ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Internet Reviews

Joni R. Roberts and Carol A. Drost, editors

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Access:http://www. ceip.org/.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a think tank in Washington, D.C., dedicated to advancing cooperation among nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization publishes Foreign Policy magazine, conducts research, publishes books and policy papers, and sponsors conferences on international topics. Founded in 1910 by Andrew Carnegie, the organization has a long histoiy of studying war and promoting peace and international cooperation.

The CEIP Web site provides full-text policy papers on topics ranging from the situation in Afghanistan to tensions between India and Pakistan to the political and economic crisis in Argentina to U.S-Taiwan-China relations. Russian politics is another strong area of interest; the CEIP has a center in Moscow. Most of the policy briefs on the site were written by the CEIP staff, which includes academics, journalists, and people who have worked in government and foreign service. Like the articles in Foreign Policy magazine, the papers are readable. They are not academic journal articles, but scholarly essays of opinion. At the end of each paper, rather than footnotes, there is a list of related resources.

The site also includes audio and video programs. Media selections include speeches by CEIP staff experts and visiting government officials from Russia and other countries. A recent video on the site is a speech by President Musharraf of Pakistan. Audio programs are available of panels of experts on subjects such as China and the WTO, nuclear nonproliferation, Russia and Central Asia, Africa and Islam, and other topics. The site also includes transcripts of presentations and specialized resources related to topics under discussion. For example, the Pakistan presentation is accompanied by related sources, including a map of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.

The site includes a helpful search function. A search on Afghanistan brings up 244 matches, including CEIP articles and external sources. Another useful feature is the CEIP library page, which includes links to other peace and conflict organizations, plus links to reference sources, area studies, and international relations Web sites.

This site would be helpful to students and faculty who are looking for policy papers on international conflict or who are interested in analyzing speeches by prominent people in the field of international relations.—Susan E. Clark, University of Washington, seclark® u. wash ington. edu

Armenian National Institute. Access:http://www.armenian-genocide.org/.

The nonprofit Armenian National Institute (ANI) was incorporated in 1997 as a subsidiary of the Armenian Assembly of America. In 2000, the assembly also purchased the former National Bank of Washington building, located two blocks from the White House, to be the home of a future Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial (as well as the ANI’s headquarters).

As stated on its Web site, the ANI is dedicated to the study, research, and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, referring to the attempt by the Ottoman Turks to destroy the Armenian people from 1915 to 1923- To educate the public and combat genocide-denial, the site offers a wealth of materials documenting the tragedy. Unlike the denial of the Holocaust, which is usually espoused by either anti-Semites or cranks, the Armenian genocide is actively disputed by a major nation (Turkey).

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

This site is divided into three main sections: “International Affirmation” contains primary documents, such as United Nations reports, government resolutions, and official statements from U.S. presidents, world leaders, national legislatures, municipal governments, and international organizations relating to the genocide, as well as the verdict of the 1919 Turkish Military Tribunal; “Educational Resources” offers materials useful for teachers and students, including 16 articles reprinted from the Encyclopedia of Genocide, a course outline, and a bibliography of model curricula guides, recommended books, published document collections, and videos; “Genocide Research” would be most useful for faculty members and advanced students because it contains 45 archival photographs, a chronology, select original documents from U.S. and British archives (available as both images and text), and 8 contemporary press accounts of the genocide.

Also available on this site and valuable for students are a genocide FAQ and a color genocide map of the Ottoman Empire. Links are provided to other sites dealing with genocide and to other Armenian organizations. Background information is also given on the ANI, including its objectives, mission, and structure.

The Armenian National Institute’s Web site will provide students and faculty with primary and secondaiy source materials on an often overlooked episode of 20th-century history. ANI should be featured on any library’s site that deals with genocide studies, World War I, or the 20th century.—John A. Drobnicki, York College/CUNY, drobnicki® york.cuny.edu

National Foundation for Infectious

Diseases. Access.- http://www.nfid.org/.

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) site has information for many levels of students from undergraduates to practicing physicians. The site supports the NFID’s mission to make available public health education information and to aid in the prevention of infectious diseases.

People researching infectious diseases will find “Publications and NFID-Recommended Web Sites and Virtual Library of Diseases” most useful. “Publications” includes brochures, proceedings, and symposia on topics in infectious disease, not all of which are full text. The most useful link may be to “Clinical Updates,” which contains reports on current pharmaceutical company-supported research. Also available in “Publications” is the full text of current and archived issues of the NFID newsletter, “The Double Helix.”

“NFID-Recommended Web Sites and Virtual Library of Diseases” includes a variety of links to Web sites on specific diseases and other information. Each disease link goes to a short list of resources on the topic, which often includes a link to a Center for Disease Control (CDC) information sheet. There are also links to information on vaccines, current clinical trials, and the National Library of Medicine Web sites.

At the time of this review, a special feature on the site was “Bioterrorism Resources.” The comprehensive links include general information, a news conference on the threat of bioterrorism, a CDC preparedness report, information about specific agents that could be used in a bioterrorism attack, plus a link to a series on bioterrorism in nature.

The “NFID-Recommended Sites” are reviewed by independent reviewers and must meet site criteria, including scientific accuracy. An e-mail link is provided to allow visitors to suggest Web pages to be considered for inclusion on the list. The Web sites in the Virtual Library of Diseases have not been reviewed.

The “NFID Factsheets” are not as useful because they do not have current updates. For example, the sheet on Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease/Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is dated May 1996. The CDC fact sheet on the same topic is dated September 5, 2001, and is much more extensive.

The site is easy to navigate and is not merely lists of lists. There is a keyword search engine for the site, which brings up a list of links, dates, and relevancy scores. Everything works well except that the recom- mended Web site on vaccines only works with Microsoft Internet Explorer and not Netscape. All levels of researchers will find useful information here. —Carol McCulley, Linfield College, cmccull® linfield.edu ■