Greetings from Chicago!
Ah, it's been an interesting summer in the Windy City. In July, the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) held its annual meeting and conference here, setting an attendance record with 1,800 attendees. While at the conference, I gently nudged a few program speakers to write articles for the IJLI; stay tuned for these in forthcoming issues. I admit to skipping some of the tourist activities, including the architecture boat cruise, which I've probably done at least five times, although I did make it to an event at the Griffin Museum of Science & Industry. I hadn't visited the place since I was a child (although at the time, it didn't have “Griffin” in the name).
In August, I was almost a prisoner in my own apartment building for about four days during the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which was also held in Chicago. The event brought some 50,000 delegates and dignitaries who had to be transported, housed, fed, and protected. Kamala Harris and her entourage stayed across the street from where I live, and my entire neighborhood became a fortress as Secret Service agents hurried about. Despite the hassles in the city and various neighborhoods, however, I enjoyed witnessing history, as did many other residents who waved at Vice President Harris as her motorcade left to accept the Democratic Party's nomination. The level of security surrounding her visit was certainly intense: I counted no fewer than twenty-one vehicles in her motorcade.
Speaking of security, I pen this comment after CUP's two-month “technical disruption” to its journal publishing operations, which was apparently caused by a cybersecurity incident in June. Needless to say, this “disruption” created havoc for just about anyone who was editing a CUP journal. At the moment, the print editions of Winter 2023 (51.3), Spring 2024 (52.1), and Summer 2024 (52.2) are still outstanding. I wish I could provide our print subscribers and IALL members with a definitive date as to when these issues might appear at your doorsteps or in your mailrooms, but I cannot. In the meantime, I'm hopeful that the content of these issues will appear in the FirstView area of the IJLI's pages on Cambridge Core, so you can have some online reading material before the print issues arrive. I am grateful to the authors who have, in most instances, remained patient with the situation.
At the time of this writing, this issue (Summer 2024) is scheduled to include six articles, an obituary, and the regular features (Book Reviews and the International Calendar). Sergio Stone (Stanford University) wrote an obituary for Jim Hart, who was a well-known and well-respected member of the international law librarian community for over thirty years. As far as the articles in this issue, two are written by Nigerian law librarians. Going forward, I intend to try and move the IJLI's content back towards the area of library and information science (LIS) in a global context, thus sharpening its profile/aims and scope and focusing more closely on the “Legal Information” part of the IJLI's title. That being said, I can't do that unless I receive contributions from librarians and information professionals from around the world (like you!), so I urge you to contribute to the journal.
Best regards,
