On the Shelf – COVID-19

This is a guest post by Francisco Macías, head of the Iberia/Rio Office Section in the African, Latin American, and Western European Division (ALAWE) of the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate. Francisco was formerly a senior legal information analyst in the Law Library of Congress. 

Hello! I wish everyone safety and good health during this pandemic. It has been a while since I have written for In Custodia Legis. In the interim, I have taken a new job as the head of the Iberia/Rio Office Section in the African, Latin American and Western European Division (ALAWE) of the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate (ABA) of the Library of Congress. This office’s mandate is to acquire and catalog materials published or held in the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Andorra, Portugal, and Spain; it serves as the acquiring arm for the Law Library in those jurisdictions and it has other partnerships with the Law Library as well. It also shares some responsibilities with the Library of Congress Overseas Office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

During the current pandemic, many things have stopped, and there have been some irreparable losses. We have seen the loss of loved ones, of jobs and security, of favorite businesses. However, the work of the Library has continued. The Library is, in the words of the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, “the main research arm of the U.S. Congress.” Its mission is to “develop qualitatively the Library’s universal collections, [ . . . ] which record and contribute to the advancement of civilization and knowledge throughout the world, and to acquire, organize, provide access to, maintain, secure, and preserve these collections.”

As Betty has mentioned before, “the Law Library builds its collection from many sources.” The monographs photographed above are recent acquisitions that came to us via purchase through a vendor who does business out of the Iberian Peninsula. Here is their bibliographic information, as well as that of other new materials on COVID-19:

Cobo Olvera, Tomás. Los principios de la potestad sancionadora: su aplicación a las infracciones y sanciones por incumplimiento de las normas dictadas durante el estado de alarma (Covid-19). Barcelona: Aferre Editor, 2020. [Title translation, mine: Principles of the Sanctioning Power: Its Application to Infractions and Sanctions for Non-Compliance with the Regulations Issued During the State of Alarm (COVID-19).]

Cuestiones jurídicas claves frente al Covid-19. Cizur Menor [Navarre]: Thompson Reuters Aranzadi, 2020. [Title translation, mine: Key Legal Matters in the Face of COVID-19.]

Lefebvre, Francis. COVID-Tax. Madrid: Lefebvre-el Derecho, SA, 2020.

—. Impacto del COVID-19 en los arrendamientos. Madrid: Lefebvre-El Derecho, SA, 2020. [Title translation, mine: The Impact of COVID-19 on Rentals and Lease Agreements.]

—. Impacto del COVID-19 en materia laboral y de Seguridad Social. Madrid:
Lefebvre-El Derecho, SA, 2020. [Title translation, mine: The Impact of COVID-19 on Matters Concerning Labor and Social Security.]

Martín Contreras, Luis. La incidencia de la COVID-19 en los arrendamientos urbanos. Barcelona: Aferre Editor, 2020. [Title translation, mine: The Incidence of COVID-19 on Urban Rentals.]

Pandemia: derechos humanos, sistema penal y control social (en tiempos de coronavirus). Iñaki Rivera Beiras, coordinator. Valencia: Tirant Humanidades, 2020. [Title translation, mine: Pandemic: Human Rights, the Penal System and Social Control (in Times of Coronavirus).]

Rodríguez Ayuso, Juan Francisco. Privacidad y coronavirus: aspectos esenciales. Madrid: Editorial Dykinson, 2020. [Title translation, mine: Privacy and Coronavirus: Essential Aspects.]

Veiga Copo, Abel B. Guía práctica del seguro ante el COVID-19. Cizur Menor                [Navarre]: Editorial Aranzadi, 2020. [Title translation, mine: Practical Guide for Insurance in the Face of COVID-19.]

Once we have overcome this pandemic, these books—and many like them—will remain for our posterity to tell the story of what transpired during this crisis.

Special thanks to Karen Fletcher and Eva Reyes Cisnero of the Iberia/Rio Office Section for their assistance in expediting the records for these new acquisitions.