May 2018 269 C&RL News Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public services and collection development at Willamette University, email: jroberts@willamette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian for technical ser vices at Willamette University, email: cdrost@ willamette.edu I n t e r n e t R e v i e w sJoni R. Roberts and Carol A. Drost Mental Health America. Access: https://www. mentalhealthamerica.net/. Mental Health America (MHA) is an advocacy group “dedicated to helping all Americans achieve wellness by living men- tally healthier lives.” The website is a portal to MHA programs, mental health screening tools, and volunteer and advocacy opportuni- ties. Also available on the site is the organiza- tion’s legislative priorities, upcoming events, and its annual report on the state of mental health in the United States. Since 1909, MHA has provided leadership in changing society’s perception and treat- ment of the mentally ill. The website inspires and provides practical help. There are options and resources that can help to remove the stigma of mental illness and offer hope to those affected by it. The “About Us” tab (one of nine drop- down tabs that organize the site) is a good place to learn about the mission, history, and philosophy of the organization. The mission statement articulates MHA’s commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of overall wellness, including prevention services for all. The B4Stage4 philosophy describes their approach to tackling mental illness as one would tackle a physical illness. Prevention, intervention, and recovery from mental illnesses are central to MHA’s mission and philosophy, and many of the sites pages display these words, often in bold letters. Visitors to the site can click on the “Take a Screen” tab to screen for one of nine men- tal health conditions, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and PTSD. For each condition, MHA provides a brief description of what the mental health screening mea- sures. Warnings and disclaimers alert the user that the information provided as a result of the screening is not a substitute for a doctor’s care and that the results should be discussed with a health provider. There is an option to view the screening pages in Spanish, the only other language offered. The audience for the site is diverse. For persons with mental illnesses, there are tools to cope, sources of information, and encouragement to use this information to get help from a health provider. For those living with the mentally ill, the site identifies resources to get help for friends and family members. Anyone wishing to advocate on behalf of the mentally ill will find resources for consultation, and organizations to join and support with their donations.—Maureen James, University of Arkansas-Little Rock, mejames@ualr.edu North Carolina Digital Collections. Access: http://digital.ncdcr.gov/. North Carolina Digital Collections (NCDC) is a collaborative effort between the State Ar- chives of North Carolina and the State Library of North Carolina, and contains more than 100,000 digitized items that document the Tar Heel State’s history and culture. Extremely well organized and easy to navigate, the NCDC site provides online access to photographs, manuscripts, current and historical govern- ment publications, audio files, genealogical data, military records, maps, scrapbooks, and literally dozens of other formats. The site’s homepage provides several well- thought out ways to access content. As soon as users land on the homepage, they immedi- ately see a search box, as well as a Featured Topics section (offering “Genealogy,” “Food,” “Bonds,” and “Cemeteries,” when reviewed), an Explore section (with “Time Period,” “NC Places,” “Places Outside NC,” and “Format” as options), and a Surprise Me area, which does exactly as it states and takes the user to a random item in the NCDC. mailto:jroberts%40willamette.edu?subject= mailto:cdrost%40willamette.edu?subject= mailto:cdrost%40willamette.edu?subject= http://mentalhealthamerica.net/ mailto:mejames%40ualr.edu?subject= http://digital.ncdcr.gov/ C&RL News May 2018 270 Extensive metadata on each item provides organizational tools to explore by place, time period, and format, and the level of granular- ity is impressive. In the Explore section, I searched for my mother’s small hometown in Eastern North Carolina and found three sets of family bible records and a set of corre- spondence. Selecting “Election returns” under Format returned a series of late 18th-century legislative documents. Selecting “(1876–1900) Gilded Age” under Time Period returned more than 7,200 items, including such items as period publications and legal documents. The site offers more than 50 “Collections,” each featuring items grouped by topic, format, or original source in the CONTENTdm plat- form that underlies the website. These collec- tions include such topics as African American Education, Black Mountain College, Governors Papers (both historical and modern), Fam- ily Records, Civil Rights, Food and Cooking, and North Carolina Newspapers. A menu bar across the top of the homepage provides even more ways to access the content in this site. As a native North Carolinian and archivist working in a North Carolina public university, I am quite familiar with much of this content and am consistently impressed by the mul- tiple ways users can access material through the website. This site is highly recommended for researching the rich history of The Old North State.—Gene Hyde, University of North Carolina-Asheville, ghyde@unca.edu Pacific Research Institute. Access: https://www. pacificresearch.org/. The Pacific Research Institute (PRI) for Public Policy is a San Francisco-based con- servative think tank whose stated mission is to “champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing free-market policy solutions” and “limited government.” Focusing on health care, business, education, California, and the environment, PRI produces white papers, funds research fellowships, and publishes op-eds in major periodicals like Forbes. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, PRI received a “needs improvement” Charity Navigator overall rating (two out of four stars), based on its financial health, accountability, and transparency. PRI was founded in 1979 by the late Antony Fisher, a wealthy Briton who subsidized libertarian think tanks worldwide. PRI maintains close ties with other conserva- tive think tanks, e.g., the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, filing joint amicus briefs among other collaborations. Like other think tanks, the Pacific Re- search Institute publishes white papers on a semi-regular basis, typically once or twice a month per research area. Ranging from two- page briefs to 100-page studies, these docu- ments are glossy and attractively designed. They contain mostly block quotes, summaries of previous research, chunks and graphics of publicly available data, and sweeping policy recommendations. Little of the reporting or analysis qualifies as original, depth and sources are often questionable, evidence is selective, opposing viewpoints are ignored, and nuance is lacking. One December 2017 white paper on education reform cites the far-right Breitbart News as a reliable source. The PRI website itself is elegantly de- signed and easy to navigate, though hard to search. Pages load quickly and display consistently on all major browsers and on mobile devices. A top navigation bar links to “About,” “Research Areas,” “Events,” “Press,” “Contact,” and “Donate.” Most of these menu items in turn open dropdown menus, which enable speedy and error-free navigation to content. PRI’s white papers and op-eds are free to read and download in PDF; PRI re- serves all other rights. The simple site search functionality unfortunately offers no ability to sort or facet results in any way. Given its strong and overt bias, poor web searchability, and derivative research outputs, the Pacific Research Institute’s website will appeal primarily to libertarians, free-market activists, and fellow travelers, and perhaps to reporters in search of quotes. Academics, policymakers, and students should read criti- cally or skip this platform altogether.—Mi- chael Rodriguez, University of Connecticut, michaelr@uconn.edu mailto:ghyde%40unca.edu?subject= https://www.pacificresearch.org/ https://www.pacificresearch.org/ mailto:michaelr%40uconn.edu?subject=