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School of Law Awarded the World’s Largest Conflict Resolution Library  

The Pepperdine University School of Law, home of The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, was recently awarded the world’s largest collection of materials on conflict resolution by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). The AAA selected Pepperdine’s proposal to take over its prestigious Library and Information Center, consisting of more than 24,000 titles on arbitration, mediation, negotiation, fact-finding, and other international and domestic dispute resolution procedures, at the conclusion of a three month process of requesting proposals from U.S. law schools and business schools.
 
The AAA Library collection, which began in 1954, has titles that range from international arbitration and consumer disputes to health law and the history and growth of public and private dispute resolution practices here and abroad. The great diversity of the collection is reflected in the more than 1,000 different descriptive terms in its subject catalog.
 
Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the Number One dispute resolution program in the nation, Pepperdine’s Straus Institute in Malibu has nine fulltime faculty devoting all or most of their time to conflict resolution subjects including multicultural negotiation theory and practice; mediation in different settings; arbitration of international trade, sports disputes, and issues of public policy; conflict management in the workplace and in business environments; religion and conflict resolution; and related ethical issues.  
 
Pepperdine’s acquisition of the Library and Information Center, which will be moved from its present New York City location to Pepperdine’s Malibu campus, reflects the school’s expanding commitment to research and scholarship. Through this important acquisition, the world’s premier collection of materials on conflict resolution will become the centerpiece of Pepperdine’s Law Research Collections. State-of-the-art technology will make collection content available to users around the country and around the world, through a scan-on-demand service, fax, e-mail, and the Web.
 
Thomas J. Stipanowich, professor of law and academic director of the Straus Institute, said that Pepperdine’s successful acquisition of the AAA Library is an important step forward for the school’s award-winning program. According to Stipanowich: “The AAA Library is a truly unique collection that spans the history and development of arbitration, mediation, and other conflict resolution approaches in the United States and other countries. It contains materials that exist nowhere else, and will be a cornerstone for our maintenance of a world-class program bridging conflict resolution theory and practice.”  
 
Pepperdine University’s dean of libraries, Mark Roosa, helped the School of Law write its winning proposal for the acquisition. “Our approach to advancing both the academic and practical value of the collection played a key role in our being awarded the bid,” said Dr. Roosa. “We are delighted that Pepperdine will be the new home for the largest alternative dispute resolution library of its kind in the world and that these resources will support faculty, staff, and student research in our top-ranked Straus program.”

William K. Slate II, AAA president and chief executive officer, remarked: “Pepperdine’s long-standing commitment to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), along with their creative proposal, was very impressive. For decades, the AAA Library and Information Center has been an important resource to the U.S. and international conflict management community. We are delighted that it will now reside with a university with both a strong reputation for academic excellence and a commitment to further responsible uses of ADR.”