ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Internet Reviews

Sara Amato, editor

De Proverbio. Access:http://info.utas.edu.au/ docs/flonta/.

De Proverbio: An Electronic Journal of International Proverb Studiesresides at the University of Tasmania, Aus- tralia, and is under the edi- torial direction of Teodor Flonta, who is on the fac- ulty of modern languages. Volume 1, number 1 ap- peared in 1995, and the pub- lication schedule calls for a new issue twice yearly—’’around February- March and around September-October.” The title is from the Latin, meaning “about the prov- erb,” and the disciplines touched upon by this topic include folklore, psychology, mass-me- dia, sociology, and literature. Regular features include The Masters, reprinting seminal articles in the field, and Current Research, “a platform for the most recent scholarly findings of paremiologists around the world.” The De Proverbio site will also contain apparatus for the study of proverbs, including bibliographies and collections of proverbs. The premier issue includes eight proverb-specific articles by Wolfgang Mieder in the Masters section, four articles in Current Research, book reviews, a section of bibliographies, and two entire books, one of which is the editor’s own English- Romanian Dictionary of Equivalent Proverbs (2nd edition). One issue has appeared since then, and Flonta has set a high standard for the publication, resulting in a lively, highly read- able Web site. The next issue is projected for March 1996. As yet, the publication is free to users of the World Wide Web, and participa- tion is sought by Flonta. The journal is refer- eed, with the editorial board comprised of: Wolfgang Mieder (University of Vermont, Bur- lington), Shirley L. Arora (University of Califor- nia, Los Angeles), Peter Grzybek (Karl-Franzens- Universitt, Austria), Raymond D. Doctor (University of Poona, India), Ariella Flonta (Uni- versity of Tasmania), and Cezar Tabarcea (Uni- versity of Bucharest). A search engine would add greatly to De Proverbio’s usefulness, but otherwise the navigational aids are quite helpful and the lay- out straightforward.—David Dodd, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; ddodd@ serf.uccs.edu

CNN Interactive. Access: http://cnn.com.

The Internet is becoming the choice of many for keeping abreast of current news sto- ries. Timeliness, wide accessibility, and easily digested formats help make online news sources increasingly popular. Many major news services and regional and national newspapers have, or are planning to have, a presence on the Internet.

A major broadcast news player, CNN, entered the World Wide Web fray last August when it launched its CNN Interactive multimedia news site. CNN Interactive uses the same vast news gathering sources as its televised counterpart (nine domestic and eleven international bureaus plus several hundred worldwide broadcast affiliates) when compiling news stories. Also, CNN has entered into an agreement with the LEXIS-NEXIS Information Service to provide additional stories for selected topics. The result is a depth and breadth of topics that should satisfy most students, faculty, or anyone else trying to keep up with current news in any of the 10 subject fields. Updates are made continuously 24 hours a day.

The look and feel of CNN Interactive is uncluttered and lends itself to easy navigation. The main topic fields are displayed at the top of the homepage so a user can go directly to a desired area. The format varies within each field but generally offers headline style information with the option of the full story. A unique feature is the list of linked “Related Stories” or “Related Sites” included after many articles. These sites are usually well-considered choices.

CNN Interactive exploits the multimedia possibilities of the Web better than any other site of its kind. The sound bites and/or video images are not just glitzy add-ons, but enhancements to the story. The HELP files give the user information on the video, picture, and audio file formats.

Sara Amato is automated systems librarian at Central Washington University; samato@tahoma.cwu.edu

There are some definite CNN promotional overtones. Listings of CNN programs by time and subject are available, as well as frequent listings of Larry King’s pro- gram guests. However, the transcripts of CNN pro- grams are very interesting and cover a wide range of dates. — Linda Sharp, Uni- versity of Notre Dame, lsbarpl@ nd.edu

Voyage Publishing produces an electronic news summary magazine, Science and the Environment.

Science and the Environment— A Learning Tool. Access:http://www. voyagepub.com/publish/voyage. htm.

According to its editor, Science and the Environment—A Learning Tool exists “to bring students relevant, real-world environmental news with a compelling mix of science, politics, geography, and commerce.” This new (since the fall of 1995) electronic news summary magazine is geared toward high school and university instructors and students, and is intended to bring summaries of current periodical articles into the classroom for discussion and debate.

Voyage Publishing staff, all of whom have experience writing about environmental issues, review more than 500 magazines, journals, and newspapers for each bimonthly issue’s 80 summarized articles. These 80 summaries are ar- ranged in the following eight chapters: Biodiversity & Wildlife; Health,

Population, & Agriculture; Marine Ecology; Clean

Water; Alternative En- ergy & Fuels; Climate Change & Atmospheric Studies; Waste Manage- ment & Recy- cling; and Clean Air. They appear to be well written and unbiased, and most are one to two pages in length. Every article summary includes a small picture or two to enhance the text, which can be downloaded as a separate file. These pictures are the only real loss when viewing this resource with a text- based browser. Periodicals covered range from the Wall Street Journal to Scientific American.

Voyage encourages instructors to print or download the summaries and distribute them to students—there are no copyright restrictions, and because of support from “sponsors and supporters,” the entire service is free. Each of the eight chapters has a sponsor, who is listed, along with a link to their homepage, at the top of the page. Voyage editors insist that article summaries will not be biased toward any sponsors, and none of the summaries examined for this review were.

It’s also possible to subscribe to a mailing list which will notify subscribers when a new issue is posted to the page. Back issues will not be made available online, but Voyage Publishing plans to produce a CD-ROM containing this information sometime in the near future.

Though these pages seem geared more toward classroom discussion, they may prove valuable in the academic library as a colorful, if not limited, periodical index. A drawback is the lack of complete bibliographic citations, but enough information is provided to find the referenced article. This is an interesting place to steer undergraduates who need an idea for that environmental opinion paper.—Paul R. Pival, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; paulp@alpha.acast.nova.edu ■