ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


2 7 8  /  C&RL News

Internet 
Reviews

S a ra  A m a to , e d ito r tions to submit documents.
There are some real treats 

in this site including texts o f 
19th-century treaties, the Constitution o f the 
Hawai’ian Nation, and the Fourth World Jo u r­
nal, a quarterly e-journal. This site should be 
bookm arked by all W eb users with research 
interests in political science, international stud­
ies, and indigenous rights.— Mary J a n e  Cedar 
Face, Southern Oregon State College; Cedatface@ 
wpo.sosc.osshe.edu

A n n u a l R eview s Sociology O n -lin e . Ac
cess: http://www.annurev.org/soc/home.htm. 

Founded as a nonprofit scientific publisher dedi­
cated to providing critical reviews o f current 
research literature, Annual Reviews has distin­
guished itself as a vital resource within scien­
tific and academic communities. Annual Re
views Sociology, now in its 22nd year, is one o f 
a series o f 26 publications produced by Annual 
Reviews. Other titles range from political sci
ence to life and physical sciences in biology 
and astronomy.

As the first publication within the Annual 
Reviews family to have an Internet site, Annual 
Review s So cio lo g y  O n -lin e is essen tially a 
mechanism to provide visitors with the ability 
to purchase full-text articles from the print ver­
sion o f Annual Reviews Sociology. Given only 
the ability to view an abstract, visitors may 
purchase the full text o f an article for $5.

Articles in A nnual Reviews Sociology are 
grouped in general classifications, such as so­
cial process, urban and rural sociology, and his­
torical sociology. Articles tend to be less quan­
titative than articles published in the American 
Sociological Review. A commitment to provide

F o u rth  W o r ld  D o c u
m e n t a t io n  P ro je c t 
(FWDP). Access: http:// 
w w w . h a l c y o n . c o m /  
FWDP/fwdp.html.

This award-winning site was 
organized in 1992, by the 
Center for World Indigenous 
Studies (CWIS), an indepen­
dent, nonprofit research and 
education organization es­
tablished in 1979 by the Con­
feren ce o f Tribal G overn­
m e n ts  C e n te r  to  f o s t e r  
understanding o f indigenous 
peoples through the publication and distribu­
tion o f literature. The FWDP’s noteworthy Board 
o f Directors and Founding Advisory Board re­
flect the diversity o f indigenous peoples. The 
mission o f the project is to “document and make 
available …  important documents relating to 
the social, political, strategic, econom ic, and 
human rights situations faced by Fourth World 
nations.”

FWDP provides an online library o f more 
than 500 texts, including documents from the 
World Council o f Indigenous Peoples, the Na
tional Congress o f American Indians, the Affili
ated Tribes o f Northwest Indians, the Confer
ence o f Tribal Governments, the United Nations 
W o rk in g  G ro u p  o n  In d ig e n o u s  P e o p le s  
(UNWGIP), tribal governments, indigenous or­
ganizations, and treaties.

The search facility is particularly useful. A 
sample search o f the site immediately revealed 
a score o f documents about the Lakota and none 
about the Pima. The search can be limited to 
all or part o f the database and Boolean opera­
tors can be used. A button bar also provides 
links to information about the FWDP, back­
ground on the CWIS, how to submit materials, 
how to order CWIS publications, and links to 
other indigenous resources.

Coverage o f geographic areas is not equal 
in this site. For example, among the U.S. docu­
ments, there are a disproportionate number of

documents relating to North-
west tribes. There is nothing 
on the Zapatista movement 
in Mexico, while there are 
many documents about the 
indigenous peoples o f Nica­
ragua, Costa Rica, and El 
Salvador. This may b e rem­
edied over time as new ma­
terials are added; there is a 
p a g e inviting in d ig en o u s 
governments and organiza­

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

http://www.halcyon.com/
mailto:samato@tahoma.cwu.edu


April 1 9 9 7  /  2 7 9

analysis o f timely issues is evident in 
recent articles concerning environmen­
tal sociology, w hite-collar crime, and 
family violence. Annual Reviews Soci­
ology contributors are generally sociolo­
gists and other social scientists from re­
lated disciplines.

Somewhat misleading is a statement 
on the hom epage saying that full-text 
articles are available from 1993 to 1996.
What this actually means is that the full 
text o f articles from 1993 to 1996 may be 
searched by keyword or concept but only the 
abstract o f an article will be yielded. The en­
tire database offers abstracts to articles from 
1984 to 1996.

Overall, this site has a relatively clean and 
welcoming appearance, wisely choosing to 
avoid the current trend o f garish themes in 
W eb page design. Targeted specifically for
academics and researchers in the sociology 
community, Annual Reviews Sociology O n­
line will serve as a valuable resource for those 
desiring to keep abreast o f current research 
literature in so cio lo gy .— D ennis Krieb, St. 
Charles County Community College; dkrieb@
scccc.stchas.edu

The G lo b e w id e  N e t w o r k  A c a d e m y  
(GNA). Access: http://www.gnacademy.org. 

You can now get a bachelor’s degree from 
Brigham Young, take accounting at Cornell, 
or work toward your MBA at Auburn without 
leaving home. These and hundreds o f other 
academic institutions throughout the world are 
offering distance education courses and de­
gree programs at a variety o f levels in the 
widest possible range o f subject areas.

GNA is a clearinghouse o f information re­
lating to this growing trend in education. It is 
a volunteer collaborative effort formed to meet 
the information needs o f this new population 
o f students, educators, and academic support 
providers. The W eb site offers dynamic infor­
mation resources and online communication 
forums as it seeks to link this community.

The main feature o f the site is an exten­
sive catalog o f distance learning programs and 
courses offered throughout the world. The da­
tabase contains listings, descriptions, and links 
to more than 9,000 courses and 500 degree 
programs offered by nearly 400 institutions. 
The catalog can be searched by keyword and 
browsed by subject and institution. Each list­
ing provides a brief description o f the course

o r p ro g ra m  an d  
hyperlinks directly to the 
institution for detailed 
program and registration 
information. The creators 
have provided several 
helpful interactive fea
tures that aid in the or
ganization, maintenance, 
and accuracy o f the re­
source including the abil­

ity to register new distance education programs 
and to securely edit and update catalog informa­
tion.

For the distance educator, the GNA site pro­
vides a “Teachers Lounge” and the “World Lec­
ture Hall.” In these areas users can access a wide 
variety o f useful materials and links including 
online course materials, textbooks, lectures, and 

 courseware. Perhaps the most impressive com ­
ponent o f the lounge area is the “Hypernews” 
discussion. “Hypernews” is run on GNA-devel
oped software allowing users to post messages 
and documents while providing a place for in­
structors to post course materials and texts. In­

 corporating elements o f traditional listserv and 
usenet discussion groups, “Hypernews” captures, 
sorts, and displays discussion message threads 
in a unique, useful, and organized presentation. 
At this writing, discussion topics ranged from 
“Implementing a Virtual Classroom” to “Compo­
sition in Cyberspace” to “Cybercheating.”

The overall presentation o f the site is func­
tional but less polished and attractive than it might 
be. Future plans include an improved user inter­
face and cleaner classification o f courses. The 
organization is calling for volunteer librarians to 
aid in classification and to field e-mail reference 
questions.

This site can be a valuable resource to librar­
ians in two significant ways. First, it is a com pre­
hensive, current resource listing and guide to dis­
tan ce ed u cation  program s and co u rses that 
outperforms similar print reference sources in its 
ability to collect data and deliver current infor­
mation. Second, it serves as an online tool through 
which we have an opportunity to offer and share 
library services. As librarians faced with yet an­
other challenge brought about by technology, 
w e cannot fail to appreciate the largely success­
ful efforts o f an organization w hose slogan is 
“helping distance learners find what they are 
looking for.”—Mark A. Smith, New York State 
C olleg e o f  C era m ic s a t  A lfred  University, 
fsmithm@bigvax.alfred.edu ■

http://www.gnacademy.org
mailto:fsmithm@bigvax.alfred.edu