jan08c.indd


I n t e r n e t  R e v i e w s  Joni R. Roberts and Carol A. Drost 

A s i a S o u r c e .  A c c e s s :  h t t p : / / w w w .  
asiasource.org/. 
AsiaSource, developed by New York­based 

Asia Society, provides a superb resource for 
Asian arts, culture, politics, business, educa­
tion, and historical information. Founded in 
1956 as a nonprofit organization, the Asia 
Society’s mission is to “strengthen relation­
ships and promote understanding among the 
people, leaders, and institutions of the United 
States and Asia.” 

This site—incorporating audio, video, e­
mail alerts, RSS and podcasting—has a very 
professional look and is clearly structured 
with easy navigation and keyword search­
ing. Users can access the site by topics and 
services. The striking blue horizontal topic 
tabs cover “Arts & Culture,” “Business & 
Economics,” “Policy & Government,” and 
“Social Issues.” The vertical sidebar guides 
users to various services, including “AsiaTO­
DAY,” “AskASIA,” “AsiaFOOD,” “AsiaSTORE,” 
“AsiaPROFILES,” “AsiaVIEWS,” “AsiaLINKS,” 
“AsiaEXPERTS,” “AsiaEVENTS,” “AsianNYC,” 
and “AsiaBULLETIN.” On each topical page 
users can find special reports, interviews, and 
other useful links. 

“AskASIA” has numerous documents that 
facilitate the study and teaching of Asian 
subjects in the curriculum. This section also 
includes maps and images from a variety of 
sources. 

“AsiaPROFILES” is a great resource for 
students and researchers looking for informa­
tion about a specific country. Each country 
profile is represented by “Geography,” “De­
mographics,” “Economy,” “Communications,” 
“Transportation,” and “Military.” The ability to 
compare country data is particularly appeal­
ing as users can select up to fi ve countries 

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 

for comparison. The data is from the CIA 
Factbook and other sources. 

“AsiaEXPERTS” is a very impressive data­
base for locating specialists in Asian culture, 
arts, history, and society. The database is 
searchable by keyword or by “Discipline,” 
“Country or Region,” and “Language.” Al­
though targeted for the press, experts are 
often happy to answer questions by students 
and can be an excellent resource. 

Other valuable information on the site 
includes “This Day in Asian History,” “Fact of 
the Day,” “Asian Holidays,” “Chronologies,” 
“Dictionary Tool,” “Embassies,” and “Regional 
News.” “Bibliographies” from various univer­
sities and individuals are not listed on the 
main page but do appear in the sitemap and 
can be an effective guide for students. 

The major problem with the site is that the 
current news section has not been updated 
since April 12, 2007. 

Despite this, students in international or 
East Asia Studies or anyone interested in 
information on Asia will find a tremendous 
wealth of resources at AsiaSource.—Jia Mi, 
College of New Jersey, jmi@tcnj.edu 

The Becket Fund. Access: http://www. 
becketfund.org/index.php. 
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is 

a Washington, D.C.­based law fi rm, which 
seeks to protect the right of free expression 
for all religious traditions. The Becket Fund is 
named for Thomas á Becket (118­70 CE), who 
was martyred by the knights of King Henry 
II of England for defending the principle of 
religious liberty. The nonprofi t, nonpartisan, 
interfaith organization operates in three are­
nas: litigation, media, and scholarship. 

The Becket Fund’s homepage provides 
a link to each area of the fund’s activities. 
Under “Litigation” the user will find an alpha­
betical list of more than 100 cases involving 
the Becket Fund. In ACLU v. Shundler, for 
example, the Becket Fund was retained by 
Jersey City, New Jersey, to defend an ACLU 

C&RL News January 2008  40 

http://www
mailto:jmi@tcnj.edu
mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu
http:asiasource.org
http://www


challenge against displaying a crèche and 
menorah on city property. They have also 
defended the rights of Native Americans to 
worship in 

sacred sites (Bear Lodge Multiple Use 
Association v. Babbitt and Cheyenne River 
Sioux Tribe Association) and Sikhs to build a 
temple (Guru Nanak Sikh Society of Yuba City 
v. County of Sutter), etc. “Media” provides a 
chronological list of all news releases issued 
by the Becket Fund dating back to 1997. 
“Scholarship” provides a roster of confer­
ences sponsored by the Becket Institute in 
Rome (The Becket Fund’s academic partner 
in Europe). However, only the titles of the 
conferences are on the Web page, and no 
further information is provided. 

The homepage provides a list of “The Is­
sues” (international, property rights, schools, 
prisons, employment, associations, and pub­
lic square), which serve as topical indexes to 
the material contained in the site. The main 
page also has a search screen with Boolean 
capability which retrieves site information on 
a variety of topics: “zoning,” “abortion,” “fi rst 
amendment,” “Hinduism,” etc. Contact infor­
mation is given and the site is well maintained 
with weekly updates. Other than a link for 
prospective donors, there is relatively little 
commercial material on the homepage. 

Students who are preparing a persuasive 
speech on some topic relating to the freedom 
of religious expression can be referred to the 
site. The Becket Fund provides useful back­
ground information on issues dealing with 
the freedom of religious expression. For more 
detailed background information on the par­
ticular court cases, however, the patron should 
be referred to Lexis­Nexis.—Wendell Johnson, 
Northern Illinois University, wjohnso1@niu. 
edu 

LANIC: Latin American Network Information 
Center. Access: http://lanic.utexas.edu/. 
LANIC is associated with the Lozano Long 

Institute of Latin American Studies at the Uni­
versity of Texas (UT)­Austin. LANIC is part 
of International Information Systems, also 
based at UT Austin, which includes ASNIC 

(Asian Network Information Center), MENIC 
(Middle East Network Information Center), 
and REENIC (Russian and East European 
Network Information Center). The Web site 
has been in service since 1994. LANIC states 
that its mission “is to provide Latin American 
users with access to academic databases and 
information services throughout the Internet, 
and to provide Latin Americanists around the 
world with access to information on and from 
Latin America.” They claim that to be one of 
the largest guides for Latin American content 
on the Internet. 

LANIC can be viewed or searched in 
English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The site 
can be browsed by broad subject categories, 
such as “Humanities” or “Society & Culture,” 
and these broad categories are subdivided 
into general resources and country resources. 
It can also be browsed by country or by 
subject. LANIC’s advanced search allows 
one to search LANIC and its other projects: 
Latin America and the Caribbean Economic & 
Social Data (USAID), Centro Latinoamericano 
de Administración para el Desarrollo (CLAD), 
Latin American Studies Network (LASNET), 
Sistema Económico Latinoamericano (SELA), 
and the Castro Speech Database. The ad­
vanced search option also lists portals and 
directory sites in Latin America. 

LANIC is an index to more than 12,000 
sites. Whether searching or browsing, the 
results are links to government, scholarly, 
and popular sites, along with electronic lists 
and usernet newsgroups about Latin Ameri­
can history, culture, and arts. LANIC staff 
evaluates and catalogs all sites, and these 
sites are presented in an organized format 
for researchers. LANIC is unbiased and pro­
vides links to both sides of political issues; 
for example, the “News” category for Cuba 
contains a link to the United States Offi ce of 
Cuba Broadcasting (home of Radio Martí and 
TV Martí) and a link to Granma (the offi cial 
newspaper of the Central Committee of the 
Communist Party of Cuba). 

LANIC is a valuable site for all things 
Latin American and can be useful to both an 

(continues on page 49) 

January 2008  41 C&RL News 

http:http://lanic.utexas.edu


and held the academic rank of librarian of 
special collections. As head of public services 
and outreach, Stout developed and adminis­
tered outreach programs for all three archival 
and rare book units in special collections. 
Originally appointed by Governor Casey in 
1989, he continues to serve as a member of 
the Pennsylvania State Historical Records Ad­
visory Board, and in 2003, was appointed to 
the U. S. National Historical Publications and 
Records Commission and chairs its executive 
committee. He has served as chair of the Mid­
Atlantic Regional Archives Conference and he 
has served terms as treasurer, vice president, 
and president of the Society of American Ar­
chivists. In 1996, he was named a Fellow of 
the Society, its highest individual award. Stout 
describes his role at the helm of the Society 
of American Archivists as the culmination of 
25 years of work with the organization. He is 
the author of a number of articles on archival 
topics and Penn State history, and wrote the 
state assessment report, “Historical Records 
in Pennsylvania,” for the Pennsylvania His­
torical and Museum Commission. Stout will 
continue to be active in the profession with 
work on a number of projects, including his 
longstanding interest in the preservation of 
electronic records, a book on the history of 

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Archival Products 13 
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H. W. Wilson cover 3 
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John Wiley 26 
Liberty Fund 45 
Libraries Unlimited 46 
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Peabody Professional Institutes 20 
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Rittenhouse Book Distributors 5 
University of Arizona Library 50 
University of Oklahoma Libraries 36 

Penn State’s famous Berkey Creamery, ar­
ticles on archival and historical topics, and 
oral history interviews for several ongoing 
projects. He will also continue his monthly 
column with Town & Gown magazine, a local 
State College publication, which he has writ­
ten since 1990. 

Carla M. Summers, university librarian and 
head of the department of special collec­
tions and university archives, retired in June 
2007 from the University of Central Florida 
(UCF) Libraries. She worked in Florida as 
an archivist, manuscripts librarian, and ad­
ministrator for 30 years, first with the State 
Archives of Florida and then with the Uni­
versity of Florida. She was the founding 
president of the Society of Florida Archivists, 
served two terms as treasurer of the Acad­
emy of Certified Archivists, and is currently 
on the Council of the Society of American 
Archivists, where she will continue to serve 
while maintaining her archives, special col­
lections, and records management consult­
ing practice. 

D e a t h s  

Allison Ondrasik King, 54, assistant li­
brarian at the University of Central Florida’s 
joint­use library on the Brevard Community 
College campus in Cocoa, Florida, died Au­
gust 2007. She was active in the Florida Li­
brary Association, where she served on the 
continuing education and planning com­
mittees. She was also the award­winning 
author of DataMap, a reference book for 
librarians. 

(“Reviews” continued from page 41) 

undergraduate student needing the history of 
the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos and 
a scholar looking for the growth of exports 
from Nicaragua to Jamaica between 1987 
and 1992.—Delores Carlito, University of Ala­
bama­Birmingham, delo@uab.edu 

January 2008  49 C&RL News 

mailto:delo@uab.edu