At the time of these interviews, conducted in the Squire Law Library in April and May 2005, Kurt Lipstein was 96 years old and had been associated, in various capacities, with the Library and the Faculty of Law at Cambridge University for over seventy years.

1. Introduction (Russia as a part of Europe).

This article presents an overview of the public policy issues surrounding digital libraries, and describes some current trends, such as Web 2.0, the social network. It discusses the impact of globalization and the Internet on international and foreign law information, the free access to law movement and open access scholarship, and mass digitization projects, then turns to some concerns, focusing on preservation and long term access to born digital legal information and authentication of official digital legal information. It finally discusses new roles for librarians, called upon to evaluate the quality of information teach legal research methodology and be advocates in information policy. Law librarians are encouraged to join professional associations and undergo continuous professional education. A recent development in the U.S.A., to add a legal research test on the bar exam, is of interest to the whole world, because it signifies the importance of sound legal research training to the competent practice of law.

In 2006 the Russian Federation was chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Our motto was: “Towards united Europe without dividing lines.” In order to make European countries closer to each other it is very important to insure unified interpretation and application of norms contained in international treaties. Such harmony between countries requires us to first consider the terms in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

This article is a brief sketch of recent development of the doctrine and practice in Russian constitutional and administrative law. The focus is made on the controversial issues of state organization and status of individuals, as well as the realization of legal principles established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.