ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


34 / C&RL News m  January 1998

I n t e r n e t  R e v i e w s Sara Amato, editor

U ncle  S a m . /lccess.http://www.lib.memphis. 
edu/gpo/unclesam.htm.
The Government Publications Department 

o f the Regional Depository Library at the 
University o f Memphis has taken on the task 
o f providing access to and information on 

many governm ent publica­
tions available through the In­
ternet. The result is Uncle 
Sam, an easy-to-use and in­
formative site for anyone with 

an interest in government information.
The heart of Uncle Sam is “Migrating Gov­

ernment Publications,” a list o f government 
publications that are migrating from print to 
electronic versions. They are listed by title 
and SuDoc number, and are marked as avail­
able in electronic only or in electronic and 
print versions. The links are annotated if the 
publication is available from more than one 
site, or for title changes or other irregulari­
ties. The listing is limited to serials and peri­
odicals, which make up a large percentage 
o f government publications, and links are 
provided to the GPO Access site for finding 
available monographs.

Although there is no search engine (one 
is planned for the future), finding a known 
item is very easy. Some subject access is pro­
vided through the annotated pathfinders 
found in the “Internet Resource Guides” sec­
tion. The University o f Memphis librarians 
have created 14 subject guides that list Inter­
net resources plus some essential print pub­
lications. “Geography and Map Information,” 
with links to government and commercial 
sites as well as how-to and ordering infor­
mation, is a separate section.

More useful information for all libraries is 
available under the “GPO Resources” and 
“Hot Links” sections. “Hot Links” includes 
pointers to other sites that have organized 
government publications by one criterion or 
another, plus the very useful “Reference Re­
cidivism ,” a FAQ/Ready R eference page. 
Depository libraries can check out “Deposi­
tory Library Information” and “Current Con­
cerns,” a listing o f news sources about gov­
ernment documents.

Uncle Sam is a valuable starting place for 
students or faculty in subjects that rely heavily 
on government publications, and it is an ex ­
cellent resource for librarians who need to 
locate government information in a reference 
setting. Its consistent, uncluttered look, good 
organization, and com prehensiveness all 
work together to provide access to informa­
tion previously available only at depository 
libraries. Highly recommended for all librar­
ies.— D eA n n e Luck, A ustin P e a y  State Uni­
versity; LuckD L®apsuO l .a p su .ed u

T h e  W h y file s . Access: http://whyfiles.news. 
wisc.edu/index.html.
At first glance this site appears to be both 

limited in its coverage, and geared towards 
a young audience. The initial pages are 
sparse, containing only “teasers” o f stories. 
The graphics are small and clean. After a few 
clicks, you’ll realize there is actually quite a 
bit o f information here after all, but it still 
appears to be geared towards the high-school 
crowd. The articles are on current topics, but 
the writing certainly isn’t dry and academic. 
Soon, however, you’ve gone through about 
seven screens worth o f information about El 
Nino, and  you 
re a liz e  th a t a) 
y ou e n jo y e d  
reading this ar­
ticle more than any others you can recall on 
the subject, and b) you actually learned some­
thing. Quite a bit in fact!

The theme o f this site is “science behind 
the news,” and the (at review-time) 75 ar­
ticles posted certainly run the gamut. In­
cluded are articles on forensic science, spi­
nal cord repair, volcanoes, and sandcastle 
science. A particularly interesting article dealt 
with grief, with the lead-in in asking, “When 
Diana died, why did millions mourn?”

The opening page contains only two ar­
ticles, one current, and one two weeks old. 
There is a search option, and a link to the 
archives, where older stories are arranged ac-

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

http://www.lib.memphis
http://whyfiles.news


C&RL News m January 1 9 9 8 /3 5

cording to the following categories: biology, 
environmental science, health, physical sci­
ence, social science, sports, and technology.

The Whyfiles are published by the Na­
tional Institute for Science Education, funded 
by the National Science Foundation. Accord­
ing to the information page, “the NISE is a 
collaborative effort to ensure that all students 
who leave the educational system can make 
informed decisions about science, mathemat­
ics, engineering and technology.” While the 
implication is that this information is geared 
towards students at a pre-college level, the 
easy-to-read style of writing and selection of 
current topics should also appeal to the under­
graduate student.

The site does a good job o f staying fresh—  
every article has a different background and 
graphics theme. Some articles are only a page, 
while others are quite lengthy. There is also 
a section for an online forum— basically Web-
based discussion groups.

After spending some time exploring this 
site, my opinion o f it changed considerably. 
I came to appreciate the non-technical writ­
ing style and the simple interface. I learned 
a lot. I ’ll bet your students will too.— P a u l 
Pival, N ova S ou th eastern  University; p a u lp @  
n s u .n o v a .e d u

A f r ic a  N e w s  O n lin e . A ccess: http://www.
africanews.org.
Through a partnership with Africa’s lead­

ing news agencies, newspapers, and maga­
zines, Africa News Service produces Africa 
News Online. Africa News Service is a non­
profit U. S. news agency that started in 1973. 
This agency boasts being “directly or indi­
rectly responsible for a significant percent­
age of U. S. media coverage o f Africa.” Africa 
News Online is the online version o f the 
widely read news periodical A fr ic a  News, 
which has b een an exclusively electronic 
publication since 1993.

The homepage contains an abundance of 
links for contemporary news in politics, en­
tertainment, sports, business, science, and 
health. The “Resources Cuisine” link provides 
access to special reports, interviews, profiles, 
and even a link for ordering an African cook­
book. “Internet Gateway” links to Web sites 
for news topics such as United Nations & 
Africa, United States & Africa, and Africa’s 
Great Lakes Region. Links can also b e found

to Web sites for African news organizations, 
newspapers, and news agencies. For daily, 

full-text ar­
ticle s from 
th e larg est 

news gathering agency in Africa, there’s the 
“PANA News” link, which includes searchable 
archives. Additional current articles from news 
magazines and newspapers can be accessed 
by clicking on the “News Central” link. In­
cluded are links to news reports from vari­
ous regions and countries in Africa. It offers 
searchable archives that are in the testing stage.

African News Online fills an information 
gap for faculty, undergraduate, and gradu­
ate students in the fields o f African studies, 
government, and international affairs. Al­
though the link for information resources is 
labeled “Resources Cuisine,” a user will find 
navigating through this Web site is easy. This 
Internet resource opens up Africa to the rest 
o f the world.— N an cy Allen, USF a t  S a r a s o ta / 
New C ollege ■

“ The axe fo r the frozen sea. . . ”  continued from  page 16

time to experien ce another. But perhaps 
when the need is strong enough we will seek 
out the word on the page, and the work that 
puts us back into the force field of deep time. 
The book— and my optimism, you may sense, 
is not unwavering— will be seen as a haven, 
as a way o f going off-line and into a space 
satisfied by subjectivity.”2

If you are convinced that we need to do 
more to recognize and support reading, I rec­
ommend the Library o f Congress’s Center for 
the B ook’s 1997– 2000 campaign, “Building a 
Nation o f Readers.” Their web page at http:/ 
/lcweb.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/readbro.html con­
tains excellent ideas about promoting read­
ing, both in our libraries and as individuals. 
As we academic librarians skillfully surf the 
shoals and tidal waves of the Internet, let’s 
heed the words o f Franz Kakfa who said, 
“The book must be the axe for the frozen 
sea within us.”

N o t e s
1. Toth, Susan Allen and Jo hn Coughlan, 

R e a d in g  R o o m s  (N ew  York: D ou bled ay 
1990).

2. Kernan, Alvin, The D eath o f  Literature, 
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990). ■

http://www