The National Indian Law Library (NILL) of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is being developed into a clearinghouse for American Indian legal materials and resources with a $119,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the educational foundation announced in May. NARF, which received the three-year grant, will operate the library at its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado.

Alan Pifer, president of Carnegie Corporation, in announcing the grant, said: "The National Indian Law Library is already well on its way to being the best source of documents on Indian law in the country. We are pleased to help it develop into a research and information center with a nation-wide reach. We hope its expanded services will encourage more lawyers to represent Indian clients and thereby secure justice for Americans now inadequately served."

Founded in 1970 and governed by an all Indian board of directors, the NARF is a major center of legal activities on behalf of Indians. It has undertaken significant cases to help Indians protect their rights to land, water, and other natural resources, preserve their cultural and religious traditions, and obtain equal employment. Such cases have often involved expensive and time-consuming research due to the lack of a central information facility for Indian law.

The Carnegie funds will enable the National Indian Law Library to gather pleadings, briefs, and decisions from widely dispersed sources—private firms, law school libraries, and the Indian Claims Commission, a special federal court primarily concerned with cases of land rights and treaties. The collection will be completely cataloged and indexed for ready reference. Copies of documents will be provided to anyone requesting them. Several university librarians specializing in Indian law and literature will consult with NILL to ensure that its system is consistent with the standard operation of law school libraries.

NARF plans to publish a monthly newsletter announcing the library’s holdings and recent developments in Indian law. This will be available to tribes, lawyers, law libraries, professors, and law students.