Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the October 15, 2007 issue of InSITE:

• Cold War Files: Interpreting History through Documents
• Corporate Ethics International
• GlobaLex
• Nautilus Institute
• Pierce Law IP News Blog

[RJ]

Cold War Files: Interpreting History through Documents
The Cold War Files is a joint effort of the George Washington University Cold War Group (GWCW) and the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) and is funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.  GWCW and CWIHP promote the dissemination of new information on Cold War history, as well as promoting research and scholarship on the Cold War period.  The website offers insight into the Cold War through various features.  The Events section provides a complete timeline from the surrender of Germany in 1945 to the official end of the Soviet Union in 1991.  Profiles of the major players in the Cold War are provided in the People section.  Users will recognize names such as Andropov, McNamara, and Ho Chi Minh, among many others.  The heart of the site is the Documents section, which has close to one hundred PDF files available.  United Nations resolutions, presidential statements, and correspondence from Stalin, Ulbricht, and Kim il Sung are included.  Users will also want to consult the Topics menu, which offers thorough accounts of major moments in Cold War history from the 1953 East German uprising to Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution. [MM]

Corporate Ethics International
The mission of Corporate Ethics International (CEI) is to "transform the role of corporations so that they are once again in service to and under the control of civil society."  Its site is designed for the public and "corporate campaigners" (groups that tackle the corporate issues and practices on CEI's list).  The Resources link is organized by tabs into five areas: Articles and Opinion Pieces, Flash Films (linked to Google video), Recommended Reading, Recommended Viewing, Reports, and Web Based Resources, which lists only two sites, both devoted to combating Big Box stores. The site is current as evidenced by the news articles and conference dates. It is easy to navigate, but some of the information appears under several topics which could cause confusion. CEI links to three current projects. The Business Ethics Network (BEN) pursues corporate issues concerning the environment, health, social justice and labor.  The BEN page updates current campaigns and lists victories, such as persuading Coca Cola to invest $60 million to build the world's largest plastic bottle recycling plant. The Strategic Corporate Initiative is geared to establishing a “road map” to combat transnational corporations that “have become too dominant within our society.” The Big Box Initiative is "to fundamentally change how this industry does business and address the tremendous costs ... from its practices."  Wal-Mart, as a representative of Big Box stores, is of key interest. The "Site Fight Resources" listed for this initiative link to reports, articles, and the two websites mentioned above on tactics to transform Wal-Mart and other Big Box businesses. The CEI site has an obvious slant and the information presented should be viewed in that light. [JC]

GlobaLex
GlobaLex is a product of the Hauser Global Law School Program at New York University Law School, providing specialty research guides in the areas of international, comparative, and foreign law, with nearly every foreign state included.  Written by expert researchers, the guides introduce the subject or jurisdiction at issue, then describe and link where possible to relevant primary and secondary sources, such as treaties, foreign laws, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organization websites.  Examples of topics covered include “International Marine Environmental Law,” “Religious Legal Systems: A Brief Guide to Research and its Role in Comparative Law,” and “A Guide to the Republic of Slovenia Legal System and Legal Research.”  The entire site and all guides are fully searchable.  GlobaLex is an outstanding resource for any researcher looking for authoritative legal research assistance in the areas of foreign, international, and comparative law. [JJ]

Nautilus Institute
Founded in 1992, the Nautilus Institute is a public policy think tank that addresses “critical security and sustainability issues.”  The Institute pursues a mission “to improve global problem solving by applying and refining the strategic tools of cooperative engagement” to problems that undermine global security and sustainability.  Nuclear war and nuclear weapons proliferation in Asia, with special focus on Korea, are issues of particular interest to Nautilus.  The website has several areas of interest. The Institute’s extensive publications are available and organized by both geography and project.  These projects cover energy and the environment, global peace and security, globalization and governance, in addition to the Pegasus Project, which is devoted to coastal ecology and youth education.  Users of the site may avail themselves of two current awareness services: the NAPSNet Daily Report that covers peace and security issues in Northeast Asia, and the EASSCNet that covers security issues in East Asia.  Also, visitors should take note of the Global Disclosure Project.  By utilizing various freedom of information requests, Nautilus has developed a collection of public information on nuclear and other security policy issues. [MM]

Pierce Law IP News Blog
Begun in May 2005, Pierce Law IP News Blog is devoted to news on intellectual property, commerce, and technology.  This blog is part of the Franklin Pierce Law Center IP Mall (annotated in vol. 3, no. 25 of InSITE), which is the definitive collection of intellectual property research materials on the Internet.  Updated frequently, posts are written by students and the occasional professor.  Most posts are extensive and full of original commentary and analysis.  Posts are archived by date and topic and the site is searchable, but does not appear to be syndicated.  Visitors may sign up for email notifications whenever the IP News Blog is updated.  User comments are welcome. [BWK]

InSITE contributors: J. Callihan, J. Jones, B. Kreisler, M. Morrison, J. Pajerek (editor)

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. This information can be accessed via:

1. Searchable database or by browsing current and archived
   issues on the web:

        Click InSITE at http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library

2. RSS feed ( http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawlibrary/insiteasp/public/rss.asp )

3. Via e-mail subscription: send the following request to: lyris@cornell.edu:

        join INSITE-L "your name"

where your name (include the quotation marks) is the name you want to be available to the list's administrator.  You must send this message from the e-mail address where you want to receive the e-list's messages.

4. Print format for the Cornell Law School community.

The contents of this publication and any recommendations therein are the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of Cornell University.

Cornell Law Library URL:  http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library