ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 738 / C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2002 Internet Reviews Joni R. Robertsand Carol A. Drost, editors H o w S t u f f W o r k s . Access: h t tp : / /w w w . howstuffw orks.com /. H ow are gam m a rays tu rn ed into electric pow er via solar cells and pow er stations? What chemical is used in drycleaning? W hat are the physics behind a returning boomerang? W hen fielding th ese or sim ilar q u e stio n s, c onsult Marshall Brain’s HowStuffWorks.com. This one site explains nearly everything you can imag­ ine. It specializes in the mechanical, b ut it also tackles social concepts, cultural events, busi­ ness jargon, a n d so on. The site uses sim ple language in logical, easy-to-follow descriptions. Most e x p la n atio n s are s p re a d o v e r several screens, w hich involves a lot of clicking, but each segm ent of an explanation contains links to further inform ation a n d tangential topics. T hough the site is dense, it is difficult to get lost. The site is fully searchable. A typical search will result in m any different approaches to a topic (theory, history, related items/ideas, de­ rivative in ventions). Alm ost all d e finition s c re e n s c o n ta in p h o to ­ graphs, graphics, or a n i­ mated diagrams to dem on­ strate h ow things work. Definitions are often sprinkled w ith jokes a n d anecdotes to m ake the reading entertaining, but n ot so m any that the authority o f the explanation suffers. The ho m ep a g e is often revised to rem ain current and to provide links to the new est or m ost p o p u la r queries. It also featu res “Top Tens” in the left margin, which lists what people recently have been curious about. If you are a re g u la r visitor, th e re is a link to the new est articles at the bottom of the main page. There are also pages for discussion forums, gadget of the day, anim ation of the day, factory tours, and an animated tour of the Web site that high­ lights the site’s features for the newcomer. The site’s drawbacks are not egregious. Due to its vast a m o u n t o f info rm a tio n a n d the creator’s desire to p resent som ething for ev­ eryone, the pages are very busy. Each page of a description contains a central text box about the subject at hand. This is surrounded on all sides by m enus, advertisem ents, additional links, m eans by w hich to tell a friend, and so on. T he font— also d u e to crow ding a lot of material on each page— is sometimes small and can tire the eyes. Wonderful pluses are that the site is largely translatable using Babblefish.com. Most of the definitions have stated authors, and the m ate­ rial is up-to-date. The site offers a free new s­ letter to a n y o n e w h o asks for it a n d it sells print books filled with the most often discussed and most popular topics.— Christine D ykgraaf University o f A rizo n a , d ykgraafc@ u.library. arizona.edu F in ancial M a rk e ts C e n te r. Access: h ttp :// w w w .fm center.org/. The Financial Markets Center Web site pro­ vides e x tensive inform ation o n th e Federal Reserve System and its relationship to the fi­ nancial markets. Maintained by a nonprofit or­ ganization, the site presents a range of useful inform ation from a basic d e sc rip tio n of the structure a nd function o f the Federal Reserve System to m eeting schedules and transcripts. The site also includes useful background infor­ m ation a n d tools to foster u n d e rstan d in g of the role of interest rates in the economy. T he site gathers all public inform ation on the F ederal R eserve System in o n e place through its links to public documents, explana­ tory documents, and relevant public Web sites. It also brings together commentaries, analyses, and predictions forecasting the operations of the Federal Reserve System. G iven the less- than-open, day-to-day o perations of the Fed, this site supports public understanding of the w o rk in g s o f this im p o rta n t p a rt of g o v e rn ­ ment. Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian fo r public services and c o lle c tio n d e ve lo p m e n t a t W illa m e tte University, e-mail: jroberts@ vvillamette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian fo r technical services at W illam ette University, e-mail: cdrost@w illamette.edu http://www HowStuffWorks.com Babblefish.com http://www.fmcenter.org/ mailto:jroberts@wiliamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu C&RL N ew s ■ N o v e m b e r 2 0 02 / 739 T h e site is d iv id ed v e ry sim p ly in to th re e g e n e ra l areas: “D e p a rtm e n ts ,” “T o p ic s ,” and “W hat’s N ew (s).” “D ep artm ents” includes g en ­ eral ov erv iew s, n e w sletters, re s e a rc h m ateri­ als, relevant links, and Federal Reserve archives. In the “T o p ic s ” area, fou r su b je c ts (m o n etary p olicy , reserv e b an k s, fin an cial m arkets, and re g u la to ry is s u e s ) a re c o v e r e d w ith lin k s to d o c u m e n ts a n d o th e r W e b site s. “W h a t’s N e w (s )” g iv es a b r ie f o v e rv ie w o f th e la te s t n e w s from th e F e d e ra l R e s e rv e Sy s te m and links to d o cu m e n ts and W eb sites discussing the ideas further. O th e r fe a tu r e s o f th e site in c lu d e a k e y ­ w ord sea rch o p tion that did n o t p erform w ell w h e n I did a sim ple sea rch o n “w e e k e n d rate c u t,” w h ic h w a s c o v e re d in the “T o p ic s ” s e c ­ tion. O n th e o th er hand, I did a sec o n d search on “m argin d ebt” and received 15 relevant links to articles o n th e W eb site. E-m ail no tification is an o th e r o p tion the u se r c a n c h o o s e for site updates. T h e F in a n cia l M arkets C en ter is a n attrac­ tive, straightforw ard site that co h e re n tly p re ­ sen ts and c o n n e c ts an array o f sp ecialized in­ form ation. A nyo ne interested in federal m on ­ etary p olicy and the m ech an ics o f interest rate o p era tio n s w ill find this site helpful, w h eth e r it’s th e a v e ra g e c itiz e n w o n d e rin g “w h at the Fed is up to ” o r the financial professional s e e k ­ ing the latest m eetin g transcript. T h e only d raw back to the site is its ineffec­ tive search capability, w hich is important given th e larg e a m o u n t o f in fo rm a tio n o n the site, regardless o f its sim ple design. Finan cial M ar­ k ets C en te r is a hig h ly re c o m m e n d e d so u rce fo r p a st a n d cu rre n t in fo rm a tio n o n the F e d ­ eral R eserve System .— C olleen Lougen, M ount Saint Mary College, lougen@msmc.edu D D IL L : D o c u m e n t D e l i v e r y a n d I n t e r - l i b r a r y L o a n S e r v i c e s G u i d e . A ccess: http://w w w .ddill.org/. It b e h o o v e s th e in fo rm a tio n p ro fe ssio n a l o r know led ge w ork er to self-m anage co ntin u­ ing ed u cation op p ortu nities, e sp e cia lly w h en training re s o u rc e s are fre e ly available o n the W eb. D o you w an t to learn m ore ab o u t a ser­ v ice w ithin the p ro fession ? Locked into refer­ e n c e , b u t h a n k e r to k n o w h o w to c a ta lo g or e x p e d ite th e in terlib ra ry lo a n (ILL) p ro ce ss? If so , fre e training abou n ds. D o cu m en t D eliv­ ery a n d In te r lib ra ry L o a n S e r v ic e s G u id e (DDILL) is a p aragon o f a p ro fessio n al ed u ca ­ tio n site. It’s a n oasis o f h e lp and h o w -to ’s for th o se n e w to ILL, and it’s a solid re s o u rc e for e x p e r ie n c e d p r o fe ssio n a ls to o . In sum , it’s a no -frills, b a r e -b o n e s d irecto ry o f usefu l c o n ­ tent. A esthetics— d iu m b s dow n. C onten t and utility— thum bs up. R ecently, I ’v e b e e n researching OCLC’s ILL W eb p rodu ct. L ackin g the p h ilo so p h ica l and c o n c e p tu a l b a c k g r o u n d o f the ILL p ro c e ss , I d e cid ed to read DD ILL’s C rash C ou rse in ILL. Surely, a F o r D um m ies m anual co u ld b e p ro ­ d u ced from this m aterial. DDILL offers o n lin e help w ith various softw are p ackages and links to fr e e tra in in g m aterials, in clu d in g th e fre e W eb tutorial that OCLC p rovides. A m o n g o th e r f e a tu r e s , u s e rs c a n v iew sam p le ILL form s and p o licies, e x p lo re c o p y ­ right law , le a rn ab o u t ob tain in g dissertations, an d read th e d e b a te a b o u t w h e re ILL serv ice should b e located— reference, circulation, tech­ nical services? R e fe r e n c e a n d ILL s ta ff w ill fin d D D ILL’s “Verification T ools and F ree Full-Text Sou rces” incredibly helpful. A shared know ledge o f these too ls w ou ld only serve to im p rove co m m u n i­ c a tio n a n d c o lla b o r a t io n b e tw e e n th e tw o staffs. DDILL links to citatio n d atab ases (e.g ., A gricola), OPACs (e .g ., L ib dex), m edia d ire c­ tories (e.g., Publist), e-texts (e.g., O nline B o ok s Page), and so on. H ow ever, I did no t se e a link to the a w e so m e tro u b le sh o o tin g to o l k n o w n as JA S (Jo u rn al A bb rev iatio ns Server). DDILL is a truly egalitarian site that caters to tyros as w ell as season ed professionals. T he site offers the user the ch a n ce for a m ore holis­ tic, integrated view o f library services and func­ tions. If it’s that m acro understanding that you la c k , th is W e b s ite w ill fill in th e h o le s a n d e m p o w e r y o u . O n e d r a w b a c k o f th e site is that it is no t searchab le. Drill away!— C. B rian Smith, Ju d son College, bsm ith@ judsoncollege. ed u ■ " J o b o f a L ife t im e " id e a s ? I f y o u k n o w o f a n in n o v a tiv e o r u n u s u a l a ca d e m ic library p o sitio n that y o u ’d lik e to s e e h ig h lig h te d in th e “J o b o f a L ife tim e ” column, e-mail your suggestions to Danianne M izzy at d a n ia n n e + @ p itt.e d u . mailto:lougen@msmc.edu http://www.ddill.org/