ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Internet Reviews

Joni Robertsand Carol Drost, editors

EPA Office of Water. Access:http://www. epa.gov/ow/.

The EPA Office of Water Web site springs from its massive parent site, the Environmental Protection Agency. Like its parent, it offers a wealth of information to a wide audience, including school children and consumers wondering about water quality, business and industries seeking regulatory information, and individuals and organizations seeking grant or funding information.

As one would expect from a government agency site, much is offered in the way of laws and regulations, reports, and newsletters. The full text of the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts is available here, for example, as well as Office of Water Federal Register Notices. One can also order publications and videotapes relating to the Office of Water and related EPA offices, such as the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds. A calendar provides links to press releases, conference proceedings, and other Web sites. The main page provides six broad category selections, links to National Water Programs, and a drop-down menu offering a variety of specific water topics. Other buttons below lead to such reference tools as Office of Water documents, databases, and software.

But this site also offers a phenomenal amount of information for the average citizen. The main page provides a “Concerned Citizens” button that gateways to additional topics, such as “About Water,” leading to “Water On Tap: A Consumer’s Guide to the Nation’s Drinking Water,” and other reports. Additional choices include “Geographic Information,” “Human Health Concerns,” and more. From the main page one can search a map for water information by state. An “Environmental Websites” database offers a collection of hundreds of Web sites, searchable by state, full text, information type, and keywords. The interactive “Watershed Information Network” allows users to add information to the database, join discussion lists, or add calendar information. Children and teachers will enjoy the “Kids’ Page” offerings of fun facts about water, environmental projects and programs, and educational materials and learning aids.

The site’s overall design is excellent. Content rich, it is thoughtfully designed and easily navigated. Graphics are used judiciously and effectively, and backgrounds and fonts are easy on the eyes. Standard menu buttons and links are consistently placed and intuitive. In addition to the expected help paths for users to communicate questions, comments or problems to the site administrators, a new customer satisfaction questionnaire has been added to

Office of Water for improvements from readers.—Judith A. Matthews, Michigan State University, matthe20@ mail. lib. msu

Europa: the European Union On-Line.

Access:http://europa.eu.int/.

Europa is administered by the European Commission and other European institutions, and contains roughly 1.5 million documents. As the portal site of the European Union (EU), it “. . . provides up-to-date coverage of European Union affairs and essential information on European integration.” An extensive FAQ page located under “About Europa” answers scores of questions about the Web site and its contents, and is the place to start after selecting one of eleven European languages on the initial page.

Internal links include: “News” (press releases, calendar of events, key issues); “Activities” (listed alphabetically from agriculture to transport); “Institutions” (Parliament, Council, Court of Justice); “Abe” (history of EU, symbols, glossaries); “Official Documents”(law, bulletins, general report); and “Information Sources” (publications, statistics). The feature article at the top of the main site is changed frequently; at the time of this review the special feature was “Terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 in the United States.”

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 fortechnical services at Willamette University, e-maii: cdrost@willamette.edu

Current conversion tables for the Euro, as well as dates of implementation, are featured in the “News” section. The “News” section also contains other interesting information, such as “The Future of Europe Debate,” which features speeches by key commissioners on this topic, as well as press releases, documents and official texts, points of view, and more. One will discover links to such things as an analysis of the Irish no vote on the Nice Treaty, a news release from the Scottish Parliament, a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a young people’s congress, and a European students’ debate. A calendar of public national and European level events is also provided.

In the “Activities” section, under each topic is listed “European Union law,” “Implementation of policies,” and “Sources of information” that apply to that particular area. Under “Abe” the “History of the EU,” an extensive year-by-year chronology back to 1946 is given.

One of the strengths of this resource is its currency; the “What’s New” section . provides a selection of news and the most recent additions to the Europa site and the sites of the other European institutions (launch of new sites, agenda of the institutions, official documents, etc.).” Possibly a bit overwhelming for the novice to EU, this Web site is a godsend for researchers and faculty in this area. This is a very comprehensive source of information on all things EU. Highly recommended.— Lisa Karen Miller, Paradise Valley Community College Library, lisakaren.miller@pvmail. maricopa.edu

WomenVUatch: The UN Internet Gateway on the Advancement and Empowerment of Women. Access:http // www.un.org/womenwatch/.

WomenWatch brings together Web sites containing important United Nations (UN) documents and publications, country reports, statistics, and news on global women’s issues. It was founded in 1997 to monitor the results of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995, and to continue the momentum and visibility of the issues brought about by the conference. The three agencies forming the original partnership are the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). Six additional contributing partners are now also involved and are listed on the Web site.

The home page provides access to international information on women’s rights, current news articles, and UN radio programs on topics such as violence against women and HIV/AIDS and gender. Statistics are found under the heading, “Documents and Databases.” These include statistics on women in parliament and in the executive branch of government and social indicators (population, education, literacy, employment, and income). There is a link to the full text of The World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics. A list of conferences provides access to the documentation of the three UN conferences on women and to other related UN conferences, including the World Summit for Social Development.

The section “Women of the World” links to countiy reports on national strategies for follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to reports to Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The DAW Web site, in addition to covering the CEDAW reports, provides country responses to a questionnaire on Beijing platform implementation, a country compliance table on international legal instruments, and reports of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The links to the partner Web sites provide a host of relevant information, such as the full text of the new economic report, Progress of the World’s Women 2000, available on the UNIFEM site. The lists of publications on all of these sites serve as excellent selection tools for collection managers. The WomenWatch site would be particularly useful to political science, anthropology, sociology, and women’s studies students and faculty.—Marian Shaaban, Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington, shaaban@indiana.edu