Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the February 23, 2009 issue of InSITE:

• Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
• Researching Forced Migration: a Guide to Reference and Information Sources
• Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project: RULAC  [RJ]

Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln is an eight-volume set first published in 1953.  The set contains correspondence, speeches, and other of Lincoln’s writings, and these were transcribed and annotated over a number of years.  The Abraham Lincoln Association is now making the set available electronically.  The contents, which are available as text files, can be searched or browsed.  Simple Boolean and proximity searching are supported and these searches may be done specifically on texts by Lincoln, editorial notes, endorsements, letters, speeches, proclamations, and memoranda.  Field restrictions include author, citation, and title.  The Word Index allows users to browse words of interest or significance, determine the number of occurrences, and directly access the relevant documents.  Browsing the collection is an enjoyable way to peruse the many and varied materials available, including debates with Stephen Douglas, letters to various historical figures, and a first draft of the Gettysburg Address. [MM]

Researching Forced Migration: a Guide to Reference and Information Sources http://forcedmigrationguide.pbwiki.com/

Forced migration is a largely undefined academic field of study that is rapidly producing significant quantities of literature in need of organization.  Designed and maintained by Elisa Mason, the Forced Migration Guide does an excellent job of sorting, arranging and providing access to extensive materials pertaining to refugees and displaced persons throughout the world.  The Guide is funded through a Carnegie-Whitney grant from the American Library Association and is directed at a wide range of individuals seeking reliable and extensive sources of information for reference and research purposes.  Drawing on her experience as an independent information specialist with a background that includes working for both the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, DC and Geneva and for the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford, she highlights multiple types of materials for her readers, including online sources, books, journal articles and other print materials, thereby providing multiple options for retrieving full-text sources.  The guide is organized in two major parts.  The first part provides a starting point for those seeking an understanding of forced migration, including an introduction to the various aspects of the concept of forced migration.  The second part provides a helpful research structure by discussing research concepts and principles, identifying starting points, and discussing ways to expand and support one’s research.  A well-functioning search feature is also available on the site.  In selecting which materials to include in her guide, Ms. Mason uses the following definition of forced migration from the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM):  “‘Forced migration’ is a general term that refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (those displaced by conflicts) as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects.”  With credit to the Refugee Studies Centre, she further clarifies that “those who study this phenomenon tend to focus on ‘the causes and consequences of forced migration with an emphasis on understanding the experiences of those affected’ … the ‘affected’ can include refugees, asylum-seekers, conflict-displaced, development-displaced, and disaster-displaced persons; and trafficked people.”  Her guide does not attempt to delineate academic boundaries within which resources must fall, but rather, on a selected basis, allows for natural overlap with other fields of study that impact or are impacted by forced migration.  A small sampling of the types of resources that are identified in the guide include bibliographies, books, journal databases, encyclopedias, and people.  Only two significant criteria limit her selection of individual titles: date (titles extend from 1990 to the present) and language (English is the only language, although other language versions are noted in the annotations when available, and she also provides a language index to facilitate retrieval of non-English resources).  The guide is well maintained through new additions and monthly checks to verify the functioning of URLs.  Researchers may also create an account to participate in the wiki and contribute comments.  [AE]

Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project: RULAC
http://www.adh-geneva.ch/RULAC/

The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project(RULAC) is an emergent website designed to "support the application and implementation of international law in armed conflict.”  Its ultimate goal is to build a database that includes reports on the legal norms of every state and disputed territory in the world, together with an overview of the extent to which those norms are paid deference by relevant parties.  An initiative of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the RULAC Project seeks to maintain an independent and apolitical position and explicitly disclaims any implications or apparent expressions of opinion regarding the legal status of the various states and territories contained in its database. Current selection of states includes those that are able to formally adhere to United Nations treaties; as of September, 2008, there were a total of 195.  In furtherance of its goal, RULAC’s home page features an extensive drop-down menu of databases organized by state or territory.  There, detailed reports are provided regarding the rule of law in armed conflict for each state or territory, together with a list of relevant legal developments in that country that have occurred in the past two years, with links to PDF versions of judicial decisions, legislation, ratified treaties, and other documents.  A static column located on the left side of the home page provides links to summaries of the applicable categories of law including international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law, and international refugee law.  Throughout the text of those summaries, several terms and phrases have been hyperlinked to PDF copies of the laws and to other relevant websites.  At the end of each summary appear supporting footnotes and a list of materials for further reading, some of which are again directly linked to PDFs.  Also provided in the column are links to “Key Issues” identified by RULAC, including qualification of armed conflicts, and interaction between humanitarian law and human rights in armed conflicts.  Each issue is thoroughly examined with definitions of relevant terms, objective synopses of the current state of the law, extensive footnotes, and links to PDF copies of the relevant documents when possible.  Readers will want to watch for summaries of the following additional issues coming soon to the website:  application of international law to non-state actors, application of humanitarian and human rights law to international organizations, and derogation from human rights treaties in situations of emergency.  An additional link entitled “Key Documents” provides a separate list of links to PDF documents, a sampling of which include “List of Customary Rules of International Humanitarian Law,” “UN Security Council Resolution on Rape as a Weapon of War,” “Key Terms Relating to Treaty Adherence,” and “Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.”  A Legal Development Archive is in the process of being developed, and we look forward to this new feature being added to the site.  A well-functioning Google search box is available for those seeking quick access to documents on a particular subject, and for those seeking additional outside information, the site features an extensive list of well-functioning links to other relevant websites such as the UN Security Council, the International Court of Justice, and NATO, among many others.  A disclaimer makes note that the links are for informational purposes only and do not represent endorsements on the part of RULAC or the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.  The website and its contents are available for free. [AE]

InSITE contributors: A. Emerson, 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 (http://library2.lawschool.cornell.edu/insiteasp/)
2. RSS feed (http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawlibrary/insiteasp/public/rss.asp)
3. Print format for the Cornell Law School community.