Updated Research Guides From GlobaLex

GlobaLex, the electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, recently updated a number of its excellent research guides.

Here are some of them:

• A Guide on the Harmonization of International Commercial Law (by Duncan E. Alford is Associate Dean, Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law at the University Of South Carolina School Of Law): "Since World War II, international trade has grown exponentially and with it the importance of international law. With the increased business between companies in different nations, the need for increased harmonization of commercial laws has become apparent. Knowledge of international commercial law has become important for the transactional lawyer, even those outside major metropolitan areas. Several years ago, LexisNexis and the International Bar Association jointly sponsored a survey of attorneys in eight countries, including the United States. The results of the survey reveal that while the practice of law is still largely domestic, the convergence of laws in certain areas, particularly trade and investment, is occurring. The vast majority of the attorneys surveyed then believed that the international standardization of trade and investment law would be beneficial. This guide collects sources for these harmonized commercial laws and leads the legal researcher to Internet sources on this complicated area of international law. The guide begins with a discussion of the intergovernmental organizations (in some cases supranational) whose purpose is to harmonize commercial laws. The guide then identifies the important treaties that have harmonized commercial law, particularly the law of the sale of goods, and finally identifies research institutes that support the harmonization of commercial law. I have purposefully excluded conventions dealing with the transport of goods, the taking of evidence, insolvency, arbitration and procedural matters from this article." 
• Basic Primary and Secondary Information Online Sources for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the United States Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) Research (by Francisco A. Avalos, retired Foreign and International Law Librarian at James E. Rogers College of Law and Maureen Garmon, Faculty Services Librarian at the Law Library, Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona): "The objective of this article is to serve as a one-stop research guide to the North American Free Trade Agreement and the United States Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic. The major documents and institutions directly related to NAFTA and CAFTA-DR are identified and a citation to the particular item is given. The websites cited were chosen for the authority and reputation of the sponsor of the website and the completeness of information provided. The updating policy and the ease of navigation of the websites were also taken into account for inclusion into this article. Also, free websites were favored over pay websites. Websites with little information on the website itself and consisting mainly of links to other websites for the actual desired information were avoided. The vast majority of the citations found in this article are annotated as to content and research value of the website. The citations that are not annotated are the ones where the title of the website made the content obvious. " 
• Researching the United Nations: Finding the Organization's Internal Resource Trails (by Linda Tashbook, Foreign International Comparative Law Librarian at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law's Barco Law Library): "The United Nations is such a massive organization that its wide array of processes and products require enough reference sources to warrant a map and compass for navigation. As a map, here are suggested search techniques for several standard types of queries and, as a compass, here are the U.N.'s many diverse search tools organized into resource types."