v.3, no.4, Spr 1998

Asian-American

	In This Issue
	President's Message
	Frank Liu Elected to AALL Executive Board
	People & Happenings
	Facts on Asian Americans
	From the Editor's Bookshelf
	Contact the Editor

Dear Colleagues:

I would like to bring you up to date on the state of the Asian American Law Librarian caucus of AALL. In the past few months, a number of projects have been initiated. 
 

1. Communication

Under the leadership of the Co-chairs Peter Chao and Heija Ryoo of the Directory Committee, we are in the process of updating the AALLC Directory.

We are also in the process of matching the directory and subscribers to the AALLC listserv (aallc@ftplaw.wuacc.edu) to ascertain the discrepancy between the two lists. If all of the names on the AALLC directory can become subscribers of our listserv, then we can communicate online. However, if there are colleagues who have no access to the Internet, then we must reach them through printed media. Our goal is to reach all AALLC members efficiently and economically. 
 

2. Long Range Planning

This is the 10th anniversary of the founding of the AALLC. It is a good time for us to exam its state of existence and plan for its future. A Long Range Planning Committee composed of all of the past AALLC presidents and other long standing members, including the founder Mon Yin Lung, is looking into the following areas of interest:

A. Mission Statement

What's AALLC's mission; and how does it relate to the AALL mission statement?

B. Membership

Who are AALLC members? What are their interests and needs?

C. Diversity

How should AALLC participate in the AALL diversity activities?

D. Asian Legal Information

Can AALLC assist in developing the collection and dissemination of Asian legal information in the U.S.?

E. Professional Development

Are there unique needs for Asian American law librarians in their professional development? How can AALLC help?

F. Job Placement

Can AALLC help its members in job placement?

G. Community Outreach

Can AALLC help to disseminate legal information to the Asian American communities, particularly to those with language barriers?

H. International Outreach

Can AALLC help AALL to introduce the importance of law libraries, law librarianship and legal information to the world, particularly to Asia?

I. Annual Meeting Program Development.

How can we plan ahead on contributing to the AALL annual meeting programs? It is planned that a written long range planning report will be presented to the AALLC business meeting in Anaheim. 
 

3. Tenth Anniversary Celebration

Mrs. Mon Yin Lung, the founder and Vice President/President Elect of AALLC, is heading a committee to plan the 10th Anniversary celebration activities at the Anaheim annual meeting. If you have any suggestions, please let Mon Yin know at mylung@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu. 
 

4. 1999 Annual Meeting (Washington D.C.) Program Development

Mr. Wei Luo, the Chair of the Program Committee has begun to plan on AALLC's contributions to the programs of the 1999 Annual Meeting. If you have any program ideas, please let Wei know at weiluo@wulaw.wust.edu. 
 

5. 1998 Annual Business Meeting

The 1998 AALLC annual business meeting is scheduled to be held at the Anaheim Convention on Monday, July 13, 5:30 to 6:30 pm. A meeting agenda will be prepared in advance and communicated to you. 
 

I believe that AALLC is a significant and integral part of AALL. Working together we can help AALLC members as well as members of AALL grow. Let me know if you have any ideas to make AALLC a strong and meaningful component of AALL.

Thank you for your support. 
 

On April 6, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) issued a press release announcing the election results of AALL officials. Frank Liu, President of our Caucus, was elected to the Executive Board of American Association of Law Libraries. This is an exciting development for Frank personally and for our Caucus as an entity. Congratulations, Frank! We know that you will do an excellent job on the Executive Board, and that you will represent our interests fully. 
  
 

People and Happenings

Mrs. Masako Patrum (patrum@library.vanderbilt.edu), Circulation Librarian at Vanderbilt University School of Law Library in Nashville, Tennessee, recently joined the Asian-American Law Librarians Caucus. Welcome on board, Masako!

A delegation of legal educators and administrators from the People's Republic of China visited Wake Forest University School of Law and the Libraryin Winston Salem, North Carolina on March 26, 1998. The delegation, headed by officials from China's Ministry of Justice, was on an American tour of major cities and law schools to learn about the American legal education, continuing legal education, adult education and law libraries. The deans of the law school and several faculty members as well as some library staff met with the delegation and gave them short presentations.

Mrs. Cossette T. Sun (csun@admin2.mail.co.alameda.ca.us), director of Alameda County Law Library, California, announced recently that her library officially joined the World Wide Web on April 2, 1998. According to Cossette, with this development, patrons of the Library and others "can now place orders for document deliveries on a secure line, review library policy statements and link to California Internet resources and to many other useful Internet sites." Check this out - you'll see Cossette's picture on the library web site's front page.

Facts on Asian Americans

The U.S. Census Bureau prepares and releases to the public a fact sheet in connection with any special event. Last year they released a summary of statistics on Asian Americans on the occasion of Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month. The following facts on Asian Americans are based on such publication. However, if you are interested in more information, you get it from the Census Bureau's website:

- On March 1, 1997, there were an estimated 10 million Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States, comprising 3.7 percent of the total population.

- The 1990 census showed that 95 percent of the Asian and Pacific Islander population was Asian. The largest proportions of Asians were Chinese (24 percent), Filipino (20 percent) and Japanese (12 percent). The majority of Pacific Islanders were Hawaiian (58 percent).

- In 1995, Asian and Pacific Islander households had a median income of $40,614. The poverty rate for Asians and Pacific Islanders was 14.6 percent.

- According to the 1990 census, nearly two-thirds of Asians aged 5 years and over spoke an Asian or Pacific Islander language at home. One-fourth of corresponding Pacific Islanders spoke an Asian or Pacific Islander language at home.

- The 1990 census also showed that Chinese was the fifth most common foreign language spoken at home in the United States, with 1.2 million speakers aged 5 years and over. Tagalog, with 840,000 speakers, ranked sixth, while Korean (630,000) and Vietnamese (510,000) were eighth and ninth, respectively.

- In 1994, nearly 9 in 10 Asian and Pacific Islander men age 25 and over and 8 in 10 women had at least a high school diploma. Furthermore, 46 percent of men and 37 percent of women had earned at least a bachelor's degree.

- Asian and Pacific Islander men and women aged 25 and over (46 percent and 37 percent, respectively) were more than one and a half times as likely as their non-Hispanic White counterparts (28 percent and 21 percent, respectively) to have earned a bachelor's degree. 

 From the Editor's Bookshelf

The following is a bibliography of recent publications on Asian law or Asian politics. Items are arranged by country/region names. 
 

Asia in General

Cross-border Litigation Within Asean: the Prospects for Harmonization of Civil and Commercial Litigation. By Colin Y.C. Ong. The Hague ; Boston : Kluwer Law International, 1997. 
 

China - Hong Kong - Taiwan

PRC Joint Ventures: Drafting & Negotiating Contracts. John T. Kuzmik, Donald J. Lewis; consulting editor, Duncan Freeman. Hong Kong: Asia Law & Practice, 1997.

PRC Joint Ventures. Capital Contributions, Asset Valuation & Financing. Edited by Mary L. Riley. 2nd ed. Hong Kong : Asia Law & Practice, 1997.

China Update, the PRC Labour Law. 2nd ed. Edited by Andreas Lauffs.Hong Kong: Asia Law & Practice Ltd., 1995.

China Law Reference Service: (December 1986 - the present.) Hong Kong: Asia Law & Practice, 1996-

The First Chinese Democracy: Political Life in the Republic of China on Taiwan. By Linda Chao, and Ramon H. Myers. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. 1st ed. By Iris Chang. New York: BasicBooks, 1997. 
 

Japan

Constitutional law of Japan. By Hiroyuki Hata, and Go Nakagawa. The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law International, 1997. 

This Newsletter is edited by Haibin Hu, Reference Librarian, Wake Forest University Professional Center Library. For comments or suggestions, please call the editor at (336) 758-6114 or email: haibin_hu@law.wfu.edu.

For technical assistance, please contact the webmaster for the Newsletter Wei Luo (LUO@wulaw.wustl.edu), Washington University School of Law Library, St. Louis, MO.