ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


74 / C&RL News ■ January 2001

I n t e r n e t  R e v i e w s Joni Robertsand Carol Drost, editors

A C E n e t  @ A m e r ic a n  C o u n c il o n  E d u ­
c a tio n . Access: h ttp ://w w w .a c e n e t.e d u /.
The A m erican Council o n  E ducation (ACE) 

serves as th e  c o o rd in a tin g  h ig h e r e d u c a tio n  
association fo r d e g ree -g ran tin g  colleges a n d  
universities a n d  o th e r e d u c a tio n -re la te d  o r­
ga n izations in th e  U nited States. E stablished 
in 1918, th e  C ouncil d e d ic ate s itself to  the 
b e lie f th at e q u a l e d u c a tio n a l o p p o rtu n itie s 
a n d  stro n g  h ig h e r e d u c a tio n  system s are e s­
sential c o m p o n e n ts o f a de m o c ratic  society. 
T he C ouncil w o rk s to re p re se n t th e  view s o f 
th e  h ig h e r e d u c a tio n  com m unity.

The ACE Web site incorporates a w ide range 
o f inform ation sources relating to  education 
issues such as accreditation, minorities in higher 
education, financial aid for students, a n d  dis­
tance learning. Located in W ashington, D.C. 
the Council also provides up-to-date inform a­
tion o n  n e w  legislation a n d  policies that m ay 
affect colleges a n d  universities.

F urtherm ore, se veral o f the site’s in co r­
p o ra te d  d o c u m e n ts a d d ress so m e  o f the so ­
cial a n d  political asp e cts su rro u n d in g  h ig h er 
e d u ca tio n . D o c u m e n ts in clu d e  th e  re p o rts 
from  th e  P re sid e n t’s T ask Force o n  E duca­
tion, investigations into the u se  o f  sw e a tsh o p  
lab o r for the p ro d u c tio n  o f c ollege m e rc h a n ­
dise, a n d  a n  o u tlin e  o f  th e  A cadem ic Excel­
lence a n d  Cost M anagem ent N ational Aw ards 
Program  for institutions that strive to im prove 
academ ic quality w hile containing costs. Many 
o f th e  d o c u m e n ts are p ro v id e d  in HTML for­
mat, b u t se veral PDF files are included.

A lthough ACE’s m ission sta te m en t indi­
cates that the org a n iz atio n  m aintains b o th  a 
do m estic  a n d  in te rn atio n al a g en d a , th e re  is 
little in form ation p ro v id e d  th at is n o t directly 
re la te d  to e d u c a tio n  in the U nited States. T he 
site is re a so n a b ly  w ell o rganized, b u t it a s­
sum es th at o n e  is w ell in fo rm e d  o f  th e  activi­
ties of the Council. Individuals unfam iliar w ith 
ACE m ay find it m ost h e lp fu l to u se  th e  site 
in d e x  a n d  se a rc h  o p tio n s  to b e c o m e  a c ­
q u a in te d  w ith the site ’s c ontent. T he m ain 
s ite  is u p d a t e d  d a ily , a n d  m o s t o f  its 
su b d o c u m e n ts are less th a n  a y e ar old.

ACEnet a p p e a rs to  b e  d ire c te d  tow ards 
e d u ca to rs a n d  adm inistrators. T he ACE m em ­

bership is com prised o f institutions rather than 
individuals, thus m ost o f  th e  inform ation p ro ­
v id e d  h a s v a lu e  fo r in stitu tio n a l p la n n e rs  
ra th e r th a n  individual instructors. T his b e in g  
said, th e re  is so m e  info rm a tio n  in c lu d e d  that 
w o u ld  be o f specific in te rest to individuals 
ex p lo rin g  their h ig h e r e d u c a tio n  o p p o rtu n i­
ties. Specifically, th ere  is o n e  se c tio n  d e v o te d  
to a d u lt lea rn ers w h ic h  p ro v id es inform ation 
a b o u t c ollege training in w o rk p la ce , G eneral 
E du ca tio n  D e v e lo p m e n t (GED) training a n d  
testing, a n d  re c o m m e n d a tio n s re g ard in g  col­
lege credit for m ilitary program s. O verall, the 
ACE W eb site p ro v id es a g o o d  o v e rv ie w  of 
ACE program s, political initiatives, a n d  p u b ­
lications.— J e n n ife r  Cardwell, M cM aster Uni­
versity, cardj@ m cm aster.ca

A n t h o lo g y  o f  M id d le  E n g lis h  L it e r a ­
t u r e  ( 1 3 5 0 - 1 4 8 5 ) .  A c c e s s : h t t p : / /  
w w w .lu m in a riu m .o rg /m e d lit/.
T h e  A nthology o f M iddle E nglish Litera­

ture is a W eb g u id e  to  o n lin e  study m aterials 
o n  M iddle E nglish lite ratu re  from  1350 to 
1485. It co v ers n in e  im p o rta n t authors, texts, 
a n d  g e n r e s , in c lu d in g  C h a u c e r, M arg ery  
K em pe, Everym an, a n d  m edieval plays. In 
a d d itio n , th e r e  a re  e ssa y s, a d d itio n a l r e ­
sources, a n d  a b o o k sto re . Each m ain  section 
o f th e  A nthology c o n ta in s links to W eb re ­
sources, b io g rap h ica l inform ation, electronic 
v e rsio n s o f e a c h  text, a n d  o n lin e  essays a n d  
articles. Essays w ritte n  b y  stu d e n ts are also 
in c lu d e d  a n d  are clearly m arked. T he sec­
tio n  o n  C h a u ce r is by  far th e  m o st extensive 
a n d  w ell d e v e lo p e d .

T he A n thology is a p a rt o f a larger site, 
Lum inarium , w h ic h  also includes inform ation 
o n  R enaissance a n d  17th-century literature. 
T h e  site’s author, A nniina Jo k in e n , c rea te d  
L um inarium  in 1996 b e c a u s e  sh e  fo u n d  it 
difficult to locate o n line study m aterials w hile 
tak in g  a survey class. This W eb re so u rc e  has

Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public 
services and co llection develo pm ent at W illam ette 
University, e-mail:jroberts@willamette.edu, and Carol A. 
Drost Is associate university librarian for technical services 
at Willamette University, e-mail: cdrost@wlllamette.edu

http://www.acenet.edu/
http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/
mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu
mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu


C&RL N ew s ■ Ja n u a ry  2001 / 75

been m aintained an d  e x p an d ed  over th e past 
four years an d  the au th o r indicates that she 
will continue to d o  so. The entire site can be 
searched by w ords o r phrases.

T hough th e sco p e o f th e A nthology site is 
som ew hat limited, it d o es include m any of 
the authors an d  texts norm ally co v ered  in 
introductory Middle English survey courses. 
Adding links to  back g ro u n d  inform ation an d  
other influential texts w o u ld  further increase 
its usefulness an d  provide historical an d  cul­
tural contexts for th e texts. In addition, w hile 
the au th o r notes that th e  site “is scholarly 
and aims for accuracy at all tim es,” selection 
criteria are unclear.

D espite the black background o n  the main 
page, this site is very easy to navigate and 
has a n  attractive design w ith vivid, colorful 
images. O ne problem , how ever, is that w h en ­
ever a m ain section page is accessed, a sou n d  
file tries to  play. This causes erro r m essages 
if th e p ro p e r b ro w ser plug-in is not 
loaded. W hile th e se  m essages are 
easy to  handle, it d oes affect th e site’s 
usability and can b e  frustrating for 
users.

As a w hole, this A nthology w o u ld  
b e a g o o d  g u id e  fo r s tu d e n ts  in 
Middle English survey classes. It is 
especially useful for locating resources on 
Chaucer. W hile m any items included o n  this 
site can b e fo u n d  o th er places o n  th e  Web, 
the A nthology d o es a g o o d  job o f collecting 
m aterials that fit specifically w ithin its n ar­
row  scope. It is definitely w o rth  perusing.— 
Nicole Campbell, Washington State University, 
campbell@vancouυer. wsu. edu

F irstG o v .g o v . Access: h ttp ://w w w .firstg o v .
gov/.
All levels o f inform ation seekers will w an t 

to k n o w  a b o u t FirstGov, a n ew , free U.S. 
governm ent Web portal, lau n ch e d  Septem ­
ber 2000. A project o f the P resident’s Man­
agem ent Council, FirstGov provides a single 
p oint o f access to  all federal governm ent in­
fo rm atio n  p o s te d  o n  th e  Web. Finally, a 
simple, straightforw ard w ay to access just U.S. 
governm ent inform ation o n  th e Web.

O n e can search FirstGov in several ways: 
by keyw ord o r p h rase searching; by brow s­
ing th e  Interesting Topics; o r by selecting a 
b ran ch  of U.S. gov ern m en t o r the state and 
lo cal g o v e rn m e n t in fo rm a tio n  links. T he

h o m e p a g e  is prim arily te x t-b a se d , a n d  a 
sim ple navigational links b a r ap p ears at the 
to p  o f every FirstGov Web page.

T he Interesting Topics section offers u s­
ers 16 general subject areas w ith links to  re­
lated Web sites. For exam ple, the C onsum er 
Services an d  Safety section leads users to  a 
p a g e  w ith  F eatu red  Links o n  Recalls an d  
Complaints, as w ell as at least 25 Related Links 
o n  topics su c h  as A utom obile Safety an d  
Recalls; Food, D rugs an d  Cosmetics Safety; 
an d  F ood-borne Illnesses an d  F ood P roduct 
C omplaints. The Interesting Topics section is 
fairly intuitive an d  easy for users to brow se, 
if they have a general sense o f th e inform a­
tion they are seeking.

T he left side o f the h o m ep ag e offers sev­
eral sections of useful links, starting w ith the 
F e a tu re d  S ubjects s e c tio n , w h ic h  allo w s 
FirstGov to highlight interesting an d  timely 
Web pages an d  feature new  governm ent sites.

T he next section includes th e three branches 
o f the U.S. governm ent. T he state an d  local 
g o v e rn m e n t in fo rm a tio n  se c tio n  in clu d es 
links to  econom ic data, military installations, 
national parks, a post office locator, an d  many 
o th er links to inform ation an d  statistics orga­
n ized  by state. T he section titled Your F eed­
back  allows users to register com plaints, re­
p o rt problem s, o r offer feed b ack  to m any 
agencies by topic o r by the agency nam e it­
self. O ne can also subm it feedback ab o u t the 
FirstGov Web site itself.

Page layouts are sim ple an d  clean, and 
graphics are k ep t to  a m inim um . W hether 
y ou are searching for crime statistics, for in­
form ation o n  alternative m edicine, o r for the 
Secret Service Web site (w ho rem em bers that 
it’s p art o f th e D epartm ent o f th e Treasury?), 
this is th e Web site for you. T he site is a valu­
able resource for all reference librarians w ho 
m ay b e  searching for governm ent inform a­
tion, an d  for all levels o f users w h o  m ay be 
searching for statistics, legislation, o r co n ­
s u m e r in fo rm a tio n .— Caroline L. Gilson, 
Radford University, cgilson@radford.edu ■

http://www.firstgov
mailto:cgilson@radford.edu