ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Internet Reviews

Sara Amato is systems librarian at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon; e-mail: samato@willamette.edu

Over the past year I have been perusing the Internet searching for materials that are of interest to the aca- demic community for inclu- sion on our local gopher.

This experience has been not unlike browsing a used books store; amidst the dusty piles of junk once in a while you come across a gem. One frustration of this pursuit has been that lacking the tradi- tional tools, such as book reviews and publisher reputation, it is often difficult to identify and assess resources. Although many useful lists of Inter- net resources are available, few provide criti- cal descriptions of the contents.

The intent of this column is to provide reviews that take a critical eye to resources available on the Internet. These reviews will, for the most part, cover freely accessible databases, and not discussion groups. Anyone interested in reviews of discussion groups and listservs should subscribe to lstrev-l®umslvma.bitnet. This list review service is maintained by Raleigh Muns, a reference librarian at the Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri.

One of the great benefits of the Internet is the ability for us to share our knowledge and expertise. All of the reviews published here will also be available and keyword searchable in the Internet Reviews Archive on the Willamette University gopher (gopher to gopher.willamette.edu in the directory library resources/ Internet reviews archive). If you are interested in being a reviewer for this column, please contact me at Willamette University, samato@willamette.edu. Happy Internauting!

Bureau of Justice Statistics Documents. Access:gopher to UACSC2.AIBANY.EDU in the directory United Nations Justice Network (UNCJIN)/ Bureau of Justice Statistics Documents/

As noted in several places, these documents, put out by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), are generally intended for policy makers, practitioners, and the general public, especially “for gauging criminal justice efforts.” As such, they are essentially press releases of criminal justice statistics gathered in various categories, e.g., jail expenditures, inmate demographics, women in prison, drugs and crime, recidivism, capital punishment, police, etc., mostly for the last five years. The full text of docu- ments with tables may be obtained by writing the BJS Clearinghouse, Box 6000, Rockville, MD 10850 or call- ing (800) 732-3277.

The BJS documents are part of the United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network (UNCJIN), a col- lection of resources available through the gopher at SUNY-Albany and maintained by Graeme Newman. The original project to make this larger network available was funded by the U.S. government, but Newman notes that further funding is “dicey.” This subset is usually updated monthly, al- though BJS sends reports irregularly.

The great limitation to these documents is that they are only browsable and the narrative representation of statistics is decidedly biased. Nevertheless, these reports may provide useful supplementary information for a speech class assignment or a starting point for a larger undergraduate or graduate student project.—Barbara Valentine, reference and systems librarian, Linfield College; bvalen@linfield.edu.

The Harvard Business School Publishing Catalog. Access:gopher to hbscat.harvard.edu; Producer: The Harvard Business School Publishing; Contact: technical: Scott Williams: (scott_ williams@cchbspub.harvard.edu); marketing: Kate Conti: (kconti@cchbspub.harvard.edu) Students studying business, economics, and management are often asked to write case studies using Harvard Business School (HBS) case studies as models. Instead of using generic cases, students usually want to find cases on topics similar to their assignments. In addition, faculty consistently use HBS case studies in their teaching. Since HBS cases are only available through the Harvard Business School Publishing Catalog, this Internet resource is a valuable tool for students and faculty.

This resource offers electronic access to the catalog of all materials available from the Harvard Business School Publishing catalog. Although the catalog is geared towards teaching faculty, students and those in corporate training and development will find it useful as well. This electronic catalog contains twice as many items (over 6,000) and is more comprehensive than its print counterpart. It features citations to HBS case studies, Harvard Business Review reprints, teaching notes, background notes, case software, videos, and HBS Press book titles. The catalog, updated monthly, covers 1989- present (except classics and bestsellers which are covered back to the 1960s).

Documentation about the gopher, search tips, prices, and order information are available through the gopher. A toll-free number offers access to a helpful customer service department.

Each catalog entry lists the author, title, type of publication, subject area, keywords, and product number. The catalog is searchable by keyword and supports boolean operators. Search specifications are case-insensitive and an asterisk can be used for truncation. An important point to remember about searching is that a space between keywords is an implied “or.” For example, articles, cases, or books on the Japanese distribution system would be searched:

Japanese and distribution and system*

To find just cases (or reviews) search:

Japanese and distribution and system* and case

Japanese and distribution and system* and review

An order form and toll-free number are available through the gopher. Orders are shipped within four days and overnight delivery is available. The academic price for cases and articles typically costs $2.15 plus a shipping and handling charge, and a $10.00 minimum order is required. Because the costs are not insignificant, librarians will need to decide who will pay, students or the library.—Jan Davis Tudor, management/business economics librarian, Willamette University; jtudor@willamette. edu