Collection Development Policies and Other Basic Tools for Building A Foreign and International Law Collection

The importance of a basic understanding of foreign, comparative and international law (FCIL) research has long been recognized by the law library community. As the legal profession, and consequently legal education broadened in scope to include international and foreign law components, law librarians were at the forefront in developing the knowledge and skills needed to meet the legal information needs of library users in a legal climate increasingly affected by or directly involved with foreign and/or international law. Numerous articles, research guides and foreign and international law portals and websites have been created and maintained by law librarians with expertise in researching the laws of foreign jurisdictions and/or international law. These tools have helped to make foreign and international legal research accessible to researchers, librarians, lawyers and law students who are unfamiliar with foreign and international law resources and research techniques