📋 Tender Overview
Interview with Dr. Orlando Curaca Kong, director of Publications and Documentation of the CECWe met with Dr. Orlando Curaca Kong, director of Publications and Documentation of the Center for Constitutional Studies (CEC), to tell us about the changes and advances in the direction under his charge. In this sense, doctor, what are the latest developments regarding your address? Under the direction of Judge Helder Dominguez Haro, general director of the CEC, we are carrying out a series of actions in relation to the direction under my charge.
One of them is the implementation of the Documentation Center of the Constitutional Court (CENDOC-TC). Likewise, we are expanding and updating the bibliographic collection of the constitutional library, which is part of the aforementioned Documentation Center. Furthermore, in order to advertise our works and instruct people in free access to them, since 2022 we have been participating in important book fairs in a decentralized manner. We also continue to publish works through the Editorial Fund of the Constitutional Court. In relation to the Documentation Center and the constitutional library, what actions are being carried out? Thanks to the current management, some 800 books have been acquired on constitutional law, constitutional procedural law, human rights and related branches, which did not happen many years ago. With which a policy of increasing the bibliographic collection through purchases and donations has been implemented. Currently, we already have more than seven thousand works on these subjects.
The purchases of works began in 2022, continued in 2023 and has become an institutional policy, so more publications will continue to be acquired, both for the library headquarters in Lima and the Arequipa headquarters, which is already operating. It is important to highlight that we are managing the donation of works for the library, such as the collections that belonged to Judges Ferrero Costa and Aguirre Roca. If this is achieved, obviously the collection will have the respective recognition in the library environments. Likewise, since last year the Constitutional Court library is already serving the general public, Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 4:45 pm. It offers photocopying, scanning and review services in the reading room.
It is also important to specify that it has entered the National Library System. Likewise, the KOHA library management system has been implemented and, currently, we are uploading all the works to this system, so that, soon, magistrates, institution officials, professionals, students and the general public can view our collection. Regarding the Documentation Center, I must mention that the space for its operation has expanded exponentially. The CEC administrative offices that were there, at Los Cedros 209, have been moved to the San Isidro headquarters of the Constitutional Court on Javier Prado with Av. Arequipa. The rooms that have remained have been enabled for the use of the Magistrates, servants and the general public. Thus, on the first floor, there are now two spaces. In the first, there is the first library room and the newspaper archive of the Constitutional Court.
In the second, there is an additional library room. These spaces are designed for silent reading and are equipped with PCs that will allow you to access the electronic resources and multiple services offered by the library. On the second floor, there is a third library room, as well as three additional rooms for both individual reading and group meetings. In these rooms you can interact with other users and exchange opinions and knowledge. What fairs have they participated in and are they expected to participate in others in the future? At the initiative of the general director, we have been participating since 2022 in multiple book fairs in different regions of Peru, including important international fairs, positioning the Editorial Fund of the Constitutional Court. For example, last year we participated in the Lima International Book Fair, in the Ricardo Palma International Book Fair and, recently, in the La Libertad International Book Fair. We plan to participate again in this year's Lima International Book Fair and in the Ricardo Palma International Book Fair. We will also participate in the fair of the next Congress of Constitutional Procedural Law that will be held in the city of Cuzco and we have been invited to a fair in Sullana, organized by the Sullana Bar Association.
We are also coordinating to participate in the legal fair organized on the occasion of the XVI Ibero-American Congress of Constitutional Law, which will take place in October in Mexico City. About the constitutional museum, could you tell us something? It is important to specify that the Constitutional Museum is already normatively regulated and its management is in charge of the Center for Constitutional Studies. It is for this reason that the general director requested that a space be enabled so that it can be converted into a museum. This request was approved and, in this sense, an adequate environment has already been provided in the former headquarters of the Constitutional Court of the Center of Lima, located at Jr. Ancash 390.
In addition, we are adapting the internal management instruments, with the purpose of budgeting and implementing the Constitutional Museum. This will tell our constitutional history and the history of our Constitutional Court. Last year the Editorial Fund of the Constitutional Court was created. What function will it fulfill? By resolution of the President of the Constitutional Court, the Editorial Fund of the Constitutional Court was formally created in 2023, with the purpose of improving and increasing the publications made. Its administration is in charge of the Center for Constitutional Studies. In this administration, a significant number of works have been published and many more are planned to be published.
