The Latest Website Reviews from Cornell Law Library's InSITE

Here is the February 6, 2006 issue of Cornell Law Library's InSITE (ISSN 1521-9046):

Center for Economic and Social Rights
The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) was established in 1993 to promote the idea of universal rights of every human being to housing, education, health and a healthy environment, food, work, and an adequate standard of living. To advance this goal, CESR has encouraged the development of a human rights culture that integrates economic security, social equality, and political freedom as established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The CESR website offers visitors an extensive collection of information about human rights, starting with a primer on economic, social, and cultural rights and continuing through to sections on each individual human right, such as “Education,” “Food,” and “Health.” The Center’s “Publications” section contains articles, fact sheets, reports, press releases, and other documents. The “Advocacy by Country" section allows visitors to search for CESR documents by country. Most documents are available in PDF. [BWK]

Child Trends Databank
Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and families by providing research and data to inform decision-making that affects children. In addition to conducting its own research, Child Trends works with federal and state officials and other researchers to improve the quality, scope, and use of data on children and their families. The Child Trends Databank is a one-stop-shop for the latest national trends and research on over 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being. The indicators cover issues such as health, demographics, educational attainment, and income/economic status. Each indicator is broken down to examine differences by race, family type, income, citizenship, and region, and often includes national goals and a section on "What Works: Programs and Interventions that May Influence this Indicator." While indicators are reported in plain language for readability, each report is heavily footnoted and annotated. [BWK]

GAP: Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 28-year-old non-profit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. GAP uses litigation, advocacy, media work and lobbying efforts to promote its agenda. This mission is pursued through GAP’s Nuclear Oversight, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food Safety, and Legislative Campaign programs. The programs offer visitors news items, reports, press releases, and original investigative papers on each topic. Most of the materials are available in PDF. GAP’s site provides a summary, analysis, and the text of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Project also assists would-be whistleblowers to understand which actions constitute whistleblowing, and where and how to file a complaint. This site is not currently searchable. [BWK]

GATT Digital Library: 1947-1994
The GATT Digital Library is a project of Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources and the World Trade Organization. It offers more than 30,000 public documents and 300 publications of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT produced close to 60,000 documents during its years of existence, 1947-1994. Not all of these have been derestricted, but the project staff will add additional documents as they become available. The public documents include reports, studies and meeting records representing a range of topics relevant to international trade. Each document has a unique symbol number. Documents may be searched by symbol number, title word, date, full-text keyword, or specific GATT body. The collection may also be browsed. For browsing purposes, the documents are organized by issuing body, although many documents not issued by a particular body are in the general document series. The site also offers extensive bibliographies and research guides. [MM]

Section 108 Study Group
The Section 108 Study Group “is a select committee of copyright experts, convened by the Library of Congress, and charged with updating for the digital world the Copyright Act balance between the rights of creators and copyright owners and the needs of libraries and archives.” The Study Group was created to research and recommend to the Librarian of Congress potential amendments to the Copyright Act by mid-2006 that would best serve copyright holders, libraries, and the public interest in the digital era. Their website provides the text and an overview of Section 108 of the Copyright Act (from whence this group gets its name); news articles and press releases concerning libraries and copyright issues; and background papers written by Study Group members independently of their affiliation with this group. Finally, a schedule of Study Group meetings and topics of discussion are listed, although these meetings are closed to the public. For those interested in digital copyright issues affecting libraries and archives, this site provides a unique perspective. [JJ]

InSITE contributors: Julie Jones, Research Attorney, Brandy Kreisler, J.D., M.L.S., Matt Morrison, Research Attorney, Jean Pajerek (editor), Head of Technical Services & Information Technology, all members of the professional staff at Cornell Law Library.

About InSITE: InSITE highlights selected law-related Web sites in two ways: as an annotated publication issued electronically and in print; and, as a keyword-searchable database. The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them.

Digital versions of this information can be accessed via:

1. Searchable database or by browsing current and archived issues on the web: Click InSITE at www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library

2. E-mail subscription. Send the following request: SUBSCRIBE InSITE-L <YourFirstName> <YourLastName> to: listproc@cornell.edu

3. Readers can subscribe to the new InSITE RSS feed at http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/RESOURCES/insite.htm

The contents of InSITE and any recommendations therein are the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of Cornell University. InSITE is copyright protected by Cornell Law Library, © 2006 Cornell Law Library. Permission to republish InSITE issues on Law Librarian Blog has been granted. For permissions, contact Jean M. Pajerek [jmp8@cornell.edu].

Editor's Note: I am delighted to announce that InSITE issues will be a regular feature of the Law Librarian Blog. By republishing InSITE here, Jean Pajerek, her team of InSITE editors, Julie Jones, Brandy Kreisler and Matt Morrison, and I hope to garner a wider audience for InSITE's very useful website reviews, to extend InSITE's audience beyond the law library community to the informed and interested public. Subscribers to the Law Librarian Blog's RSS feeds will automatically receive future InSITE issues. Readers only interested in receiving future issues of InSITE can subscribe to InSITE's RSS fed or submit an e-mail subscription by following the above directions.

I am pleased to announce that Jean Pajerek has accepted my offer to serve as a contributing editor for the Law Librarian Blog. Welcome aboard Jean! [jh]