ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 5 2 0 /C&RL News Internet Reviews Sa ra A m a to, editor The Perseus Project: A n Evolving Digital Li­ b r a r y on A n c ie n t Greece. Access: h ttp :// w w w .p erseu s.tu fts.ed u . P erseu s, so n o f Z eus a n d slayer of the Gorgon Medusa, is an appropriate nam esake for this am b itio u s project. This site is exactly w hat its title implies: an enorm ous, searchable collection o f an­ c ien t G reek literature, art, a n d archaeology. T h e literatu re d a ta b a se includes m ore than 420 G reek texts a n d En­ glish translations. T he G reek texts (the major­ ity o f w hich are edited from the Loeb Classical Library Series) can b e displayed as translitera­ tions into o u r Latin alphabet, into standard beta code, o r into th e G reek alphabet. T here are d etailed instructions that g u id e u sers th ro u g h th e options. In addition to the tex ts, th e P ro ject offers four tools for textual analy­ sis: a m orphological tool, a w ord-frequency search tool, an d tw o dictionaries. T h e m o rp h o lo g ic a l to o l will parse a w o rd in the text, giving gender, num ­ ber, a n d case for nouns, o r te n s e a n d m o o d fo r v e r b s . T h e w o r d - f r e ­ q u en cy tool displays the frequency o f th e w o rd an d its form s by au th o r a n d th e n links to each occurrence in context. D efinitions are from Liddell an d Scott’s Inter­ mediate Greek-English Lexicon a n d the com ­ prehensive Liddell, Scott, a n d Jo n es Greek-En­ glish Lexicon. T he archaeological contents o f the project are divided into five databases: architecture, archaeological site plans an d pictures, num is­ m atic im ages w ith transcriptions, vase images, a n d sculpture images. T he first tw o are im pres­ sive in their b read th b u t th e coin a n d vase d a ­ tabases contain im ages o f selected collections only. T he sculpture database is currently u n d e r construction. Each retrieval displays ex p lan a­ tory texts an d links to related im ages w ithin the Project, such as a sum m ary o f A pollodorus’s Library an d the Project’s ow n encyclopedia. Perseus boasts m ore than 13,000 im ages but also has a text-only h o m e ­ p a g e f o r n o n g r a p h i c a l brow sers. T here is adm irable co n ­ sistency in the lo o k an d feel o f th e Project. N avigation b etw een databases is seam ­ less an d easy thanks to stan­ dardized m enu-like catego­ ries. Moreover, search results throughout the databases are d isp lay ed in read ab le, a p ­ pealing tables, w ith th e cells linking to further inform ation. Best o f all, Perseus provides d e ­ tailed instructions, cited sources, related re­ sources, a n d authorship a n d copyright state­ m ents w ith each entry, database, o r tool. W hile the P erseus Project is a W eb treasure for students a n d scholars o f ancient G reek civiliza­ tion, it w as not only b e ­ neficence that sp u rred its creation. T he site is a su b ­ set (ab o u t half o f th e im­ ages an d all o f th e texts) o f th e com m ercial P erseus P ro je c t CD-ROM. H o w ­ ever, th e highly practical n ature o f the site, th e aca­ dem ic pedigree an d extent o f its sources, an d th e links to o th e r resources m ake it a valuable su p p lem en t to print collections. A Perseus Project for Latin culture is p lan n ed as w ell.— Kristina L. Ander­ son, University o f Alabama; kanderso@ualvm. ua.edu N ational Political Ind e x. Access: h ttp :// w w w .politicalindex.com . In tim e for th e 1996 presidential an d general elections, National Political Index provides com­ prehensive access to W eb an d interest sites for political an d governm ental inform ation. Spon­ so red by the nonprofit organization Americans W ho W ork for a Living, th e site’s intent is to raise v oter aw areness thro u g h helping patrons Sara Amato is automated systems librarian at Central Washington University; samato@tahoma.cwu.edu http://www.perseus.tufts.edu http://www.politicalindex.com mailto:samato@tahoma.cwu.edu September 1996/521 b ro w se diverse inform ation sources. In turn, the g ro u p also reach es o u t to candidates by p roviding no-cost W eb sites to interested indi­ viduals. This, along w ith its attem pt to b e in­ clusive, m akes the In d ex a w elcom e addition to th e m any available electronic political infor­ m ation sources. C o m prehensiveness is th e key hallm ark of th e Index. Currently, it allow s access to 3,500 sites divided into 32 areas. Federal, state, an d local g o v ernm ent officials an d agencies appear, along w ith m atching party organizations. It also pro v id es access p o in ts to federal legislation, links to college a n d university political science departm ents, a com plete list o f politically ori­ e n te d U senet groups, electronic journals, p o ­ litical hum or, a n d related resources. Especially useful for the u p co m in g election are links to th e D ole an d Clinton sites, th o u g h o n e obvi­ o u sly m u st b e carefu l in u sin g in fo rm atio n g le a n e d th ro u g h these. This site draw s com parison to Project Vote Smart, h ttp ://w w w .v o te-sm art.o rg (C&RL News, N ovem ber 1995, p. 714) a n d o n e sees co n sid ­ erable d uplication b e tw e e n th e sites. H ow ever, th e difference b e tw e e n th e tw o is in p h ilo so ­ p h y o f coverage. Project Vote Smart mixes W eb links w ith th e results o f com prehensive issue surveys sent to state an d federal candidates, attem pting to o b tain op in io n s o n im p ortant is­ sues so voters can m ake inform ed decisions. As n o te d above, N ational Political Index e n ­ deavors to link all g overnm ental a n d political sites w hich, alo n g w ith allow ing candidates to create th eir o w n W eb pages, offers th e b ro w ser th e m axim um n u m b er o f choices to obtain elec­ tion inform ation. As a result, N ational Political In d ex com pli­ m en ts Project V ote Smart in m eeting th e over­ all goal o f providing valuable election infor­ m ation. A cadem ic libraries sh o u ld k e e p each in m ind to assist th e public a n d researchers. T h e W eb is grow ing as a so u rce for dissem i­ nating g o v ernm ent a n d election data, a n d these tw o sites serve as pillars to h elp librarians m eet th e se n eed s.— Stephen L. Hupp, University o f Pittsburgh at Johnstown; shupp+@pitt.edu MedAccess. Access: disclaim er page: h ttp :// w w w .m e d a c c e ss .c o m /; first inform ational p a g e : h ttp ://w w w .m e d a c c e s s .c o m /h o m e . htm. M edA ccess is a c o n g lo m eratio n o f m aterials aim ed at th e h ealth care consum er. T he form at is consistent a n d brings together text, databases, quizzes, a n d d iscu ssio n g ro u p s. C o n ten t in­ cludes so m e original m aterials, b u t th e m ajor­ ity derives from state, national, an d international sources that are cited at b o th th e searching an d data display levels. MedAccess has several sp o n ­ sors, an d displays aw ards from Point, Six Senses, a n d N et G uide. Since 1995 MedAccess C orpo­ ration has u se d this site to bring its health p ro ­ m otion services to th e attention o f b usiness o r­ ganizations. M edAccess h as four sections w ith in-depth h ealth inform ation. “B etter Inform ation” cov­ ers co n su m er health; u se M edAccess keyw ord search o r its table-of-contents style index to find specific inform ation. T h e full-text m aterials in­ clude: p ro d u c t alerts an d w arnings from the C onsum er P roduct Safety C om m ission a n d the F ood a n d D rug A dm inistration, org an ized by d a te a n d to p ic (ch ild , e n v iro n m e n t, h o m e , drugs, food); im m unization guidelines from the C enter for D isease Control an d the Im m uniza­ tion Practices A dvisory Com m ittee, organized by disease; publications from th e U.S. D ep art­ m en t o f H ealth a n d H um an Services, organized by topic (seniors, physical health, m ental health, children, nutrition); a n d U.S. patients’ rights leg­ islation. “D ata B ank” has tabular data for th e U.S. census, injury-related deaths, an d h ealth statis­ tics; h o w to g et vital records; an d contact infor­ m ation for state m edical licensing a n d disci­ p lin a r y b o a r d s , a n d fo r U.S. g o v e r n m e n t agencies. “H ealth Care Locator” contains physician and organization databases. Physicians are listed for 28 states; search b y n am e o r city. Entry co n ­ ten ts are from th e state Licensing B oard. H os­ pitals a n d o th er h ealth care centers are listed fo r 50 states; search by nam e, city, state, o r zip code. Entries provide com parative graphs show ­ ing size, staffing, a n d financial data; a list o f services; an d a street m ap. “Environm ental H ealth” provides a w ay to search E nvironm ental P rotection A gency data­ bases for air quality (by year a n d by state), w ater quality (by state), an d toxic releases (by zip code, state, a n d year). Maps sh o w th e regional in cid en ce o f rad o n an d gam m a rays. U ndergraduate students in h ealth care fields will benefit m ost from M edA ccess’ b read th o f reliable reso u rces a n d w ell-designed organiza­ tion, b u t ev eryone in health care will find u se ­ ful data.— Mari J. Stoddard, Arizona Health Sci­ ences Library, University o f Arizona; Stoddard @u.arizona.edu ■ http://www.vote-smart.org http://www.medaccess.com/ http://www.medaccess.com/home