Flexing the Right Muscle = Gymnastique Cérébrale

Pumping Iron 3: The Librarians Presentation by Lyonette Louis-Jacques University of Chicago Law Library CALL, May 28, 2001

A behind-the-scenes look at… How a foreign and international law librarian goes about providing top- notch, efficient, and effective service, or How to avoid walking up stairs, lifting heavy books, roaming around library stacks, etc., looking for the right resource, and Have happy customers!

Presenting… The Best of the Web for Foreign and International Law

Best of the Web, Part I: General F/IL Pages Your Foreign and International Law Pages U Toronto, U Laval U TorontoU Laval ASIL’s ERG Harvard, NYU HarvardNYU LLRX.com LAWLINKS LII, AustLII LIIAustLII

International Law Page

University of Toronto’s Law Library Page

Site de la Bibliothèque de droit de l'Université Laval

ASIL’s Guide to Researching International Law on the Internet

Harvard’s Research Guides

Selective Links to Full Text Foreign Law Databases

Law Library Resource Xchange (LLRX.com)

LAWLINKS: Legal Information on the Internet

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII)

AustLII’s World Law Links Page

Best of the Web, Part II: Specialized Resources World Bank Law Library Yale’s Avalon ProjectAvalon Project Lex Mercatoria IGO websites (UN, etc.) NGOs/Assocs. Gov’t Agencies Research Centers/Think Tanks

The Avalon Project’s Major Collections

United Nations Documentation Centre

European Union Legal Documents (EUR-Lex)

European Conventions (CoE Treaties)

OAS’ Foreign Trade Information System (SICE)

Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

U.S. Department of State

Treaties LexUM/DFAIT’s Canado-American Treaties Canado-American Treaties AustLII/DFAT’s Treaties Library Treaties Library United Nations’ Treaty Collection United Nations’ Treaty Collection Yale’s Avalon ProjectAvalon Project Fletcher’s Multilaterals Project Multilaterals Project Gov’t Agencies, IGOs, NGOs, etc.

Australian Treaties Library (Multilaterals from 1856)

United Nations Treaty Collection

The Avalon Project’s Treaty Collections

Treaties (Cont’d) U.S. Marci Hoffman’s Guide Marci Hoffman’s Guide Other Stefanie Weigman’s Guide Stefanie Weigman’s Guide

Finding Foreign Law Online Generally, and in Translation NYU Foreign Primary Law on the Web GLIN Finding Foreign Law Online When Going Global Finding Foreign Law Online When Going Global Harvard

Foreign Primary Law on the Web (Mulligan)

Finding Foreign Law Online When Going Global

National Laws By Subject (Harvard)

Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)

Finding Foreign Law/in Translation (Cont’d) Check research guides Check OPACs Check indexes Contact embassies Use listservs *Reynolds & Flores

Getting Ready for the Lightweight Questions Read the basic international legal research guides Read international news sources (see Harvard’s page and the ASIL ERG (so you’re prepared for requests for hot documents in the news)Harvard’s pageASIL ERG Monitor listservs such as INT-LAW and EURO- LEX (where you can also ask for help) Attend conferences (see the IJLI “International Calendar” for dates) and get to know the foreign and international law specialists. Network!International Calendar Bookmark & try new links right away!

Monitoring Developments in International Law and Resources

Harvard’s International Law News Page

The Archives of the INT-LAW List

How to Subscribe to INT-LAW Send an message to: With only the following text in the body: subscribe int-law

Archives of the EURO-LEX List

Subscribing to EURO-LEX Subscribing to EURO-LEX To subscribe to the EURO-LEX list, send an message to: With only the following text in the body: subscribe euro-lex Your Name

International Calendar for Legal Information Events

Personal Trainers (Specialists in FCIL Research) Foreign Law Librarians Professors Documentalists/ IGO Librarians Lawyers

AALL’s FCIL SIS Expert Help Project

Standard Weights (Books) Reynolds & Flores World Almanac CIA World Factbook Treaty indexes (TIF)TIF Martindale-Hubbell’s Law Digest World Treaty Index Encyclopedia of Public International Law International Legal Materials (ILM)

Reynolds & Flores

U.S. Treaties in Force (as of January 1, 2000)

Standard Weights (Cont’d) Internet search engines (such as Google) Online catalogues (union catalogues are great!) Journal article databases and indexes (UnCover, RAVE, ASIL, Geneva’s WebVoyager, etc.) Gateways/Portals/Meta-Pages (SOSIG, BUBL, Yahoo!, Hieros Gamos, JURIST) Directories, listservs, & other “people” sources

Question #1: Does the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation have a Web page? Yes, at (there is a link to it from the NAFTA Secretariat page) Secretariat Also NYU has a link from its International Environment Law page; ditto with the ASIL ERG for International Environmental LawInternational Environment Law ASIL ERG for International Environmental Law

Question #2: What does “RIDC” stand for? Revue internationale de droit comparé! (using Sarah Carter’s wonderful “LawLinks” page of abbreviations)LawLinks Alternative sources include searching in a full text journal articles database, searching in an online catalogue, or an Internet search engine, or using Bieber’s or the Bluebook

Question #3: Where can I find the text of the 1958 New York Convention? It’s old, but it’s on the Net! The ASIL ERG has a link to it. The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards is also at the AustLII Treaties Library (ATS 1975 No. 25)ASIL ERGlinkATS 1975 No. 25 It also available via other official and unofficial sources such as UNCITRALand InternationalADRUNCITRAL InternationalADR

Question #4: Where can I find an English translation of the Israeli GSS Torture Case? The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an English summary of it as well as a link to the full text of the English translation from the Israeli Supreme Court (see under “Legal Issues and Rulings”)English translation B’Tselem also links to the text. B’Tselem

English Summary of Case, with Link to Translated Text

Question #5: Where can I find the Pope & Talbot v. Canada (NAFTA) arbitral decisions? At the DFAIT NAFTA Dispute Settlement Page!NAFTA Dispute Settlement See also NAFTA Claims website.NAFTA Claims

Question #7: Where can I find a 1960 UN Security Council Resolution on Adolf Eichmann? At the UN Documentation Centre web page (Resolution 138, June 23, 1960)UN Documentation Centre

Getting Ready for Heavier Weights/Tougher Questions Attend workshops, seminars, and training courses (both substantive and bibliographic) Attend specialized database sessions Maintain a personal or institutional web page READ, READ, READ research guides and substantive international law articles Do you feel the burn?

Question #8: How do you find the “drafting history” of an international agreement? See Jonathan Pratter’s excellent PowerPoint presentation for some good background information (and why “legislative history” is a misleading term to use here)Jonathan Pratter’s “Travaux préparatoires”/preparatory works have been published for some major treaties such as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (check online catalogues)

Finding “Travaux Préparatoires” for Treaties

Question #9: Where can you find an English translation of the French Vienot Report on Corporate Governance? My current favorite Internet search engine, Google, is great for this type of question – a document with a popular name on a hot topic. Google The European Corporate Governance Network has a link to Vienot I and Vienot II in English from the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF)European Corporate Governance NetworkMEDEF

Google Search Results for: “Vienot Report” English

Question #8: Where Can I Find “Control Council Law No. 10” (Nuremberg War Crimes Trials)? Yale’s Avalon Project is a great resource for major, historic documents and it includes a collection of Nuremberg War Crimes Trials documentsAvalon Project Links to other sources of War Crimes documents are also available from other “Best of the Web” sites

You know you’re ready to move up to the next level when... You take less time to find the right anwers Someone asks a question on a listserv and you know you can answer that You no longer feel the burn…

FIN

We’re done! See y’all on the Net!