FLARE CONSORTIUM
Minutes of Meeting of 12th February 2003
British Library 14.00 - 17.00
Present: Jules Winterton, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library (JW)
Jennie Grimshaw, British Library, (JG)
Barbara Tearle, Bodleian Law Library (BT)
Janet Zmroczek, British Library (JZ)
Peter Clinch, University of Cardiff Library (PC)
Lesley Young, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library (LY)
1 Apologies: David Will, Squire Law Library, University of Cambridge (DW)
2 Welcome
2.1 This meeting was the first of the newly formed FLARE. (Foreign Law Research) Consortium. FLARE is the successor to the FLAG (Foreign Law Guide) Project Management Committee and an earlier bilateral collaboration between the British Library and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library. It will continue the work of these bodies in facilitating the development of the national collection of foreign legal materials and improving access to them.
2.2 The Group began by electing JW as Chair and JG as Secretary.
2.3 JW was then deputed to draw up and circulate a statement of the Group's purpose and list lines of action, based on the Final Report of the FLAG Project.
ACTION: JW.
2.4 SOAS has not responded to an invitation to join FLARE although they had been a FLAG partner. As SOAS' contribution would be invaluable, JW agreed to approach SOAS again and encourage them to nominate a representative.
ACTION: JW
3 Minutes of Previous Meetings
3.1 The minutes of the last meetings of FLARE's two predecessor groups were agreed, namely:
· BL/IALS Collaborative Collection Development Group Meeting of April 2002
· FLAG Project Management Committee Meeting of December, 2002
4 Matters Arising from the FLAG Minutes.
4.1 The final report on the FLAG Project has been submitted to the funding body, Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP). No feedback has been received so far.
4.2 The FLARE Consortium has been formed in accordance with Section 3.1 of the Minutes to carry on the work of the FLAG Project in developing a distributed national collection of foreign legal materials and improving access to them.
4.3 BT has sent the Final Report on the FLAG Project to the Director and Deputy Director of the Bodleian Library. The proposal for the Bodleian Law Library's continued involvement in FLARE will be submitted to the Bodley's Collection Management Team. A decision may be deferred until a new Head of Collection Management is appointed.
4.4 BT reported that DW had sent information about FLARE to the University of Cambridge Librarian and awaited a decision as to the Squire Law Library's continued participation.
5 Audit of Foreign Legal Gazettes
5.1 JZ and JG have completed their bibliography of West and East European gazettes held at the BL and IALS, subject to some final checks on IALS holdings by LY.
ACTION: LY
5.2 JZ has obtained agreement from colleagues in UK libraries with important Slavonic collections to add their holdings of East European gazettes in due course. She reported that the bibliographies were attracting international interest among Slavonicists and their appearance on the Web was eagerly awaited.
5.2 BT offered to investigate the possibility of adding holdings of gazettes at Bodley and other Oxford University Libraries.
ACTION: BT
6 Merger of Gazettes' Back Runs.
6.1 JW and LY have been identifying legal gazettes held at the IALS which are not heavily used by frontline researchers because good quality commercially produced versions of legislation are available. It had been agreed in principle that back runs of such gazettes would be deposited at the BL and would form the nucleus of a national distributed archive. Two titles, the Moniteur Belge and the Italian Gazzetta Ufficiale had been selected as demonstrators to test the feasibility of the concept. A draft agreement on the terms of the deposit in the form of a Trust Deed had been approved by the BL and would now be presented to the University of London's legal advisors. It was understood that where the legal gazette was the main source for frontline researchers, the BL would deposit its holdings with the Institute or another partner institution. It was envisaged that, under the terms of the deposit, the holding library would be responsible for conservation work on the archival set and maintaining the subscription. The depositing Library would be able to borrow parts of the run from the holding Library for use on its premises at 24-48 hours notice. JG confirmed that this work had approval at the highest level of the BL.
Once the formal agreement had been finalised and signed by both institutions, the physical transfer of the stock could begin.
ACTION: JW
6.2 LY and JZ have been investigating the cost of microfilming back runs or purchasing commercially produced film so that one partner could use the film while the other preserved the originals. They had found that both of these options were too costly to pursue.
7 FLARE Web Site
7.1 It was agreed that the project web site would:
· Be designed by professionally at the expense of IALS and in consultation with the IALS Library Information Systems Manager.
· Be hosted by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
· Include minutes of FLARE meetings and those of its predecessor groups, the gazettes lists, notes from a training course on East European law held in February 2002 and jointly sponsored by the BL and the IALS, and, in due course, research guides to the law of foreign jurisdictions commissioned by the Consortium.
JW agreed to take forward the commissioning of the design of the web site.
ACTION: JW
7.2 JW had commissioned a logo for the Consortium from a professional designer and tabled several drafts for consideration. The Group agreed that the logo should:
· Include a torch or beacon
· Use the same typeface as the FLAG logo
· Consist of black lettering and a red torch/beacon
· Have the full name of the group in a cartorche underneath, as in the FLAG logo.
JW agreed to continue to liaise with the designer.
ACTION: JW
7.3 JZ had edited the minutes of the old BL/IALS Collaborative Working Group ready for loading on the web site. JZ agreed to forward electronic versions to JW.
ACTION: JZ
7.4 JZ, JG and LY agreed to finalise the gazettes lists ready for loading as soon as possible, with particular attention to checking web links.
ACTION: JZ, JG and LY
8 Improvements to Library of Congress Subject Headings for Law.
8.1 The FLAG database did not use Library of Congress Subject Headings because they are cumbersome and the form divisions do not meet the needs of lawyers.
Investigations by JG via the British Library Authority Control Section revealed that the Library of Congress is heavily committed to using US legal terminology in its subject headings. It is highly unlikely to change to using English terms, but would in most cases agree to add a cross reference. It was considered inappropriate for FLARE to pursue the matter as its views would not carry weight with the Library of Congress. It was agreed to refer the problem to BIALL and the American Association of the Law Librarians which might have more influence. PC agreed to draft letters.
ACTION: PC
9 EuroFLAG Funding Bids
9.1 The FLAG Project Committee at its meeting in December 2002 agreed to investigate the feasibility of applying for funds from the EU Sixth Framework Programme to extend the coverage of the FLAG database to include descriptions of the collections of major European law libraries.
The EU requires the lead institution in any consortial bid to undertake to manage the funds. This constitutes a heavy administrative burden that no FLARE member institution was prepared to take on.
9.2 In the light of this, and of the complexity of the bidding process, it was decided not to follow this route. Instead, group members agreed to look into other possible sources of funding:
· PC to investigate the Western European Union
· BT to pursue a possible funding foundation based in Stockholm and contact colleagues in the European Association of Law Libraries for advice.
· BT to investigate the Council of Europe
10 Sources of Law Virtual Encyclopaedia (SOLVE)/Research Guides Funding Bids.
10.1 The FLAG Project Management Committee agreed at its last meeting in December 2002 to seek funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) to create an online encyclopaedia of foreign law (SOLVE). This would consist of brief entries explaining the main sources of legal information for each jurisdiction and could be written on the basis of desk research.
10.2 The Group decided to pursue this matter and agreed that:
· The IALS would be lead institution
· A leading academic in the field would be invited to act as co-applicant to give the bid greater credibility
· JW and PC would co-write the draft.
· The bid should include funds for the commissioning of two detailed research guides as demonstrator projects
· The bid should be submitted to AHRB in the present round which closes May 30th 2003.
ACTION: JW/PC
11 AOB
None
12 Date of Next Meeting.
Wed. 7th May 2003, 14.00 at the British Library, St Pancras.
J.M. Grimshaw
20th Feb. 2003