ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Internet Reviews

Joni Roberts and Carol Drost, editors

ElderCare Online. Access:http://www.ec- online.net/.

The goal of ElderCare Online is to provide resources and support for the elderly and their caregivers. The site’s founder, Rich O’Boyle, has a history of work with long-term care organizations and aging issues. A staff of contributing editors, who include psychologists and counselors, supports him. The site adheres to strict standards developed by the international organization Health on the Net, and provides medical, legal, and financial information for educational purposes often based on personal opinions and experiences.

ElderCare Online consists of an online bimonthly newsletter, an ElderCare forum, transcripts of speeches and articles, financial advice, and several discussion groups with dates and times for chat users. A “Hot Topic” is also highlighted with additional links, networks, and software assistants. An online search center is provided through “Google” and enables the user to search the site by keyword. An online archive maintains an alphabetical index to articles and publications that can also be accessed by category.

The site began in 1998 and is kept current. While the homepage intends to be comprehensive, it may appear busy to the inexperienced user with its many choices, abundant text, and varied advertising and links lining the page. This should not present a problem to the university student, but it may be confusing for a caregiver attempting to weave through the site for specific information. In particular, this site provides excellent coverage of Alzheimer’s Disease.

ElderCare Online provides comprehensive, practical information for the beginning researcher seeking initial information and relevant vocabulary on aging issues, particularly in the fields of sociology, psychology, or medicine. For the user caring for the elderly, the site provides extensive support and an online community committed to improving the quality of life of the caregiver and the elder.—Beth Chapman, Willamette University, bchapman@willamette.edu

lnvisibleWeb.com. Access:http://www.invisibleweb.com.

There is undiscovered gold in “them thar” hills and, in spite of the best efforts of our most sophisticated search engines, the mother lode eludes all but the most diligent researchers.

Rich sources of well-maintained, quality information reside deep within specialized databases buried below the surface of many Web sites. These hidden treasures are often difficult to locate using traditional search tools because they remain unavailable to search engine Web crawlers, spiders, and intelligent agents that work to gather and deliver their location. This wealth of unseen but accessible information is commonly referred to as “the invisible Web.”

InvisibleWeb.com is a specialized Web site and search engine that collects, reviews, describes, indexes and links to the best of this hidden content. The site is a recent runner up in the “2000 Search Engine Watch Awards” for “Best Specialty Search” category (http://searchenginewatch.com/awards/). InvisibleWeb.com is designed to point you and your patrons to valuable, but often undiscovered information resources.

Intelliseek Inc., developer of commercial automated desktop and “corporate intelligence” search products, created the site. The company’s significant technical expertise is integrated into the design and sophisticated search functionality of the InvisibleWeb.com site.

Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public services and collection 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

Invisible Web.com is a well-organized tool with a smart and simple interface linking to more than 12,000 selected Web search engines that cover a broad subject range. Collected resources include searchable archives, guides, directories, research data, lists, reference tools, knowledge bases, and more. Sites considered for inclusion are suggested by users or gathered via Intelliseek’s “automated discovery technology.” InvisibleWeb.com distinguishes itself from similar efforts by employing human editors called “subject matter experts” who review submissions for quality and accuracy. Once a site is selected, the editors index and describe the database, and categorize resources in sensible directory taxonomy. The result is a lean, select set of resources that provide quality results.

The simple, intuitive search interface will satisfy both advanced and novice searchers. Simple “and” searching is the default, but natural language recognition and advanced Boolean searching options are available. All options and features are presented in an intuitive and user-customizable screen layout.

Result sets offer direct hits of surprising relevance with concise resource descriptions. Linked results lead users directly to the search input form at the resource site. The result pages also offer the user an appropriate set of links in a directory format for subject browsing. The resource collection at InvisibleWeb.com shows particular strength in the areas of business, legal, and government research. Many resources are appropriate to the highest levels of academic research, but the site also provides coverage of useful and generalized data sources for the casual user in areas such as entertainment, travel, and simple directory services.

Whether your pot of gold is the elusive “Windows 95 Annoyances Database” or a database of “NSF Sponsored Research at the Colorado School of Mines,” you may well wish to start your dig at InvisibleWeb.com.— Mark A. Smith, NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred University, msmith@alfred.edu

United Nations Population Fund. Access-. http://www.unfpa.org/.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), created in 1969, is the largest international source of population assistance for developing countries. Its Web site contains information on the organization itself, reproduction, population, development, gender issues, and health problems such as HIV/ AIDS.

The site provides many of its publications online in full-text (generally in PDF, Word, or HTML) format. Most of the publications are available in English, French, and Spanish. The link to the latest edition (year 2000) of UNFPA’s most well-known publication, State of World Population, is prominently displayed on the site’s homepage. Made available in HTML format, it is easy to navigate the report via hyperlinks in the table of contents, and includes charts, graphs, tables, photographs, and indicators. Other statistical reports that can be accessed from the site include “Maternal Mortality Update 1998-1999,” “Contraceptive Use and Commodity Costs in Developing Countries 1994-2005,” and “Demographic and Reproductive Health Survey” (conducted February 2000).

Also available on the site are two periodicals, Dispatches (the UNFPA’s newsletter) and the magazine Populi, which contains articles on a variety of population-related topics. There are also links to a wide-range of UNFPA-produced reports, documents, and technical publications, including Population Issues Briefing Kit, which provides synopses of sociological, political, and health issues such as “Urbanization and Migration,” “Reproductive Health and Rights,” “Sustainable Development,” and “Empowering Women, Ending Violence.” All of the publications on the UNFPA Web site appear to be the most currently available versions; the news section of the site seems to be updated often.

Other sections of the site are devoted to specific UNFPA programs. There is also a regional component of the site, however, at present, only the pages dedicated to the “Arab States and Europe” and “Asia and Pacific” offer anything other than lists of UNFPA field offices in the regions. The “Asia and Pacific” section offers comprehensive information on the area, including issues, overviews, and country-by-country reports and documents. The entire site is searchable using keywords and basic Boolean operators and results are displayed in relevance-ranking order.

The UNFPA Web site has some very useful introductory information for undergraduate students who are unfamiliar with some of the major issues involved in international population. The site also offers essential statistics for more advanced students and faculty, especially those researching demographic, development, gender equity, or reproductive health issues.—

Geraldine Foudy, University of Maryland at College Park, gf48@umail.umd.edu