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The World Turned Upside Down: Reaching Out to Law Libraries in Sierra Leone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2018

Sarah Bracey  and
Tony Simmonds Open the ORCID record for Tony Simmonds [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

This article, by Sarah Bracey and Tony Simmonds, explores professional and cultural challenges confronting two BIALL members involved in a project to enhance law library services in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It considers approaches to developing effectual supportive partnerships in a developing country context where the legal information ecosystem and provision of resource differ to an extent that all but inverts the familiar working world. The article traces the boundaries of what change is feasible in such a context, cautioning against over-ambition and advocating areas for future focus around staffing, co-ordination of donation programmes and digitisation of primary materials.

Keywords

legal informationlaw librariespro bono workSierra Leone
Type
BIALL Pro Bono Project in Sierra Leone
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 80 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

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References

Footnotes

1 The Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 (Act No. 6 of 1991) <http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/constitution1991.pdf> accessed 3 April 2018.

2 Skutsch, Carl (ed), Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities, vol 3 (Routledge 2005) 1099Google Scholar.

3 The Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 (Act No. 6 of 1991) s. 170(3) <http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/constitution1991.pdf> accessed 3 April 2018.

4 Courts Act, 1965 <https://sierralii.org/sl/legislation/act/31/COURTS%20ACT%201965.pdf> accessed 3 April 2018.

5 For an overview of Sierra Leone legal sources see: Hanatu Kabbah, Sierra Leone Legal System and Legal Research <http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Sierra_Leone1.html#_Sources_of_Law_in%20Sierra%20Leone> accessed 23 April 2018.

6 Holdsworth, William, A History of English Law, vol 2 (4th edn, Methuen and Sweet and Maxwell, 1936) 536Google Scholar.

7 Milner, Alan, ‘The African Law Reports’ (1967) 11 Journal of African Law 151CrossRefGoogle Scholar.