The catalogue of the Peace Palace Library contains references to books and journal articles in the field of international law.
Given that the Peace Palace library (PPL) has copies of almost every public international law journal published (either on paper and/or electronically), the catalogue is at present the best bibliographical database for public international law available. The PPL uses an excellent and extensive classification system, which consists of around 5,000 keywords.The books and journal articles you may find through this catalogue are in any case available from the Peace Palace library, but a great number is also present or accessible in Utrecht.
Several Research Guides provide a brief introduction, suggest certain books, articles, databases and other materials considered indispensable.
Please note!
- the Peace Palace library catalogue does also contain references to journal articles.
- If Utrecht University Library provides access to a publication you have found, Lean Library will lead you there. As an alternative: conduct a further search with the already found data in the UU list of electronic journals or in WorldCat (for access to e-books and e-journal(articles) and the shelfmark and availability of a printed book or printed journal).
The collection of printed books is divided into ten fields of law, for instance:
Public international law, classification scheme (PDF)
International human rights, classification scheme (PDF)
The classification schemes show how the books are arranged on the shelves. Books on the same subject are placed together.
The titles of the books held by Utrecht University Library can be found in WorldCat. Here you will also get information about where to find the book and if it is for loan.
There are several ways to search WorldCat. In the case of print books you can enter words from the title or keywords. In the case of e-books you usually search the table of contents and the summary. Need more help? There is a Libguide on Worldcat.
More information about books can be found on Google Books, publishers' sites and on commerical sites, for instance of Amazon, bol.com or Bruna.
Google Books is a search engine in which you will find (data on) more than 20 million books. Books are included in Google Books via the scan programme that Google executes at >20 large libraries and via publishers taking care of their own uploads. That is why Google Books often contains the searchable full text of books. However, though you can search the full text you cannot always read the full text in Google Books. It depends on copyright issues and publishers' permissions. Mainly the older books which are copyright-free are full text available in Google Books.
Though it is difficult to find there is also an advanced search form for Google Books that you can use to do a more targeted search.
In addition to the catalogue, use Google Books for:
If you have found relevant titles in Google Books, you can look for the title in the catalogue of Utrecht University Library to get access to the book. Unfortunately, Google Books does not show the UBU link as Google Scholar does.
The LibGuide Search Strategy>Where to look for books> tab:Google Books offers more information about working with Google Books.
The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) is a comprehensive online resource containing peer-reviewed articles on every aspect of public international law.
Notice the hyperlinks at the top of the screen: Guided Tour – FAQs - Help
Google Scholar is a large search engine for scholarly publications. It searches primarily journal articles and, contrary to almost all other search engines, searches the full text. From Google Books the data of a large number of scientific books are included in Google Scholar. Also in this respect Google Scholar differs from classical scientific search engines such as Scopus or Web of Science.
Google Scholar's special features listed:
In the special Google Scholar LibGuide 
you will find all you want to know about successfully using this remarkable search engine
In your search for scholarly literature you may sometimes find the UBU-link. This link provides information about the availability of digital publications via the University Library. Sometimes the UBU-link is in the form of a yellow button, but it can also be a text link.
Want to know more about all options to access digital publications? Visit our Online Access page.
Nexis Uni offers the full text of (many) articles from Dutch and international newspapers and newsmagazines. In addition Nexis Uni provides company information on Dutch and international businesses. 
What will you find in Nexis Uni?
How do you search in Nexis Uni?
Human Rights blogposts:
Van wetenschappers van de UU: