FCIL Newsletter

IFLA WLIC 2018, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysa

FCIL Newsletter

FOREIGN, COMPARATIVE, AND INTERNATIONAL LAW SPECIAL INTEREST SECTION

Volume 33, Issue 1

October 2018

IN THIS ISSUE

From the Chair 2

Report on IFLA, cont. 3

UN i Libra ry 6

The Const itutio n

Proj ect

7

2018 Busi ness

Meet ing M inutes

8

Comm ittee and I G

Rep orts

9

Scha ffer Grant

Reci pient Repor t

19

AALS Annual Meeting,

“Building Bridges,” Janu-

ary 2-6, 2019 in New

Orleans, LA.

ALA Midwinter Meeting

& Exhibits, January 25-

29, 2019 in Seattle, WA.

ASIL Annual Meeting,

“International Law as an

Instrument,” March 27-

30, 2019 in Washington,

DC.

CALL/ACBD Confer-

ence, “Get Informed |

Be Inspired| Innovate,”

May 26-29, 2019 in Ed-

monton, AB, Canada.

AALL Annual Meeting,

“Capitalizing on our

Strengths,” July 13-16,

2019 in Washington, DC.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

continued on page 3

Petronas Towers

Anne Burnett & Marisol Florén

This year’s International Federation of Li-

brary Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

World Library and Information Congress

(WLIC), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,

August 24-30, centered on the theme

Transform Libraries, Transform Societies.

Three thousand five hundred delegates

from five continents gathered in Kuala

Lumpur; for some of us coming from the

United States, it took more than 23 hours

to reach KL.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

With over 32 million inhabitants, Malaysia

occupies the southern part of the Malay

Peninsula as well as sharing the island of

Borneo with Indonesia and Brunei. It is a

country of contrasts and diversity with a

multicultural and multiethnic society, with

its culture, folklore and cuisine reflecting

the influences of three major ethnic groups:

the Malay (the native indigenous and largest

ethnic group), Chinese and Indian. The of-

ficial and majority religion is Islam (61%),

followed by Buddhism (10%), Christianity

(9%), Hinduism (6%) and Confucianism,

Taoism and other traditional Chinese reli-

gions.

The United Nations classifies Malaysia as an

upper middle-income economy. Kuala

Lumpur, the capital and largest city of Ma-

laysia, boasts record-setting skyscrapers

housing national and international corpora-

tions, high-end fashion stores and delicious

street food. The high-rise twin towers of

Malay’s Petroleum Company, Petronas, are

the emblematic symbol of the city, but the

city’s architecture also reflects Portuguese,

Dutch and British colonialism.

OPENING CEREMONY

Government and library authorities wel-

comed the delegates and officially opened

the conference during the WLIC Opening

Session. These dignitaries included Malay-

sia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture,

Mohamaddin Ketapi; IFLA President, Glo-

ria Pérez-Salmerón; and IFLA Secretary

General, Gerald Leitner. In addition, Malay-

sia’s Prime Minister, the Hon. Tun Dr. Ma-

hathir Bin Mohamad sent a special message

welcoming attendees. Local authorities re-

layed the efforts of the Malaysian govern-

ment to improve library services in the

country, the central message being “a socie-

ty that reads is a society that achieves.” As

is custom during the opening session, we

enjoyed a performance of traditional local

music, opera, and dance, around the topic

of libraries, the book and reading, by Malay

performing arts group Istana Budaya.

Catherine Deane

Hello All, as I’m writing this I’m just back from the 2018

IALL Conference, Law in Luxembourg – Where Local Tra-

dition Meets European and International Innovation. I took

the opportunity to invite some of our IALL colleagues to

blog for Diplawmatic Dialogues and encouraged them to

apply for our Schaffer Grant. The work of the FCIL-SIS

Chair is never done. :)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Executive Board

I’d like to thank Alex Zhang for her level headed leadership

this last year and for support in the coming year. Thanks

also to Alison Shea, our Immediate Past Chair last year, who

continues to informally provide us with continuity and guid-

ance. I have to admit that, looking at the list of past FCIL

Chairs, I am experiencing a bit of Imposter Syndrome. I’m

so grateful for the opportunity to serve my beloved FCIL

Librarian community this year as the 34th FCIL Chair.

Please feel free to contact me with suggestions or concerns.

Sabrina Sondhi, our Secretary/Treasurer had a lot of work

to do this year as we changed the bylaws. I’d like to

acknowledge her efforts, her time and her attention to detail.

I’m also really excited to have Loren Turner as the Vice

Chair. Loren has already done a great deal to get us ready for

2019 AALL.

AALL 2018: Award Winners

Our Immediate Past Chair, Alex Zhang wrote a beautiful

blog post about our award winners, but I can’t resist con-

gratulating our award winners one more time:

 Loren Turner, Spirit of the FCIL-SIS Award

 Victor Essien, Daniel L. Wade FCIL-SIS Outstanding

Service Award

 Sherry Leysen and Alena Wolotira, Reynolds & Flores

Award for Multinational Sources Compared: A Subject

and Jurisdiction Index

 Heidi Frostestad Kuehl and Megan A. O’Brien, Reyn-

olds & Flores Award for International Legal Research in

a Global Community

 Sarah Reis, Newest FCIL Member Award

 Daniela Majorie Akama Dos Reis, FCIL Schaffer Grant

for Foreign Law Librarians recipient

Congratulations!

AALL 2018: Programming & Events

The Executive Committee thanks, Dennis Sears, Co-Chair

of the Education Committee, and everyone who presented

and moderated programs in Baltimore. Below are links to

some of the FCIL programs and events that were either rec-

orded or reviewed.

 Publicizing Faith or Privatizing Law? Researching Reli-

gious Arbitration and Private Dispute Settlement

(organized by Marylin Raisch)

 Schaffer Grant Presentation — Professional Profile Sur-

vey of the Law Librarian in the State of São Paulo, Bra-

zil A big thank you to the members of the FCIL-SIS

Schaffer Grant Fundraising Committee (Sherry Leysen,

Jennifer Allison, Dan Wade) and Selection Committee

From the Chair

Catherine Deane, FCIL Chair

PAGE 2 FCIL NEWSLETTER

continued on page 5