ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


220/C&RL News

Internet
Reviews

Sa ra Amαto, editor

This month is the first time 
that this c o lu m n  lists a 
W o rld  W id e  W e b  (W W W ) 
address. For those o f you not 
fa m ilia r  w ith  th e W W W  
th e r e  are p u b lic  access 
W W W  sites a v a ila b le  to 
w hich you telnet. The tw o 
listed b e lo w  are cited in the 
Y a n o ff list o f  special Inter­
net connections. Login as 
“w w w ” . Telnet: w w w .n jit. 
e d u ; te ln e t: u k a n a ix .c c . 
ukans.edu. These are VT100- 
based clients, and w ill only 
g ive  you the textual information. T h ere are 
W W W  clients that allow  for graphics display, 
such as NCSA’s Mosaic and Cello. These brow s­
ers allow  you to take advantage o f  the full rich­
ness o f  W W W  resources.

Soviet Archives. Access: T h ere are several 
ways to access this resource: W orld W id e W eb: 
http://sun site.u nc.edu/expo/soviet.exhibit/ 
soviet.a rch ive.h tm l; teln et:/ / m a rvel.loc.go v 
login as “m arvel”— direct telnet to Library o f 
Congress gop h er Marvel is limited to 15 out­
side users; gopher://m arvel.loc.gov:70/l; file:/ 
/ seq l.loc.gov/pub/soviet.archive/

The Soviet Archives is a collection o f  31 
documents and background notes from an ex ­
hibit entitled “Revelations from  the Russian 
Archives” that was displayed at the Library o f 
Congress in 1992. The 31 documents w ere se­
lected from  over 500 m ade available by the 
Russian Archives. The documents span the pe­
riod from  the O ctober 1917 Revolution to the 
failed coup o f  August 1991. T h ey are arranged 
for the purpose o f  the exhibit in tw o main sec­
tions: “Internal W orkings o f  the Soviet System” 
c o v e rin g  d om estic p olicy, and “T h e Soviet 
Union and the United States” coverin g foreign 
policy. According to the introduction to the 
exhibit written by James Billington, Librarian 
o f Congress, this exhibit is “the first public dis­
play o f  the hitherto highly secret internal record 
o f the Soviet communist rule."

The 32 documents selected for the exhibit 
include communiques from  the KGB; letters by 
Lenin, Kruschev, and G orbachev; and docu­
ments describing construction problems with 
Chernobyl. Foreign policy documents include 
references to the American Famine R elief e fforts

 led by Herbert H oover, 
W orld War II POWs, and e x ­
changes betw een Kruschev 
and Kennedy during the Cu­
ban Missile crisis. Each docu­
ment is translated and in­
clu d es an a c c o m p a n y in g  
background text to put it in 
historical perspective.

Using Mosaic, one is able 
to b ro w se the docum ents 
and call up images o f sample 
p a g es  fro m  th e o rig in a l. 
Next to the document image 
is a scroll icon that w ill call 

up the translation o f  the sample pages. Because 
the image is not the com plete document, the 
translation does not necessarily match the docu­
ment image exactly. H ow ever, using Mosaic, 
on e gets m ore o f  a feel o f  m oving through the 
exhibit as it was originally arranged, and see­
ing visual images o f the documents as they ac­
tually exist.

A  co p y  o f  an online brochure o f  the exhibit 
is available via ftp in a variety o f formats and 
includes the com plete text o f  the background 
notes along with the translations o f  the docu­
ments on display. In the “Readme” file is a com ­
plete explanation o f  the arrangement o f  the 
document, image, and background note files. 
T h e identifications o f  the translators and the 
author o f the background notes are not included 
in the documentation on the exhibit.

If on e keeps in mind that 74 years o f  Soviet 
history are covered  by this exhibit, it is impres­
sive for what it includes, but also makes on e 
want to see more. W h ile the exhibit may not 
provide a serious scholar with everything he/ 
she may need, it provides a glim pse at primary 
sources that provide insight into som e o f the 
significant events during the period covered. It 
is not a com plete history o f  the period, but 
does provide an overall introduction to the in­
ner w orkings o f  a society that was controlled 
by repression and propaganda.— Terri Fishel, 
Macalester College; e-mail: fisbel@macalstr.edu

UM-St Louis Government Information Gopher.
Access: gopher://umslvma.umsl.edu: 70/1/1/li­
brary/ govdocs; goph er umslvma.umsl.edu; 8. 
The Library; 9. Government Information

The U.S. Department o f  Com m erce intends 
to load its popular CD-ROM databases [National

http://www.njit
http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/soviet.exhibit/
gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/l
mailto:fisbel@macalstr.edu
gopher://umslvma.umsl.edu


April 1994/221

Trade Data Bank (N T D B ) and National Eco­
nomic, Social, and Environmental Data Bank 
(NESE)] onto the Internet by the end o f  1994. 
M eanwhile, the University o f  Missouri at St. 
Louis (UM SL) offers full-text gop h er access to 
many popular and useful NTDB/NESE titles 
today. G oph er offerings appeal to both serious 
researchers and the m erely curious alike.

For detailed governm ent and business data, 
the UMSL reference librarians serve up classics 
such as the Overseas Business Reports (market­
ing and trade reports for 25 countries); Coun­
try Reports-Economic Policy & Trade Practices 
(econ o m ic and trade assessments o f  nearly 100 
international markets); Economic Reports o f the 
President; North American Free Trade Agree­
ment; Small Business Administration Industry 
Profiles and State Profiles; and full text o f  the 
Health Security Act.

Ready reference resources include the CIA 
World FactBook, Occupational Outlook Hand­
book, U.S. Industrial Outlook, Background 
Notes; and press releases and statements o f  the 
president and vice-president.

Currently the Government Information menu 
consists o f  31 items, mostly full-text govern­
m ent d ocu m en ts and statistical databases. 
Some selections, such as Library o f  Congress 
Marvel and Wiretap, serve as gateways to other 
popular gop h er sites. Approxim ately half o f the 
selections originate directly from  the monthly 
NTD B and quarterly NESE CDs. N e w  items are 
loaded upon arrival o f  the CDs.

UMSL’s extraction o f  data from  electronic 
sources perhaps represents a n ew  m odel for 
reference service. In the words o f Raleigh Muns, 
on e o f  the UMSL reference librarians charged 
w ith maintaining the library node, “our plans 
are to transfer our expertise in collection de­
velop m en t, presentation, organization , etc., 
from  the physical w orld to the electronic world. 
The general techniques o f  extracting pieces o f 
governm ent CD-ROMs and arranging them in 
m ore palatable formats are very em p ow erin g.” 
Let’s wish the UMSL Library much success by 
utilizing this virtual treasure trove o f  public­
d o m a in  in fo rm a tio n .— Larry Schankman, 
M ansfield University; e-m ail: Ischankm@ 
υmhostl mnsfld.edu

New Y ork-Israel Project. Access: Gopher:// 
nysemet.org:70/l 1/Selected Gateways to many 
resources/NY-Israel project; gop h er nysernet. 
org; 7. Selected Gateways to many resources; 
3. NY-Israel project

A  large Jewish gop h er available on  Internet 
is the N e w  York-Israel Project which exists to 
“create a netw ork for Jewish religious, educa­
tional, and social service organizations w o rld ­
w id e  to …  share information and data am ong 
them selves.”

O f interest to scholars is the JSJeJ Abstract 
Review ( jew stu dies@ israel.n ysernet.org)  d e ­
scribed as “a monthly review  o f items found in 
Jewish Studies print journals.” This is a listserv 
to which you may subscribe, and the archives 
are housed here under “Electronic Journals/Jew­
ish Studies Judaica eJournal.”

A m on g the databases already established 
are:

1. Tanach— an online Tanach, divrei Torah 
and other commentaries on Jewish Bible and 
texts (listed under “Jews and Judaism”).

2. Answers— “text and graphics answering 
attacks on Judaism by Holocaust revisionists 
and Christian missionaries (listed under “H o lo ­
caust Information”).

3. Sephardic Electronic Archive (SEA)— part 
o f w h ose purpose is to exchange information 
about Sephardic Jewry, announcing conferences 
and “research conducted in other geographical 
areas” (listed under “Jewish Lists”).

T he entire goph er site is enormous but fairly 
easy to use. Although it is directed at the gen ­
eral Jewish public it has many materials that 
w o u ld  be o f  use to teachers or students o f Jew­
ish studies. The information seems to be fairly 
up-to-date with the oldest I found being from 
1990. Much documentation is available about 
the project and there are many plans for e x ­
pansion. H opefully, more access w ill be added 
to the Jewish libraries section than just the Jew­
ish Th eological Seminary.

Another useful aspect o f  the gop h er is that 
it acts as a gatew ay to many other gophers o f 
potential interest to Jewish studies, especially 
selection 8, Israeli gophers, which leads to such 
databases as Scientific Research Israel (Israel 
Projects/Israel Science Research and D evelop- 
ment/Scientific_Research) and special editions 
o f the Jerusalem Post (Israel Projects/Israel Info/ 
Jerusalem-Post)” .

T he N e w  York-Israel Project is administered 
b y Warren Burstein (w arren@israel.nysernet. 
o r g ) an d C h aim  D w o rk in  (c h a im ø is r a e l. 
nysern et.org) under the direction o f  Avrum  
G ood bla tt (good b la t@ isra el.n ysern et.org).—  
Elaine Hoffman, State University o f New York 
at Stony Brook; e-mail: HOFFMAN&CCMAIL. 
SUNYSB.EDU ■

mailto:jewstudies@israel.nysernet.org