By: Tormod Andersen, Academic Librarian
Law Library, University of Oslo
The 39th Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries was presented last month. As a first-time participant and a completely new member of IALL I would therefor like to share some of my thoughts and experiences regarding my first IALL conference.
This year’s conference was an all-digital conference hosted by Toulouse Capitole University. The attendees had access to pre-recorded video sessions as well as live seminars through Zoom. We used Sched as a common conference web-platform. Sched served both as a schedule, but also a networking-tool; all the attendees had their own profile. We had the opportunity to add a photo and write about ourselves and share our profile and schedule with other attendees to make the conference more interactive.
If there’s one thing we’ve all learned during COVID-19 lockdown, it’s the importance of alternative solution thinking. This also applies when arranging conferences. I think the local planning committee of this year’s conference have done a great job. They’ve put together a varied and interesting program. Even though this year’s conference was different from what the IALL members are used to, I’m positive that people are pleased with the outcome.
The theme of this year’s conference was The Triptych: European and International Law; the French way. The title gives a reference to the main purpose of the conference; to give us an insight in French law and the legal culture of France. As attendees, we had the opportunity to choose between a varied program of lectures and seminars. Personally, I have a great interest in legal history, and I was particularly pleased with professor Florent Garnier’s session A documentary landscape in perspective (12th to 20th century) and rare books Curator Marielle Mouranche’s lecture on Law and legal science in Toulouse (1500-1850). I also have a certain interest in the field of cultural heritage. Therefore, I really appreciated the lecture on The war of the “Mirandes”: French Urban Heritage and the restoration of the Basilica of Saint Sernin by Marie-Anne Sire.
One thing that I appreciate about being a member of IALL is that I’m a part of a global and international community. As members of a worldwide organization, we have a golden opportunity to share knowledge and learn from one another. This year we got an insight in legal topics “the French way” and as a new participant I must say I enjoyed my first meeting with IALL. To wrap it up I would like to say that I look forward learning more from IALL and hopefully attend (physical) conferences in the future. Merci beaucoup!
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.