Law Librarian Blog

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.

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the June 30th, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy
• FRASER: Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research
• Humanitarian Policy Group
• International Seabed Authority
• Special Court for Sierra Leone

[RJ]

Food First: Institute for Food and Development Policy

The goal of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (a.k.a. Food First) is to "eliminate the injustices that cause hunger" and seek "food sovereignty" through a three-pronged approach: building local food systems, involvement of small-scale farmers, and democratization of development through support of land reform and other social movements. Food First's publications, reports, and press releases all seem to make the point that hunger is most often not a problem of food shortage but of the effects of policies promulgated by governments, corporations, and international trade bodies. The content on the site thus has a notable strain of opposition to the current regime of trade policy, agricultural biotechnology, and agricultural subsidies. Nevertheless, the site has a great deal of good content on agriculture, economics, and international trade policy in its "Publications" section. The site offers "Fact sheets," "Backgrounders," "Development Reports," "Policy Briefs," "News and Views," and "Stories and Field Reports".  Although these categories are poorly differentiated from each other and unevenly updated, the reports and publications on offer are carefully researched and footnoted, offer summaries and tables, and are available in PDF format and, in some cases, in multiple languages. The site is very much by and for activists, but its tone is accessible and generally non-polemical. A search engine is available for the site's contents. [JPC]

FRASER: Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research

FRASER is an acronym for Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research; it is a project of the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.  FRASER’s mission is to facilitate economic research by creating a “public, electronic archive of economic statistical publications and data.” FRASER contains scanned, PDF images of historic economic data, reports, and other publications, and can be used in conjunction with two other economic data resources maintained by the St. Louis Federal Reserve, FRED and ALFRED (links to both sites and other sites are at the top of FRASER’s website).  FRASER has 45 different collections of documents; however, there are gaps within the individual collections.  Collections containing more recent information, or information from ongoing publications such as the Federal Reserve’s Economic Indicators Report, are the most likely to have complete coverage.  In addition to the collection of economic documents, historic documents released by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the St. Louis Federal Reserve are available in the Federal Reserve History section.  FRASER has an advanced search function that allows users to restrict searches by search terms and date, and to filter results by collection and author. [LB]

The Humanitarian Policy Group

The Humanitarian Policy Group (HDG) is sub-group of the Overseas Development Institute, an independent British organization that produces research and policy recommendations on humanitarian aid, the alleviation of poverty, and economic development. HDG's own mission statement identifies it as "one of the world's leading teams of independent researchers and information professionals working on humanitarian issues. It is dedicated to improving humanitarian policy and practice through a combination of high-quality analysis, dialogue and debate." HDG produces reports that evaluate both past and current efforts of the international aid community. The information content of the HDG website lies primarily within its "Publications" section, which offers "Reports," "Policy Briefs," and "Working Papers" as well as a listing of "Commissioned Works" authored by the HDG but sponsored by other organizations. Documents in these sections are arranged in order of publication. A Google-based search engine is available but its utility is limited insofar as the documents on offer are in PDF format. The HDG's publications are high-level documents intended for a specialist audience of researchers and the leadership of international aid organizations, although some interpretative assistance is given for laypeople (i.e. listings of relevant acronyms). The site could have benefited from listings of reports by geographic area or country but the contents are in general well-organized. [JPC]

International Seabed Authority

The International Seabed Authority is "an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea."  The information content of the site--which has English, French and Spanish mirrors--is organized into several areas including "Marine Scientific Research," "Annual Sessions," "News and Events" (aggregating press releases), and "Documents and Publications," which includes such materials as the Convention and legal instruments thereof, and proceedings of the Authority's sessions.  Some of the technical reports cannot be accessed through the site but only ordered in hardcopy.  Among the notable resources which are available, however, are the Central Data Repository on undersea mineral resources and the Map section, identifying the International Seabed Area and depicting the locations of major mineral deposits.  The site has a somewhat imprecise keyword search engine which often fails to turn up relevant hits inside PDF documents.  In general however the site is well-organized and informative, albeit for a highly specialized audience of scholars and policymakers concerned with maritime mining law and environmental research. [JPC]

Special Court for Sierra Leone

Established jointly by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations, the Special Court for Sierra Leone is "mandated to try those bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed within the territory of Sierra Leone since 30 November 1996."  The website provides links to the current cases and information as to how far the cases have progressed and which cases have been concluded.  There are videos of some of the trials themselves as well as the ability to view Indictments, Summary of the Charges, Court Decisions, Transcripts and Minutes of the Trials.  Recent issues of the Court's monthly newsletter and press releases dating back to September 2002 are available.  Additionally the site includes information on the court itself, how it runs and operates, and its justices.  There is also information on how to contact the Special Court, how to file an amicus  brief and information on available jobs and internships for the Court.  The site is keyword-searchable from a search box on the home page. [SA]

InSITE contributors: S. Allen, L. Buechner, J.P. Cusker, J. Pajerek (editor)

InSITE highlights selected law-related World Wide 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. These information can be accessed as following:

1. Current Issue Edition
2. Archived Issues
3. Searchable Database
4. RSS FEED of the Current Issue Editions [What is RSS?]
5. 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.

Privatizing War in Iraq

Fred Smoler reviews recent books on private military forces, listed below, in Dissent. Hat tip to Frank Pasquale (Seton Hall) Concurring Opinions. [JH]

Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Jeremy Scahill
Nation Books, 2007 464 pp $26.95

Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
P.W. Singer
Cornell University Press, 2007
(first edition, 2003) 360 pp $19.95

A Bloody Business: America’s War Zone Contractors and the Occupation of Iraq
Gerry Schumacher
Zenith Press, 2006 304 pp $24.95

The Market For Force:The Consequences of Privatizing Security
Deborah D. Avant
Cambridge University Press, 2005
322 pp $31.99

Michigan Law Review's 2008 Survey of Books Related to the Law

This year's survey of law books published by the Michigan Law Review, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 901 (2008), covers recent publications in the areas of administrative law, comparitive law, and international law, plus two very interesting reviews of classic literary works, namely Robert J. Delahunty and John C. Yoo's review of All Quiet on the Western Front, and Karen Engle's review of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Details with links below the fold. [JH]

Confronting War

• Robert J. Delahunty and John C. Yoo, Peace Through Law? The Failure of a Noble Experiment, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 923-939 (2008) [Westlaw] (Reviewing Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front.)
• Karen Engle, Judging Sex in War, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 941-961 (2008).|[Westlaw](Reviewing Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls.)
• Stephen Reinhardt, Weakening of the Bill of Rights: A Victory for Terrorism, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 963- 973 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Richard A. Posner, Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency.)
• Kevin Jon Heller, Deconstructing International Criminal Law, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 975-999 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Mark A. Drumbl, Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law.)

The Administrative State

• Jill R. Horwitz, The Virtues of Medicare, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1001-1019 (2008) [Westlaw] (Reviewing David A. Hyman, Medicare Meets Mephistopheles.)
• M. Elizabeth Magill, Temporary Accidents? 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1021-1040 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Steven P. Croley, Regulation and Public Interests: The Possibility of Good Regulatory Government.)

Comparative Law

• Benjamin L. Liebman, Scandal, Sukyandaru, and Chouwen, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1041-1069 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Mark D. West, Secrets, Sex and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States.)
• Roger P. Alford, Free Speech and the Case for Constitutional Exceptionalism, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1071-1088 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Ronald J. Krotoszynski, The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Comparative Legal Analysis of the Freedom of Speech.)
• Merritt B. Fox, Gatekeeper Failures: Why Important, What to Do, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1089-1110 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing John C. Coffee Jr., Gatekeepers: The Professions and Corporate Governance.)
• Cristina M. Rodriguez, The Citizenship Paradox in a Transnational Age, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1111-1128 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Hiroshi Motomura, Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States.)

International Law

• Alex Geisinger and Michael Ashley Stein, Rational Choice, Reputation, and Human Rights Treaties, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1129-1142 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Andrew T. Guzman, How International Law Works: A Rational Choice Theory.)
• Yang Wang, China Reexamined: The Worst Offender or a Strong Contender? 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1143-1155 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Randall Peerenboom, China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest?)

Additional Reviews

• Sam Erman, An Unintended Consequence: Dred Scott Reinterpreted, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1157- 1165 (2008). |[Westlaw] (Reviewing Austin Allen, Origins of the Dred Scott Case: Jacksonian Jurisprudence and the Supreme Court, 1837-1857.)
• Katherine Porter, The Debt Dilemma, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1167-1191 (2008). [Westlaw] (Reviewing Ronald J. Mann, Charging Ahead: The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets.)
• Richard Delgado, Law Enforcement in Subordinated Communities: Innovation and Response, 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1193-1212 (2008). [Westlaw](Reviewing Steve Herbert, Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community, Ronald Weitzer and Steven A. Tuch, Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform and Police Innovation: Contrasting Perspectives, edited by David Weisburd and Anthony A. Braga.)
• Anthony J. Sebok, What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Mass Torts? 106 Mich. L. Rev. 1213-1228 (2008). [Westlaw](Reviewing Richard A. Nagareda, Mass Torts in a World of Settlement.)

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the June 16th, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Council of Europe: Action Against Economic Crime
• Ciminal Law Conversations
• HumanTrafficking.org
• Interviews of United States Supreme Court Justices
• Venice Commission

[RJ]

Council of Europe: Action Against Economic Crime
http://www.coe.int/t/DG1/LEGALCOOPERATION/ECONOMICCRIME/

This site aggregates press releases, documents, and publications produced by several different
committees of the Council of Europe, all relating to the topic of economic crime.  "Economic crime"
is defined as including corruption, money laundering, cybercrime, human trafficking, and the activities of organized crime (i.e., drug and weapons trafficking). The site also tracks activities related to the improvement of judicial cooperation in Europe. The site is well updated, although such updates consist primarily of press releases by the various projects and agencies. The site suffers from a lack of any search engine or site map, and some content is behind a "Restricted Access" firewall.  The most useful feature of the site would likely be the lists of the various relevant treaties and legal instruments under each of the topic areas.  Each specific treaty has, in addition to its full text, a "Summary" of the legal effect, a time line of developments in its implementation, and an "Explanatory Report" which gives a
plain-language narrative of the reasoning behind it.  The site also lists specific projects underway, although these pages in some cases less well updated and use numerous undefined acronyms. [JPC]

Ciminal Law Conversations
http://www.law.upenn.edu/cf/faculty/phrobins/conversations/

Criminal Law Conversations (CLC), a web project hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Law School, brings a new approach to peer review of legal scholarship.  Criminal law scholars are invited to submit texts, which then will be commented on by several peers, with a final reply by the author.  Based upon the “conversations,” essays will be either rejected or selected to be published in an upcoming book from Oxford University Press.  CLC seeks to promote thoughtful discussion of issues rather than
having opponents “talk past each other.”  The site is not a blog; instead, it is “a vehicle for
nominating and organizing the project’s topics and contributors.”  The Introduction and FAQ
pages provide details of the process that submissions go through, including nomination, drafts, finals, and final replies.  The Status Table provides a summary of the submissions.  Items in the table include papers submitted as “core texts” and the comments on those texts.  The author, position or thesis,
title, phase, and date is listed for each item in the table.  The “phase” indicates the stage of development for that “conversation” covering the range from nomination to replies by the core text
author.  As an added service, the site allows users to subscribe to get daily e-mail notification of submission activity. [MM]

HumanTrafficking.org
http://www.humantrafficking.org/

The HumanTrafficking.org website provides information to help governments and nongovernmental organizations combat human trafficking in East Asia and the Pacific.  The website is sponsored by the Academy for Educational Development (www.aed.org), a non-profit organization located in Washington,
D.C., with funding provided by the U.S. State Department.  Through links on the home page, users can view pages detailing human trafficking information for individual East Asian and Pacific countries.  The individual country pages contain information on government agencies with jurisdiction over trafficking, including contact information; relevant laws, including non-obvious links to the text of the laws, if available (the links are often labeled “see more information”); that country’s initiatives to combat human trafficking; and on non-governmental organizations working within the country.  The
“related issues” link on the homepage takes users to pages on general human trafficking topics,
such as prosecution, child trafficking, prostitution, human rights, and legal issues.  Information available under those topics includes recent HumanTrafficking.org news updates; publications by HumanTrafficking.org, governments, and NGOs; and links to websites for other organizations.  The “Resources” section of the website contains links to training, teaching, and information tools.  The website can be searched using a search box in the right-hand sidebar.  For additional information, users can email the director of HumanTrafficking.org, sign up for its monthly email newsletter, or subscribe to its RSS feed. [LB]

Interviews of United States Supreme Court Justices
http://lawprose.org/supreme_court.php

This site is put out by LawProse, a “provider of CLE training in legal writing, editing, and drafting.” While most of the LawProse website focuses on advertising their services and training sessions, this section of the site provides video interviews with eight of the nine current Supreme Court justices, voicing their thoughts on legal writing and advocacy.  The videos are available free of charge.  Windows Media Player or a Mac WMV plug-in are needed to view the videos.  There are also additional
archived interviews from judges and lawyers across the country.  Those interviews can be  found under the heading "Educational Video Clips" and cover a number of different topics, but focus primarily on legal writing and related issues.  This site is beneficial to lawyers and law students looking for advice on how to improve their writing skills. [SA]

Venice Commission
http://www.venice.coe.int/

The Venice Commission in the common name for the European Commission for Democracy through
Law.  It is an independent legal think-tank which advises the Council of Europe on constitutional
matters.  The Commission promotes democracy, human rights, and the rule of law by assisting countries with drafting constitutions and electoral laws.  It also monitors and collects information on the activities of constitutional courts, and developments in electoral and constitutional law.  Much of the information the Commission collects is available in online databases accessible through its website, and is available in English and French.  The CODICES database contains information on the “most
important” constitutional cases from constitutional courts, European and American courts of equivalent jurisdictions, the European Court of Human Justice, and the Court of Justice of the European Communities.  The CODICES database is updated three times per year, and contains information from 1993 forward.  It can be navigated by a sidebar index, or through an advanced search function; however, both are non-intuitive and difficult to use.  The VOTA database contains information on the electoral legislation for “all Council of Europe member states, and other states which participate in the
Commission’s work.”  Users should access the database through the sidebar link, rather than through the link in the elections and referendums section of the website, which requests a user name and password.  Users can easily search the database through indexes found under “overview” and “browse,” or through a search engine which allows users to narrows searches by topic, country, language, and date.  The documents section of the website allows users to access primarily documents prepared by the Venice Commission, such as opinions and reports, organized by country, topic, and type of document
(opinion, studies, and seminars). [LB]

A Very Short Reading List for Incoming 1Ls

There are two classics every incoming 1L should read before starting law school but my sense is that many turn them away because they are not written in a style that resonates with our younger students. I'm referring, of course, to Karl N Llewellyn's The Bramble Bush, recently republished by Oxford UP, and Edward H. Levi's An Introduction to Legal Reasoning.

In addition to those two works, I always recommend Helene Shapo and Marshall Shapo's Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success (Foundation Press, 2002). Helene Shapo and Marshall Shapo are law professors who compiled this book of practical advice for their son, a law student. The book discusses in simple terms what law students need to know about law school and how to get the most out the law school experience. The text also discusses the problems law students encounter most frequently and solutions to those problems. Topics covered include briefing a case, precedent and how to use it, balancing competing interests and factors, legal writing, and psychological tips for the study of law.

For the "what should I read" question asked by incoming 1Ls (or admissions directors wanting to send students a reading list during the summer), we librarians can easily compile an extensive bibliography but I lean toward providing a very short guided reading list instead. The above three titles plus Carolyn J. Nygren's Starting Off Right in Law School (Carolina Academic Press, 1997) which melds information about the legal system usually found in legal methods books with information about study skills usually found in books with a "how to succeed in law school" focus is in my opinion sufficient. 

See also: The Summer Before Law School? by Alan Childress on Legal Profession Blog and Law Vibe's Top 10 Law Student Books (based on Amazon sales for the last three months). [JH]

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the June 2nd, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Alger Hiss Story
• Center for Health, Environment & Justice
• Podcasting Legal Guide
• Stop Violence Against Women
• Tax Foundation

[RJ]

Alger Hiss Story
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~th15/home.html

Edited by historian Jeff Kisseloff, this site is supported by the Nation Institute's Alger Hiss Research and Publication Project, and seeks to recreate "one of the most important legal cases in this country's history, often cited as a turning point in 20th century American thinking." The site offers regular updates of new primary and secondary material on the infamous Cold War-era case. The site specifically seeks to make materials on the case ubiquitously available, removing the necessity of traveling to view the physical archives in Washington, D.C., the Harvard Law Library, or to archives in the former Soviet Union. The site has a noticeable editorial bias in favor of Hiss. However, it also makes available those documents most commonly cited by Hiss' accusers and detractors as evidence of his guilt. The Alger Hiss Story has a site map but suffers from the lack of a search engine or separate, centralized list of documents on offer (although there is a specific section for photographs and another of audio and video segments). Additionally, the site does not make an organizational distinction between primary materials related to the case and secondary materials such as news articles, speeches, and books which comment upon it. Overall, the Alger Hiss Story seems intended to be a cohesive introduction to the case and its historical background for younger researchers who may be unfamiliar with it but also furnishes new insights for more knowledgeable individuals, particularly as more materials are made public. [JPC]

Center for Health, Environment & Justice
http://www.chej.org/

The Center for Health, Education and Social Justice (CHEJ) is an outgrowth of the activism of Lois Gibbs and the families affected by the pollution in Love Canal. Today, the CHEJ "[w]orks to build healthy communities, with social justice, economic well-being, and democratic governance." The CHEJ uses "training, coalition-building and one-on-one technical and organizing assistance...to level the playing field so that people can have a say in the environmental policies and decisions that affect their health..." Among the achievements of the CHEJ are the creation of the Superfund program, the Community Right-to-Know law regarding toxic exposure, and McDonald's 1990 decision to stop using styrofoam packaging. The CHEJ has numerous ongoing campaigns, some focused on specific environmental and health issues, others on particular states. It is primarily in the sites for these separate campaigns that most of the information content of CHEJ lies. The "Media Center" aggregates press releases from all campaigns and sub-groups. Certain campaign sub-pages offer reports in PDF format, including several regarding past campaigns and successes that could be of value in researching environmental history. There is no search engine available, however. [JPC]

Podcasting Legal Guide
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide   

The Podcasting Legal Guide is hosted by Creative Commons, the nonprofit geared toward helping creators balance innovation with protection of their works.  The guide was written by Colette Vogele and Mia Garlick in cooperation with the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and the Berkman Center at Harvard University.  The Guide offers users “a general roadmap of some of the legal issues specific to podcasting.”  The Guide is organized into six major components, including an introduction and components that address the legal issues involved with creating and distributing podcasts.  The issues associated with podcast creation focus on copyright, publicity rights, and trademark.  The Guide specifically notes special rules for teachers and librarians.  As to distribution, podcasters must be concerned with implied licenses, express licenses, and the use of a distribution service.  The Guide also explains podcasting and its history, and provides a listing of many helpful resources. [MM]

Stop Violence Against Women
http://www.amnestyusa.org/stopviolence/

Stop Violence Against Women (SVAW) is an Amnesty International USA campaign, a part of the organization’s work for women's human rights.  The action center (“Actions”) urges readers to engage in political activity, and informs visitors about Amnesty International’s current activities.  The information pages (“News” and "Reports") provides a news feed, promotes upcoming events, and lists the many topics and issues in which Amnesty International is involved. This section also covers topics such as “Rape as a Tool of War,” “Sexual Violence,” and “HIV/AIDS, Women and Human Rights.”  Visitors are encouraged to download the site’s fact sheets and access the organization’s many country-specific reports on violence against women. [JPC/BWK]

Tax Foundation
http://www.taxfoundation.org/

Since 1937, the Tax Foundation has been on a mission to educate taxpayers about tax policy and the total tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government. The Tax Foundation serves as a national clearinghouse, providing Americans with a better understanding of their tax system and the effects of tax policy.  The Tax Foundation’s website offers "Data" and "Publications" sections with information on a wide variety of taxes, such as "Cigarette Taxes," "Gasoline Taxes," and "Property Taxes." The sections vary in the frequency of their updates. The data and commentary are generally objective, but a moderate anti-tax viewpoint pervades throughout.  The “Commentary” section publishes recent op-eds, articles and other short pieces.  The “State Finance” section provides “Tax Facts” sheets on all 50 states, covering the state’s business tax climate, its individual income tax and property tax systems, and its sales taxes. “Fiscal Facts” are brief Tax Foundation analyses of current tax issues.  The design of the site is problematic in some parts; certain links lead to what appear to be blank pages but which have attached documents if one scrolls down far enough to see them. The Tax Foundation website is searchable. [JPC/BWK]

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the May 19th, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Copyright Renewal Database
• Freedom of Information Clearinghouse
• Liberty & Justice for All: a Campaign of the Rights Working Group
• UNdata
• World Privacy Forum

[RJ]

Copyright Renewal Database
http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/

The Copyright Renewal Database is a specialized resource maintained by Stanford University to assist those seeking confirmation of a work's copyright status. The database maintains a list of all Class A works (i.e., books) published in the United States between 1923 and 1963. This period is of particular relevance because works published prior to 1923 are generally in the public domain, whereas works published after 1963 had their copyright automatically renewed en masse by an act of Congress. Works between 1923 and 1963 could be renewed by request of the copyright holder, but until now, renewal requests were only partially accessible, with an online database for requests received after 1977 and a semi-annual publication for requests received between 1950 and 1977. Not even the Copyright Office itself maintains an automated system for searching for the renewal status of these works. Stanford's Copyright Renewal Database is thus a unique and invaluable resource. The database offers both basic and advanced searches with author name, title, and either registration or renewal dates. [JPC]

Freedom of Information Clearinghouse
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/free_info/

The Freedom of Information Clearinghouse is a component of Ralph Nader's Public Citizen organization. The Clearinghouse provides "technical and legal assistance to individuals, public interest groups, and the media who seek access to information held by government agencies." The Clearinghouse both undertakes its own litigation at the federal level and also provides information and education about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the process of obtaining information from the government. To this end, the website of the Clearinghouse offers a number of guides to filing FOIA requests, the history of the law and its implications, and conditions under which FOIA requests may be denied.  Under "Public Citizen's Open Government Litigation" the Clearinghouse also provides an annotated listing of all cases undertaken, their success or failure and a discussion of the ruling. Original documents such as the complaint, original FOIA request and motions are also provided. The site provides a search engine with options for searching all Public Citizen sites or just a specific sub-group, although it does not include the Clearinghouse in this list but only the overall Litigation Group. [JPC]

Liberty & Justice for All: a Campaign of the Rights Working Group
http://www.rightsworkinggroup.org/      

The Rights Working Group (RWG) is a coalition of advocates for civil rights, civil liberties, human rights and immigrant rights who seek to develop a coordinated response to policies and attitudes leading to the deterioration of civil and human rights in the aftermath of 9/11.  In addition to promoting the organization and its affiliates through press releases, events listings, and an advocacy group locator map, the RWG website provides a variety of informational materials on issues such as the “Civil Liberties Restoration Act,” “Secret Hearings,” “Detention Without Charges,” “Inaccurate Criminal Databases,” and “Targets of Surveillance.”  The types of documents and materials offered under these topics include links to articles and reports from member organizations, U.S. governmental reports, and news agencies.  The site also utilizes a news feed page to track reports on the Civil Liberties Restoration Act and related issues, but updates in the "Articles" and "Press Releases" sections are sometimes sparse and poorly updated.  The site is searchable, but since most of the content is pointed to but not on-site, this feature is of limited usefulness. [BWK, JPC]

UNdata
http://data.un.org/

Many researchers are aware that various UN bodies produce statistical information and searchable data sets.  However, each database lived in a separate silo, requiring users to traverse multiple websites and conduct multiple searches before feeling secure that they had found all relevant information.  The UN Statistics Division (UNSD) and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) have solved this problem by creating UNdata, a new web portal that unites UN statistical sources in a single interface.  The mission of this project is to "provide free access to global statistics, to educate users about the importance of statistics for evidence-based policy and decision-making and to assist National Statistical Offices of Member Countries to strengthen their data dissemination capabilities."  Users may browse data sets through the fourteen currently available topical databases (Agriculture, Education, Employment, Energy, etc.), or conduct a keyword search.  Six glossaries provide definitions of terms used within the databases.  UNdata should be a solid resource for researchers needing reliable international and comparative data. [JJ]

World Privacy Forum
http://www.worldprivacyforum.org/

As a non-partisan, non-profit public interest group, the World Privacy Forum focuses on "conducting in-depth research, analysis, and consumer education in the area of privacy."  The Forum conducts longitudinal research, nationally and internationally, in health care, technology, and in finance.  Of note, the Forum has done ground-breaking work in "medical identity theft," coining the term in a report.  The website highlights the group’s research projects.  The site provides an index to the Forum’s reports, analysis, testimony, agency comments, and issue briefs, all of which are available in full text.  Subjects in the index include cookies, data breaches, DNA, and resume privacy.  The index also provides access to the various landing pages that address the main topics addressed by the Forum.  These include genetic privacy, medical privacy, and workplace privacy.  There is a separate page for public comments submitted by the Forum, and these are categorized by specific federal agency.  As well, an extensive list of links to related organizations is offered in the Resources section. [MM]

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the May 5th, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• GLIN: Global Legal Information Network
• PLoL: Public Library of Law
• Trade Observatory
• Tribal Law Journal
• United Nations Scholars' Workstation

[RJ]

GLIN: Global Legal Information Network
http://www.glin.gov/

The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) is a product of the Law Library of Congress that provides a freely searchable “public database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by [approximately thirty] governmental agencies and international organizations ... in their original languages.”  Every document record includes an English summary, as well as assigned subject terms.  Advanced features allow searching by jurisdiction, publication and issuance date, subject, document type, and language.  Results may be sorted or narrowed by jurisdiction, relevancy, or publication date.  Related legal resources are grouped together for ease of access.  Where available, the original documents are scanned color PDFs.  GLIN is a classic free resource for researching foreign and international law. [JJ]

PLoL: Public Library of Law
http://www.plol.org

The Public Library of Law (PLoL), sponsored by FastCase, provides free online access to extensive primary sources of U.S. law.  The searchable case law database includes all U.S. Supreme Court opinions, federal circuit court opinions from 1950 to the present, and state supreme and appellate court cases from 1997 to the present.  When researching case law, PLoL allows advanced Boolean searching, narrowing by jurisdiction, and exact citation or docket number look up.  Free registration is required to view judicial opinions.  Also available are state and federal statutes and constitutions, state and federal court rules, federal regulations, and select state regulations.  These resources are fed into the PLoL website from their most authoritative free online location.  This allows users to research multiple jurisdictions without navigating to each state’s individual website.  To assist users, PLoL offers two quick video tutorials on finding cases and statutes, as well as a general user guide.  PLoL is a great new open access resource to help people research the law for free. [JJ]

Trade Observatory
http://www.wtowatch.org/         

Formerly known as WTO Watch, Trade Observatory is a project of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and is part of a cluster of sites including “Ag Observatory,” "Health Observatory" and "Community Forestry Resource Center." Trade Observatory "[h]as been documenting the World Trade Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and other international trade agreements and institutions" and "[w]orking toward fairer trade systems and alternative approaches to globalization."  The site offers an extensive news feed, which offers both press releases and links to coverage, with an emphasis on the World Trade Organization, North American Free Trade Agreement, Free Trade Area of the Americas, International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development activities.  The news feed is syndicated via RSS.  There is an extensive “Library” of original documents collected and submitted by multiple partner organizations.  This section is browseable by topic or language (English, Spanish, French, and German), and is full-text searchable.  Most documents are available in PDF. [BWK, JPC]

Tribal Law Journal
http://tlj.unm.edu/

The purpose of the online Tribal Law Journal (TLJ), issued by the University of New Mexico School of Law, is to "promote indigenous self-determination by facilitating discussion of the internal law of the world’s indigenous nations." The internal law of indigenous nations encompasses traditional law, Western law adopted by indigenous nations, and a blend of Western and indigenous law. Underscoring this purpose is the recognition that traditional law is a source of law.  In addition to providing the full text of the Journal’s contents, the TLJ website contains Tribal Law Profiles, which provide overviews of indigenous governmental structures and organization.  The Journal also provides multimedia material concerning indigenous issues, although content is somewhat sparse and poorly updated.  The site and journal archives can currently only be searched as a part of the global search of all University of New Mexico School of Law pages. [BWK, JPC]

United Nations Scholars' Workstation
http://www.library.yale.edu/un/

Developed by the Yale University Library and the Social Science Statistical Laboratory, "the United Nations Scholars' Workstation is a collection of texts, finding aids, data sets, maps, and pointers to print and electronic information." The Workstation is maintained by the United Nations Studies program. Topics covered include disarmament, economic and social development, environment, human rights, international relations, international trade, peacekeeping, and population and demography. The site categorizes its links into two areas, "Research Tools to Locate UN Information", which links to particular types of content (i.e. "Numeric Data" or "Maps") and "Research Approaches to UN Information", which categorizes information by different approaches such as UN organizational structure or geographic area. This multi-axis approach makes the site more accessible. The site primarily links to and aggregates external sources; no internal search engine seems to be available. The site is most valuable for demonstrating how the different UN agencies are linked to each other.  [BWK, JPC]

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the April 21st, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• IANSA: International Action Network on Small Arms
• Secrecy News
• Small Arms Survey
• Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
• UC Berkeley Library's Congressional Research Tutorials

[RJ]

IANSA: International Action Network on Small Arms
http://www.iansa.org/

The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) is a network of 800 organizations in 120 countries, seeking "stronger regulation of guns in society and better controls on arms exports." The website provides coverage of the activities of the member organizations and tracks current developments and news items related to small arms and light weapons (SALW) including the manufacture, licit and illicit trade, use, control and destruction of these weapons. The site seems very much "by and for" activists and advocates of arms control; the global breadth of the organization and its nature as a consortium of independent partners makes for some unevenness in content. The pages for some regions or specific campaigns are updated much more frequently than others. The site features a Google-based search engine which helps to locate specific content but also suffers from the usual problems of Google's algorithms. Multiple "rolls" of links and feeds along with minimal editorship make for a somewhat overwhelming feel. IANSA's website seems best used as an aggregation site for news items and links to member organizations and as a general survey of arms control issues. Users seeking in-depth, specialist coverage of specific issues on small arms control would do better to consult the Small Arms Survey (also reviewed in this issue of InSITE). [JPC]

Secrecy News
http://fas.org/blog/secrecy/

Secrecy News is the website of the Federation of American Scientists (“FAS”) Project on Government Secrecy.  FAS’s mission is to provide the public with timely, non-partisan analyses of global issues which involve science and technology.  The Secrecy News website is a subsidiary FAS project, written by Steven Aftergood, a senior research analyst at FAS.  The site is a blog, whose entries contain information and updates on government secrecy.  There are links to most documents cited in the blog postings.  Most of these documents are hosted on FAS website (www.fas.org), but are not created by FAS.  They are generally PDFs of publicly available documents, such as legal complaints, government investigation reports, and press releases.  The blog may also link to FAS web pages that index publicly available documents on specific topics, such as the State Secrets Privilege.  Secrecy News only contains links for blog entries, organized by date of posting; it is not indexed by topic areas or specific issues.  Users can run a simple search of the blog through a search box at the top of the page.  Secrecy News’ coverage begins in mid-January 2006 and is ongoing.  Users can receive security news updates from Secrecy News via email, or sign up for its RSS feed. [LB]

Small Arms Survey
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/

The Small Arms Survey is a research project of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. As a research project, the Survey seeks "to act as a resource for governments, policy-makers, researchers, and activists in terms of information and research on small arms issues." The site has a functioning search engine and many of the links in the site map are only to brief, introductory descriptions of the topics listed. However the Survey is worthwhile for the reports available in the "Spotlight" and "Publications" sections. These documents (in PDF) include regional and annual reports on the trade, use and control of small arms, with foci on specific countries, campaigns, and economic and social aspects. For example, the 2006 annual report included a section on reduction for demand of small arms. The site is clearly intended for specialists and researchers, with possible secondary use by policymakers and advocates. As a whole, the site is more tightly focused on provision of in-depth information than is the more activist-oriented IANSA website. [JPC]

Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/

Housed at Stanford Law School, the Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a part of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology.  As a public interest technology law and policy center, CIS brings together academics, legislators, scientists, and others “to study the interaction of new technologies and the law and to examine ... how the two can either promote or harm public goods like free speech, privacy, ... and scientific inquiry.”  The website highlights the resources and activities of the Center, including the Cyberlaw Clinic and the Fair Use Project.  Designed to give students practical experience, the Clinic represents various litigants who are pursuing cases that affect the public interest and technological development.  The Clinic’s cases are listed with links to opinions, petitions, and other documents when these are available online.  The Fair Use Project has been active since 2006 working to expand creative freedom by clarifying and expanding the boundaries of fair use.  The content here, as with much of the site, is presented in blog format.  Also available on the site is Packets, the CIS newsletter.  Packets provides a concise digest of recently decided cyberlaw cases. [MM]

UC Berkeley Library's Congressional Research Tutorials
http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/wikis/congresearch/

The tutorials on this site are the work of Jesse Silva, Federal Documents and Political Science Librarian, and Karen Munro, E-Learning Librarian at the University of California, Berkeley. They have created five videos covering the basics of Congressional research using the resource noted in parentheses:  how to find bills from 1989 to present, (Thomas), how to find a report (LexisNexis Congressional), how to find debates from 1873 to present in print (Congressional Record), how to find debates from 1989 to present online (Thomas), and how to contact your federal representatives (Senate and House web pages). The running time for each is noted at the beginning of the tutorial and times vary between two and five minutes. A pause button lets users go at their own pace and practice before moving on.  Each tutorial begins with a statement about what you will learn and concludes with a summary of what you learned. The tutorials use an actual research problem, such as finding a hearing on the 1979 nuclear reactor incident at Three Mile Island and finding debates on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Instruction is given via brief explanatory inserts highlighting relevant parts of the search pages.  The videos automatically click and type on web pages to demonstrate searches. However, a live web page that mirrors the lesson page is at the bottom of each screen if you want to point and click yourself. The tutorial dealing with the print Congressional Record features inserts over print pages and highlights where the debates are found on the page.  All of the tutorials are succinct and can be easily understood by the public as well as by law students and legal professionals. The tutorials give the viewer an appreciation of the scope of information available from each of the resources.  For more experienced researchers, the site features U.S. Congressional Search, a Google application by UC Berkeley that searches selected databases: Thomas, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Government Accountability Office (GAO), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Washington Post, and several others.  [JC]

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

InSITE contributors: L. Buechner, J. Callihan, J. 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 ( 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.

***A note to our readers: The InSITE website has been revamped and now features a quick search on the home page, in addition to the advanced search previously available.  We've also added a great new feature that allows anyone to search all the websites ever annotated by InSITE with a single click.   It's updated with each new issue of InSITE.  We hope you enjoy these new features of InSITE.
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

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the April 7, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
• Center on Law and Security
• Copyfight
• Food & Water Watch
• Legislationline

[RJ]

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
http://cfcj-fcjc.org/

The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) is a Canadian not-for-profit organization founded by the Canadian Bar Association and funded by Canadian law foundations and governments to "[bring] together the public, the courts, the legal profession and government in order to promote a civil justice system that is accessible, effective, fair and efficient."  The website offers access to all the research publications of the Forum, to a quarterly update called "News and Views on Civil Justice Reform", to the Inventory of Reforms (a collection of detailed descriptions of justice system reforms), and to the Civil Justice Clearinghouse, the most complete bibliographic database of Canadian civil justice and justice administration publications.  The Clearinghouse also provides access to the major civil justice publications from other common law jurisdictions. The search and other usability functions of the Clearinghouse are excellent and response time is short. Some of the materials cited in the Clearinghouse are linked to the full text. Updated regularly, the site provides excellent navigation and search tools. All materials in the site are available in both French and English. [ML]

Center on Law and Security
http://www.lawandsecurity.org/

The Center on Law and Security (CLS), based at the New York University School of Law, has been dedicated to “an informed understanding of the major legal and security issues that define the post-9/11 environment” since 2003.  The Center provides a forum for various experts in the field of security to boost awareness of issues and to make policy recommendations.  The website provides information on the Center’s programs, publications, and events.  CLS programs address domestic security, global law and security, and the Middle East and Islamic fundamentalism.  The Center’s publications, many of which are available for download, include books, the Terrorist Trial Report Card, and the NYU Review of Law & Security.  CLS sponsors various conferences, speaker series, and open forums.  Details of past and future events are provided.  Event topics include government secrecy, prosecuting terrorism, and the privatizing of defense. [MM]

Copyfight
http://copyfight.corante.com/   

Seven legal and technical expert contributors to this collaborative blog "explore the nexus of legal rulings, Capitol Hill policy-making, technical standards development, and technological innovation that creates -- and will recreate -- the networked world as we know it." Specific topics include "intellectual property conflicts, technical architecture and innovation, the evolution of copyright, private vs. public interests in Net policy-making, lobbying and the law, and more." The blog presents an informal, provocative, and informed view of the current issues from a user-rights perspective. Very current but neither comprehensive nor edited for balance, the blog has provided links into issues since 2004. Easy to use, but without any especially valuable search or archiving functions, the site does generate some conversation among readers. [ML]

Food & Water Watch
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

Food and Water Watch (F&WW) is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization “that works to ensure clean water and safe food ... by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.”  The main page of the website links to four specific advocacy areas: "Food," "Water," "Fish," and "World."  The pages for each general area contain further information on issues specific to that topic; for example, the "Food" page contains sidebar links for factory farms and agricultural policy.  The “World” section of the site contains a limited amount of information in German, Spanish, French, and Polish.  The site’s blog contains information on recent state, federal, and international government actions related to its areas of concern.  Users can look at blog entries by topic area through sidebar links.  This site is of limited use for research because most of the information it contains is issue-based, and reflects F&WW’s position.  F&WW is a good way to track recent legal developments related to a specific area of interest.  The website is searchable, and contains a good advanced search engine, which allows users to limit the search by field and by type of document. [LB]

Legislationline
http://www.legislationline.org/

Legislationline.org is a free database available in English and Russian produced by Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), a part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Launched in 2002, it is designed to assist OSCE member states in drafting legislation that complies with international human rights standards. In 2004 the Legislative Support Unit was created in the ODHIR to pursue legislative reform by providing legal expertise to assess compliance with relevant standards, making recommendations to improve draft legislation, and sharing good drafting practices through Legislationline.org.  The site is uncluttered and has obvious navigational and searching links. Standard information links on each page are: About Us, OSCE/ODIHR Legal Commentaries [on draft legislation], What’s New [enacted legislation], Resources [a link list to international organizations, human rights NGOs, legal resource portals and guides], and Newsletter [registration.] Searching entails using drop down menus to first select a topic. There are currently 10 topics, including terrorism, police, elections, and gender. Additional topics are “works in progress”:  prison service, right to fair trial, independent judiciary and hate crimes. The death penalty is listed as a distinct topic since the information provided deals with global standards of international organizations rather than specific national legislation. Researchers next select one of the 56 members of OSCE (countries essentially in the northern hemisphere). Each resulting country/topic page is in the same format, a summary followed by headings for constitutional law, legislation, case law, other, and news. Researchers can search the site using the advanced search option that allows searching by keyword, topic, country, inter-governmental organization, and date.  Although legislationline.org targets drafters, there is a great deal of information for human rights researchers, from primary law to legal opinions to an extensive list of resources. [JC]

InSITE contributors: L. Buechner, J. Callihan, M. Lines (guest contributor), 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.

***A note to our readers: The InSITE website has been revamped and now features a quick search on the home page, in addition to the advanced search previously available.  We've also added a great new feature that allows anyone to search all the websites ever annotated by InSITE with a single click.   It's updated with each new issue of InSITE.  We hope you enjoy these new features of InSITE.

A Quick Look at PatientsLikeMe

PatientsLikeMe is a website that permits patients diagnosed with life-changing disease to share medical data and learn more about treatments, drug doses, clinical trials and symptoms of a variety of diseases. The site is establishing data-sharing partnerships with doctors, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, research organizations, and non-profits so if you are interested in participating in the site, read the privacy policy.

In Practicing Patients (New York Times Magazine, March 23, 2008), Thomas Goetz reviews the site and its implications. Goetz observes:

By telling so much, the members of PatientsLikeMe are creating a rich database of disease treatment and patient experience. ... The 7,000 members of PatientsLikeMe, in other words, are beta testers — they may be the vanguard of how we all will care and treat our resume of chronic diseases.

I highly recommend reading Goetz's article.

Personal Note. A friend has atypical trigeninal neuralgia, a very debilitating neuropathic disorder of the trigeminal nerve that causes intense pain in the eyes, lips, nose, scalp, forehead, and jaw. Trigeminal neuralgia is considered by many to be among the most painful of conditions and is often labeled the "suicide disease" because of the significant numbers of people taking their own lives when they cannot find effective treatments. [MedlinePlus Description | Patient Education Institute' Tutorial]. Oftentimes, I have suggest to her that she should share her experiences by creating a blog. PatientsLikeMe is probably a much better way to share experiences and information with other TN patients. [JH]

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the February 25, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Iraq: the War Card
• Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
• Lincoln and His Circle
• OAKList Database
• State of Public School Integration

[RJ]

Iraq: the War Card
http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/

Iraq: The War Card is a product of the Center for Public Integrity, “a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern.” Beginning with a detailed overview, which includes a chart of false statements by month, the project analyzes every public statement made by eight top Bush administration officials leading up to the U.S. war on Iraq, from September 11, 2001 through September 11, 2003.  Every direct and indirect false statement, defined in the site’s Methodology section, made during this time relating to Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and potential links between Iraq and Al Qaeda was counted.  The result is a searchable database of “380,000 words of Iraq-related public pronouncements by top Bush Administration officials.”  The site also features information on the officials at issue, highlights key false statements, provides an interactive timeline, reports public opinion poll results, and includes a bibliography.  The project has been extensively covered by the news media and should be of interest to anyone concerned with the U.S. war in Iraq. [JJ]

Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/

The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL) is a digital collection within the Tobacco Control Archives at the University of California at San Francisco.  With more than forty-three million pages, the LTDL offers documents "created by major tobacco companies related to their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research activities."  The collection provides documents dating from the late 1800s, with the bulk of the material from the latter half of the twentieth century.  The collections in the library are organized by company or industry group, including Lorillard, Philip Morris, and the Tobacco Institute.  The site offers basic, advanced, and expert searching options with all three allowing searches to be narrowed by collection.  Basic searches can be limited to author, document type, text, metadata, and title.  Advanced searching provides additional features of basic Boolean operators and date restrictions.  Expert searching allows more complex search queries with the notable addition of searching by field.  The number of fields available is extensive so users will want to consult the Field Descriptions page.  Another way to access material is through the Popular Documents section.  In this section, selected documents are made available under the categories of Industry Activity, Marketing to Women, Secondhand Smoke, and Smoking in Movies. [MM]

Lincoln and His Circle
http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=379      

Lincoln and His Circle is a project of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Rochester (New York).  The project is digitizing for online access the “letters to, from, and about Abraham Lincoln” held in the Department’s collections.  Project materials have been taken from the papers of William Henry Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State, as well as materials donated by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation of Auburn, New York.  The collection includes letters written by Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, and Edwin M. Stanton, who served as Secretary of War.  The index to the collection may be browsed or searched by writer of the letter, recipient of the letter, or date.  Each index record includes the place of writing and the name of the collection from which it was drawn.  Each page of the letter is a separate image file linked from the index record.  The project is a work-in-progress and will be expanded in the future. [MM]

OAKList Database
http://www.oaklist.qut.edu.au/

The OAKList (Open Access to Knowledge), led by a team of law professors at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, aims to "facilitate better access to research, especially that which is publically [sic] funded … "  The OAKList database allows anyone to search for a publisher or particular publication to discover that organization’s open access archiving policy, i.e. whether authors may also publish or "archive" their work in an open access repository, such as SSRN or an institutional repository.  Policies are color coded: green allows both pre- and post-print archiving, blue allows post-print archiving, yellow allows pre-print archiving, and white indicates archiving is not formally supported.  The database draws upon a number of sources for information, including SHERPA/RoMEO and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).  For academic authors interested in open access to their work, this is a great resource to help them select OA- friendly publishers.  Currently, there are few U.S. law reviews included in the database, so its usefulness to U.S. law faculty is limited. [JJ]

State of Public School Integration
http://www.s4.brown.edu/schoolsegregation/

Brown University’s interdisciplinary initiative, the American Communities Project, provides information to scholars and the public about trends that affect neighborhoods, cities, and regions around the country.  It utilizes data from the U.S. Census and other specialized sources to provide visitors with demographic information over time.  The "State of Public School Integration" web pages provide analysis of trends in court-ordered desegregation in relation to the racial and ethnic composition of U.S. public school districts between the years 1968 to 2000.  Visitors may browse the site by school district to view ethnic and racial composition data along with cases (if any) that involved that district.  The visual representation of the demographic data allows for quick comprehension of changes over time.  This site also provides several reports on the state of school segregation in the present time.  Researchers and educators interested in the Brown decision will appreciate the site’s history and timeline of this landmark court case. [BWK]

InSITE contributors: 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 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.

***A note to our readers: The InSITE website has been revamped and now features a quick search on the home page, in addition to the advanced search previously available.  We've also added a great new feature that allows anyone to search all the websites ever annotated by InSITE with a single click.   It's updated with each new issue of InSITE.  We hope you enjoy these new features of InSITE.

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the February 11, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
• Compassion Index
• Real Lawyers Have Blogs
• State Cancer Legislative Database Program
• Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice

[RJ]

Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeHave/SpecialCollections/Donovan/Hitler/index.cfm

"The Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler" is a fascinating report that is part of Cornell Law Library’s Donovan Nuremberg Trials Collection. The collection consists of nearly 150 bound volumes of Nuremberg trial transcripts and documents from the personal archives of General William J. Donovan (1883-1959). General Donovan worked on the staff of Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson (later U.S. Supreme Court Justice Jackson) which gave Donovan a unique perspective on the war crime trials.  "Wild Bill" Donovan is better known for his work as head of the Office of Special Services (OSS) during World War II, which led to his recognition as the father of the CIA, which morphed from the OSS after the war. The report was commissioned by the OSS in preparation for dealing with Hitler and Germany after the war. The analysis of Hitler was compiled by Dr. Henry A. Murray, a pioneering psychologist of the time and Director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic. Only 30 copies of the report were created so the analysis has not been widely available. Cornell Law Library’s copy is the only copy easily accessible to the public online. The site includes a PDF version of the 227 page report.  The entire book or parts thereof can be downloaded from the Table of Contents page.  A “More Info” option gives links to related articles about the Nuremberg collection, Dr. Murray, and the OSS. The site provides an interesting look at Hitler and the emerging field of psychology. [JC]

Compassion Index
http://www.compassionindex.org/

The Compassion Index is an offering of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI).  AWI is devoted to maintaining the well-being of animals by ensuring decent treatment by humans.  AWI has worked for the adoption of many federal animal protection laws, including the Endangered Species Act and the Humane Slaughter Act.  The Compassion Index rates members of Congress on their compassion toward animals by tallying key votes and positions taken on pending legislation.  AWI offers the index as a tool for both promoting legislative accountability and "to facilitate the advancement of federal bills benefiting animals and to defeat measures detrimental to their welfare."  The index may be searched by state, Congressional member's name, or by Zip code.  Each member of Congress is assigned a percentage rating based on his or her degree of agreement with AWI on various pieces of legislation.  There is an entry for each senator and representative detailing his or her votes and positions on legislation.  Currently, the index covers the 109th and 110th congresses.  The site also lists key legislation that AWI is tracking.  There are several bills before Congress of interest to the group, including the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and the Pet Safety and Protection Act. [MM]

Real Lawyers Have Blogs
http://kevin.lexblog.com/       

Kevin O'Keefe is one of the top industry-acknowledged experts in legal blogdom.  His company, LexBlog, offers lawyers a "turn-key, professional blog service" in the form of blog hosting and promoting.  "Real Lawyers Have Blogs" is Mr. O’Keefe’s own blog, which promotes this service but also acts as one of the best portals and tutorials for the world of legal blogging.  This blog, directed at practicing attorneys, covers law firm marketing, emerging Internet technology, blog basics, search engine optimization, and many other topics.  Substantive legal issues are not covered.  Unlike some blogs which offer a chronologically-arranged archive, this site arranges all content exclusively by topic.  User comments are welcome, and "Real Lawyers Have Blogs" is searchable. [BWK]

State Cancer Legislative Database Program
http://www.scld-nci.net/

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD) is a database of state cancer-related legislation covering topics and issues such as tobacco, genetics, access to state-of-the-art treatment, and cancers of the breast, prostate, ovary, and other organs.  This database is a resource for research and analysis of cancer-related health policy, providing summaries of legislation affecting cancer prevention and control since 1989. Designed as a resource for Federal and state agencies, Congress, health departments, universities and research centers, professional organizations, and the general public, SCLD data is not generally available for free on the NCI’s website.  Freely available are fact sheets, the SCLD Update (the organization’s newsletter) going back to 1997, staff presentations, and the SCLD Tobacco Ratings.  The Tobacco Ratings are two indices that measure the extensiveness of state tobacco control laws related to youth access to tobacco and clean indoor air.   Researchers can also find summary information in the SCLD Legislative Snapshots, which contain graphic illustrations summarizing specific issues reported in the SCLD Updates. Custom research queries may be requested, but it is unclear from the website whether this is a fee-based service or not. [BWK]

Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice
http://www.sugarlaw.org/

The Sugar Law Center is a national, non-profit organization providing legal support and advocacy for working people and their communities by "binding corporations and government to their legal and moral responsibilities." The Center pursues aggressive enforcement of Federal, state and local laws governing corporate behavior.  The website is a neatly organized presentation of the Center’s projects and concerns. Highlighted on the home page (as well as listed in the navigation bar) is a link to information about  current efforts to revise the Federal Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act, legislation that the Center supports. The WARN blog page provides links to proposed legislation, existing primary law, how to express support, and more resources. Also given prominence on the home page (as well as by a navigation link) is a link to “Workplace Concerns” including discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, layoffs, and pay. The site gives workers a place to submit an online form about their problem for evaluation by the Center’s legal staff. The “Projects” page lists the Economic Bill of Rights, Fair Employment Practices, Workers’ Rights as Human Rights, Community Reinvestment (by corporations receiving tax breaks for creating jobs), and Environmental Justice as additional ongoing activities. The Center is a transparent organization that posts information about its staff, interns and Board members. It also posts its recent court filings and offers a free newsletter. Finally, a list of related websites organized by topic such as Living Wage Organizations, and The Effort to Change Wal-Mart are offered as resources for interested readers. Sprinkled throughout the site are links for those interested in working for the Center or funding it through donations or by purchases of its monographs. The vibrant, colorful website shows an organization actively pursuing its mission. [JC]

InSITE contributors: J. Callihan, 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 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.

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the January 28, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• BlackBoxVoting.org
• Blawg Search
• ELS Bibliography
• IRC: International Rescue Committee
• RJ&L Religious Liberty Archive

[RJ]

BlackBoxVoting.org
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

Black Box Voting is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit elections watchdog group that “investigates election problems, communicates the problems to the citizenry, and teaches citizens how to manage their own government -- which means teaching citizens how to identify elections problems and providing citizens with the tools to oversee elections.”  The group was founded in 2004 by Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting: Ballot-Tampering in the 21st Century. The book is available for free downloading from various pages of the site. The top link on the home page is to the Citizen Tool Kit, a compilation of 20 modules on how to become involved through becoming a poll worker, auditing the election, monitoring the counting, and so forth. There are specific tool kit modules for candidates, celebrities, and affluent citizens.  The Press Kit answers basic questions about the organization and provides story angles, interview questions, contacts, and resources for reporters. The strength of the site is public participation via Forums where citizens post information about such matters as investigations, relevant news, the election industry, voting technology, and election processes by jurisdiction.  A Tree View of all the topics is helpful in locating and selecting forums. There is a sophisticated search function for all the posts, and archives are available. The threaded conversations are easy to follow and all post authors are required to post their names.  The latest resource is Black Box Videos with posts of investigative work and interviews. The videos are accessed via links to video.google.com. This is a site that reflects the members’ crusade for fair voting. It is neither slick nor fancy but succeeds in getting key information across and allows for citizen interaction. [JC]

Blawg Search
http://blawgsearch.justia.com/

To complement their other offerings, Justia provides BlawgSearch.  BlawgSearch allows users to find law-related blogs—blawgs—in multiple ways.  BlawgSearch offers a search engine, a directory, and a "most popular" section.  The search function is a basic keyword search on the postings of legal blogs.  On the main page of the site, Justia provides a list of recent search terms that are hyperlinked and can be clicked to run as search terms.  The blawg directory is very useful.  For topical access, users will find over 2300 blawgs categorized into 60 topics.  For geographic access, there are state and country listings.  In addition, 234 law school blawgs are categorized by 112 school names.  The most popular feature ranks blawgs by the number of visits originating from BlawgSearch.  Rankings are by current day, current week, current month, and all time.  Monthly rankings for all of 2007 are available, too.  If you do not see a blawg of interest on BlawgSearch, you may suggest it for inclusion. [MM]

ELS Bibliography
http://www.law.ucla.edu/home/apps/els/ 

A joint project between UCLA and Cornell, the ELS (i.e., Empirical Legal Studies) Bibliography provides bibliographic access to recent empirical legal scholarship.  Coverage of the database begins in July 2005, and it is current through July 2007.  Articles were culled from roughly eighty journals, including flagship law reviews from the top forty law schools, law school-based major specialty journals, relevant non-law school journals, and top journals in economics, psychology, sociology, political science, and anthropology.  Articles selected for inclusion in the database were subject to a set of protocols to ensure that they contained significant empirical research.  Each record in the database contains several pieces of metadata, including the author(s) and author affiliation, article title, journal, year of publication, and one or more assigned subject terms.  The database may be searched by one or more of these parameters.  In addition to regular updating of the database, there is a plan to extend coverage back to 2000. [MM]

IRC: International Rescue Committee
http://www.theirc.org/

Since its founding in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has provided hope and humanitarian aid to refugees and other victims of oppression and violent conflict around the world.  It is currently active in 25 countries assisting in the aftermath of natural disasters and armed conflict.  “Who We Are” identifies directors and officers, gives contact information, and posts complete financial statements for the past two years. Indeed, every page of the website highlights IRC’s high charity rankings for efficient use of funds and requests donations.  “What We Do” describes assisting in areas such as Anti-trafficking, Children, Economic Recovery and Development, Health, and Immigration Assistance.  Each area of assistance includes several specific programs. For example, “Children” includes youth programs, separated children, child soldiers, and education.  “How You Can Help” emphasizes advocacy to Congress on IRC target issues. Some programs have a Research Library link to websites and documents (project descriptions, lectures, briefings, and papers).  The “News from the Field” section is of  use to researchers looking for information on current events, with articles from around the world, staff blogs, a list of issues in focus, a “crisis watch,” and “hot zones.” A multimedia section offers podcasts, photo essays, videos, RSS feeds, and an e-newsletter to keep current on humanitarian efforts. The IRC site is complex and requires drilling down to find specifics. The site does a very good job in educating the world about its role and in highlighting important global issues. [JC]

RJ&L Religious Liberty Archive
http://www.churchstatelaw.com/

Sponsored by Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP, the Religious Liberty Archive is an extensive repository of resources for anyone seeking information about state and federal laws pertaining to religious freedom in the United States.  Here visitors may view Supreme Court cases and commentaries, state statutes, and important historical documents and speeches relevant to religious issues in the United States.  Cases are browseable by topics such as “Abortion” or “Censorship,” or viewable by date or case name.  Some of these cases have commentary by the Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons law firm.  Statutes are browseable by act name.  The Archive also provides law review articles and treatise excerpts.  A wonderful resource of the Archive is the “Historical Documents Outline” section, which contains the full text of early colony charters, state constitutions dating back to 1776, Congressional debates, Presidential proclamations, ands statements regarding religion and religious liberty. [BWK]

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

InSITE contributors: J. Callihan, 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

© 2008 Cornell Law Library

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the January 14, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Debatepedia
• Dying Speeches & Bloody Murders: Crime Broadsides Collected by the Harvard Law School Library
• Human Rights
• Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute
• OpenCongress

Debatepedia
http://wiki.idebate.org/

The International Debate Education Association has teamed with students and alumni from Georgetown University to create Debatepedia, a wiki project that seeks to be the “Wikipedia of debate and deliberation.”  As a wiki, Debatepedia allows users to document published and original arguments, thus empowering individuals in the decision-making process.  Specific debate categories are organized by subject area, geographic region, and hot topic.  Subject areas include Business, Individual Rights, Legal, Religion, and Crime.  Hot topic categories range from Abortion to Welfare.  Under these groupings users will find specific debates.  Within the Legal subject area, debate topics include divorce, hate crimes, prisoners, and school prayer.  Each debate topic may include one or more questions to which users may contribute a pro or con argument.  Many of the debates are still being developed.  While the site can be fun to browse, students may find it beneficial to both read and contribute to the debates. [MM]

Dying Speeches & Bloody Murders: Crime Broadsides Collected by the Harvard Law School Library
http://broadsides.law.harvard.edu/

The Harvard Law School Library has digitized its collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British crime broadsides, covering the years 1707 to 1891.  Broadsides were a form of street literature printed on one side of the page and were sold to the crowds that gathered for public executions.  Intended for the lower classes, broadsides recounted the crime, the trial of the accused, and included a purported confession.  Broadsides were often styled “Last Dying Speeches” or “Bloody Murders.”  Harvard’s collection of 500-plus broadsides is “one of the largest recorded and the first to be digitized in its entirety.”  The collection may be browsed by title or searched.  Keyword searching is available by title, name, date, site of publication, and subject.  The category search allows users to select one or more items from any of six categories: crimes, year of publication, site of publication, printers, condemned, and victims.  In addition to the Harvard collection, the site links out to other digitized broadside collections. [MM]

Human Rights
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/humanrights/

The Human Rights digital exhibit at the United Kingdom’s National Archives website uses original documents scanned from their collection to illustrate the progression of rights “we today take for granted.”  Covering the eleventh through twentieth centuries, the site is divided into discrete time periods for easy browsing.  Within each, background history for that period is presented, as is a timeline of major events and links to scanned documents relevant to the period.  A glossary provides definitions of less familiar terms, which are also hyperlinked within the exhibit.  For quick access to all the scanned documents, the document index lists in chronological order the exhibit images available.  As most of the documents are illegible to our modern eyes, transcriptions are provided, as are translations where appropriate.  For researchers interested in human rights or legal history, this is a worthwhile website that weaves together primary source material with historical context. [JJ]

Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/index.htm

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University builds on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project undertaken by Stanford professor Clayborne Carson and for 22 years has served “as the institutional home for a broad range of activities relating to King’s life, the civil rights movement in the United States and the history of struggles worldwide to achieve social justice.” The site is divided into four areas in addition to a Home page with news, mission statement, requests for support, and FAQs.  Major navigation tabs link to the Papers Project, which in conjunction with the King Center is undertaking the task of publishing 14 volumes of King’s papers (Vol. V is now available for purchase); the Liberation Curriculum, to assist high school teachers in teaching about social justice; Public Programs such as conferences, seminars, workshops, dramatic workshops, and King Day celebrations; and About the Institute. The Papers Project has the most coverage on the site, including information about each volume published and a document inventory that is browseable by year and searchable by keyword. The Papers Project lists other publications by King and about King, such as compilations of sermons and speeches, and full text of some articles in HTML (many by Prof. Carson.)  A powerful segment of the site is “The Voice of King” which plays stirring excerpts from King’s sermons, speeches, and autobiography.  Overall, the Institute site contains an enormous amount of information via the King Encyclopedia, an Interactive Chronology, King biography, selected quotes, and daily “news” from the Civil Rights struggle with inspirational quotes from King’s Freedom Journal. Finally, the Institute lists recommended readings and additional links for researchers and offers a fee-based research service as well. The various types of information available make the site a bit confusing to navigate, so the best way to appreciate the wealth of information is by visiting the Site Map which neatly organizes the contents and makes selecting topics simple. [JC]

OpenCongress
http://www.opencongress.org/

OpenCongress is the latest project of the Sunlight Foundation, in partnership with Participatory Politics, designed to bring the full legislative process into the open.  Using bill texts, voting records, and committee reports from Thomas ( http://www.thomas.gov/); campaign contribution information from OpenSecrets.org; news from Google News; and blog posts from Technorati and Google Blog Search; OpenCongress brings together the “big picture” behind each bill on the Hill.  In addition to searching the site, users can browse by bill number, senator or representative name, House or Senate committee, industry, or topical issue, and track or share their interests using RSS feeds and tagging.  Voting trends are analyzed for every politician, stating with whom they most and least frequently vote.  For all categories, results can be ranked by name, most viewed, most blogged, most in the news, etc.  OpenCongress also provides a number of widgets and applications to download, as well as its own blog that reports on Congressional activities.  This is an informative site with a friendly user interface to track legislation and get the “behind the scenes” scoop on Congress. [JJ]

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.

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the November 12, 2007 issue of InSITE:

• Impunity Watch
• Justice for All: the Legacy of Thurgood Marshall
• LOUIS (Library Of Unified Information Sources)
• National Women's Law Center
• Whistleblower Protection Program

Impunity Watch
http://www.impunitywatch.net/

Impunity Watch is a web-based publication offered by the students at the Syracuse University College of Law.  The site, drawing on a Commission on Human Rights report, defines impunity as “the impossibility of bringing human rights violators to account arising from, among other things, a failure of states to meet their obligations to investigate, prosecute, and punish violators . . . ”  Impunity Watch seeks to inform users about impunity issues by acting as a news source and a vehicle for scholarly publication, and by providing a voice to victims.  Taking the form of a blog, the site is organized into seven geographic regions, including Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.  For each region, editors post human rights-related news items — the most recent post under Asia covers the current unrest in Pakistan.  Longer, editorial-style pieces can be found in the Features section.  The Articles section has one submission currently; no doubt, the editors are working to solicit more of them.  Overall, Impunity Watch is an interesting student publication worth following. [MM]

Justice for All: the Legacy of Thurgood Marshall
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/tmarshall/

One of the publications within the State Department’s USINFO website is Justice for All: The Legacy of Thurgood Marshall.  A table of contents provides access to the components of the site, offering a thorough biography while illuminating the milestones of Marshall’s career.  The site covers Marshall’s work as a lawyer, including a section devoted to the Brown v. Board of Education case.  For additional insight, users will want to consult the interview with Jack Greenberg who, in 1954, was a 27-year-old lawyer working with Marshall on the Brown case.  Additional features of the site include a timeline of Marshall’s life, as well as a photo gallery and several video clips. [MM]

LOUIS (Library Of Unified Information Sources)
http://www.louisdb.org/

LOUIS (Library Of Unified Information Sources) is yet another project of the Sunlight Foundation, working here to bring the legal publications of the federal government out into the open for easy public access.  Their “ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents from the executive and legislative branches of government,” though they’re not quite there yet, as they freely admit.  Currently in beta release, LOUIS allows users to simultaneously or separately search the full-text of Congressional Reports, the Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings, the Federal Register, Presidential Documents, GAO Reports, and Congressional Bills & Resolutions.  Some advanced search features are available.  LOUIS also allows users to construct a “standing query” as an RSS feed that will alert you whenever a new document satisfies your search.  For those interested in simple access to federal legislative and executive materials, this “one-stop search engine” is a valuable tool. [JJ]

National Women's Law Center
http://www.nwlc.org/

Operating since 1972, the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) is a nonprofit organization focused on major policy areas of importance to women, including economic security, education, employment, and health and reproductive rights, with special attention given to the concerns of low-income women.  The NWLC’s website encourages political involvement through its “Take Action” section, and visitors can stay up-to-date with e-mail alerts.  Its “Information Center” offers a timeline of the Center’s activities, Center newsletters and annual reports, and biographies of the Center staff.  Many visitors will be interested in the site’s “Issues” section, which covers topics such as athletics, education, health, child care, employment, reproductive rights, sexual harassment, and women in the military.  These issue sections offer FAQs, published guides and brochures, press releases, fact sheets, amicus briefs, and Congressional testimony, when available.  The site is searchable and many documents are available in PDF. [BWK]

Whistleblower Protection Program
http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has designed the "Whistleblower Protection Program" website to provide the general public with an explanation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and describes how OSHA oversees the whistleblowing provisions of multiple statutes which protect employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, and securities laws.  This site provides the full text of the sixteen statutes enforced by OSHA as well as the regulations governing their administration.  Researchers and practitioners may be interested in the official Whistleblower Investigations Manual, which details the procedures for investigating discrimination complaints.   The site also offers in-depth guides for filing OSHA complaints, even discussing various scenarios and issues such as "imminent dangers," "refusal of dangerous work," and "discrimination for filing complaints."  The site's "A-Z Index" is a good starting place for the researcher, with its extensive list of topics as well as links to news releases, publications, and statistics.  Simple and advanced searching is also available. [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.

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the October 30, 2007 issue of InSITE:

• Guantánamo Testimonials Project
• IRIS Center at the University of Maryland, Department of Economics
• Privacy.org
• Rethinking Schools Online
• Workplace Fairness

[RJ]

Guantánamo Testimonials Project
The Guantánamo Testimonials Project strives to collect and make accessible in a single location all the available testimonies of prisoner experience and abuse at Guantánamo.  The project is a product of the University of California, Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA). Testimonies are organized by witness type and include statements of prisoners, FBI Agents, interrogators, prosecution and defense lawyers, military physicians, a chaplain, a marine, a CIA asset, and others.  Most statements are republished on this website in HTML, with links to the original source online where available.  CSHRA takes no stance on whether the prisoners are guilty or innocent, but seeks to assess how the war on terror has and does affect human rights in the Americas.  All testimonials are keyword searchable using the search box at the top of the screen.  The Guantánamo Testimonials Project is a useful, if harrowing, source of primary materials of the conditions at Guantánamo. [JJ]

IRIS Center at the University of Maryland, Department of Economics
The IRIS (Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector) Center, created in 1990 within the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland, focuses on the role of institutions and rules by which individuals organize economic, political, and social activity. By this study, IRIS gains insight into the sources of underdevelopment and advises client countries on remedies. IRIS is premised on the understanding that economic development of poorer countries depends on strengthening property and contract rights and protecting these rights via stable institutions of democratic governments. According its home page, IRIS has completed 190 advisory projects in more than 70 countries, and organized or participated in more than 300 conferences and workshops on topics such as anti-corruption reform, poverty assessment, judicial reform, aid effectiveness, small and micro enterprise development, and capital markets development. The IRIS site gives current news, highlights a featured expert, lists all the impressively credentialed IRIS experts, and provides geographical links to projects. The main substantive areas of the site are entered by tabs leading to IRIS’ four major areas of expertise: Economic and Institutional Analysis; Enterprise Development; Governance and Civil Society; and Legal and Regulatory Reform. Each tab provides an explanation of the scope of the area of study, lists experts, and links to topical articles.  Legal and Regulatory Reform projects include drafting laws (especially dealing with secured transactions), fostering private sector development, privatizing state businesses, training the judiciary, improving existing legal frameworks and access to justice, and establishing government accountability and transparency. In addition to the main center in the US, IRIS has offices in Armenia, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Peru.  IRIS is an excellent resource for economic, legal, and interdisciplinary analyses by experts on underdevelopment in poorer countries and on possible approaches to engendering global growth and stability. [JC]

Privacy.org
Privacy.org is a joint project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International.  EPIC is a public interest research center dedicated to promoting awareness of civil liberties and privacy concerns.  Privacy International is a watchdog human rights group focusing on surveillance by governments and corporations.  Privacy.org offers visitors a daily news blog, a directory of news organizations and publications, and a listing of activities for political activists.  The site maintains links to other sites offering information and resources on issues which intersect with privacy concerns, such as children and privacy, consumer issues, and privacy initiatives undertaken by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Union (EU).  This site is syndicatable via XML, and is archived for one year.  Privacy.org is also searchable. [BWK]

Rethinking Schools Online
Published since 1986, the activist magazine Rethinking Schools has been addressing progressive policy issues such as vouchers and marketplace-oriented reforms, funding equity, and school-to-work, with articles written by and for teachers, parents, and students.  Rethinking Schools Online (RSO) provides the full text of selected articles from the publication’s current and archived issues, going back to Volume 11, No. 1 - Fall 1996/97.  The tables of contents for Volume 10 are also online.  RSO also provides an alphabetical index of all issues of Rethinking Schools from volume 1, no. 1 (Fall 1986), through volume 18, no. 2 (Winter 2003/04).  The index is by subject, author and headline.  RSO offers special article collections of in-depth analysis and commentary covering issues like the “No Child Left Behind” education policy, school vouchers, and teaching students about Iraq.  Rethinking Schools Online is also full-text searchable. [BWK]

Workplace Fairness
Workplace Fairness (WF), a California non-profit founded in 1994 as the National Employee Rights Institute, “provides information, education, and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide.”  Toward these goals, the website offers workers and others information about employment rights and issues.  The site is organized into several main areas, as well as a set of pages designed for specific audiences.  Under the Your Rights and Job Survival sections, users will find straightforward explanation of various topics, including harassment, discrimination, whistle-blowing, and retaliation.  Within the Issues section, WF provides in-depth discussion of topics ranging from wages and healthcare to unions and undocumented workers.  Within each topic are sets of links to other sites that provide related material.  Pages for specific audiences offer an FAQ style explanation of various legal questions, as well as links to helpful agencies and organizations.  Users will want to consult the Courts and Legislative sections within the Features area.  The Courts section provides listings, by state, of employment cases making news, as well as a digest of cases organized by federal circuit.  The Legislative section offers a state-by-state news roundup of legislation affecting workers. [MM]

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.

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

Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the October 1, 2007 issue of InSITE:

• ACS ResearchLink
• AltLaw
• FEC Watch
• Fragile States: the LICUS Initiative
• National Workrights Institute

[RJ]

ACS ResearchLink
http://researchlink.acslaw.org/

ACS ResearchLink is an innovative project, created by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS), designed to bridge the gap between the research papers law students must write and the needs of public interest lawyers.  According to the ACS website, public interest lawyers need legal scholarship to assist them in assessing the strength of specific novel theories, but have limited time and resources.  Law students must write substantial research papers that satisfy their schools’ writing requirements, but frequently struggle for appropriate and interesting topics.  ACS ResearchLink answers the question: Why not give students the option of creating relevant and timely scholarship that will simultaneously serve the public interest?  The interactive database allows lawyers to submit paper topics that students can search for ideas.  After papers are written and graded under faculty supervision, they will be posted in the online library (the library should have its first papers in 2008).  There are many paper ideas currently posted in the database from a range of organizations that include the ACLU, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, various legal aid societies, and more. [JJ]

AltLaw
http://altlaw.org/

In August 2007 Columbia Law School’s Program on Law and Technology, and the Silicon Flatirons Program at the University of Colorado Law School introduced a beta version of AltLaw, “the first free, full-text searchable database of Supreme Court and Federal Appellate case reports.” AltLaw’s mission is to make the law easily accessible to the public and is a resource for attorneys and legal scholars. Over 180,000 U.S. Supreme Court decisions and federal Courts of Appeal decisions dating back 10 to 15 years are now in the database. A chart lets the researcher know the scope of coverage for each court. The advanced search feature (the only search feature) is elegantly simple and includes Boolean and proximity searching as well as date and court parameters. The opinions appear as published by the courts, so the format and type are not standardized across circuits.  Westlaw citations are not yet available but will be included. The creators hope to expand coverage to include federal district and state courts as well.  The “About This Site” page reminds users that AltLaw is a work in progress and encourages researchers to double check results with another legal source. Researchers are also encouraged to check back frequently as new case law is added. [JC]

FEC Watch
http://www.fecwatch.org/

FEC Watch, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics, seeks “to increase enforcement of the nation’s campaign finance, lobbying, and ethics laws” by monitoring the Federal Election Commission (FEC), as well as other government entities.  In addition to educating the public, FEC Watch files complaints, petitions for rulemaking and comments on rulemaking, and submits amicus briefs in relevant cases.  The website is organized into two main tabs: "The FEC" and "The Law."  Under "The FEC" tab, users can learn about the agency, including its history, role, divisions, and its commissioners.  As well, the site explains the enforcement, rulemaking, and litigation functions of the FEC.  Under "The Law" tab, users will find explanation of and access to the various federal election laws.  In addition to PDF versions of the McCain-Feingold Act and various court opinions, the site offers details of regulations and advisory opinions.  Rulemakings are organized into tables that are categorized as active, inactive, or completed.  Also, the site provides an archive of FEC advisory opinions for the years 2002-2004.  Be sure to read the thorough discussion of the FEC advisory opinion process. [MM]

Fragile States: the LICUS Initiative
http://www.worldbank.org/conflict/

This site announces the World Bank's creation of a new unit which funds countries in need of assistance because of fragile governments or infrastructures, or because they are involved in conflict. Often these situations are related and occur in the same country. This new unit of the World Bank will serve as the corporate focal point for external partners, including the United Nations and the European Commission, that are working to provide assistance to states in need. The website presents the research of the World Bank's Task Force on the Work of the World Bank Group in Low-Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS), mostly in PDF.  Portions of site are available in French, Spanish, English, and Arabic. The site is searchable. [JG]

National Workrights Institute
http://www.workrights.org/

Based in Princeton, NJ, the National Workrights Institute (NWI) was founded in January 2000 by the former staff of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Taskforce on Civil Liberties in the Workplace. The Institute was created to be the premier organization championing human rights in the workplace, focusing not on enforcement of current laws but on recommending the promulgation of new ones.  The NWI focuses on issues such as alternative dispute resolution, drug testing, genetic and lifestyle discrimination, medical privacy, and other concerns.  These issue sections on the Institute’s website provides news items, statements, studies, speeches, articles, Congressional testimony, model policies, legislative briefs, and more.  The “NWI in the News” section provides links to relevant external news items, but is not available as an RSS feed.  The NWI site is searchable. [BWK]

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

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.  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.

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, © 2007 Cornell Law Library. Permission to republish InSITE issues on Law Librarian Blog has been granted. For permissions, contact Jean M. Pajerek [jmp8@cornell.edu].

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