Movie at the Library: Nov. 28th, 2012

Video coverage of New QU Library Inauguration last week

I personally like the classic red convertable in the TV studio. Nice touch.

Opening Ceremony, new QU Library

The Library was opened in January of 2012 but today we held an opening ceremony. The library looked good with the new art, exhibition miscelleny, and furniture finally installed. The Qatari corner looked especially exceptional. A few pictures:

Collection Development Adventures in Islamic law sources

Our Qatar University Comparative Law Conference concluded and was a success. The Conference was the first of a kind in the Gulf region and many scholars, especially Canadian scholars, participated. See the review of the conference. 

I attended one day of the conference, and from the discussions and papers presented generated many new acquisition titles for the QU law collection. Great efforts are being undertaken to make Islamic law sources more accessible in translation. I particularly want to recommend the Islamic law bibliography developed by the UK Centre for Legal Education and the Hadith bibliography at the University of Michigan. The mixture of primary and secondary sources in the area is rich.

Mosque at QU

IALL 2012: Toronto, Canada

I completed a week in Toronto at the International Association of Law Libraries Annual Course. I enjoyed rediscovering Canadian legal sources and traditions  My first job as a law librarian assistant was at UBC in Vancouver, Canada, many years ago.

Here are some pictures from IALL 2012:

Town Crier opens IALL 2012

Koreatown Foodies

Yonge Street

The Cup 

Eaton Centre

Fall in Toronto

Professional Development events at QU Law

Two legal education activities at QU Law present new opportunities for professional development. For the first time, at no charge, advanced skills classes are offered to local lawyers. Similar to CLEs in the US, these are mini-sessions in advanced contract drafting, advocacy, and in-house counsel skills offered by QU and the ABA. See the announcement to register.

Secondly, QU Law is hosting a Comparative Law conference. From the Conference announcement: 

The College of Law invites you to a conference on Comparative Law scheduled for the 6^th and 7^th October, 2012 at 9:00 am till 5:00 pm . The conference, to be held in the new library auditorium (117), brings together accomplished scholars in comparative law from countries and universities where the Civil Law, Islamic Law and the Common Law are taught and practiced. 

Dean Daniel Jutras of McGill Law School, Professor Bruce Archibald of Dalhousie Law School, Professor Catherine Valcke of Toronto Law School, join Professor Hassan  Al Sayed, Professor Hassan Elbarrawy and Dean Hassan Okour of QU Law College and The Attorney General of Qatar will deliver the keynote address.

The aim is to explore the influence of Islamic Law, Common Law and Civil Law on each other. This will be done by taking a critical look at Business Law, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law and Obligations from a comparative perspective. 

New library exhibit hall

The last phase of the new Qatar University Libraries is the opening of the exhibit hall. Please come and see the first exhibit!