Volume 4, No. 4, Spring 1999 (ISSN 1084-9068)
Content
1. President’s Message
2. Asian-American Law Librarians Caucus Business Meeting Agenda
3. Nomination for Vice President/President-Elect
4. Membership News
5. Electronic Corner: Macros!
6. Law in Market Economy and Legal Research at the Electronic Era: the 10th Program of the China Center for American Law Study
7. LC Created Home Page for Pinyin Conversion
8. The New Millennium: Words from the Editor
President’s Message
Mon Yin Lung
By the time you read this message, we will be meeting each other very soon in DC. So here are something I like to call your attention to:
Our business meeting will be at the same time slot: Monday, July 19 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., location to be announced in the AALL program. You will find the agenda following this message. On top of our business meeting, this is the chance for us to get together to exchange greetings and give me the final count for Tuesday night’s dinner. But this year we have something extra:
Extravagance no. 1: The membership will vote to decide the title of our online newsletter. Anyone whose entry is chosen will receive a mystery prize. There is no limit of entries one can enter. You may send your entries to me via e-mail ( before July 16 or put it in a special box right before our meeting. So put on your thinking cap. I guarantee that the prize will be fun to have.
Extravagance no. 2: Our Mentorship Committee Paul Fu and Xinh Luu will hold an open session throughout the entire AALL conference. Paul will share his experience and knowledge of professional organization activities with any AALLC member who asks. (And I can tip you off by saying that Paul is very experienced in teaching and any other aspect of law librarianship, too.) Xinh will share with us her experience of studying for a J.D. as an immigrant from Asia. She is also willing to answer questions about her experience in other aspects as a law reference librarian. I already know I will have few questions on how to score better in law school for Xinh. So don't pass this golden chance to get in touch with two well-experienced members in an informal but informative setting.
Extravagance no. 3: Last year Frank Liu and Paul Fu gave such a successful seminar on career development. Our Program Chair Wei Luo decides to follow suit by mounting a similar effort. This year Wei will chair a seminar on career in middle management featuring our two other heavy weights Bill McCloy and Heija Ryoo. Their talks will be related to career choice and would be very close to home to most of us.
So folks, how can you pass over such a rich, fun-filled and beneficial program?
However, if you have more urgent affair than career development and camaraderie, we can offer you a second chance: Our traditional Tuesday night dinner is set at 7 p.m. at China Garden featuring authentic Chinese cuisine. Please contact me no later than Monday evening if you plan to attend because the restaurant needs a head count. Look to the conference daily and bulletin board for direction to get there. Guests are welcome as usual.
This is the eleventh years of AALLC. When several of us asked all the Asian faces we could find to get together for a meeting at the 1986 Conference to gauge the interest to establish a group, I would have never dreamed that one day we would become a formal, inclusive caucus as we are. As my last presidential message to you, dear folks, stick together no matter what you do and no matter who you are. There is power in numbers.
I know I am getting windy, but please bear with me one more time. During this one year, some projects and ideas were realized, some had to be chalked up to the "learn this lesson" department, while others never went beyond mere thoughts. Yet I want to thank folks who lend me ideas and helpful hands. I am particularly indebted to Frank Liu for his example of leadership, Haibin Wu for always being a good sport, Kai-Yun Chiu for her good sense, Hua Li for her innovative ideas and work, Paul Fu for his time (especially when he has to move his library again), Wei Luo for his never-failing enthusiasm and hard work, Bill McCloy for lending me his sense of humor, Jonathan Franklin for his candid talks, Xinh Luu, Frank Bae, Heija Ryoo, and Dan Wade for their personal advice and support. Finally my ultimate thanks go to the whole membership: thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve.
Asian-American Law Librarians Caucus Business Meeting Agenda
July 19, 1999, 5:30-7 p.m.
1. Call to meeting and membership self-introduction
2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting of July 13, 1998
3. President's remarks
4. Report on AALL
5. Report from Secretary/Treasurer
6. Committee reports
a) Directory and Communication
b) Membership and Recruiting
c) Mentorship
d) Newsletter
Newsletter title competitione) Nominations
f) Program
g) Publicity
7. Election of New Officer
8. New business
9. Adjourn
10. Panel discussion: Career in Middle Management
Nomination for Vice President/President-Elect
The Nomination Committee
The Nomination Committee is glad to announce that Jonathan Franklin accepts our nomination to be the candidate for Vice President/President-Elect. Jonathan served as our Secretary/Treasurer from 1996 to 1998 and currently is, among other things, AALL Representative to ALA Education Summit Steering Committee. Thank you, Jonathan, for being willing to serve AALLC again.
Membership News
Submitted by Haibin Hu
Haibin Hu (haibin_hu@law.wfu.edu), presently Reference Librarian at Wake Forest University Professional Center Library, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has recently accepted a position of Head of Reader Services at Gonzaga University Law Library, Spokane, Washington. He will start at Gonzaga University in August 1999. In addition, Haibin has been appointed as the Chair of the AALL Committee on Mentoring and Retention, which he will begin in late July.
Clement Chu-Sing Lau (cclau@UBmail.ubalt.edu), formerly Technical Services Librarian at University of Baltimore Law Library, Baltimore, Maryland, has recently been promoted to the position of Assistant Director for Technical Services.
Mon Yin Lung (mylung@falcon.cc.ukans), Public Services Librarian at University of Kansas School of Law Library, Lawrence, Kansas, has an update on her correspondences. Starting on June 15, 1999 her e-mail address is mylung@falcon.cc.ukans.edu and phone numbers is 785-864-9253 and fax number 785-864-3680.
Bill McCloy (wbmccloy@u.washington.edu), Assistant Librarian for East Asian Law at University of Washington Gallagher Law Library, Seattle, Washington, has been elected Vice President/President-Elect of the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL). Due to the President's early resignation, he became "Acting President" in Spring. Bill will serve one year as Acting President and three years as President.
Cossette T. Sun (csun@admin2.mail.co.alameda.ca.us), Director of the Alameda County Law Library in Oakland, California, has been elected to the AALL Executive Board. She will serve a term of three years on the Board beginning in July 1999. Congratulations, Cossette!
Jin Wang (Jin.Wang@Law.Widener.EDU), formerly a Research Librarian at the University of San Diego Law Library, is now the Reference/Computer Services Librarian at Widener University Law Library, Wilmington, Delaware.
Macros!
Vianne Sha, University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries, ShaW@missouri.edu
Macros are lifesavers for those who hate typing repetitive data and performing repetitive computer tasks. Macros can also play a substantial role in streamlining workflow. Check out the following Web sites for macros and enlighten yourselves with ideas of automating library operations. You may then find yourselves start creating macros and become an excellent macro writer. But be aware that free downloads are not always free from virus infection. Always scan for viruses before installing or running any macros and programs downloaded from the Internet, particularly from unknown sources.
OCLC Macros:
1. CatME for Windows Macros
(http://www.oclc.org/oclc/catme/catmacros.htm)
A place supported by OCLC for users to upload and download OCLC CatME for Windows macros. Macros will be available for download soon.
2. Dewey Cutter Macro
(http://www.nelinet.net/tech/cat/dcutter.htm)
"The OCLC Dewey Cutter macro provides an automatic Cuttering function for Dewey Decimal Classification numbers. When invoked, the macro creates a Cutter number from either the main entry or any highlighted text in a bibliographic record, pastes it into the 092 field, and reformats the record. When the record is reformatted, the OCLC system copies subfield a of the 082 field into subfield a of the 092 field."--NELINET.
3. Macros (OCLC Passport for Windows)
(http://www.oclc.org/oclc/passport/macros.htm )
This page offers macros supported by OCLC and supplied by users and lists other sites with OCLC macros.
4. Macros for PfW (MIT)
(http://macfadden.mit.edu:9500/ colserv/cat/oclc/passport/macros.html)
This page contains a collection of macro books for general use, for monograph and serial cataloging, and for acquisitions.
5. Macros to Go! (SOLINET)
(http://www.solinet.net/oclcserv/macros.htm)
This page contains macro books for both Passport and CatME.
6. OCLC ILL Tricks (Mark Beatty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin InterLibrary Services)
(http://www.wils.wisc.edu/oclcupd/tricks/tricks 1.html)
This online presentation features a section on creating PfW macros for ILL functions.
7. OCLC NACO Macro Examples (University of California-Los Angeles)
(http://www.library.ucla.ed u/libraries/cataloging/passport/nacomacro.htm)
This page shows examples of how the NACO macro works with OCLC Passport for
Windows.
8. OCLC Passport for Windows Macros (Harvey E. Hahn, Arlington Heights Memorial Library)
(http://www.ahml.lib.il.us/pfw)
This page contains a collection of macros for OCLC and INNOPAC.
9. OCLC Passport for Windows Macros (Walter F. Nickeson, Library Support Staff Resource Center)
(http://www.lib.rochester.edu/ssp/oclcmacr/ oclcmacr.htm)
The page contains eighteen macros for searching authority records and copying fields, editing cataloging records, managing sessions, printing labels, and displaying and printing ALA character set.
10. PfW Macros for use with OCLC (Joel Hahn)
(http://www.enteract.com/~aardy/pfw/oclc.html)
There are three types of macros in this page. The OCLC Passport for Windows macros allow users to navigate the authority file, batch change holdings, edit, print, save, and export fields and records.
11. PrintRecordNoGraphics Macro (Karin Wikoff)
(http://www.lib.rochester.edu/ssp/oclcmacr/ prntmacr.htm)
This macro was designed for PFW version 1.10. It prints OCLC records with the special characters stripped.
12. A Sampler of MULS Macros (Dave Linton, MINITEX/MULS)
(http://kinglear.lib.umn.edu/muls/mulsmacros.htm )
The macros listed on this page are designed for positioning the cursor in the right spot for editing a workform or LDR field, making change to the fixed field elements and the LDR fields.
13. Setting Up Macros in Passport for Windows (Nebraska Library Commission Network Services)
(http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/netserv/nebas e/PfWMacros.html)
This page includes instructions on how to create macros and show the programming codes of some printing macros.
14. TPOT: Passport for Windows Software (University of California-San Diego)
(http://tpot.ucsd.edu/Pass/passport.html)
This page contains macros for INNOPAC, OCLC, and miscellaneous stuff such as displaying the current session.
15. WILS Passport for Windows Macros (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin InterLibrary Services)
(http://www.wils.wisc.edu/oclcupd/wilsppma.html )
This page contains macros that change modules in OCLC, call up a form for inputting ILL request, edit, print, and display records in various ways.
RLG Macro:
Producing Authority Records with RLG's Authority Assistant
(http://www.rlg.org/marc/aracreat.html)
This program/macro allows NACO catalogers using the RLIN terminal software to quickly create an authority record based on an existing bibliographic record.
Library Automated Systems Macros:
1. DRA
Using PFW to Create DRA Macros (Tim Shearer, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) (http://ils.unc.edu/SerCat/pfw.htm)
These macros allow users to perform logon, map commands to keys, and edit records in DRA.
2. GEAC Libs+
PfW Macros for Use With Libs+ (Joel Hahn, Niles Public Library District)
(http://www.enteract.com/~aardy/pfw/libs.html)
These macros allow users to more easily move around and edit records in LIB+ system, as well as transfer information back and forth OCLC and Libs+ system.
3. INNOPAC
TPOT: Passport for Windows Software (Jim Ferguson, University of California-San Diego) (http://tpot.ucsd.edu/Pass/innopacmacros.html)
These macros allow users to key authority records in INNOPAC without leaving the Database Maintenance module Update mode and transfer ISSN number from OCLC bibliographic record to INNOPAC record.
Macros for Use with INNOPAC (Harvey E. Hahn, Arlington Heights Memorial Library) (http://www.ahml.lib.il.us/pfw/innopac.html)
"A collection of macros for this page is currently under construction and will appear here gradually."--Title screen.
Simple Macro to Convert III Files to Delimited Text (Kyle Banerjee, Oregon State University)
(http://ucs.orst.edu/~banerjek/papers/iiidelimit er.html)
This page contains the programming codes of the macro to convert INNOPAC files to delimited text format.
4. NOTIS
User's Guide to CLARR, the Cataloger's Toolkit (Dorothy Van Geison, Northwestern University) (http://www.library.nwu.edu/clarr/home.html)< /P>
This is the online version of the user's manual for CLARR, the cataloger's toolkit. This manual shows users how to use CLARR to perform many time-consuming, repetitive, and error-prone cataloging activities.
Word Processing Macros:
1. Barry MacDonnell's Toolbox for WordPerfect for Windows: Macros and Templates Library
(http://ourworld.compuserve.co m/homepages/macdonnell/Macros.html)
This page contains annotated macros and templates for use with WordPerfect for Windows.
2. The Electric Editors: Macro Library
(http://www.ikingston.demon.co.uk/ee/mac_01.ht m)
"The Electric Editors macro library contains a selection of macros for Microsoft Word (Windows or Macintosh) and WordPerfect for Windows. Most of them are geared to editorial tasks, but some have more general uses."--Title screen.
3. Kevin's Lotus Macro Home Page (http://www.primenet.com/~kmcmanu/)
This page includes some useful macros that address problems commonly found in lotus systems. It contains macros for batch printing control, home directory specification, consolidation file handling, and data input control.
4. Word Info: Add-ins and Macros
(http://www.wordinfo.com/links/ailist.htm)
This page collects dozens of commercial, shareware, and freeware programs, templates, macros, and utilities that work with Microsoft Word.
5. WordPerfect Wiz: Free Macros
(http://www.wpwiz.com/macros.html)
This page compiles free macros for WordPerfect for Windows.
Law in Market Economy and Legal Research at the Electronic Era:
the 10th Program of the China Center for American Law Study
Joan Liu*
Since the founding of the Committee on Legal Education Exchange with China (CLEEC) in 1984, CLEEC had played a crucial role in assisting China to establish a modern legal system and to realize the rule of law, that has won a great reputation in Chinese legal community. After CLEEC dissolved in 1997, a few key members of the former CLEEC board, including Professor Kathleen Price from New York University School of Law Library, and Professor Sharon Hom from the City University of New York School of Law, a prominent clinician and former Fulbright Scholar at China University of Politics and Law, initiated and organized the 10th program of the CLEEC summer class — The Chinese Center for American Law Study.
The last summer class ended the first decade of the CLEEC programs
CLEEC shifted its primary goal from bridging exchanging faculty and students between the Chinese legal educational community and the world to playing an important role in facilitating legal research and continuing legal education for both American and Chinese professionals. The China Center for American Law Study summer classes organized by CLEEC has been well received in Chinese legal society. The 10th program was held from June 3rd to 18th, 1998 in Beijingand co-directed by Professor Price and Professor Hom. Its topics continued to focus on the Law in Market Economy. The program was hosted by People’s University which has one of the best law programs in China. The American Council of Learned Societies, the successor of CLEEC, provided the logistical support for the program which is funded by United States Information Agency (USIA).
Student composition showed a wide variety. Among them, there were young academic faculty, judges, arbitrators, lawyers, and editors. Young teachers were not only from the former nine CLEEC member law schools, which includes People’s University School of Law, China University of Law and Politics, CASS Law Research Institute, Fudan University School of Law, Jilin University School of Law, Peking University School of Law, East China Institute of Politics and Law, South West Institute of Politics and Law, and Wuhan University School of Law, but also from some provincial universities that had less opportunity to learn western teaching methods.
The teaching team of the program consisted of both American and Chinese law faculty members. American faculty were selected from a variety of top law schools in the U.S., including Professor John Donohue from Stanford University Law School who taught corporations and law and economics, and Professor Marsha Echols from Howard Law School, a former trade negotiator with the Department of Agriculture, who taught international trade, in addition to Professor Hom and Professor Price. Several famous American legal scholars and practitioners gave lectures as well. Three Chinese lecturers were Professor He Jiahong and Professor Zhao Xiuwen from People’s University and Professor Zhu Lanye from East China Institute of Politics and Law. These Chinese scholars had been trained and studied in both China and the U.S. and have extensive legal practice and research experience on China law. They contributed substantially to the program by offering translation and providing additional background and information of the subjects discussed.
The excellent composition of the faculty established a solid foundation for the great success of this two-week workshop. The curriculum of the program covered a variety of topics. It introduced to the participants the fundamental areas of American laws; explored the critical relationship between law and the operation, assumptions and values of a market system; and provided opportunities for interactive discussion of interesting issues and hands-on experience of skill training.
Computer technology in legal research
One unique feature of the 10th program was the inclusion of the topic of computerized legal research to the curriculum. Professor Price, a fifteen-year CLEEC veteran, has devoted her efforts to emphasizing the importance of legal resources and the methodology of legal research for Chinese legal professionals since her first visit to China as a member of a University of Minnesota delegation. She was one of the first American legal educators who realized that one of the fundamental impulses to "rule of law" in China is the establishment of a modern legal information system and training of law researchers and practitioners with proficient research approaches. In 1987, she organized the Fudan Workshop for Law Library Directors. She has been a consultant with Tsinghua University Law School to build its law library, which will be the first one in university law schools in China with a technology focus.
For this program, Professor Price designed a teaching plan based on the reality of computer technology in China. Though Internet has became a popular tool for legal study, teaching, practice, and research in the United States and most of the developed countries, it is still in its infancy in China. Internet access for most of academic researchers was yet unaffordable. For most of participants, Internet was not a common word. Based on a brief survey conducted at the class, it was found that only about 10 % of the participants were using Internet, primarily e-mail, on a regular basis. Therefore, Professor Price contemplated to provide interactive illustration and hands-on experience to small groups of students, giving them some basic and central concepts about legal resources access via Internet. The lectures emphasized research strategy and guides to find legal information on foreign and international law as well as Chinese legal resources via Internet, while hands-on practice aimed at basic skills to navigate Internet and to utilize other electronic databases.
People’s University School of Law has a spacious computer room with about 30 PCs in the new Law School building. However, there were no direct connections to Internet; only one single dial-in line could connect to an outside network. Therefore, the plan of hands-on exercise was changed to a series of demonstrations for small groups of students. The Internet infrastructure of communication system in China was far short of needs; there were only four official gateways that provided connections to outside of China. The speed of access was also very slow. Nevertheless, we had been able to connect to homepages of many interesting databases and websites on legal resources and to provide a workbook of downloaded material for later reference. Students were surprised to find so much useful legal information in Internet and were amazed to see how fascinating the new technology is for legal information retrieval.
Due to the network problem, Westlaw (which is only available in Peking University Law Department in China for online searching without downloading) could not be accessed by individual students. However, tutorial materials were installed on computers at the laboratory. In addition to watching the demo of exciting information access and retrieval from Westlaw, the students had the opportunity to browse general information of this database. For the part of simulation in the curriculum, the case materials were searched in Westlaw and other Internet resources. Students watched the searching process and experienced for the first time both the sweetness and frustration of electronic information access. Exposure to Chinese online databases was very exhilarating. Very few participants had ever used full-text China law services, such as CEILaw by the State Information Center or Chinalawinfo by Peking University.
From all of the lectures and demos, students sensed that the lack of legal information availability and accessibility, in all formats, was one of the fundamental obstacles for the advancement of Chinese legal system. It was believed that the electronic legal information would be a significant supplement to the existing, increasing resources in all legal institutions in China. We hope that the students had not only been trained with new skills but also acquired new vision for the future development in legal study from this workshop.
New generation of legal professionals
It was not hard to find that the new generation of legal professionals has become more sophisticated and skillful since China opened herself to the world in late 70’s. The participants of this program seemed to be better prepared for appreciating western legal systems as well as legal education pedagogy. Among the over sixty students who were from different fields of the Chinese legal community, about half of them had studied or researched abroad. The majority of them spoke fine English which greatly helped their communication with American professors in class.
Though exhausted by Beijing’s hot weather and the heavy preparation for the class, the students committed themselves on acquainting with electronic legal resources and Internet searching skills. With limited knowledge and hands-on experiences, they tried very hard to understand this new notion from lectures and demos. Both Professor Price and I prepared our lectures from the beginning; we attempted to introduce to students all aspects of Internet access from the basic concepts of Internet to the application of this new technology in legal research. Armed with booklets and detailed references of the electronic resources from us, the students were well prepared for further searching after returning to their home institution. Their ability to solve our hypothetical questions after the lectures was the evidence.
These students were not only quick learners and interested in new things, but also were full of self-confidence. After cramming these new fancy concepts in a short period of time, they believed that they had obtained a good foundation from the lectures and demos for electronic research techniques. Not frustrated by the difficulties of Internet access, they were confident that surfing on the web to catch legal information was more than possible. They realized that Internet, the library without walls, would allow them to cope with jurisdictions better than conventional libraries.
After we came back to the States, a number of students from the workshop and other legal professionals who had chance to be exposed with the discussion on this issue or read our handouts, sent us e-mails (some of them used their friends’ e-mail accounts) expressing their appreciation of this training and their excitement of this research approach.
Where to go for next one?
In order to fulfill the goal of the second round of the workshops, which is to strengthen the competency of teaching faculty in legal educational settings, especially to continue the education for those who studied in the West, Professor Price and her colleagues are proposing an ambitious and creative plan, with the focus on developing a teaching method and styles, e.g. clinical method, which will train students to think, analyze, and solve problems independently.
Where to go for the next program? Jilin, one of the former CLEEC member law schools was overwhelmingly recommended by the participants and faculty members for its symbolic position (it was the place where the first program of the first round took place), and for its excellent reputation on legal scholarship and the convenience of logistical arrangements for the participates. Professor Price had a site visit last spring. She was impressed by the enthusiasms of the law school administration and its potential capabilities to handle new technology for the teaching.
For the upcoming program, the designers are planning a new direction. The proposal of the new program intends to have two steps. The first phase of the workshop will be centered on Training the Trainers and focus on teaching methods. The participants will be taught how to utilize Internet for substantive law research. An Internet discussion group will be set up for course materials, syllabus, and discussion. A second will be running workshop in which students will be taught by American Chinese teams trained in clinical method.
Because of the dramatic development of computer and network technology in China, more and more legal professionals are ready, intellectually and financially, for conducting their research in an electronic world. A recent Chinese visiting scholar at NYU law school brought a laptop with a whole set of the 1998 version of Chinese Law on CD-ROM for his research in the States, though he is practically a layman for the computer. It is gratified to see the tendency among Chinese legal professionals — sensing the new trends of the era and committing themselves to the new fields of legal research. That is the goal of the former CLEE as well as its accomplishment.
______________
*Serials Librarian, New York University Law School Library, New York, New York. The author would like to thank Professor Kathleen Price for offering the opportunity of presenting Chinese legal resources on Internet to the workshop as well as her support and advice for the article
.
LC Creates Home Page for Pinyin Conversion
The Library of Congress has announced the creation of a Pinyin Conversion Project home page. It is located on its Cataloging Directorate home page. The URL is: http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin
This site will timely provide information and documents related to the Pinyin conversion Project. The contents include:
Project Definition
- Announcement: Library of Congress Pinyin Conversion Project
- Pinyin Conversion Project Outline
- "Wade-Giles to Pinyin Conversion Will Affect Everyone!" (RLG Focus article)
Timeline
- Pinyin Conversion Project Timeline (text)
- Pinyin Conversion Project Timeline (graph)
Status reports on tasks in progress
- New Chinese Romanization Guidelines -- Advance copy
- Classification schedules: Chinese literary authors (1949-1999) -- Draft
- Classification schedules: Chinese literary authors (2000-) -- Draft
- Chinese conventional place names: a status report
A special chart has been created on the CPSO home page to provide up-to-the-minute status reports on changes to headings for Chinese conventional place names.
- Chinese Geographic Names: Related Resources
The New Millennium: Words from the Editor
Hua Li
No matter the new millennium begins with the year 2001, or with the year 2000 as many people think, we certainly walk to her closer and closer. I do not worry about the Y2K problems, although they may affect my work and daily life. I have confidence on thousands of thousands computer programmers or software engineers. If there are any problems, they will find ways to fix them. After all, they are professionals just like us librarians. They devote their lives to computers and customers as we devote ours to books and patrons. I see Year 2000 as a positive turning point that we can set new goals and dreams for the new century and new millennium.
Every one of us has to review his or her work at the end or the beginning of the year. We look back in order to look forward. Many people like to make new-year resolutions as well. Why don’t we do that as a group? The review time frame will not be a year, but a century. It will be a very interesting project, if someone likes to write a sound article about Asian American law librarians of the 20th century. Perform a historical research to find out who we were as a group, where we came from, what we achieved and what we contributed to the American law librarianship on the century long journey. Conduct a scientific survey to see who we are today, what we want to achieve in next century, and what image we like to leave to the next generation of Asian American law librarians. I am sure the finding will be very interesting and inspiring.
When AALL founded in 1906, the Asian American law librarians, if there were any at the time, would be surprised to know that two Asian American law librarians serve in the AALL executive board at the end of the 20th century. If you take a look at the AALLC directory, you will find out many of the AALLC members are law library directors or department heads. Undoubtedly, Asian American Law librarians have contributed a great deal to the American law librarianship. However, do we have any weakness? Is there anything that we need to change? Are we ready to meet the challenges of the next century? What effects will the global economy have on us? Thirty-six Years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to the world that he had a dream. Do we have a dream, a dream that needs group effort, a dream that will take a decade even a century to pursue?
The Asian American Law Librarians Caucus has been existing for eleven years. Many Asian American law librarians have found professional support, personal advice, and pure friendship from AALLC. This Caucus is an organization not just for Asian American Law Librarians, but also for all the librarians who are interested in Asian law. Those librarians who do not have Asian background share with us the common interest -- Asian law. Together we have learned each other’s cultures, exchanged expertise, ideas and information about the laws in Asian countries, and built a strong friendship among us. As we embrace the next century, our legal information services will be challenged not only by the rapid development of global economy, but by the changes of laws and legal systems in some major Asian countries as well. What can AALLC do to help us face tomorrow's challenges?
I would like to suggest AALLC to conduct such a study on Asian American law librarians and on what AALLC can do to help our members in the 21st century. If we do not care about ourselves, who will? Am I going to have the honor to publish the study results on the first issue of the AALLC newsletter in the next millennium, i.e. year 2001?
To contact the editor, please send email to huali@culaw.creighton.edu.
Contact the Editor
This Newsletter is edited by Hua Li, Cataloging/Reference Librarian, Creighton University Law Library. For comments or suggestions, please call the editor at (402) 280-2283 or email: Huali@culaw.creighton.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.