|
III. THE FUTURE OF THE NATIONAL EQUAL
JUSTICE LIBRARY: THE NEED FOR CONTINUED FINANCIAL
SUPPORT
As suggested above, the NEJL has made considerable progress
on this ambitious agenda during the past year. The NEJL’s small staff has been
blessed to have an unusually active board. For instance, Professor Marie
Failinger assumed the leading role in coordinating the book and article awards
including the development of selection criteria and choosing the independent
selection committees. Meantime Justice Earl Johnson structured and implemented
much of the campaign to assemble the “International Collection,” and in 1998
then board member Clinton Bamberger took charge of planning the Reginald Heber
Smith Fellows Reunion. Several other board members have been active in
approaching individuals and institutions to donate materials to the NEJL
Archives or in conducting oral history interviews.
Despite the board’s contributions, however, the NEJL staff is essential to
the NEJL’s present and future success. A substantial grant from the Mellon
Foundation supplied most of the financial support to hire the Archivist and
supporting staff and allowed the NEJL to open. Now the National Equal Justice
Library seeks new operating funds to maintain our staff and continue the
work required to complete formation of the National Equal Justice Library.
In addition, we seek special grants and donations for some of the specific
functions mentioned above – the Oral History Program, the acquisition of
additional materials for the International Collection, the development of
sophisticated exhibits and an expanded NEJL website, for instance – all of
which require additional resources beyond our core staff.
The Consortium for the National Equal Justice Library has
been encouraged by the hundreds of donations it has received from individuals
and law firms ranging from $100 to $2500 in amount. The Consortium calls these
individual donors the “First Friends of the National Equal Justice Library.”
A complete list of these “First Friends” can be found at “http://nejl.wcl.american.edu.”
The Consortium also greatly appreciates the major grants and
contributions from foundations and other organizations it received in the past
two years—
American Bar Association $57,000
Washington College of Law $50,000 [in kind]
Leonardt Foundation $30,000
Friends of James Doherty $25,000
National Legal Aid & Defender Association $20,000
CNEJL Board members $10,000
If the National Equal Justice Library is to live up to its
potential, however, it will need continued and greater financial support from
the legal community as well as foundations and others. Those who do answer this
call will know their contributions are making possible an institution that is
accomplishing all the things described in this report. Not just preserving
history, but making history. Because those contributions are the lifeblood of
the National Equal Justice Library, the Consortium is pleased to recognize them
in the form of “named rooms,” “named collections,” and “endowed
programs.” [These naming opportunities also are described at “http://nejl.wcl.american.edu.
Or you can obtain the details from Robert Forman, the NEJL Archivist, at the
address below.]
________________________________________________________
Any
questions about the National Equal Justice Library or this annual report may be
addressed to the NEJL’s Archivist at the following:
Robert
Forman, Archivist
National
Equal Justice Library
Washington
College of Law-American University
4801
Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington,
D.C. 20016
PHONE = (202) 274-4320
FAX = (202) 274-4365
e-mail = nejl@wcl.american.edu
Back to Annual Report title page
Return to Home page
Next
page Back to Annual Report title page
Return to Home page
|
