A Survey of Law Libraries in Rwanda*
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LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL Vol. 107:2 [2015-9] A Survey of Law Libraries in Rwanda* Brian D. Anderson** More than simply satisfying intellectual curiosity, surveys of law libraries can show how these institutions support the justice sector, provide access to legal information, and guide future library development. This article investigates Rwanda’s law libraries and their potential to contribute to the justice sector and overall society in Rwanda. Introduction .......................................................226 Study of Foreign Law Libraries ........................................226 Rwanda: History and Legal System .....................................227 Law Libraries in Rwanda .............................................229 National University of Rwanda Law Library ...........................229 Institute of Legal Practice and Development ...........................230 Parliamentary Law Library and Archives ..............................231 Supreme Court Law Library ........................................232 National Public Prosecution Authority Law Library .....................232 Ministry of Justice Law Library ......................................233 Rwanda Bar Association Law Library .................................234 United Nations ICTR Law Library ...................................234 Other Libraries with Law Collections .................................235 Role of Law Libraries in Rwandan Society ...............................236 Open but Not Used by the Public ....................................236 Limitations to Collection Development ...............................236 Lack of Formal Training in Law and Library Science ....................237 Transition to E-Resources Outpacing Law Libraries’ Capacity ............237 Legal Research Education ..........................................238 Positive Perceptions of Law Libraries in Rwanda .......................238 Conclusions: Law Libraries in Rwanda ..................................239 * © Brian D. Anderson, 2015. Funding for field research used to complete this article was pro- vided in 2013 by a grant from the AALL Research Fund, an endowment established by LexisNexis. Special thanks to AALL for funding this research and LexisNexis for providing funding to support researchers investigating important topics in law librarianship. ** Assistant Professor of Law and Assistant Director, LL.M. Program in Democratic Governance and Rule of Law, Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio. 225 226 LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL Vol. 107:2 [2015-9] Introduction ¶1 The Republic of Rwanda is a small East African nation with a population of more than twelve million and a land mass slightly smaller than the state of Mary- land.1 The country gained global attention in a tragic way in 1994 when a genocide that lasted a mere 100 days took the lives of nearly one million Rwandans. In the twenty years since, Rwanda has become a beacon for a different kind of interna- tional attention, one that has triggered an influx of foreign aid and assistance. After the creation of a new government, Rwanda has seen unprecedented development and economic growth, and many have hailed it as a global success story for post- conflict transition. ¶2 A new constitution in 2003 reorganized the government and created several new institutions, including some within the justice sector. As a result, a country with one law school in 1994 now boasts five, a necessary change with an expanding focus on the rule of law and good governance. But no corresponding attention has been paid to law libraries and the role they can play in promoting justice reform in the small but robust transitional state. ¶3 In an effort to understand how Rwanda’s law libraries can contribute to the country’s justice sector, overall society, and democratic transition, a survey of law libraries was conducted in June 2013. Site visits and interviews with library person- nel were conducted at all of Rwanda’s law libraries. Additional visits were made to other libraries that serve legal institutions, notably at Rwanda’s law schools. Ques- tions focused on two main areas: the users of libraries, as perceived by library personnel; and the collections in the libraries and how they serve their users. Inqui- ries were also made into library management, funding, and other issues generally related to library management. Finally, a user survey was circulated to understand how students, lawyers, and judges access legal information in Rwanda. Study of Foreign Law Libraries ¶4 Surveys of law libraries outside the United States have been done for decades, and for a variety of reasons. Published accounts of law libraries in foreign jurisdictions date back as early as 1925, with a detailed look at some of Italy’s law libraries.2 A Swedish librarian’s visit to the University of Minnesota in the 1980s prompted a survey of academic law libraries in Scandinavia that same decade.3 In 1990, Theodore Mahr wrote the first in-depth nationwide study on the public and private law libraries in India.4 This study not only produced a great perspective of the role and importance of law libraries in the Indian legal system but also looked 1. Africa: Rwanda, WORLD FACTBOOK, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-fact book/geos/rw.html (last visited May 29, 2015). 2. Michael Angelo Musmanno, Law Libraries in Italy, 18 LAW LIBR. J. 59 (1925). 3. Susanne Nevin, Academic Law Libraries in Scandinavia, 78 LAW LIBR. J. 697 (1986). 4. Theodore A. Mahr, An Introduction to Law and Law Libraries in India, 82 LAW LIBR. J. 91 (1990). Vol. 107:2 [2015-9] A SURVEY OF LAW LIBRARIES IN RWANDA 227 at the needs and shortfalls of law libraries—something incredibly useful, especially from the perspective of a researcher outside the Indian system.5 ¶5 In more recent years, the curiosity of studying how law libraries exist in dif- ferent places has extended even beyond the limits of foreign countries. For instance, an article written in 2000 looked at “law libraries in hyperspace,” which sought to understand the role and growing presence of academic law libraries online.6 More recently, online content was investigated to understand “law libraries in the cloud” and the online presence of information accessed by law libraries.7 ¶6 These studies and others like them provide insight into law libraries sepa- rated not only by physical space but also by differences in culture, traditions, and roles. For librarians especially, this is intriguing at the very least. At most, under- standing law libraries in other societies and cultures can have more profound roles, from better assisting emerging legal institutions to developing ways to improve society as a whole. Rwanda: History and Legal System ¶7 Rwanda has a rich and fascinating history. Centuries before colonization took hold in the small East African country, hundreds of years of migration led to monarchical rule of a vast area in East Africa larger than present-day Rwanda.8 This history was interrupted in 1890 when Germany asserted a claim of colonial control over the territory and its people.9 With Germany’s defeat in World War I, Belgium took over colonial governance in Rwanda and aggressively implemented not only Belgian law but a series of divisive social policies in the colony.10 Eventually, under Belgian colonial rule, Rwanda’s traditional class system was codified into a system of racial identification and division. This provided significant benefit to a small ruling minority—the Tutsi (approximately fifteen percent of the population)— over the vast majority of Rwandans—the Hutu (approximately eighty-five percent of the population). As a result, because of the inequities perpetuated by the Belgian colonial government, significant resentment began to rise against the colonial gov- ernment and the minority Tutsi ruling class.11 ¶8 Rwanda became an independent state in November 1962 under President Grégoire Kayibanda.12 The simmering resentment of both colonial and minority Rwandan rule boiled over into a violent change in power, with the majority Hutu taking power during a time of significant periods of tribal violence of Hutus against Tutsis.13 This violence led to the death of tens of thousands and the displacement 5. Id. at 108–11, 126–27. 6. Robert C. Vreeland, Law Libraries in Hyperspace: A Citation Analysis of World Wide Web Sites, 92 LAW LIBR. J. 9, 2000 LAW LIBR. J. 2. 7. Diane Murley, Law Libraries in the Cloud, 101 LAW LIBR. J. 249, 2000 LAW LIBR. J. 15. 8. See generally JULIUS O. ADEKUNLE, CULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF RWANDA (2007); JAN VANSINA, ANTECEDENTS TO MODERN RWANDA (2007). 9. WILLIAM A. SCHABAS & MARTIN IMBLEAU, INTRODUCTION TO RWANDAN LAW 4 (1997). 10. Id. at 4–6. 11. See generally ADEKUNLE, supra note 8; VANSINA, supra note 8. 12. Id. at 6. 13. See PHIL CLARK, THE GACACA COURTS, POST-GENOCIDE JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION IN RWANDA 12–18 (2011). 228 LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL Vol. 107:2 [2015-9] of hundreds of thousands over the course of some thirty years after indepen- dence.14 This violent period culminated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where an estimated one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in the span of only 100 days. The genocide stopped when the rebel group Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took control of the capital city of Kigali, ended hostilities, and ultimately seized control of the Rwandan government.15 Today, the RPF remains in power under President Paul Kagame, who led the rebellion in 1994 to end the genocide.16 Since then, significant governmental reforms have led some to regard Rwanda as having made