ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


678/C&RL News

Internet
Reviews

Sara A m ato, editor

National A cad em y o f 
Sciences. Access: http: 
//www.nas.edu/.

The National Academ y o f 
Sciences (NAS) advises the 
federal government on sci­
entific and technical matters 
by congressional mandate. 
Chartered in 1863, NAS in­
cludes the National Acad­
emy o f Engineering (NAE), 
the Institute o f M edicin e 
(IO M ), and the National Re­
search Council (NRC). All 
four organizations share a 
common entry portal.

Hyperlinks are provided to topical group­
ings representing NAS’ primary areas o f re­
search: transportation, education, agriculture, 
computer science, engineering, physical sci­
ences and mathematics, science and technol­
ogy policy, life sciences, medicine and health, 
environment and earth sciences, and behav­
ioral and social sciences. Opportunities for 
graduate research and postdoctoral appoint­
ments and a career planning section are high­
lighted from the main page. The Career Plan­
nin g Center for B egin n in g Scientists and 
Engineers is underwritten by the Sloan Foun­
dation.

M ore than 900 National Academ y Press 
books from the 1980s and 1990s have been 
mounted for free viewing at http://www.nap. 
edu/readingroom/. The publications are avail­
able in a variety o f formats: html, pdf, PostScript, 
ASCII, and DocuWeb, which seems to be the 
most prevalent. D ocuW eb embeds scanned 
page images in GIF format between top and 
bottom tables with navigation links. A  graphi­
cal browser is necessary to view  these books, 
but the format requires no additional software 
acquisition by the user. The abundance o f cur­
rent scholarly monographs provided is, to my 
knowledge, without equal on the Internet.

Information about the membership is pro­
vided. Access points include an alphabetical 
listing, discipline grouped subsets, and an in­
stitutional list. Entries identify the member’s 
section and year o f appointment to the acad­
emy, and cite some o f the member’s scientific 
achievements. Random sampling indicated ci­
tations are only available for individuals ap­
pointed since the early 1980s. A  separate search­

able directory o f NAS staff 
e-mail addresses is available.

NAE has only a skeletal 
p re s e n c e . IO M  is m o re 
fleshed out. Many o f the 
boards w ith in IO M  have 
mounted html versions o f 
abstracts and/or press re­
leases o f reports released 
since 1995. Few  complete 
IOM reports are published 
on the Web. Navigation o f 
NRC W eb space is accom­
plished primarily through its 
program units. The Trans­

portation Research Board has its ow n press, 
bookstore, and online ordering information.

The site is best view ed with a browser that 
supports tables, forms, and frames. Care has 
obviously been taken to reproduce all the navi­
gation options in click maps, navigation but­
tons, and text links. The overall site is search­
able.— George S. Porter, North Carolina State 
University Libraries; george_porter@ncsu.edu

N o em a: The Collaborative B ibliogra­
phy o f W om en in Philosophy. Access: 
http://billyboy.ius.indiana.edu/Womenin 
Philosophy/WomeninPhilo.html.

The Collaborative Bibliography o f W om en in 
Philosophy is an impressive database o f more 
than 10,000 records o f works in philosophy by 
wom en from ancient history to the present. The 
scope is international and includes foreign-lan­
guage materials and W eb sites. The database is 
primarily a list o f publications by women, but 
a number o f entries also include secondary 
sources. The entries are brief and are not an­
notated, for the most part.

A  search for the familiar names in philoso­
p h y — H an n ah  A re n d t and S im on e de 
Beauvoir— will result in an impressive list o f 
books and materials by them, and a number o f 
entries w ith  annotations from  secon dary 
sources. In addition, the entries for Arendt and 
Emma Goldman include links to other Internet 
sites via a link labeled “more information.” It 
would make the project even more impressive 
if these links continue to grow  in number. Cur­
rently there are more than 2,000 links from the

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

http://www.nas.edu/
http://www.nap
mailto:george_porter@ncsu.edu
http://billyboy
mailto:samato@tahoma.cwu.edu


November 1996/679

The logo fo r the Noema 
W eb site on w om en phi­
losophers.

entries, but many o f
these are just an address
to the contributor’s or
author’s name at an­
other W eb site.

Searching the data­
b ase is r e la tiv e ly
simple— by author, title,
annotation, or all fields.
One should select “all
fields” due to the low
number o f annotations.
The ability to search by
a range o f years is par­
ticularly useful. A  sub­
ject search for a topic
such as ecofem in ism
will provide a respect­
able list o f articles, but

 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
it does not provide as many as appear in the 
Philosopher’s Index or other available indexes.

One criticism o f this database is the need 
for consistency in providing certain data about 
the w om en included. Numerous entries cite 
Ethel M. Kersey’s w ork Women Philosophers—  
A Bio-Critical Source Book. It w ould be help­
ful, since they appear in Kersey’s work, to in­
clude a brief one-line statement identifying w ho 
they are and when they lived. Another ques­
tion is w hy some entries include extensive an­
notations and others do not.

The Collaborative Bibliography is an on go­
ing project that w ill be continually updated, 
and is to be published in book form by the end 
o f 1996. As a collaborative project, the more 
than 100 contributors have done an impressive 
job o f collecting resources by wom en philoso­
phers. As a catalog o f published materials by 
wom en in philosophy, it is a valuable starting 
point for students interested in identifying 
w om en  philosophers. The ability to locate 
wom en authors in a particular time period is 
also very helpful. However, it is a starting point, 
and oth er sources fo r  critical review s or 
subject-oriented materials should be con ­
sulted.—  Teresa Fishel, Macalester College; 
Fishel@Macalester.edu

M edia Research Center. Access: http:// 
www.mediaresearch.org.

The Media Research Center (MRC) is a conser­
vative media watchdog organization that was 
established in 1987 to “bring political balance 
to the media.” Its founder, Brent Bozell III, is a 
syndicated author, former president o f the Na­

tional Conservative Political Action Com­
mittee, and served as Pat Buchanan’s fi­
nancial director during the 1992 presiden­
tial campaign. MRC is known for its special 
studies, its newsletters— MediaWatch, 
MediaNomics, and Notable Quotables, and 
its books such as That’s the Way It Isn’t: A 
Reference Guide to Media Bias. The W eb 
site provides another means to relay this 
information. Anyone looking for the con­
servative viewpoint on a current issue will 
benefit from visiting this site.

From the main page one may search 
the site, link directly to selected studies, 
or use buttons to enter the various divi­
sions. The News Division seeks evidence 
o f liberal bias in newspapers, news maga­
zines, and news programs. Findings are 
reported in MediaWatch, a monthly news­

letter, and made available on the Web. Special 
reports, such as “The Media and Whitewater,” 
are available as well. Improved values-driven 
television programming is the goal o f the Par­
ents Television Council. An outcome o f this spe­
cial project o f the MRC is a comprehensive guide 
to the content o f prime-time television pro­
grams, which may be purchased through this 
site. MediaNomics, a monthly product o f the 
Free Market Project (FMP), reports how  busi­
ness and economic issues are covered by the 
media. The Election ‘96 Reality Check reports 
liberal bias in campaign reporting. This is a 
$2.8 m illion effort aim ed at inform ing the 
public. A  n ew  feature o f the site provides 
recent writings o f various columnists from  
outside the beltway.

Alternatively, one may “explore the new  
conservative w orld” through the Tow n  Hall. 
Information from more than 20 grassroots or­
ganizations like Americans for Tax Reform and 
Empower America is available from the Tow n 
Hall. Links are provided to information from a 
subject approach o f various issues. When us­
ing the site’s search engine, results may be lim­
ited to resources from any or all o f these orga­
nizations.

The MRC W eb page has its roots in a well- 
respected organization, provides original infor­
mation, includes links to other selected con­
servative sites, and continues to grow. This, 
combined with its uncluttered layout and easy 
navigation, makes it a resource to be remem­
bered when looking for the conservative side 
o f an issue.— Cindy Etkin, Western Kentucky 
University Libraries; Cindy.Etkin@wku.edu ■

mailto:Fishel@Macalester.edu
http://www.mediaresearch.org
mailto:Cindy.Etkin@wku.edu


680/C&RL News