Tag Archives: Chicago International

Chicago International special theme issue (Winter 2016)

Winter 2016

From the Editors

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Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to the Winter 2016 issue of the CALL Bulletin! This issue has something for everyone. CALL elections are coming, and we have published the 2016-2017 slate of candidates with photos and bio statements. Thanks to Joanne Kiley, Clare Willis, Tom Gaylord, Jill Meyer, Therese Clarke Arado, and Lindsey Carpino for running for office. We appreciate your willingness to serve on the CALL Executive Board!

The Winter 2016 issue is also a special “Chicago International”-themed issue of the CALL Bulletin! Guest editors, Matthew Timko and Sharon Nelson, introduce us to great pieces on CALL member travels abroad, cultural heritage museums, ethnic foods, unique collections, people, and other foreign, comparative, and international legal (FCIL) resources in Chicago.

Photo of Julienne, Lyo, Anne, Jean, and Tove
Chicago FCIL Librarians at the 2015 Global Legal Skills Conference: Julienne Grant, Lyonette Louis-Jacques, Anne Abramson, Jean Wenger (with Tove Kloning); CALL FCIL librarians not pictured, Heidi Kuehl and Trezlen Drake.

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Winter 2016, Bulletin

Introduction to Chicago International

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Photo of Matthew Timko
Matthew Timko

Chicago, for all of its local flare and idiosyncrasies, is really a city of the world, chock full of foreign influences and international customs.  Since nothing exists in a vacuum, Chicago’s international personality impacts the makeup and quality of materials and resources within the city’s law libraries.

Photo of Sharon Nelson
Sharon Nelson

In this special section, Chicago International,  guest editors Sharon Nelson and Matthew Timko have received and compiled many great articles demonstrating the rich international institutions and resources that the city has to offer law librarians and interested residents alike.

Karl Pettitt has created a city map with the locations of many ethnic heritage museums, and Jill Meyer has included a review of one such museum, the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture.  Delving into the unique international collections within the city, Jean Wenger goes through Cook County’s foreign and international collections and services while Anne Abramson describes John Marshall’s Chinese Intellectual Property materials. Continue reading Introduction to Chicago International →

Winter 2016

Lithuanians in Chicago: A Visit to the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture

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Photo of Jill Meyer
Jill Meyer

I recently had the opportunity to go “behind the scenes” in the library at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture. I happen to be of Lithuanian heritage, as well as a history buff, so a visit here was of particular interest to me. This library is not open to the public, and requires an appointment to access; however, I had an inside pass from a volunteer who is organizing the collection and unpacking the many boxes of donations (and also happens to be my mother, Sue Matulionis!). She said it’s actually pretty easy to get in. A quick phone call to the main number can usually secure an appointment, and they are open 7 days a week.

Entrance
Entrance to Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture

Continue reading Lithuanians in Chicago: A Visit to the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture →

Winter 2016

See the World from the 29th Floor: The FCIL Collection at Cook County Law Library

“I need the law of … Turkey and Argentina and Japan and Qatar.” To meet the legal research needs of the legal profession, county residents, and businesses engaged in the global community, the Foreign and International Law Division at the Cook County Law Library (CCLL) contains legal information resources from jurisdictions around the world. In this brief article, I would like to introduce CALL members and others to the range of global resources located in CCLL at the Daley Center. Continue reading See the World from the 29th Floor: The FCIL Collection at Cook County Law Library →

Winter 2016

The Chinese Intellectual Property Law Collection at JMLS

Photo of Anne Abramson
Anne Abramson

The John Marshall Law School’s Louis L. Biro Law Library has a unique print collection of Chinese Intellectual Property Law.  A description of this collection is available in Raizel Liebler’s Chinese Intellectual Property LibGuide. The Chinese IP Law Collection is located on the 10th floor of the Library.

Many of the materials in the JMLS Chinese IP Collection are not available anywhere else in the United States. For example: The Handbook of Intellectual Property Litigation =  Zhi shi Chan quan Su song Fa lü Shou ce = 知识产权诉讼法律手册 .  Authors/Contributors: Beijing Shi Gaoji Renmin Fa yuan Min San Ting bian.  Cover of the Handbook of Intellectual Property LitigationPlace, publisher, year: Beijing : Zhi shi Chan quan Chu ban she, 2004. ISBN： 9787800119774.

In addition, the John Marshall Chinese Intellectual Property Resource Center website contains an index of titles in this collection as well as links to the Center’s many online resources such as translated Chinese IP decision summaries, Professor Arthur Yuan’s One-Stop-Shop Chinese IP Resources list, and news of recent developments in Chinese patent, trademark, and copyright law.

Winter 2016

Key Resources in Middle East Librarianship

Photo of Stacia Stein
Stacia Stein

This semester I am taking a class in Middle East Librarianship. As part of the course, I have been tasked to select 10-15 reference works that should be part of any basic Middle East reference collection.

In order to determine what these resources ought to be, I developed a few research strategies. First, I narrowed the focus to resources that would be useful in an academic law library. This required additional consideration because there are many legal jurisdictions within the Middle East. To address each jurisdiction separately would require more than 10-15 reference works.

Therefore, I decided to further narrow the focus to resources that deal with Islamic law generally or that provide useful background on Islam for the legal scholar. Secondly, because of my own language limitations, I chose to look only at resources aimed at English speakers.  Finally, I also wanted to have a nice mix of databases, serials and monographs in the collection.

In order to determine what the most useful resources might be, I looked at various libguides at libraries with well-known Mid-East collections. When available, I also tried to find reviews of the sources to flesh out scope, perspective and intended audience. I also consulted In Custodia Legis – the blog for the Law Librarians of Congress, and Int-Law listserv’s public message archives. Are there any key resources that I missed? Are there any research strategies I should have applied?

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Winter 2016

Book Review – The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities

In his book, The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities (Knopf, 2015), Justice Stephen Breyer examines the ways in which foreign law and circumstances impact the Supreme Court. Many of Justice Breyer’s critics often disapprove of the Justice’s global outlook. In writing this book, Justice Breyer aims, in part, to put his critics’ anxieties about national sovereignty “in perspective.” So, what is the perspective of Justice Breyer?

Justice Breyer defines the Court and the World broadly, dividing the book into four categories: Part I examines how the Court can effectively protect basic liberties in the face of security threats; Part II focuses on statutory interpretation and asks: Can American statutes be understood to open the doors of American courts to foreign victims of human rights abuses? And what is the geographical reach of commercial statutes?; Part III considers how the Court interprets treaties that concern unfamiliar subjects; and Part IV looks at the extent to which exchanges between judges and lawyers of different nations help judges reach better decisions.

Justice Breyer backs up his main points with copious and detailed examples, making this book a valuable, if sometimes dry, resource. In fact, a casual book reviewer might be inclined to crack open a beer (Lagunitas … Born Yesterday… Fresh. Hoppy. Invigorating. However, this is a book review, not a beer review!) to get through the last 100 or so pages.

Continue reading Book Review – The Court and the World: American Law and the New Global Realities →

Winter 2016

International Taxation: The IRS and Its World of Free Information

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When it comes to international tax research questions, do your eyes glaze over? Do you run for the hills or hide under your desk? Fear not. This article will help you “fake it ‘til you can make it.” And, in these days of cost-conscious clients, you will be a hero with all the free or low-cost information you find.

While most law librarians and professional researchers have access to fee-based resources, your tax dollars have been working to create some excellent tools. However, these resources are often hidden down that rabbit hole called the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website. The goal of this article is to expose the wealth of international tax information that can be found at the IRS and other government websites, either as a research starting point or to obtain a plain English explanation of a tax issue. Continue reading International Taxation: The IRS and Its World of Free Information →