Volume 16, No. 2
February 2002

From the Chair
Tracy Thompson, Chair

While some might call me a pessimist, I prefer to think of myself as a realist. And it's as a (perhaps critical) realist that I've historically hated the New Year holiday. The overblown sense of anticipation, the exaggerated mood of expectation has always put me off. The forced march toward change (change something, anything! Just make a resolution already!) seems artificial. I guess I just dwell too much on the time-space continuum to really appreciate a holiday like New Year's Eve. Until this New Year's Eve. This New Year's Eve, 2002, the need for renewal seems more genuine than ever before, and the New Year seems to hold promise and hope on a global scale. I hope each of you experiences some small measure of that promise and that hope in this New Year.

The FCIL-SIS has a lot to look forward to in 2002. Thanks to the work of our nominating committee, Katherine Topulos (chair), Mary Strouse and David McFadden, we have a wonderful candidate for vice-chair/chair-elect: Ms. Jean M. Wenger. Jean is currently employed as the Foreign & International/Government Documents Law Librarian at the Cook County Law Library in Chicago. Jean brings a wide range of experience and will be a real asset to the leadership of our SIS. Please look for her complete bio in this edition of the newsletter. Don't forget to fill out and mail in your ballot, which also appears in this newsletter, by March 20, 2002.

Strategic Planning will continue as we evaluate the results of our surveys and feedback. Thanks to all of you who responded to this call. I would especially like to take this opportunity to thank Stefanie Weigmann, not only for her work with the Strategic Planning Committee, but for her dedication to the work of the FCIL-SIS in many ways over the last several years. Stefanie has resigned her position at Harvard and will be living in Israel. We will all miss her spirit of cooperation and collegiality. Best of luck, Stefanie!

Thank you also to the members of our Education Committee, Dennis Sears (chair) and Ken Rudolf. Their efforts, combined with the efforts of each of the program coordinators, have resulted in four programs for the 2002 AALL Annual Meeting in Orlando of which the FCIL-SIS is either a sponsor or co-sponsor. These four are: Devolution in the UK, the intersection between International Law and International Relations, the International Criminal Court (co-sponsored
with the GovDocs SIS), and Government Documents Around the World (also co-sponsored with the GovDocs SIS).

Changes to the format for the upcoming Annual Meeting have resulted in fewer program slots and thus fewer FCIL-SIS programs than we are accustomed to seeing. We hope to make up for some of our lost programming by making the best possible use of our Interest Groups and other alternative meeting opportunities. One such opportunity will be presented by June Renie, Law Librarian at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad, West Indies. Ms. Renie has presented numerous papers on the subject of legal research and resources in the Caribbean and has graciously agreed to attend our Meeting and present on Caribbean Legal Materials. Her presentation is tentatively scheduled for July 24 from 4-5 p.m. Mark your calendars now!

The FCIL-SIS is also pleased to be co-sponsoring an upcoming workshop on Latin American Trade Law entitled "Creating Commercial Connections". This one-day workshop, co-sponsored with the Law Library of Congress, the Friends of the Law Library of Congress, Law Librarians' Society of Washington D.C. (LLSDC) and the American Society of International Law (ASIL), would not have been possible without the efforts of Marci Hoffman, Malo Bernal, Herb Somers, Jean Davis and Jill Watson. They have worked tirelessly to put together a valuable program at a convenient time and an affordable cost. The workshop is scheduled immediately prior to the ASIL Annual Meeting and you will find more detailed information in this newsletter.

Another exciting opportunity for FCIL-SIS members in 2002 is the Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL). This year's meeting will be held October 20 through 23, 2002, at the Yale Law School in New Haven, CT. An optional day will be offered on Thursday, Oct. 24 at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA. For those of you who have always wanted to attend this event but have labored under limited travel budgets, this may be your year! Check back at the IALL site for further information later this year.

So, 2002 is already shaping up to be a busy year for all of us. Please don't forget to reach out to other FCIL-SIS members in the coming year. I've included here a list of the names of our newest members. If you meet them in your travels, make them feel welcome!

NEW FCIL SIS MEMBERS