ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


448/C&RL News

Internet
Reviews

Sa ra  A m a to, editor

19th Century A m erican 
W om en W riters W eb.
Access: http://www.clever. 
net/19cwww.

This is an attractive, well- 
organized site aimed at stu­
dents and scholars o f all ages 
who are interested in 19th- 
century American wom en 
writers. The “Books & Au­
thors” section contains links 
to other W eb sites that con­
tain texts o f  19th-century 
American w om en writers, 
such as Louisa May Alcott,
Kate Chopin, Rebecca Harding Davis, Emily 
Dickinson, Susanna Rowson, Harriet Beecher 
Stowe, and others. There are several links that 
go nowhere or are outdated, but the author 
plans to update the links in the immediate fu­
ture.

The “Tools & Resources” section contains 
links to resources for the 19th-century women 
and women writers, and for 19th-century Ameri­
can studies. The user can also post and respond 
to messages on the 19cwww Message Board, 
as w ell as view  announcements and calls for 
papers.

The “Journals & Presses” section contains 
links to electronic journals relating to 19th-cen­
tury American women writers, and gives the 
user an opportunity to suggest presses or jour­
nals to be added.

There is a section called “Digital Potluck,” 
in which the user can enter personal informa­
tion and enter the text o f a 19th-century Ameri­
can women writer’s work. This allows for a 
broader base o f material, and the user is en­
tered into a drawing for CD-ROM prizes. The 
user also has access to the electronic library 
collection o f 19th-century American wom en’s 
writing. Some authors in this section include 
Lydia Maria Child, Eliza Lee Follen, Sarah Jo­
seph Hale, and Mary Eliza Tucker Lambert.

One o f the nicest features o f the site is 
“Monthly Features on the Net.” This contains 
one or two links to interesting and attractive 
sites that relate to the topic o f 19th-century 
American women writers. Some examples o f 
previous monthly features are: “19th-Century 
Medicine,” from the University o f Toledo; a 
commemorative o f the 75th anniversary o f the 
suffrage movement from the Susan B. Anthony

Center; a hypertext collec­
tion o f  Florence Nightin­
gale’s letters; and an inter­
active exhibit on the art o f 
the daguerreotype, from the 
National Museum o f Ameri­
can Art. At the time o f this 
review, the monthly feature 
was an interactive exhibit on 
the C ivil War. Since the 
monthly feature changes pe­
riodically, it is a good idea 
to keep checking it.

The editors o f the site 
plan to increase the holdings 

o f the digital library and continue to create edu­
cational exhibits. These plans include creating 
a digitized project for 19th-century African 
American writing, and the creation o f Web- 
based editions o f 19th-century literature that 
are designed to be read easily on the computer 
screen.

The 19th Century American Women Writers 
W eb has recently received a number o f awards, 
and is well worth looking at, either for research 
or for pleasure.— M ary Wise, Central Washing­
ton University; wisem@tahoma.cwu.edu

Ed. note: The follow ing sites were brought to 
my attention via the International League o f  A n ­
tiquarian Booksellers, which will hold its a n ­
nual book f a i r  in San Francisco in September. 
See page 414 f o r  details.

A m a zo n  B o o ks. Access: http://www.amazon. 
com. B o o ks Out-of-Print. Access: http:// 
www.reedref.com . B o o k S ta ck s Unlim ­
ited. Access: http://www.books.com. Li­
b r a ry  of C o n g re ss— Z 3 9 .5 0 . Access: 
http ://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/gateway.html.

There are several W eb sites available for those 
wanting to locate that hard-to-find volume that 
isn’t in the local bookshop. These range from 
Internet “virtual bookstores” to the Reed Refer­
ence Books Out-of-Print site, as well as one o f 
the earliest sites I ever visited, the Library o f 
Congress. The thing that really stands out about 
these sites is how similar they are when the 
frills are stripped away, but some o f the extras 
are what may make these sites popular.

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

http://www.clever
http://www.amazon
http://www.reedref.com
http://www.books.com
mailto:samato@tahoma.cwu.edu


July/August 1996/449

The two commercial sites 
that I visited, Amazon Books 
and Book Stacks Unlimited, of­
fer very similar services.

I personally liked Amazon 
Books the best, but the reasons 
are almost entirely based on its cosmetic ap­
pearance (and when content is close to the same 
on several W eb sites, I, like most, generally go 
for something that I like to look at). Amazon is 
quite attractively laid out and easy to navigate. 
The centerpiece, o f course, is a search engine 
that allows the visitor to search a million-title 
collection o f items. This is managed by a forms- 
based search engine that quite simply prompts 
the user to fill in the blanks and select the “sub­
mit” key. I was quite pleased with the number 
o f items I was presented with when I attempted 
a search on a relatively hard-to-find author. I 
was also offered the bonus o f reading about 
the author, browsing “related titles,” or review­
ing the book. The ability to add items to a vir­
tual shopping basket was always available. 
Amazon also offered some nice related services, 
including national bestseller lists, staff favor­
ites, and a service that notifies you when books 
o f interest to you are released. It is a very at­
tractive and friendly package.

Book Stacks Unlimited is also quite a nice 
site with a slightly different focus and presen­
tation. Some audio files are 
available (authors reading 
their works seem to be 
popular), recom m enda­
tions and reviews can be 
read, a large news section 
can be viewed, and this 
site has a nice emphasis on 
poetry. O f course, what one really wants to do 
is search, and that is where these sites are re­
markably similar. I once again filled in the 
blanks, submitted my search, found a pleasing 
number o f titles, and was offered the option o f 
saving these in my “bookbag.” While this is all 
very easy to do, I once again stopped short o f 
actually purchasing anything (which is the very 
reason for these site’s existence). I always get a 
little nervous as I approach the area where I 
must enter valuable information on a W eb site. 
Whether my fears are groundless or not (after 
all, I give out my credit card number over the 
phone regularly), I can only tell you that it ap­
pears that these sites offer quick, easy, and (w e 
are promised) secure service. They are also fun 
to browse.

Reed Reference is now of­
fering Books-Out-of-Print, the 
familiar library tool, free on the 
Web. This site is a little less 
flashy than the above commer­
cial sites but allows a little more 

lexibility in searching its large database o f titles. 
Once again the user is presented with a forms- 
ased search engine that allows for the com­

bining o f various fields and the use o f the bool­
ean operators in a w ay that the user o f BIP on 
CD should recognize. The user is also able to 
customize the record displayed (in BIP format, 
Catalogue Card format, etc.). This is quite a 
practical site for those who use Books-Out-of- 
Print regularly, and performs quite well. I w el­
come the convenience and availability o f this 
tool as a front-end for Books-in-Print.

The final tool o f this type that I looked at 
as the Web-based catalog o f the Library o f 

Congress, with a Z39.50 front-end. Having 
searched this catalog several years ago, prior 
to the popularity o f W eb technology, the new 
ersion is a joy to use. It has a very simple 

introductory page (which would have very little 
on it if not for a banner announcing it as a 
Z39.50 gateway), that quite simply provides the 
option o f searching title and personal name, or 
a more complex combination. Once again, a 
form page appears and allows users to type in 
either a combination o f terms from titles and 
names (in the simple search), or a more com­
plex combination o f elements. Having filled in 
the blanks, and chosen from “ands” and “ors,” 
a search is performed on the huge collection 
o f items in the library. I have used the Library 
o f Congress many times to verify a title, and 
this front-end will make the job quick and 
simple.

Choosing between these Web-based tools 
will be based mostly on the purpose o f one’s 
search. The online bookstores are certainly cos­
metically appealing, offer extras, provide the 
direct source o f the items found, and will quite 
simply be fun to use. Books-Out-of-Print and 
large library catalogs will be used much more 
for the quick visit to verify a title, publisher, or 
other such information, and allow for more flex­
ibility o f searching. Over the long run, the prac­
tical, results-oriented sources may be visited 
more often, but as with all W eb sites, I will 
want to go back to the commercial sites for the 
fun o f the visit and to see what’s new .— Doug 
Home, University o f  Guelph; dhorne@uoguelph. 
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