by Mark Engsberg, IALL President; Professor of Practice & Director of Library Services, Emory University School of Law

The 44th Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) was held in Cambridge, UK from Sunday, September 13, to Wednesday, September 16, 2026. It was hosted by the Squire Law Library at Cambridge University. There was also an Optional Day in the history and scenic City of Ely on Thursday, September 17, 2024. This year’s conference theme was Shifting Politics and Legal Realities: Taking a Punt into the Future.

Taking the lead of the Local Planning Committee (LPC) was David Wills. David is the recently retired director of the Squire Law Library and a former member of the IALL board. David and the other members of the LPC team prepared and delivered a superb program of substantive, topical content, local excursions, and other networking events and opportunities which are the hallmarks of every IALL Annual Course.

The author on the famous Bridge of Sighs, a covered stone bridge at St John’s College, Cambridge. Designed by architect Henry Hutchinson and constructed in 1831, it spans the River Cam between the college’s Third Court and New Court. Photo by Mark Engsberg.

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 Cambridge were:

  • David Wills, Chair (Director of the Squire Library)
  • Kate Faulkner (Legal Research Librarian)
  • Sarah Defrates (Legal Research Librarian – Foreign, International and Comparative Law)
  • Anca Cojocaru (Senior Library Assistant (Serials and Collection Management)
  • Daniel Bates (Legal Research Training and Communications Specialist)

Additional thanks go to the IALL Board Liaison for the Cambridge conference, Rebecca Bergstrom, Senior Legal Advisor at the University of Oslo, Norway, and member of the IALL board. Rebecca leveraged her experience helping to organize IALL’s successful 42nd Annual Course, held at the University of Oslo in 2024, to help the Cambridge Local Planning Committee create a truly unique and content-rich program this year. Her insights and experience helped the team prepare for Cambridge’s sold-out conference.

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 high caliber of speakers who provided such an interesting and highly substantive Annual Course. 

And, of course, this excellent Annual Course would not have been possible without the support of IALL’s generous sponsors. The sponsors for this year’s Annual Course in Cambridge were:

Gold Sponsor:
De Gruyter Brill

Silver Sponsors:
Wolters Kluwer
TaxNotes
Soutron Global

Exhibitors and Sponsors:
Casalinilibri/Erasmus
Edward Elgar Publishing
ICLR
LLMC
Lefebvre Dalloz
Mohr Siebeck
Bloomsbury Digital Resources
Inlibra
Oxford University Press
Hein Online

Exhibitors Only:
Law Library of Congress

Thank you again to all of IALL’s generous sponsor-colleagues! Without them, IALL’s Annual Courses would not be possible.

St. John’s College Hall, was the perfect formal ending for this Annual Course. Photo by Mark Engsberg.

Looking ahead, the 45th Annual Course will take place in the Netherlands, at The Hague and Rotterdam, from 26 – 30 September 2027. The Peace Palace Library and the Sanders Law Library at Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam will be co-hosting the event. The theme will be Navigating Dutch and International Waters: Legal Dimensions. IALL board member, Claudia Holland from the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law, Hamburg, Germany, will serve as Board Liaison for the 2027 Annual Course. Check the IALL website frequently for additional details coming soon about the 2027 Annual Course in the Netherlands.

We hope you plan to attend the Conference at The Hague and Rotterdam. I have had a peek at the draft program and it looks incredible! Late September is a pleasant time of year in the Netherlands. Do not miss the Hague and Rotterdam Annual Course!

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.

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