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

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Access:gopher: //gopher. epa.gov; http: //www.epa. gov; ftp: //ftp.epa.gov.

Owner:Operated by the Na- tional Data Processing Divi- sion of the Environmental Protection Agency. Contact: John Shirey, internet_sup port@unixmail.rtpnc.epa.gov.

The EPA has developed a set of pilot public servers for gopher, WWW, ftp, and WAIS clients, in order to disseminate agency information to the general public. A considerable number of full-text files are available, though this represents but a small portion of the EPA-produced printed documents found in depository libraries. Among the most useful text files are excerpts from the Federal Register related to the environment (as recent as yesterday’s publication), and transcripts of speeches and press releases by the agency and other government officials (such as Clinton’s Earth Day speech).

Several other gopher menu categories include a smattering of reports on topics such as solid waste, UV radiation, and recycling. The Toxic Release Inventory tables, which provide important data on hazardous substances, must be downloaded, uncompressed, and viewed with a spreadsheet. Although few items are present in some menus, the breadth of categories and the newness of the server promise significantly more material in the future.

Information about the agency itself is quite useful. Contact names and addresses are provided for many national and regional offices and programs. Descriptions of grants and contracts include a number of Requests for Proposals and examples of how to submit proposals to the agency. Additionally, a number of reports delineate the initiatives and policies the EPA plans to pursue over the next several years.

The EPA servers show signs of being thoughtfully installed. The menu structure is clear, and contents files and “metadata records” give overviews of most categories. Response time via the gopher server is excellent, but the WWW server is slowed down by excessive graphics. The intended audience is obviously varied, as consumers, businesses, and researchers all have items of interest here. Overall, this site provides a good sampling of very recent agency material and should supplement an academic library’s documents depository collection.—Christopher W. Nolan, Trinity University, cnolan@trinity.edu

Australian National University ArtServe. Access:http: //rubens.anu.edu.au. Contact: Michael Greenhalgh, gremarth@ fac.anu.edu.au.

The Australian National University’s ArtServe is fascinating to explore. Users find digitized images for nearly 10,000 artworks along with presentations on architectural topics and access to 13 WWW databases on related cultural topics. Librarians, scholars, and patrons will find this resource useful for reference work, scholarship, and browsing as well as a wonderful introduction to the possibilities of such technologies. Access to ArtServe via WWW on Mosaic is straightforward. Telnet access through a public WWW point is available but slow with no ability to view images. Navigation through the files presents few difficulties due to excellent organization.

The thumbnail images include 2,800 reproductions of prints produced from the 15th century through the end of the 19th century and 2,500 images of classical architecture and architectural sculpture originating from the Mediterranean area. By January 1995 the file will obtain an additional 3,000 images of European sculpture and architecture from classical times through the 19th century. Print images are accessible through indexes covering artist, subject, and technique. The sole difficulty encountered was viewing text for the print’s history without images. Also available is a matching file for Islamic architecture covering building type and site with images and by country and site with and without images.

Accompanying these sources are four text and image presentations on the Palace of Dioletica, contemporary Hong Kong architec- ture, classical architecture in Turkey, and an electronic book on Greek and Roman cities in Turkey. ArtServe closes with a section called EXPO from the Library of Congress that pro- vides access to electronic presentations on the Vatican Exhibit, Soviet Archives, the 1492 Ex- hibit, the Dead Seas Scrolls, and the paleontol- ogy Exhibit. Additional links are available to files at the Krannert Art museum, the Dinosaur Exhibit at Honolulu Community College, the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the Uni- versity of Illinois, Ansel Adams photographs, Mount Wilson Observatory, and the Janson Project.

This resource provides a wonderful intro- duction to WWW and hypertext technology as well as a valuable reference source for a wide range of purposes. It also serves as a model for future electronic tools. ANU ArtServe deserves the attention of all types of librarians.—Stephen L. Hupp, Capital University, shupp@capital.edu

Le WebLouvre, Paris.Access: http: // mistral. enst.fr/~pioch/louvre.

Part of the ENST (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris) WWW server, Le WebLouvre—no official relation to the fa- mous art museum—was created by Nicolas Pioch, a 23-year-old student and computer sci- ence instructor at the ENST. The project is con- tinually being developed and expanded with the help of outside contributors because “more artistic stuff is needed on the In- ternet,” as Pioch explains. At the 1994 CERN WWW conference,

Le WebLouvre received the “Best Use of Multiple Media Award.”

Without further ado, let’s pick up a ticket at the “Pyra- mide” as over 150,000 visitors have done during the first six months since the museum opened on March 20 1994, and begin our exploration of the dif- ferent exhibits: the Famous Paintings Exhibition, the Medi- eval Art Exhibit, and the Visit

Paris Tour, with more than 250 images and several dozen sound bites combined.

In the Famous Paintings Exhibition you can see works from the Baroque, the Revolution and Restoration, and the Impressionistic, Cubist, and Abstract art periods; browse an Artist

Part of a Renoir painting as seen on Le WebLouvre.

Index; and look up definitions in the Glossary. The collections of Impressionism are the most extensive (over 60 pieces, including many works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, and van Gogh) while the other areas are still rather “sketchy.” The Artist Index deserves a look since several of the over 50 artists mentioned here (like Dürer, Klimt, Schiele, or Michelangelo) did not make it into the period exhibits. There are links to biographical information (often taken from the 1994 Encyclopedia Britannica) and some of the paintings have well-written interpreta- tive comments provided by Pioch and others. Textual elements throughout Le WebLouvre are in either English, French, or sometimes both.

Should your eyes experience visual over- load, you can step into the Auditorium and lis- ten to a collection of sound bites including clips from the French TV show Les Guignols de l’Info, French movie stars (like Alain Delon and Jean- Paul Belmondo), TV personalities, sports stars, and politicians from the left (Mitterand) and from the right (Chirac). You can also treasure some classical music or, if you have become homesick, play the theme songs from Mission Impossible and The Pink Panther.

You may even slip out onto the streets of Paris and discover some of the city’s tourist attractions (don’t miss the newly opened “Cata- combs of Paris”) or select the historical guided tour, complete with explanations and anec- dotes.

By now it is time to soak up some more culture and head for the Medi- eval Art Exhibit. “Les Très Riches Houres du Duc de Berry” is a fine example of a medieval book of hours and the 12 calendar images from the 15th century are a high point of the art of manuscript illumi- nation.

Le WebLouvre is a cultural experience. If you can wait for the images and sound bites to transfer to your desktop (or if you are fortunate to have a di- rect Internet connection) and the quality of the GIF and JPEG images does not bother you, Le WebLouvre is well worth the visit. It doesn’t replace a trip to Paris (or your favorite museum for that mat- ter), but it may be the only way for you to get there.—Ralf Neufang, University of Hawaii, ralf@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu