Duncan Alford (Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina) and Tessie Tian (Associate Director, Peking University School of Transnational Law Library) represented the STL Law Library at the CAFLL Conference (Chinese and American Forum on Legal Information and Law Libraries) on September 13thto sharetheir experiences and achievements in the STL Law Library as panelists to the attending Chinese and foreign law library experts.
Prof. Alford and Tessie first introduced the history of Peking University School of Transnational Law (“STL”) and its unique curriculum offering a U.S.-style J.D. and a J.M. in Chinese law. STL is located in Shenzhen which some consider to be the “Silicon Valley” of China. Panelists then discussed the role of the STL Law Library in supporting the curriculum and scholarship of the international faculty of STL. The STL Law Library collects materials in both English and Mandarin Chinese and has developed partnerships with other libraries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to augment its collections. The panelists introduced the services and resources of the STL Law Library, as well as shared some of the difficulties and challenges the library is currently encountering. The presentation also considered challenges typically not faced by law libraries in the West, including censorship and the “Great Firewall.” The uniqueness of STL attracted the attention and interest of American law librarians and international legal experts, followed by close to an hour of Q&A session with active discussion and experience sharing.The panelists hope to take this opportunity to learn from the audience and seek collaborative opportunities with audience members.
About CAFLL
Chinese and American Forum on Legal Information and Law Libraries (CAFLL) is a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania on February 1, 2010.
Mission
The Chinese and American Forum on Legal Information and Law Libraries (CAFLL) promotes the accessibility of legal information and fosters the education of legal information professionals in the United States and China.
Vision
The rule of law in China and the United States is strengthened by a recognition of the central role professional law librarians play in collecting, organizing and making accessible each nation’s legal information.
