ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C& RL N ew s ■ Se p tem b e r 2001 / 839 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni Robertsand Carol Drost, editors I n t e r n a t io n a l I n f o r m a t i o n P ro g ra m s . Access: h ttp ://u sin fo .sta te .g o v . T h e U.S. State D e p a rtm e n t’s International Inform ation Program s (IIP) site offers a n in­ triguing g atew ay to c u rren t issues a n d e vents in th e fields o f foreign affairs, diplom acy, an d natio n al security. U nderg rad u ate a n d g rad u ­ a te stu d en ts, faculty, p olicy specialists, an d research ers can rev iew tim ely b riefings o n global affairs th at carry th e au th o rity o f an official U.S. g o v e rn m e n t site. C reated in 1999, th e Office o f International I n fo rm a tio n P ro g ram s is d e s c r ib e d as th e “principal intern atio n al strategic c o m m unica­ tions service fo r th e fo reig n affairs co m m u ­ nity,” a n d th e site offers a v ariety o f useful reso u rces ran g in g from transcripts a n d inter­ view s to b ack g ro u n d e rs a n d d o c u m e n t links. HP’s site h a s a c learly o rg an ized a n d user- friendly layout th at featu res six m ain category head in g s. Students p u rsu in g research topics will m o st likely b e d raw n to th e categories “U.S. Policy” a n d “Issues in Fo cu s,” w h ich offer a w e a lth o f resources. For exam ple, th e “Global Issues” s u b h e ad ­ ing includes topics s u c h as clim ate ch an g e, HIV/AIDS, a n d refugees. Each p ro v id es links to th e full tex t o f m an y State D ep artm en t d o cu m en ts a n d o th er resources s u c h as b ack ­ g r o u n d sta te m e n ts, re p o rts, c o n g re ssio n a l resolutions, a n d international organizations. The six g eographic areas in th e “Regions” category offer th e u se r a similarly im pressive display o f resources. T he “N ear East” section offers a n ex te n siv e g u id e to “M iddle East P eace,” transcripts o f Secretary o f State Colin Pow ell’s M iddle East p ress conferences, a fact­ finding report, a n d a Middle East Peace Pro­ cess chronology. T hese clusters o f resources, arranged b y p o p u lar h eadings, a re o n e o f the site’s m ain strengths, since th ey pull together background information as well as primary source material need ed by academic library users. U sers sh o u ld n o te this site offers full-text pub licatio n s in several languages. Five full- text journals a re available, highlighting p olicy issues s u c h as eco n o m ics, d em ocracy, a n d g lobal affairs; cu rre n t editio n s a n d archives a re p ro v id ed . Faculty a n d stu d en ts w h o fol­ lo w specialized intern atio n al topics m ay also ben efit from e-m ail deliv ery o f transcripts, sp e ec h e s, a n d briefings o ffered for several subject areas. T h ere is also a se ctio n p rovid­ in g ex cerp ts o f foreign m ed ia reactio n to U.S. events. Academ ic librarians will also a p p reci­ a te th e u p -to -d ate “Public D iplom acy Calen­ d ar,” w h ic h p ro v id e s a tim ely list o f u p c o m ­ in g w o rld w id e co n feren ces, sum m its, m eet­ ings, a n d official visits. This site offers e a se o f u se, cu rrency, an d a variety o f full-text reso u rces th at will be ap p re c iate d b y th o se involved in th e for- ~ e ig n affairs field. C om m ercial d atab ases, su ch as CIAO a n d PAIS, o bviously lea d the w a y as sta n d a rd to o ls for intern atio n al to p ­ ics, b u t a cad em ic librarians w ith s tro n g for­ eig n affairs collections will find th at HP’s site offers tim ely a n d w ell-o rg an ized d o c u ­ m en tary m aterial.— Barbara Hillson, George Mason University. bhillson@emu.edu N u p e d ia : t h e F re e E n c y c lo p e d ia . Ac­ cess: h t tp : // w w w .n u p e d ia .co m . Softw are p r o d u c e d u n d e r th e GNU G e n ­ eral D o c u m en tatio n License is called “o p e n s o u rc e ,” m ea n in g th at th e s o u rc e co d e b e ­ hin d it is freely available a n d m odifiable p r o ­ v id ed th at th e u s e r referen ces th e original p ro d u c e r in th e derivative c o d e . T he GNU o p e n s o u rc e c o n c ep t h as c o m e to W eb p u b ­ lishing in N upedia. N upedia aim s to b e c o m e “th e w o rld ’s larg­ e st international, p e e r-rev ie w e d e n c y clo p e­ Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian fo r public services and colle ction developm ent a t W illam ette University, e-mail: jroberts@willamette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian fo r technical services at Willamette University, e-mail: cdrost@willamette.edu http://usinfo.state.gov mailto:bhillson@emu.edu http://www.nupedia.com mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu 8 4 0 / C&RL News ■ Sep tem b er 2001 dia.” At the m oment, however, the m ain page is dom inated by a plea for participants. N upedia’s editorial process is open; b e ­ coming a m em ber (through free online regis­ tration) allows o n e to see articles in one of seven stages o f developm ent. W hen articles reach the sixth stage of “o p en copyediting,” the general public is free to comment on them, and until that point a peer-review process is in place. Nupedia editors usually possess a Ph.D., b u t the author’s o r p e e r reviewers’ pri­ mary qualification is an interest in the sub­ ject. N upedia’s search m echanism is rudim en­ tary. At present, only keyw ord searching is available; a searcher cannot use B oolean o p ­ erators and m ust search for o n e w ord at a time. Links to subject and alphabetical lists lead to a sam ple page and a list of 20 “n ew ­ est articles.” Because articles ap p ear in short and long versions, search results are m islead­ ing. At the tim e o f this review, a search on “m usic” retrieved five articles but only three unique subjects. Keywords are not highlighted in search results. It w as difficult for the reviewers to deter­ m ine the num ber o f articles currently avail­ able in Nupedia; it appears as though the 20 new est articles are in fact the total content. In th e m em b ers-o n ly “Article P roduction Area,” 332 articles are in preparation. H ow ­ ever, o nly officially ap p ro v e d articles are searchable. N upedia’s com pleted articles contain ele­ m ents that other online encyclopedias w ould be wise to imitate, such as m ouse-over pro­ nunciation guides an d p o p -u p box links to footnotes w ithin articles. Also, biographical information is readily available for an article’s author and for m em bers o f the subject group w h o approved the article. The project editor, Larry Sanger, believes that Nupedia will som eday rival Britannica Online, b u t Britannica subscribers should not view the current version o f N upedia as an alternative. Instead of considering Nupedia as an extensive resource at this time, aca­ dem ic librarians sh o u ld view it as a new m ethod o f dissem inating information. Addi­ tionally, librarians and faculty m ay w ant to co nsider participating in this u n iq u e v en­ tu re .— Heidi Senior, senior@up.edu, a n d Carolyn Piatz, piatz@up.edu, University o f Portland ORB: T h e O n l i n e R e f e r e n c e B o o k f o r M e d i e v a l S t u d i e s . Access: h t t p : / / orb.rhodes.edu. ORB is a medieval site created a n d m ain­ tained by medieval scholars and intended for use by instructors and students. The publisher and founder o f ORB is Lynn Harry Nelson, professor o f History at th e University o f Kan­ sas. The rest o f th e editorial b o ard includes 25 highly qualified scholars and academicians in the areas of m edieval history, philosophy, religion, music, architecture, and language and literature. Articles are subject to review b y at least tw o p e e r reviewers. T he m ajor sections o f the site are “Ency­ clopedia,” “T extbook Library” (which includes the full text o f ab o u t a d ozen b ooks), “Refer­ en ce Shelf,” “Resources for Teaching,” “O f General Interest,” an d “External Links.” T he ORB Encyclopedia is indexed by a tim eline followed by a topical index. The user clicks o n the topics to view the articles. The articles are w ritten in a clear, easy-to-under­ stan d style, an d are very informative. The extent of the inform ation varies depending o n the topic and the author. T he language a n d to n e o f the full-text b ooks and encyclopedia articles range from straightforward to highly technical. Access to full-text sources, including prim ary sources, is usually available. There are also links to o th er m edieval studies sites. U nder “Writing a Research Paper,” the au­ thors o f the site offer suggestions o n how to get the m ost ou t of the ORB site. If all fails, the u ser is instructed o n the protocol to c on­ tact a contributor o r e ditor for additional in­ formation. Some o f the texts a nd articles have n o link back to ORB, and the u ser m ust use the back button repeatedly until a link to ORB appears, w hich is a little frustrating. Also, the “Refer­ ence Shelf’ contains a num ber of inactive links. Overall, the site is an excellent source of information about the medieval period o f his­ tory an d is easy to use. The vast am ount of inform ation is valuable for anyone doing re­ search, and, for additional information, the links to other sites are very useful. This site is highly recom m ended for a w ide range of users, from those w ith a casual interest in the field to serious m edieval scholars.—Mary Wise, Central Washington University Library, wisem@cwu.edu ■ mailto:senior@up.edu mailto:piatz@up.edu mailto:wisem@cwu.edu C&RL News ■ S eptem b er 2001 / 841 A Core Collection in Dance by Mary E. Edsall A d a n c e b ib lio g ra p h y o f s e le c te d p r in t a n d n o n p r in t m a te ria ls t h a t a re r e c o m m e n d e d f o r in c lu s io n in lib r a rie s t h a t s u p p o r t u n d e r g r a d u a te c u r r i c u l a a n d / o r a s ig n if ic a n t d a n c e c o m m u n ity . All fo rm s a n d styles o f d a n c e a r e r e p r e s e n te d as w e ll a s a ll g e o g ra p h ic a re a s . I n te n d e d f o r u s e b y d a n c e e d u c a to r s a n d l ib r a r i a n s a s a to o l f o r d e v e lo p m e n t a n d e x p a n s io n o f e x is tin g co lle c tio n s, b u i ld i n g co lle c tio n s fro m s c r a t c h , a n d t h e e v a lu a tio n o f c o llectio n s. List: $24.50; ACRL member $22.00 ISBN 0-8389-8118-6. Travel, Sabbatical, and Study Leave Policies in College Libraries CLIP Note # 3 0 Compiled by Carolyn Gaskell and Allen S. Morrill A tte n d in g c o n fe r e n c e s a n d w o r k s h o p s , t a k i n g s a b b atica ls a n d s tu d y leaves h a s b e c o m e in c r e a sin g ly i m p o r ta n t to m ee t t h e e x p e c ta tio n s f o r c o n ti n u i n g e d u c a tio n a n d p a r t i c i p a ti o n i n p r o fe s s io n a l a c tiv itie s. T his v o lu m e in c lu d e s e x a m p le s o f w r i tt e n p o lic e s a t c o lle g e lib r a rie s c o v e rin g t ra v e l a n d r e im b u r s e m e n t p o licies, g r a n t s o f s a b b atica ls, a n d leaves o f a b s e n c e o r s tu d y lea v e p olicies. U sefu l fo r l ib r a r y a d m in is tr a to r s d e s ir in g to d e s ig n n e w o r b e tt e r p o lices f o r a llo c a tio n o f th ese r eso u rc e s. B ibliography. List: $23.00; ACRL member $21.00 ISBN 0-8389- 8164-X. When Change is S et in Stone: An Analysis o f Seven Academic Libraries Designed by Perry Dean Rogers & Partners, Architects by Michael I. Crosbie and Damon D. Hickey T his b o o k e x a m in e s se v en l ib r a rie s d e s ig n e d b y P e r ry D e a n R ogers & P a r tn e r s fro m t h e p e rs p e c tiv e o f b o th a n e x p e rie n c e d a rc h i te c t u r a l c ritic a n d a t a le n te d a c ad e m ic lib r a r i a n , b o th o f fe r in g a n a s tu te sen sitiv ity to t h e n u m e r o u s , o f te n c o n flic tin g , n e e d s th e s e n e w lib r a rie s m u s t satisfy. H e re th e y f in d t h a t P e r ry D e a n R ogers & P a r tn e r s h a v e n o t fo rg o tte n t h e l ib r a r y ’s c e n tr a l ro le . R e sp o n d in g to t h e h i sto r y o f th e in stitu tio n s a n d t h e i m p o r ta n c e o f c o n te x t, t h e y c r e a t e lib r a rie s t h a t a r e w o r t h y ta b e r n a c le s f o r t h e w o r d , n o m a t t e r w h a t its f o rm . List: $60.00; ACRL member $54.00 ISBN 0-8389-8136-4. To Order: Write: ALA Fulfillment, 155 N. 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