ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


811

Internet 
Reviews

S a ra  A m a to , e d ito r

The C a th o lic  E ncyclo­
pedia. Access: http:// 
www.knight.org/advent/ 
cathen/.

The C atholic E n cyclopedia: 
An I n t e r n a tio n a l W ork o f  
R eferen ce on  th e Constitu­
tion, D octrine, D iscipline, 
a n d  History o f  the C atholic 
Church, edited by Charles 
G. Herberm ann et al.‚ was 
p u b lish ed  in 15 v olu m es 
plus in d ex b e tw e e n  1907 
and 1912. This m onum en­
tal w ork contains 11,568 ar­
ticles, from A achen to Zwirner, written by lead­
ing Catholic scholars o f  the day. It is aimed at 
high -sch ool aged  students and  up. Th ou gh  
showing its age in som e respects, the Catholic 
Encyclopedia is still a worthy starting point for 
research on matters related to Catholicism. It is 
most useful for theology and religious studies, 
but is also surprisingly strong in philosophy 
and very helpful for m edieval history.

T h e online version o f the Catholic Encyclo­
pedia is a volu nteer project, coordinated by 
Kevin Knight. As o f Septem ber 1997, volun­

teers had typed or scanned in 3,159 (27 per­
cent) o f the articles. T hese contributions are 
then converted into a handsom e, Lynx-friendly 
HTML form at and linked from the alphabetical 
table o f  contents. T he online Catholic Encyclo­
pedia also contains num erous papal and c o n
ciliar docum ents that w ere not included in the 
original. W here possible, encyclopedia articles 
are linked to other referenced articles, to rel­
evant ch u rch  d ocu m ents, or to th e Summa 
T heologica (w hich is also hosted at this site).—  
E lizabeth T. Knuth, C ollege o f  St. B en ed ict a n d  
St. J o h n ’s University; ek n u th @tiny.com puting. 
csbsju.edu

U.S. EPA In d e x  o f W a te rs h e d  Indicators.
Access: http://www.epa.gov/surf/iwi.

As American society moves toward understand­
ing environmental issues in a more holistic man­
ner, and with scientists, regulatory agencies, 
and corporate interests attem pting to gain a 
more com prehensive ecosystem  or “big picture”

view  o f pollution issues, the 
U.S. EPA’s Index o f W ater­
shed Indicators can provide 
a wealth o f invaluable data to 
a variety o f audiences. The in­
d ex consists o f 15 individual 
databases com bined  into one 
m etaind ex that contains w a­
ter quality assessm en ts for 
over 2 ,000 w atersheds in the 
contiguous 48 states.

The W eb site is logically 
constructed and information 
is easy to locate. Users can 
quickly retrieve pertinent wa­

tershed data via a large num ber o f entry points 
and do searches by using clickable state maps 
that lead to maps, text, and statistical data for 
nearly all water­
s h e d s  w ith in  
e a c h  s t a te . 
S e a r c h e s  c a n  
also b e made by 
two letter state cod es, zip codes, stream names, 
county or city nam es, nam e o f Indian tribe, or 
by num erous other criteria. Links to and from 
the USGS G eographic Inform ation System D a­

tabase Query Form  allow  users to search 
by additional unique features such as el­
evation above sea level or by USGS 7.5 
minute map name.

Individual pages returned to the user include 
a map o f the watershed; a geography section, 
which includes population, land characteristics—  
such as total square miles o f watershed area, 
and landscape indicators such as percentages o f 
total watershed area classed by urban, forest, 
agricultural, and other designations; and a s e c ­
tion called Environmental Uses and Discharges.

This last section contains a veritable trea­
sure o f information. First, a table lists, in mil­
lions o f gallons p er day, how  m uch water is 
allocated to dom estic, com m ercial, industrial, 
mining, livestock, irrigation, wastewater, and 
reservoir uses. There are links to water discharge 
permit information granted to individual mu­
nicipal and business facilities within the water­
shed. Also available are lists o f hazardous waste 
sites, toxic release sites, and Superfund sites 
within the watershed. W hen available, there are

Sara Amato is automated systems librarian at Central 
Washington University; samato@tahoma.cwu.edu

http://www.knight.org/advent/
http://www.epa.gov/surf/iwi
mailto:samato@tahoma.cwu.edu


8 1 2

even lists o f specific chem ical pollutants per
mitted for discharge by these facilities (with CA
Registry Numbers included) along with link
to chem ical fact sheets and material safety dat
sheets for each  chemical.

T h ere are links to pages providing histori
cal and recent data from w etlands losses t
environm ental W eb sites, to state and regiona
environm ental organizations to relevant stat
and Federal agen cies and to the full text o
governm ent and private sector tech nical re
ports. T he EPA Index o f W atershed Indicator
is highly recom m en ded to a w ide range o f stu
dents and faculty, including th o se in the sci
en ces, in geography and land use planning, i
environm ental policy, and in education.—J o h
C r e e c h , C e n t r a l  W a s h in g to n  U n iv ers ity
jc reec h @ w w w .lib .cw u .ed u

E ncyclopaedia o f th e  O rie n t
Access: http://i-cias.com /e.o/index.htm
A u dien ce: General; college students, par

ticularly those beginning study o f North Afri
can culture, history, or language.

Author: Tore Kjeilen, Centre d ’ĭnformatio
Arabe Scandinave. Kjeilen is a Norwegian citi
zen w ho, follow ing postgraduate studies i
North Africa, lived and traveled in the region
w orked on  the foreign new s desk at TV2 Nor
way, and now  manages CIAS and its Web sit
full-time. The site is active and sam ple entries
c h e ck e d  for accu racy against print sou rces
contained valid information.

Id io sy n cra sies: T h e  site u ses fram es bu
w orks w ell within them. T he interface is ap
pealing and intuitive, and graphical help is avail
able. Clicking certain pages launches anothe
brow ser session. Applets serve a surprisingl
useful function, providing com m ercials for th
site itself, demonstrating help instructions, o
supporting the con tent o f the articles. A fe
b rok en  links exist, and som e entries are unde
construction. An audio feature on som e o f th
articles launches a player that pronounces th
defined term in Arabic.

G en era l review: Most users are likely t
misinterpret the nam e o f this resource, whic
deals with North Africa and its culture. Thi
resource is particularly useful for its definition
o f  religious terms, w hich are likely to b e  un
familiar to the college student learning about Nort
African culture or religions. Besides the solid cover
age o f  Muslim and Zoroastrian term s, ther
are entries dealing with Babism  and even wit
the Mandean religion. A sizable num ber o f e n

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tries cover geographic features, and many are 
enlivened with pictures and other technology.

T he applet under the entiy for Andalucia, for 
exam ple, w hich dem onstrates the Moorish con ­
quest o f  Spain, is not to b e  missed. Many o f the 
rem aining entries deal with recent history, cur­
rent events, and famous figures.

Perhaps b ecau se o f its non-Am erican origin 
or the author’s interest in the region, issues are 
presented in a light more sym pathetic to Arab 
interests than the average American expects. 
The E n cy clo p aed ia o f  the Orient is useful on its 
ow n but is intended by the author to b e  used 
in conjunction with another resource available 
on the site: M iftah S ham ali, a graphically pre­
sented geographical overview  or “virtual tour” 
o f North Africa.— C lare B. Dunkle, Trinity Uni­
versity; cdunkle@ trinity.edu . ■

W ashington co n t. fr o m  p a g e  8 0 9

fuzzy and lacking in sufficient detail. Confer­
en ce report language expresses the com m ittee’s 
expectations that NSF provide m ore detailed 
m ilestones and guideposts before KDI m oney 
is spent, but did not hold the m oney out o f the 
budget.

P a r tn e r s h ip s  f o r  A d v a n c e d  C o m p u ta tio n a l 
In fr a s tr u c tu r e  (PA C I). T he House raised con ­
cerns about the transition funding for the two 
losing National Su percom pu ter Centers (the 
Pittsburgh and Cornell Centers) w ho w ere bid­
ders in the PACI com petition. They added $5 
million to the transition funds that will b e made 
available to those centers. T he con feren ce re­
port rem oved the $5 million but retained lan­
guage expressing concern. It directed NSF to 
monitor the transition carefully and submit a 
report with its FY 1999 budget request, which 
particularly analyzes the fate o f “high-end” us­
ers o f the IBM SP (the system currently in o p ­
eration at Cornell).

F o r  fu r th e r  i n fo r m a tio n , c o n t a c t  R ick  
Weingarten, at the ALA W ashington O ffice at 1-
(8 0 0 ) 941-8478, w ho follow s NGI as w ell as 
Internet II issues for ALA. ■

mailto:jcreech@wwwJib.cwu.edu
http://i-cias.com/e.o/index.htm
mailto:cdunkle@trinity.edu