Volume 7 No.3, February 2003 (ISSN 1084-9068)
Table of Contents
President's Message
FEATURES
NEWS
MINUTES
Ting James
Dear friends:
Happy New Year to you all! For the Chinese, this is also the year of sheep (goat, lamb). The sheep is believed to symbolize warmth, understanding and creativity. I wish everyone a creative and successful year!
Over the past year, people have been working hard in every way. Notably, Pin-sheng Hsiao has gone out of her way to take care of the AALLC’s Web site and membership directory, which are the core of this Caucus. David Mao has worked hard to make sure the newsletter comes out on time. Wei Luo and Joan Liu have published again on Chinese legal research and writing. Heija Ryoo spent some time researching in Korea. Mon Yin Lung earned a law degree and advanced to a new position. I know the rest of you, either in technical or public service, have been striving for your personal best. Congratulations to all!
The annual AALL meeting will be here before long. I look forward to seeing everybody this July in Seattle, Washington. We do not have an AALLC-sponsored program this year, but our business meeting will take place as usual. Everyone is encouraged to join us. New or old ideas for the Caucus are both encouraged and welcomed. The Caucus banquet will be on schedule. (Stay tuned for the actual date and time.) We would love to see more people get involved in the Caucus. Currently the Caucus has four standing committees. They are:
Program Committee: Pin-sheng Hsiao (chair), Wei Luo and Dan Wade
Membership Committee: Yan Hong (chair), Clement Lau and Nongji Zhang
Communications & Publicity Committee: David Mao (chair), Pin-sheng Hsiao and Heija Ryoo
Nominations Committee : Mila Rush (chair), Yuan Yao and Swee Berkey
We look forward to hearing the committee reports at the business meeting. Also, I suggest that at the business meeting we look into how the Program Committee works. This is one of the committees that has much work during the year. Is the current set-up working? Do we give enough time for the committee members to submit ideas for a program? Can we do better? I hope people will give us ideas and help our Caucus be more visible within AALL.
Ting
Career Paths to Law Librarianship
Ting James
I was asked to write about how I got into law librarianship. I think I became a law librarian only by chance. I came to this country about sixteen years ago. Because of my teaching background in China, I first came to this country hoping to get an advanced degree in education. However, it didn’t take me long to find out that the American educational system is very different from the one in China. At that time, I had some friends who were in library school and seemed to enjoy it. In China, I had once worked in a university library for a short period of time and really liked working there. So I decided to go to library school. Since then, I have never looked back.
Because of my personality, I knew right away that I wanted to be a cataloger. I took all the necessary courses and prepared myself to be a qualified cataloger. I worked as a cataloger at the main library of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa and the University of Missouri--Rolla for some years. Then a family move brought me to St. Louis. At that time, St. Louis University Law Library was looking for a cataloger. Without a second thought, I applied for the position and fortunately was accepted. Before I started working at the law library, I thought I had learned enough to be a good cataloger. It was only after starting work at the law library that I realized that there is another world of knowledge I was lacking--the language of law! At first I was very much confused about the subjects (e.g., civil law, common law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, etc.). I had never been this confused before and at the same time felt very ignorant. But, I also realized how much I needed to learn and could learn. I started to sit in legal research and teaching classes. I also asked the senior catalogers and reference librarians about the different law subjects. I used Black’s Law Dictionary for help too! St. Louis University Law Library is a member of BIBCO, NACO, and CONSER cooperative cataloging programs at the Library of Congress. We also have Enhanced status with OCLC. All of these high standards also took my cataloging skills to a new level. I have learned so much since I came to the law library.
I also enjoy going to AALL annual meetings. Compared to the very large ALA, our association seems to be just the right size. I have met quite a few people just like me at AALLC meetings. Some of them become my mentors and some of them became my good friends. The most important thing to me is that librarianship in the United States is a respected and very well-organized profession. It gives me self-esteem and confidence. Whenever somebody asks about my career, I always proudly tell him or her that I am a librarian and work in a law library.
Korean Law Sources
Heija Ryoo
Some of you might know that I was on sabbatical last semester; I am now back in the law library at Southern Illinois University. I want to share with you some current information resources on Korean law. I hope this may be of some help.
Journal of Korean Law (2001- )
This is the first English legal journal on Korean law published by Seoul National University College of Law. Some of you may subscribe to this through Hein. In volume 2, no. 1 of this journal, there is an article entitled, "Introduction to Korean Legal Materials" by Young-Hee Kim. It is an excellent article on Korean legal materials.
Over the years, I've received inquiries regarding Korean dictionaries. I've collected the following information.
General Internet Dictionaries
(Korean-English/English-Korean dictionaries which may include some legal terms)
Naver dictionary (http://dic.naver.com)
Lycos dictionary (http://dic.lycos.co.kr)
Yahoo dictionary (http://kr.engdic.yahoo.com/)
Legal Internet Dictionaries
Law Times (http://www.lawtimes.co.kr/information/lawdic/index.asp)
LawnB (http://www.lawnb.com/main/P_index.asp)
YesLaw (http://www.yeslaw.com/home/main.asp)
LawKorea (http://www.lawkorea.com/)
Print Dictionaries
Pigyo pomnyul yongo sajon (Dictionary of Comparative Legal Terms)
Seoul, Chungrim Chulpansa, 2000. 1501 pages. ISBN 8935204188
Price: 25,000 won
Korean multi-language dictionary.
Pomnyul Yong-Han sajon (Anglo American Law Dictionary)
Seoul, Chungrim Chulpansa, 2002 print. 686 pages. ISBN : 8935203270
Price: 22,000 won
English-Korean legal dictionary.
Pomnyul yongo sajon (Legal Dictionary)
Seoul, Hyunam Chulpansa, 2002. 1428 pages. ISBN: 8932311293
The following are some Internet book stores.
http://www.lawbook114.com/
http://www.kyobobook.co.kr/
http://www.ypbooks.co.kr/
http://www.aladdin.co.kr/
AALLC Online Directory
The AALLC Web directory has been reformatted. Now you may send an email to members by clicking on their email addresses. To check your own listing, please visit http://www.aallnet.org/caucus/aallc/directory.html. Please send an email to yourself to make sure your email address is correct. Any corrections or suggestions should be sent to the Caucus’s Web master, Pin-sheng Hsiao. Thanks Pin for your great work!
Membership News
Jessie Tam has moved from the University of Pittsburgh’s Barco Law Library to be Head Cataloger at the Maryland State Law Library.
Membership Publications
Joan Liu and Wei Luo have published an article on Chinese law research entitled, "A Complete Research Guide to the Laws of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)." The article can be found at www.llrx.com/features/prc.htm. According to LLRX, the "extensively documented guide details the major print, online and CD-ROM sources on the PRC's legal system, case law, primary and secondary sources, commercial database services, periodicals, directories, government agency websites, and also evaluates the authority of these resources."
[Editor’s note: as some of you know, the owners of LLRX.com have announced that the site is going on hiatus. The site recently published the following on its front page.]
Dear LLRX Readers,
This is to let you know that LLRX.com is going on hiatus.
We would like to express our thanks for the contributions of hundreds of authors who shared their expertise with our readers, a global readership that just kept growing, and a terrific group of vendors whose support allowed us to provide you with this free webzine for so long. These relationships have enriched our professional and personal lives, and we are truly grateful. Now it is time for a transition.
LLRX will remain available to our readers without any updates at this point, and we look forward to providing you with continued access in the future.
For now, we invite you to visit Sabrina's new law and technology current awareness site, beSpacific.
Sabrina I. Pacifici
Principal Editor, Publisher, Web Manager
Cindy L. Chick
Co-Editor, Co-Publisher
Asian Trade Program
The Foreign and International Law SIS of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce an exciting program being held at the Library of Congress on April 2, 2003, titled Free Trade and Economic Integration in Asia: The Changing Legal Landscape. The program will be presented by: Law Library of Congress, the Friends of the Law Library of Congress, Law Librarians Society of Washington D.C. (LLSDC), American Society of International Law, and the AALL Foreign, Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section (FCIL SIS).
Program Description:
This one-day workshop will focus on trade in Asia (with associated topics such as commercial law, investment, and intellectual property). With the increasing importance of international trade and economic integration, it is critical for faculty, lawyers, students and librarians in the universities to be well equipped to find relevant information and laws related to many of the major jurisdictions in Asia. This workshop will highlight the major issues surrounding this topic and focus on the best resources for obtaining legal information. Relevant sources will include both print and electronic, with a focus on English language materials.
Speakers:
The speakers will include Professor James Feinerman (Georgetown University Law Center), Professor Raj Bhala (The George Washington University Law School), several legal specialists and research analysts from the Law Library of Congress whose work focuses on Asian jurisdictions, and Jeanne Rehberg (New York University Law Library).
Location:
The workshop will be held at the Library of Congress, National Digital Library Learning Center, Atrium, James Madison Memorial Bldg., 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC (between 1st & 2nd Streets, closest Metro stop: Capitol South).
Registration:
$50.00 (non-refundable), includes continental breakfast, lunch, and program materials.
Register now -- space is limited. The deadline for registration is March 17, 2003. Go to http://www.llsdc.org/sis/forint/registration.html for a registration form.
Seattle Museum Tour
We would like to organize a tour of the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) sometime during the annual conference in July. The museum is easily accessible by bus and offers group tours led by a docent ($3 per person, minimum of 10 people). Docent-led tours are scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. most days (the museum is closed on Thursday). Group tour reservations are required in advance, so please email Pin-sheng Hsiao if you are interested in going. Look for future announcements concerning the date and time.
FICS Asian Law Working Group 2002 Meeting Minutes
Time: July 23, 2002, 5:30 to 6:30 PM
Location: The Peabody, Orlando, Florida
Attendees: Jon Pratter, University of Texas; Ken Rudolf, University of La Verne; Helen Kim, Pace University; Qian Cui, George State University; Yan Hong, University of Connecticut; Dan Wade, Yale University; Marie-Louise Bernal, Library of Congress; Xiaohai Zhao, Peking University; Jindi Zhang, Pace University; Hainan Yu, Brooklyn Law School; Yuan Yao, Georgetown University; Meria Smoke-Day, University of Pennsylvania; Dennis S. Sears, Brigham Young University; and Wei Luo, Washington University
Chair and Minute Recorder: Wei Luo, Washington University School of Law Library
Every attendee took a turn to introduce himself or herself and reported news about his or her library’s Asian law collection.
Washington University School of Law Library received two donations of Japanese law books from Japan, which include all volumes of the major Japanese case reporters, major law journals, and a major monograph series. These donations form a foundation for the Japanese law collection at Washington University.
Mr. Xiaohai Zhao, the Director of the Information Center at Peking University School of Law and the General Manager of the university’s Chinalawinfo.com Web site, answered various questions about the Web site’s English and Chinese databases. He indicated that Chinalawinfo.com is offering free trials at both of its Chinese and English Web sites. For the free trials, please seehttp://www.chnlaw.com/DataBase/FreeTrial/FreeLogin.asp.
Chinalawinfo.com is the most comprehensive Chinese legal information Web site but very inexpensive. For more information, please check out its Web site or send an e-mail to Service@chinalawinfo.com.
To contact the editor, please send email to David Mao
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