This episode, in French, explores the changing craft of historians in the digital age through the book "Écrire l'Histoire: Gestes et expériences à l'ère numérique" and a conversation with historian and co-author of the book, Frédéric Clavert. It examines how smartphones, search engines, databases, online archives, social media and AI reshape research practices—reading, searching, annotating and writing history.

The discussion covers working with web archives and massive corpora like Twitter, the shift from finite collections to continual data streams, the emotional and methodological impact of digitization, and the emerging uses and challenges of AI and metadata for historical analysis.

Resources: Ask a Librarian! Ask an Archivist! Muller, C. & Clavert, F. (2025) Écrire l’histoire : gestes et expériences à l’ère numérique. Malakoff, France: Armand Colin. Available via Global Search

Où écouter cet épisode :

• Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-page/id1469021154
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10fp8ROoVdve0el88KyFLy
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/

Contenu

Invité : Frédéric Clavert

Hôte : Amy Smith

Enregistré et produit à la Bibliothèque et Archives des Nations Unies à Genève

Editors Karin van Leeuwen and Morten Rasmussen explain how their Cambridge Handbook uses deep archival research across dozens of collections and brings together international contributors to reveal how the League of Nations used legal techniques, institutions, and networks to shape an incipient form of global governance.

The episode highlights key findings — the League’s legal section and court experiments, tensions between sovereign equality and imperial hierarchies, and case studies like Upper Silesia and the Manchurian crisis — and argues the handbook reframes the League as central to the development of international law and institutions, while noting the limits of ‘‘peace through law".

Resources: Ask a Librarian! Ask an Archivist! Ikonomou, H. A. et al. (eds.) (2026) The Cambridge Handbook of the League of Nations and International Law. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Available via Global Search

Where to listen to this episode

• Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-page/id1469021154
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10fp8ROoVdve0el88KyFLy
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/

Content

Guests: Karin van Leeuwen

Morten Rasmussen

Host: Amy Smith

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva

Mario Oyarzábal, Member of the International Law Commission and the Legal Advisor to the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discusses the new book International Law for Diplomats, a concise, practitioner-focused guide written to help diplomats—lawyers and non-lawyers alike—handle real-world issues like treaty negotiation, state immunities, use of force, human rights, and dispute settlement.

The episode explains the book’s structure around systemic issues, current issues, and practical craft, its accessible style, and the UN Legal Counsel’s foreword. Its central message is that international law is not a specialist domain but diplomacy’s keystone, essential for advancing state interests and reinforcing the rule of law.

Mario Oyarzábal reminds us, "that international law is a toolbox for cooperation for resolving disputes peacefully, for accountability."

Resources: Ask a Librarian! Ask an Archivist! International Law for Diplomats

Available via Global Search

Where to listen to this episode

• Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-page/id1469021154
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/10fp8ROoVdve0el88KyFLy
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/

Content

Guest: Ambassador Mario Oyarzábal

Host: Amy Smith

Recorded & produced at the United Nations Library & Archives Geneva