mar09c.indd I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni R. Roberts and Carol A. Drost Global Gateway: World Culture & Resources. Access: http://international.loc.gov/intldl /intldlhome.html. The Library of Congress (LC) calls Global Gateway a portal to its “unparalleled inter­ national collections and those of other major repositories worldwide.” Users will simply call it sensational. In an effort to provide consistent, in­ depth, high­quality access to its extensive international research collections, this site is a gateway to a growing number of on­ line collections, materials and repositories representing different cultures from around the world. LC has worked in collaboration with partner libraries to provide bilingual access to collections and has also given a virtual look at many of the international and non­English language collections from its own holdings. The main page of the Global Gateway site is divided into two major sections: World Libraries and Collections and Links, Databases and Resources. In the fi rst section, “Collaborative Digital Libraries” showcases five digital libraries developed in collabo­ ration with LC and international partners. Each library is completely accessible in both English and the native language of the partnering country. All provide an in­depth narrative on the subject, themes, timelines, and an extensive collections page linking to quality images and metadata. “Individual Digital Collections” features multimedia collections from LC’s holdings: seven international collections, four col­ lections from American Memory, National Digital Library, and nine collections from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. Each Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public ser vices and collec tion development at Willamette University, e-mail: jroberts@willamette. edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian for technical services at Willamette University, e-mail: cdrost@willamette.edu uses a similar design and follows the same navigational structure so the user quickly becomes familiar with the format and can easily navigate within each site. Users may search extensively by title, keyword, or subject. They can also select digitized mate­ rials, data, and narratives or view prepared exhibitions. The second section, Links, Databases and Resources, connects users directly to international resources found in the LC. “Centers for International Research” links to a description of the 21 reading rooms found in the library that contain signifi cant international collections and offer in­depth reference assistance. “Featured Presentations” and “Interna­ tional Exhibitions” link viewers to prepared exhibition and presentation sites of se­ lected collections. “Portals to the World” is an aggregate of links arranged by country and selected by LC specialists. The Global Gateway’s FAQ provides users with a com­ prehensive overview of the LC’s international collections. Keeping with LC’s tradition of creating cutting­edge digital resources through col­ laboration with partner libraries, the Global Gateway is a stunning portal to primary source materials from countries across the globe. It is an excellent starting point for both beginning and experienced researchers.— Sarah Goodwin Thiel, University of Kansas, sgthiel@ku.edu Real Clear Politics. Access: http://www. realclearpolitics.com. Founded in 2000, Real Clear Politics is a nonpartisan aggregator of political content gathered from hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and select blogs across the country and around the world. It is updated throughout the day, seven days a week, and is a useful tool not only for political junkies, but for anyone seeking a variety of political 188C&RL News March 2009 http:realclearpolitics.com http://www mailto:sgthiel@ku.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu http://international.loc.gov/intldl perspectives on current news issues all in one place. Access is free, and no registra­ tion is required. Aiming to cover the full range of view­ points across the political spectrum, Real Clear Politics uses sources ranging from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones to The Weekly Standard, the Huffi ngton Post to Neil Boortz, and just about everything in between. All of the content is manually chosen by staff members who search for the best and most relevant materials from the vast multitude of Web content produced each day. The selected items primarily focus on political commentary, opinion, and analysis rather than on news reports. In addition, Real Clear Politics features polling data (though less prominently in nonelection years), videos, a blog, and primary source materials, including politi­ cal speeches and transcripts from hearings, conferences, and TV/radio broadcasts. There are three companion sites that are integrated into the main site: Real Clear World (featuring international content from English­language publications in more than 50 countries), Real Clear Sports, and Real Clear Markets (for business content). Overall the site is very easy to browse, despite being a bit cluttered with information and ads on the top and right side of each page. Although it has a search box and an alphabetical listing of topics, these features seem less useful and effective than the daily listing of articles, which are currently archived as far back as September 2007. Browsing Real Clear Politics is certainly far easier than daily scanning the Web sites of hundreds of news sources, or even sifting through the mounds of articles that tend to pile up using RSS feeds. Real Clear Politics is an excellent resource for anyone who desires a balanced, one­stop source of high­quality political writing but doesn’t have hours a day to fi nd it.—Brian Sullivan, Alfred University, sullivan@alfred. edu March 2009 189 C&RL News