Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the September 8th, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Chesapeake Project: Legal Information Archive
• Civil Rights Oral History Interviews
• ESCR-Net: International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• FedSpending.org

Chesapeake Project: Legal Information Archive
The Chesapeake Project is a "pilot digital preservation program established to preserve and ensure permanent access to vital legal information currently available in digital formats on the World Wide Web." Sponsored by the Legal Information Preservation Alliance (LIPA) and managed by three LIPA member libraries--Georgetown University Library, the State Law Library of Maryland and the Virginia State Law Library--the Chesapeake Project makes available certain categories of legal documents from the individual collections of the member libraries, particularly those "born digital," and makes possible a union search of all such holdings. As a pilot project slated to end its initial phase in 2009, the Chesapeake Project has a somewhat experimental and unfinished feel. The site offers a fairly sophisticated search engine with multiple semantic search options and the ability to limit searches by institution or date. However, these searches lead to "solid" PDF-format documents and the results page does not list the in-text hits for keywords until the documents themselves are individually opened. The Project offers some innovative options for saving lists of "My Favorites" and for customizing the document viewer. The documents currently searchable are mostly secondary legal sources; the Project will hopefully become more useful to legal researchers once more documents--and more primary sources--are added to the overall holdings. [JPC]

Civil Rights Oral History Interviews
The Civil Rights Oral History Interviews website is sponsored by the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections of the Washington State University Libraries.  The oral history interviews are part of a project to document the recollections of individuals with ties to the civil rights movement and to Spokane, Washington.  Some of the specific topics addressed include: events in Alabama, raising a family, Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, and childhood experiences with prejudice.  The homepage presents a brief background of the project and summarizes what each interviewee discusses to aid users in determining which interview(s) are most relevant for them.  The site features a simple keyword search box, as well as a drop-down list of predefined searches to choose from.  The link to the "Advanced Search" leads the user to a fielded search screen, and also provides access to the Libraries' other digitized collections, including the Black Oral History Interviews, recorded from 1972-1974.  The interviews are presented as videos and can be viewed using Real Player.  Users who do not have Real Player are directed to a link where they can download the software for free. [SA]

ESCR-Net: International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) include work, health, education, food, water, housing, social security, healthy environment, and culture. ESCR-Net is a way for human rights activists to share information and collaborate.  Legal researchers in this field will find several useful features within the Issues & Resources and Caselaw Database sections on the main navigation bar. Issues provides a page for each ESCR with links to the relevant provision of the International Covenant on ESCR and its General Comment.  A brief description of the right is followed by a list of “Legal Instruments” and another list of “Additional Resources.”  Pertinent sidebar information includes news, events, cases, related resources, and the network members involved in protecting that particular right.  Issues also includes pages on “Resources Related to the Protection and Promotion of ESCR” and “Resources Related to ESCR,” such as: websites, organizations, articles, conferences, UN documents, regional materials, and a relatively small list (11 links) under “ESCR Libraries, Publications, and Links” (e-books, articles, organizations).  The Caselaw Database currently contains 72 cases, which are broadly defined to include “ … decisions of courts, administrative tribunals, international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, review bodies of international financial institutions, national human rights institutions and other legal entities.”  Cases are searchable by keyword, country, 22 global forums, and over 70 thematic issues.  The entire database is browsable. Cases can be sorted by name, date, country, or forum.  Decisions are presented with ESCR-Net’s editorial enhancements of title, country, thematic focus, forum and date of decision, nature of the case, summary, enforcement of the decision and other outcomes, and significance of the case.  More importantly for researchers looking for primary materials, case documents are available (some in PDF) and contacts for the groups involved.  Secondary sources accompany each case.  The Caselaw Database will continue to grow. There is some overlapping of resources and the mouse-over lists of contents may not appeal to everyone.  The Caselaw Database, a multifaceted resource, has well-designed research features and materials. [JC]

FedSpending.org
FedSpending.org is a project of OMB Watch (annotated in InSITE volume 4, number 19, May 29, 1999), a group dedicated to improving government transparency and accountability.  Relying on federal data, the FedSpending site provides a database of federal grants and contracts, which gives journalists, analysts, and citizens easy access to government spending information.  The data is complete for fiscal years 2000 through 2007, and there is partial data for fiscal year 2008.  The database, divided between contracts and grants, can be searched or browsed using one or more of multiple criteria.  Contract data can be accessed by contractor, place of performance, contracting agency, competition type, or by product or service.  Similarly, grants data can be accessed by recipient, place of performance, granting agency, assistance type, or by program.  Detailed information is available for each fiscal year.  Breakdowns are available by state and Congressional district, allowing users to assess and compare geographically the flow of federal dollars.  Dollar amounts by recipient or contractor, agency, and program are available for each geographic breakdown.  Also, an extent of competition analysis is done for each state’s and district’s contract figures. [MM]

InSITE contributors:  S. Allen, J. Callihan, J.P. Cusker, 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 the channels below, in addition to this mailing list:

   1. Searchable database or by browsing current and archived issues on the web: InSITE home page   
   2. RSS feed
   3. Print format for the Cornell Law School community.