by Telle Zoller
University of Wisconsin Law Library
On July 19, 1996, a meeting of the subcommittee for FCIL Clearinghouse for Internships and International Personnel Exchanges was held at the AALL Institute on Public International Law in Bloomington. Present were Chairperson Telle Zoller, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Catherine Krieps, University of Pennsylvania-Biddle Law Library; David McFadden, Southwestern University School of Law; Suzanne Thorpe, University of Minnesota Law Library; and Charlotte Bynum, Detroit College of Law Library at Michigan State University.
Telle reported that, although many surveys have been sent to Latin American and European law schools, the response rate has not been very high. We also need to make contacts in Eastern Europe and Asia. We are planning to use Internet resources to make these contacts, particularly INT-LAW and EURO-LEX and perhaps LAW-LIB and the library directors' listserv.
The importance of asking directors was discussed, because directors are really the ones with the ultimate authority to sponsor these visits. Library directors can also be asked to pass along information to visiting foreign faculty members, so that more contacts can be made in that way.
The committee was also pleased to see the listserv posting by Roy Mersky, expressing his eagerness to facilitate exchanges after his recent visit to Australia. David will speak to him and see if he is willing to share his contacts with us.
David will also use his contacts from his Scottish visit to put information about our Clearinghouse in the Scottish librarians' newsletter. We should also investigate other newsletters and periodicals to which our information could be sent.
David will also contact the dean of the school which he visited in Scotland to see if we can make use of the dean's many Baltic contacts.
The committee has gotten a response from a librarian in Ireland, who has plans to circulate our information to librarians in that country.
There was discussion that perhaps the nature of the visits or exchanges we facilitate might be better clarified. Are the visitors there just to help the visited library, or is more mutuality contemplated?
Plans were made to discuss our Clearinghouse with the foreign librarians attending the Annual Meeting the following week in Indianapolis.
It was also suggested that we might ask , in our newsletter or otherwise through the Internet, individuals to inform us of any part of existing exchanges of which they are aware.
The Clearinghouse welcomes interested librarians to join our meeting in Baltimore, on July 20th, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m., during the FCIL SIS Subcommittees Concurrent Meeting.
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