ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Internet Reviews

Sara Amato is electronic services and Web development librarian at Bowdoin College, e-mail:samato@bowdoin.edu

Jointly Administered Knowledge Environment (jake). Access:http:// jake.med.yale.edu/.

Serials and Electronic Resources librarians have a great tool for the evaluation of their aggregate databases in jake. jake contains descriptions of 162 of the widely subscribed to databases, search interfaces, and free standing electronic services. Specifications such as title lists, number of titles with citations, and number of titles with full text are given for database descriptions. A user can also search jake for a journal title to determine which databases contain that title and whether they offer the full text or only indexing. jake is hosted at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at the Yale University School of Medicine, also home of the oss41ib Web site (http://info.med.yale. edu/library/oss41ib/). They openly solicit technical help from the programming-inclined and suggestions and feedback from interested users.

As electronic resources become increasingly complex, their related metadata become increasingly helpful for selection and evaluation purposes, jake provides quick and efficient means to perform searches across databases and other content delivery resources, which can make discerning between the resources much easier. The truly heartwarming aspect of jake is that it is free and freely available for anyone to access or download and customize according to GNU General Public License guidelines.

The site is extremely plain-vanilla, but the usefulness of the content makes this a nonissue. The search engine allows searching on journal names, database names, abbreviations, or ISSNs. Volumes, issues, page numbers, or years can be entered to refine the search. A search on “cell” returned 35 matches ranging from Cellular Pharmacology (indexed in 3 databases) to Cell (indexed in 22 databases).

Under “About jake,” the behind the scenes information, including the methods of data collection and their philosophy of linking between electronic resources, is outlined. The Objectives section lists functions of the service already operating, as well as those soon to come. Two of these future functions, linking to local information and coverage comparison between resources, will make this already helpful resource indispensable. The “Using jake” section describes the open-access nature of the resource, suggestions for customization and local use, and a beta of the database comparison form.

Not surprisingly, jake operates very smoothly; no dead ends or other glitches were detected by this reviewer. This type of service, not creating content but making use of the content it relates to infinitely easier to use, is a great example of how our electronic talents and resources can be applied to ease the transition from print to online, which we are all experiencing with varying anxiety.— Kirsten Tozer, Central Washington University, tozerk@cwu.edu

StudyAbroad.com. Access:http://www.study abroad, com.

If you are looking for a place to spend a semester abroad, this ought to be one of your stops. Produced by Education Directories Unlimited, it’s a quick way to view “thousands of study abroad programs in more than 100 countries throughout the world” in one spot. Unfortunately the advertising dominates to such a degree that it takes a little time to orient oneself to the format and find the parts of value.

The main page features logos for about two dozen institutions and links to their sites. These are very useful, but represent only a few of the programs actually available. Less obvious are the sidebar and headers that provide access to the useful directory entries into the site. Once found, the directories provide listings by an assortment of program types, such as academic year/semester, summer, subject, experiential, and others. Some of these also lead to choices by country. Eventually the main listing pages appear, saturated by institution logos.

Look carefully for the “More: click to see full alphabetical listing” icon on these pages to find the best part of the directory. The standardized format of these pages allows all the listings available in an interest area to receive equal billing. Each listing contains school or institute name, address, phone, where abroad program is, when offered, a brief description, and contact information. Alas, Web links are included only for those institutions that pay for advertising. Still there are many more “free” listings, including some of the most notable study abroad programs.

Studyabroad.com Marketplace also includes links to products and services for those studying abroad, including sources of financial aid, health insurance, airfare discounts, etc. Consumer information and travel abroad tips are also included in various forums and newsletters.

This site unabashedly favors programs that pay to advertise and, as such, is primarily a marketing tool. But for those with persistence, it can be a great first stop to see a wide range of what is available in study abroad. College students will find this site most useful, but there are also a number of high school programs listed.—Barbara Valentine, Linfield College, bvalen@linfield.edu

Genamics. Access: http://genamics.com.

Genamics SoftwareSeek is an online directory of software for use in molecular biology and biochemistry. It includes both freely distributable and commercial tools, and contains more than 1,100 entries. A ‘’Recent Additions” feature allows one to link conveniently to newly added software titles. Also, for each software, SoftwareSeek lists the platform on which it runs (Windows, MS-DOS, Mac, Unix, or Linux).

Genamics JournalSeek is a database of journal information. The journal information includes aims and scope, journal abbreviations, Web links, and ISSNs. JournalSeek contains more than 8,500 titles, and its coverage extends beyond genetics, molecular biology, and biochemistry to many other fields. The field of physics, for example, has 552 journals listed. The journal information in JournalSeek allows a scientist to identify likely journals in which to publish his or her research and to locate new journals of interest. In addition, librarians may make use of the mini-reviews of the journals when making selection decisions. The annotations are a welcome feature, since reviews of journals can be hard to come by.

Genamics GenomeSeek is an online directory providing access to current and completed microbial genome projects on the Web. The 113 genome projects linked to are divided into bacteria (79), Archaea (13), and Eucarya (21); complete (29) and incomplete (84); and published (24) and unpublished (89). Since genome projects are well represented on the Web; GenomeSeek is a nice directory to use.

Genamics BookSeek is a searchable database of biochemistry, cell biology, microbiology, and molecular biology books. Clicking on a title connects one to the online bookstore amazon.com (http://amazon.com), where one can buy the book.

Finally, it should be noted that anyone may make a submission to the Genamics site. According to the Genamics Open Resource Project FAQ, Genamics has made the SoftwareSeek, JournalSeek, GenomeSeek, and BookSeek databases fully editable by the public.

Genamics feels that by freely allowing users to modify and add to the databases, they will grow in ways that an entirely self-contained system could not. Genamics also says that a continuous stream of small contributions from users around the world helps keep the databases highly accurate and up-to-date. Of course, one wonders, how does this affect the reliability of the information on the site? The FAQ explains that all submissions that come from the public are examined by the Genamics editorial staff. Remember, however, that the public submissions are posted first and examined only later.—Penelope Papangelis, Western Kentucky University, Penny. Papangelis@wku.edu ■