Seeking Everyone Interested on US and Canadian Territories

For a few years now, I have participated in academic and professional projects, publications, events and conversations about territories located in Canada, the United States and across the world. These efforts have allowed me to build relationships with people working on the state of legal and government information in these territories, at the access and preservation levels. As a Foreign, Comparative and International Law Librarian as well as Professor of Legal Research, I know firsthand that without widespread access to these foundational materials as well as proper preservation plans, we risk losing relevant materials and data useful for all researchers and people living in these territories alike. These issues reach other larger conversations such as access to justice, inequality and lack of transparency and representation. Despite their unique characteristics and relationships with the central government, all territories exhibit similar issues and problems when it comes to access to legal and government information.

As a child of a territory, I also know firsthand what it’s like to live somewhere in between and nowhere at the same time. Based on their à la carte political relationship with the central government and their unique historical profiles (i.e. cultures, languages, ethnicities, etc.), territories have both extra responsibilities to abide by and less guaranteed rights, especially compared to their province and state counterparts. Abundant natural resources and geopolitical locations have historically brought a significant amount of attention to these places. However, the lack of data-driven and scholarly research as well as access to local information has hindered any benefit they could rip from other people’s attention currently and throughout history.

Therefore, a group of law librarians, professors and lawyers working in the U.S. and Canadian territories have come together to write our upcoming book, Access to Legal and Government Information from U.S. and Canadian Territories (De Gruyter, upcoming in 2025). Eight territories will be featured in our book: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada, and Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa from the US. As editor and author, I will contribute a full chapter on What is Territory? which will try to bring together all different official names for these jurisdictions, their local and international legal meanings and also aims to contribute a working definition of a territory from an access to information standpoint.

If you’re interested in joining us in this book adventure or perhaps in the future projects we have in the pipeline (including a Virtual Law Library on Territories), please feel free to write to me directly: marcelorod@arizona.edu. We have a particular need for anyone interested in sharing their expertise, experience or curiosity on Yukon, Nunavut, Northern Mariana Islands and/or American Samoa. Students, lawyers, librarians, professors, community organizers, researchers, all are welcomed!