ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 826 / C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 2002 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni R. R o b e rts and Carol A. Drost, e d ito rs In itia tiv e a n d R efe re n d u m In s titu te . A ccess: http://w w w .iandrinstitute.org/. T h e Initiative a n d R e fe re n d u m In stitu te (IRI) is a n o n p ro fit, n o n p a rtis a n r e ­ search organization d ed ica ted to p ro ­ vid in g in fo rm atio n a n d re so u rces in su p p o rt o f ballot initiatives an d refer­ enda. T heir guiding principle, q u o ted in th e w o r d s o f T hom as Jefferson, is that th ere is “n o safer depository o f the ulti­ m ate p o w e r o f society b u t th e p e o p le th e m ­ selves.” T he IRI h o m ep ag e features a color-coded m ap show ing w h ich states have initiatives or p o p u la r referenda. A p u ll-d o w n m e n u o f all 50 states links the user to individual pages with historical summaries, governm ental bodies that o v ersee referen d u m processes, an d initiative or referendum requirements. The homepage also features an initiative an d referendum timeline an d an offer to register for free e-mail updates. O n th e left side o f every page, th ere is a static fram e w ith a useful table o f contents. U nfor­ tunately, none of the pages have dates and some parts o f th e site, including pages for th e advi­ sory board, legal advisors, and attorney general o p in io n s, are still “u n d e r c o n stru c tio n .” D is­ appointingly, the “Library” page is a direct link to Amazon.com. In te re stin g fe a tu re s o f th e site in c lu d e a section o n statew ide initiatives a n d referenda w ith a table listing various data o n th e initia­ tive processes. T here is also a section o n his­ torical initiative a n d re fe re n d u m usag e w ith statistics available for th e years 1898 to 1998 an d a separate free historical database (w hich requires user registration) contains information o n n u m e ro u s b allo t q u e stio n s th a t h av e a p ­ p e a re d o n statew id e ballots since 1904. T he database has search fields for subjects, status, states, ty p e, elec tio n result, a n d d ate. T h ere are b rief results for each search, w ith links to full re p o rts, as w ell as su m m ary re p o rts for ea c h list o f search results. T h e IRI site is a u se fu l startin g p o in t fo r activists an d students w anting an introduction to initiative a n d referenda definitions an d his­ tory as w ell as concrete advice o n h o w to b e ­ gin th e p ro c e ss. H o w ev er, p a rts o f th e site a p p e a r to b e o u t o f d a te , fo r e x a m p le , th e “Legislative W atch” section’s last entry is from 2001, a n d u n d e r im portant “Legal C ases,” the site links to the circuit court decision in Buckeyv.American ConstitutionalFσun- dation even th ough the case n o w has b een heard by the Suprem e Court. Us­ ers w o u ld n e e d to d o further research to u n co v er m o re cu rren t a n d accu rate infor­ mation.— Geni Foudy, University o f Maryland at College Park, Gf48@ıımail.umd.edu G abriel: The G a te w a y to Europe's N a­ tio n a l L ib ra rie s . Access: h tt p :/ /w w w . b l.u k /g ab riel/. E stablished in 1997, G abriel is th e official Web site o f the national libraries in Europe. It offers a gatew ay to the bibliographic holdings a n d treasu res o f 41 n atio n al libraries, re p r e ­ sen tin g the 39 m e m b e r states o f th e Council o f Europe. The cooperative effort to d evelop an d m aintain the site is handled by the Confer­ ence of E uropean National Librarians, a group c reated to e x p a n d an d p ro m o te th e national libraries’ role in Europe. Gabriel offers access to the Web site in En­ glish, French, o r German. Self-described as the “o n ly tra n s-E u ro p e a n library service o n th e World Wide W eb,” its m enu is straightforw ard a n d easy to navigate. O ne useful feature is the m e n u b a r for “N ational Libraries o f E u ro p e,” w hich takes the user to a page w ith links to all n ational libraries. This offers a starting p o in t for review o f the m any resources o f these n a ­ tions. T he u se r can select an y country, in al­ phabetical o rder from A lbania to Vatican City, a n d th en get a detailed record of the library’s collections, size, hours, p hone numbers, a n d e­ mail addresses. This information could be vital fo r lib ra ria n s se e k in g to c o n ta c t p a rtic u la r Jon¡ R. Roberts is associate university lib ra ria n fo r public services and co lle c tio n d e v e lo p m e n t a t W illa m e tte University, e-mail: jroberts@ w illam ette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian f o r technical services a t W illam ette University, e-mail: cdrost@willamette.edu http://www.iandrinstitute.org/ http://www mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu C&RL News ■ December 2002 / 827 manuscript departments or interlibrary loan of­ fices for a particular national library. A n o th er key to o l is th e m e n u o p tio n “Online Services,” w hich provides links to the online public access catalogs of the national libraries, as well as “National Bibliographies” a n d “N ational U nion C atalo g u es.” Many of these resources are W eb-based and have En­ glish-language access, so researchers can review holdings from across Europe at their desktop. The “O nline Services” option also lists “Peri­ odical Indices” m aintained by the national li­ braries, as well as “Digital Collections.” These digitized materials cover a variety of formats, ranging from German legal resources to Finn­ ish historic newspapers. O ne final noteworthy resource found here is called “Online Exhibitions,” which highlights treasures o f the national libraries of Europe. Users can view historic materials by document type o r topic. A general index lists individual treasures such as C hopin’s Preludes or a 16th- century atlas from Portugal. For librarians w ho w ork in the humanities or area studies, and for students of European culture an d history, G abriel is a very useful Web site. It successfully serves as a bridge to the rich resources o f E urope’s national librar­ ies and offers a streamlined means of accessing their numerous catalogs and collections.— Bar­ bara Hillson, George M ason University, bhillson@gmu.edu The N a tio n a l Park Service A rc h e o l­ o g y and E th n o g ra p h y P rogram . Access: h t t p : / / w w w .c r .n p s .g o v / a a d / index.htm /. The Archeology and Ethnography Program is an im portant co m p o n e n t o f o u r N ational Park Service. The anthropologists in this pro­ gram provide guidance to decision-makers re­ garding th e preservation o f th e diverse cul­ tures an d cultural heritage found w ithin our parks. The program originates from federal and agency m andates and has tw o primary objec­ tives. The first is to preserve and protect the 6 to 7 million archaeological sites located on pub­ lic land both w ithin an d outside o f N ational Park b orders. T he se c o n d is to identify and represent contem porary people with cultural or historical attachments to National Park land o r w ho rely on it for subsistence. The program ’s Web site is informative and speaks to several audiences: National Park Ser­ vice administrators, anthropologists, students, and the general public. It is clearly intended to educate and involve as many interested parties as possible. It offers online professional train­ ing through self-paced tutorials, w hich cover archaeological interpretation and technical site m anagem ent, as well as ethnographic assess­ m ent. T he training is geared to th e N ational Park Service staff an d m anagem ent, b u t it is equally instructive for amateurs and the gen­ eral public. The site has a special area dedicated to the public, w here visitors are encouraged to ex­ plore, learn, and participate. Pathfinders point to anthropological sites and projects, museums, exhibits, and o th er interesting links. E duca­ tio n a l o p p o rtu n itie s are p r e s e n te d a n d volunteerism is encouraged. Teachers will find curriculum-building materials and instructional tools. To further inform its b ro ad audience, extensive bibliographies linking to the full-text o f articles, laws, standards, reports, and tech­ nical briefs related to the programs mission are scattered through the site. As an entity providing governm ent do cu ­ ments to the public, the program ’s site is nec­ essarily straightforward. Visitors do not require any special plug-ins o r m edia soft­ ware. The information is largely text- b a se d an d p re s e n te d in an ADA- friendly environm ent. The site’s d e­ sign is professional and the content satisfactorily organized. However, the sitemap does prove to be a handy tool since many pages have similar o r am biguous titles. The search function returns results for the entire National Park Service site, often leading the visitor away from th e A rcheology an d E thnography Pro­ gram. The anthropologists w ho work for and with th e N ational P ark Service are enthusiastic about protecting our interests and our cultural heritage; th ey seek to increase the p u b lic ’s awareness of their mission and the importance o f cultural resource m anagem ent in general. The site is enjoyable and informative. Recom­ m ended for all audiences.—Sheri Webber, Pur­ chase College, SUNY, sheri. ıυebber@pıırchase. edu ■ mailto:bhillson@gmu.edu http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/