Geneva on the Geneva city waterfront.
Photo by Mark Engsberg
By Mark Engsberg
President, International Association of Law Libraries
The 41st Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) was held in Geneva, Switzerland from Sunday, October 8, to Wednesday, October 11. There was also an Optional Day in Lausanne on October 12, 2023. This year’s theme was Like Clockwork? Multilateralism and International Law in Geneva. The 2023 Annual Course was organized by staff from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Library and Geneva Graduate Institute Library, in collaboration with the UN Library and Archives Geneva.
The Geneva conference had a first-rate team that helped organize it. Kurt Carroll served as Board Liaison. He provided advice and guidance and the wisdom that comes from helping organize a number of IALL conferences during his time on the Board. Taking the lead of the Local Planning Committee (LPC) were Sonia Crenn and Charlotte Mohr. Sonia is Reference Librarian in charge of the ICRC Library’s collection on international and humanitarian law. Charlotte is Reference Librarian for the ICRC’s collections on the history and activities of the ICRC. She is also responsible for the institutional repository of ICRC publications. Sonia and Charlotte and the other members of the LPC team prepared and delivered a truly excellent program of substantive content, local excursions, and other networking events and opportunities which are the hallmarks of every IALL Annual Course. The Association is extremely grateful to the members of the LPC for everything they did to make this conference so successful.
The members of the LPC for Geneva were:
Sonia Crenn
Charlotte Mohr
Yves Corpataux
Rachel Forman,
Sigrun Habermann
Michèle Hou
Amanda Howland
Fania Khan Mohammad
Sandra Manzi Kutner
Ismaël Raboud, and
Colin Wells
On behalf of the entire Association, I also wish to thank each program speaker and each member of the exceptional Local Planning Committee for their contributions to this outstanding experience. Thank you! A quick review of the Conference Program reveals the truly exceptional caliber of speakers who provided such an amazing course.
And, of course, this excellent conference would not have been possible without the support of IALL’s generous sponsors.
Sponsors for this year’s Annual Course in Geneva were:
Platinum Sponsor
Lefebvre Sarrut
Gold Sponsors
MEMORIST
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory
Silver Sponsors
S&P Global Market Intelligence
ICLR
vLex
Exhibitors:
Brill Nijhoff
Eleven
Taxnotes
LLMC Digital
Hein Online
Nomos
Trade Law Guide
Casalini Libri / Erasmus
Thank you again to our returning (and new) sponsor-colleagues!
Looking forward, the 42nd Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries will take place in Oslo, Norway from 16-20 June 2024. The University of Oslo Law School is the host for the Oslo conference and its brand new building will also serve as the main conference venue. IALL’s Treasurer, Jean Wenger, will serve as Board Liaison for the 2024 Annual Course. Watch the IALL website for additional details about the 2024 Annual Course in Oslo. The conference page will appear soon on the IALL website.
We hope you plan to attend the Oslo Conference. I have seen a draft of the program and visited the venues. The only word to describe them is fabulous! Occurring in June, it is also at a different time of year from other IALL conferences – and take place at the summer solstice in Norway. The solstice will be on June 20, 2024. The midnight sun occurs in Norway at that time. The sun will be low above the horizon even at night, but it will not set. You won’t want to miss this Annual Meeting!
This Blog contains entries by members of the International Association of Law Libraries on issues germane to the Association’s areas of focus. Views expressed in an individual entry only represent the views of the author, and not those of the International Association of Law Libraries or the author’s employer.