making the connection in the caribbean… to the rest of the world

Making the

Connection in the

Caribbean… to

the Rest of the

World

Making the Connection in the Making the Connection in the Caribbean…to the Rest of the WorldCaribbean…to the Rest of the World

Lyonette Louis-JacquesUniversity of Chicago Law Library

llou@midway.uchicago.eduACURIL, San Juan, Puerto Rico,

June 4, 2003

How to Make the ConnectionHow to Make the ConnectionWebsites Databases

Reference Tools People Sources

Criteria for Deciding What to Criteria for Deciding What to Connect to (or Whom!)Connect to (or Whom!)

Trustworthy? Well-organized? Useful content? Has or

knows stuff you need? Convenient? Known/familiar? Updated regularly? Annotated? Evaluated? Aesthetically pleasing?

Websites: Start with Your Websites: Start with Your Own or Make Your OwnOwn or Make Your Own

You know where things are in it

You know what’s in it (who’s on your team)

You know what its strengths are or what the game plan is

You can trust it

Lyo’s Personal Page for International Legal Research

Bill Schwesig’s D’Angelo Law Library International Page

University of the West Indies Law Library

UWI’s CariLaw (Caribbean Law Project)

UWI’s QUICKLAW Subscription

UWI’s Legal Resources Links Page

Connect to the Best Information: Connect to the Best Information: Go Straight to the Source Go Straight to the Source

Remember that Agencies Are on Your Team Remember that Agencies Are on Your Team (Domestic, Foreign, and International)(Domestic, Foreign, and International)

UK & U.S. United Nations Other Inter-Governmental

Organizations (IGOs) Regional Organizations Non-Governmental

Organizations (NGOs) Foreign Governments

Connect to Your Local Team Connect to Your Local Team (Local Government Agencies)(Local Government Agencies)

And Don’t Forget Your And Don’t Forget Your Foreign Team!Foreign Team!

Precisa (Mexican government on the Net)

Legifrance (French laws)

HMSO (UK Legislation Page)

THOMAS (Access to U.S. bills and laws)

http://www.loc.gov/law/glin/

LC’s Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)

U.S. Dep’t of State: Country Reports, Trade, Commerce, and International Law

Canada’s DFAIT/AECI

Connect to IGO Websites: Connect to IGO Websites: They’ve Got Everything; They’ve Got Everything;

They’re the Best!They’re the Best!

United Nations Treaty Collection

Really Current Status of Multilateral Treaties!

United Nations Documentation Centre

OAS’ Legal Information Search Page

OAS’ Foreign Trade Information System (SICE)

World Bank’s Law and Justice Page

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

EUR-Lex: European Union Law Webpage

The Universe of Legal Information Is in The Universe of Legal Information Is in the Caribbean Right At Your Fingertips!the Caribbean Right At Your Fingertips!

(Miss Universe participants at Trinidad and Tobago)

If You’re Not Sure Where to If You’re Not Sure Where to Begin…Begin…

Check to see what’s in your own library first

Think globally, act locally…first

Presenting…Presenting…

Major Websites for Foreign and

International Legal Research

Cornell’s Legal Information Cornell’s Legal Information Institute: International Law in a Institute: International Law in a

NutshellNutshell Law about…(by topic/subject)

Foreign Relations Law of the U.S.International LawInternational TradeLaw by source or jurisdictionRecommended readings!

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII)

LLRX.com (UK law guides and more)

LLRX.com’s Foreign Law Research Guides

LawLinks: Legal Information on the Internet

BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute)

Inner Temple Library’s AccessToLaw Page

eagle-i (e-access to global legal information)

TreatiesTreaties

U.S. Marci Hoffman’s Guid

e

Other Stefanie Weigman’s

Guide

ASIL’s E-Resource Guide for International Legal ASIL’s E-Resource Guide for International Legal Researchers (and “Joe Public”)Researchers (and “Joe Public”)

Direct links to treaty texts

Human Rights International

Economic Law Treaties International

Commercial Arbitration, and more!

ASIL’ Guide to IL Research on the Net

NYU: Focus on Foreign Law NYU: Focus on Foreign Law Databases, and More!Databases, and More!

Annotated links to databases of primary law

Evaluated, selected by Foreign Law Librarian

Updated frequently On target contents Codes, legislation,

treaties, constitutions

New York University’s FCIL Research Page

Harvard’s Research Guides

National Laws By Subject (Harvard)

Australian Treaties Library (Multilaterals from 1856)

The Avalon Project’s Major Collections

Online DatabasesOnline Databases

LexisNexis Especially for Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest, Matthew-Bender treatises, foreign law

CariLaw QUICKLAW

WESTLAW Especially for international tribunal decisions, UK law journals, Sweet & Maxwell publications, & int’l law journals

Online Public Access Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs)Catalogs (OPACs)

Union catalogsFind foreign lawFind treatiesVerify informationTables of contentsBrowse call #sLinks to e-articles

Standard Tools (Books)Standard Tools (Books)

Reynolds & Flores PIL Nutshell CIA World Factbook Treaty indexes (TIF) Martindale-Hubbell’s

Law Digest

The Bluebook Encyclopedia of

Public International Law

International Legal Materials (ILM)

Reynolds & Flores

Standard Tools (Cont’d)Standard Tools (Cont’d) Restatement of the Law, The Foreign Relations of

the United States Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of

International Law International Law: Selected Documents Yearbook of the United Nations Matthew-Bender and Sweet & Maxwell Legal research guides

How to Stay Connected How to Stay Connected 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)

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!

Bookmark & try new links right away!

People Sources (Specialists in People Sources (Specialists in FCIL Research)FCIL Research)

Foreign Law Librarians

ProfessorsDocumentalists/IGO Librarians

Lawyers

Libraries with Strong FCIL Libraries with Strong FCIL Collections in the Caribbean and Collections in the Caribbean and

BeyondBeyondUniversity of the West Indies (UWI)

Faculty of Law Library (Barbados)University of Puerto Rico Law LibraryU.S. libraries (Chicago, Columbia, Harvard,

Berkeley, Tarlton (University of Texas at Austin), Los Angeles County Law Library, etc.)

UK libraries (IALS, e.g.)

International Labor Organization: International Labor Organization: Caribbean Information ServicesCaribbean Information Services

Caribbean Association of Law Libraries (CARALL)

The Archives of the INT-LAW E-Mail List

How to Subscribe to INT-LAWHow to Subscribe to INT-LAW

Send an e-mail message to:

majordomo@listhost.ciesin.org

With only the following text in the body:

subscribe int-law

LIS-LAW (UK Law Librarians List)

How to subscribe to LIS-LAWHow to subscribe to LIS-LAW

Subscribe to LIS-LAW via:http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/lis-law.html

Or send e-mail to jiscmail@jiscmail.ac.uk with only the following text in the body:

subscribe lis-law Your Name

International Calendar for Legal Information Events

SEAALL (Southeastern Chapter, American Association of Law Libraries)

Checklist of Connections to MakeChecklist of Connections to Make

Check websites… Check databases… Check standard tools.. Research guides OPACs Indexes Check people sources… IGOs, NGOs, embassies Listservs

WorkIt!

Question #1: Does the North Question #1: Does the North American Commission for American Commission for

Environmental Cooperation Environmental Cooperation have a Web page?have a Web page?

Yes, at http://www.cec.org/ (there is a link to it from the NAFTA Secretariat page)

Also NYU has a link from its International Environment Law page; ditto with the ASIL ERG for International Environmental Law

Question #2: What does Question #2: What does “RIDC” stand for?“RIDC” stand for?

Revue internationale de droit comparé! (using Sarah Carter’s wonderful “LawLinks” page of abbreviations)

Alternative sources include searching in a full text journal articles database, searching in an online catalogue, or an Internet search engine such as Google

Question #3: Where can I find Question #3: Where can I find the text of the 1958 New York the text of the 1958 New York

Convention?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)

It also available via other official and unofficial sources such as UNCITRALand InternationalADR

Question #4: Where can I find Question #4: Where can I find English and Spanish English and Spanish

translations of French legal translations of French legal codes?codes?

From the French government’s Legifrance web at http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/html/codes_traduits/liste.htm

See also Reynolds & Flores’ Foreign Law.

Question #5: Where can you Question #5: Where can you find an English translation of find an English translation of the French Vienot Report on the French Vienot Report on

Corporate Governance?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.

The European Corporate Governance Network has a link to Vienot I and Vienot II in English from the Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF)

Google Search Results for: “Vienot Report” English

See What a Little “Eksperyans” Can Do?See What a Little “Eksperyans” Can Do?

How to Stay Connected…How to Stay Connected…ContinuedContinued

Attend workshops, seminars, and training courses (both substantive and bibliographic)

Attend specialized database sessionsMaintain a personal or institutional web

pageREAD, READ, READ research guides and

substantive international law articlesDo you feel the burn?

You know you’re ready to You know you’re ready to move up to the next level move up to the next level

when...when...You take less time to find the right anwersSomeone asks a question on a listserv and

you know you can answer thatYou no longer feel the burn…

Touchdown! You’re Connected to the World!

FIN

We’re done!

See y’all on

the Net!