila Rush and a column on processing issues by Aaron Kuperman. Ken announced that the Newsletter is now available on Internet via the World Wide Web. Lyo extended special thanks to Ken for his work on the newsletter.

Lyo drew attention to a new working group on International Issues, which she had conceived of and to which she had appointed Ellen Schaffer chair. The group has recently been renamed Working Group on International and Intergovernmental Issues.

Other agenda items included a suggestion that the FCIL brochure be updated. It was most recently updated in 1993. There was also a question by Lyo on how FCIL can influence and support electronic databases, e.g., how to put full text of treaties and treaty indexing online. Lyo suggested that the FCIL establish more liaisons with other organizations and make an effort to find sources for interlibrary loans overseas. She expressed concern for new foreign law librarians. Does the FCIL meet their needs? Should we look into instruction in foreign languages? What would be the optimal way of scheduling Sundays during the annual meeting? There was no discussion of these questions.

Lyo welcomed the attendees from abroad. Introducing themselves were librarians from Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Lyo introduced the incoming Chair, Francisco Avalos, and turned over her duties to him. Francisco extended thanks to Lyo and to Ken, whom he assigned another year as editor of the newsletter.

Under new business, Ellen Schaffer announced the Beth McWilliams Scholarship Fund in Law Librarianship at the University of Michigan School of Information and Library Studies. It is a fund set up in memory of Beth McWilliams, the international law librarian at the University of Michigan Law Library who died at a young age in 1994. A brochure about Beth McWilliams and the fund was available at the door.

Telle Zoller, in charge of the opening lunch table reservation, mentioned that three tables had been reserved for FCIL. Larry Wenger invited participants to the IALL reception Tuesday evening where the program on the upcoming course in Vienna would be available. Francisco recommended participants to join the IALL. Kathy Price invited participants to the African Law Initiative librarians meeting on Tuesday morning, for discussion on the recently initiated ABA law school sister program.

The celebration of the tenth anniversary of the FCIL began with Lyo's thanking everyone who had contributed, including Sandy Beehler for ordering the commemorative pens. Claire Germain gave a brief history of the SIS from its beginnings as a committee of AALL to its development as a large group that has stimulated great interest over the years. Claire considers it the best group within the organization, a microcosm of the world community.

The meeting adjourned at 6:20 and was followed by a reception in honor of the international attendees and the tenth FCIL anniversary. A large cake and Caribbean music were featured.

FORWARD to next article: Report from the Education Committee.
BACK to Index page.