GLIN representatives from Kuwait, the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Korea gather before the closing event of the meeting. - Kevin Long
With representatives from 20 member nations, the 15th Annual Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) Directors’ Meeting, held at the Library of Congress Sept. 23-25, focused on past achievements and future plans for the network.
GLIN is a database of laws, regulations, judicial decisions and other complementary legal sources contributed by government agencies and international organizations.
“As you well know, developing an international, multilingual database involves much more than hardware and software,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “You are the human ingredients that make the system work. You should be very proud of what you have collectively accomplished,” he said, congratulating the GLIN directors on the 15th annual meeting.
The meeting serves as an opportunity for GLIN members to discuss their accomplishments over the past year and to share their experiences and advice.
“GLIN is an important tool in our country,” said the director of GLIN in Paraguay, who noted that both chambers of the nation’s legislature are primary users of the database.
According to the Democratic Republic of Congo, GLIN serves as a reliable reference source for the president’s office, both houses of the legislature and the courts. GLIN served as a critical information source at a conference convened to reform the penal code of that country.
The director of GLIN in Costa Rica mentioned that supplemental legal information related to the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) is not published in the official gazette, but has been included in the GLIN database, making GLIN the only source of this information for the public.
The representative from GLIN in Canada noted that the skills and knowledge gained through contributing that nation’s legal information to the GLIN database is being applied in their daily work of providing research and reference support to parliament.
A number of countries discussed their efforts to apply the GLIN model at the sub-national level. For example, Uruguay has begun to work with the departments of that country to incorporate their laws into the database, since some of these sub-national units produce more legislation annually than Uruguay’s national Legislative Assembly.
The group discussed a wide range of GLIN promotional initiatives. A user guide was prepared by the GLIN team in Mexico to assist legislators and a presentation about GLIN was given at a national meeting of legal librarians. Paraguay printed 5,000 promotional brochures, which they distributed to all legislative committee staffers who are required to have basic training in searching GLIN. The director from Kuwait discussed the work that nation has done to promote GLIN among the countries of the Arab Gulf region, resulting in Qatar’s presence at the meeting.
A common theme that emerged at the meeting was the importance of offering reliable, trustworthy information. Carol Tullo, director, controller and Queen’s Printer in the Office of Public Sector Information of the United Kingdom, gave a presentation about her office’s work to republish legislation of the United Kingdom in order to make it more usable in the Web environment. This work will enable an automated transmittal of U.K. legal information to GLIN beginning in October 2008. She stressed that a key aspect of this effort was to convince people that the information would be trustworthy and that the authenticity of the materials would not be compromised.
Patricia Portela of the Dominican Republic is congratulated by Charles Doyle, acting Law Librarian, after signing the GLIN Charter.
- Kevin Long
GLIN members are equally committed to providing reliable legal information. Consequently, the next release of GLIN, scheduled for mid-October 2008, will incorporate new security features designed to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the data. ATSC, the company contracted to design and enhance the GLIN system, gave an overview of these features including the use of digital certificates that will indicate to users that a given legal document has been certified as authentic by its contributor and that has not been altered since it entered the GLIN database.
It is a tradition at the annual GLIN Directors’ meeting for new members to sign the GLIN Charter, the document that defines the cooperative working relationship among GLIN members. The charter signing is the final step required to become a voting member of the network. At this year’s meeting, Patricia Portela, GLIN director from the Dominican Republic, and Carol Tullo, representing the United Kingdom, signed the charter signaling their formal accession into the network.
The members of GLIN offered a brief tribute to Rubens Medina, former Law Librarian of Congress and chair of the GLIN Executive Council, for his role in creating and developing GLIN. The Supreme Court of Nicaragua presented him with a plaque that was inscribed with the text of a Supreme Court resolution in his honor. A book was given by the GLIN Uruguay delegation with photographs of the nation’s legislature and other national landmarks. Charles Doyle, acting Law Librarian of Congress, presented Medina with a plaque that recognized him on behalf of the members of GLIN.
