Internet Reviews

Joni R. Roberts and Carol A. Drost

Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public services and collection development at Willamette University, email: jroberts@willamette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian for technical services at Willamette University, email: cdrost@willamette.edu

Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Projects. Access: https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/.

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the great American leaders of the 20th century, serving as First Lady of the United States for 12 years. She was also a prolific writer, diplomat, and author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written while she served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations, in 1948. Many books and articles have been written about her life and her work in politics, but are there any online primary sources that deal with these crucial areas of her life?

For 20 years, the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project (ERPP) at George Washington University has collected and archived hundreds of online sources dealing with her literary and political work. This website contains a vast amount of material dealing with the former “First Lady of the World,” as she was known—ERPP selects more than 200 documents each year to digitize and to archive on the website.

Topics of interest include her relationship with John F. Kennedy and other major American and world leaders. Included on the website are many audio clips of her work between 1933 and her death in 1962. Finally, a well-written and detailed biography of Roosevelt, as well as educators’ resources, can be found on the website.

The website’s navigation is well-organized and easy to use, with a universal search link, and easy access back to the website’s homepage from each page on the website. A unique feature is a link where historians (and anyone else using the website) can contribute any Eleanor Roosevelt documents they own. A regularly updated Twitter feed contains timely quotes by the former First Lady.

The only drawback to the website is that ERPP needs to include more graphics and photographs of Roosevelt and her associates, to compensate for the large, though well-written, amount of detailed information on each web page. The font size of the text on each page may be a bit small for some users to read as well.

Nevertheless, ERPP is a well-organized and useful website for historians and history buffs interested in primary sources dealing with Roosevelt’s writing and political life. Highly recommended.—Larry Cooperman, University of Central Florida Libraries, Lawrence.Cooperman@ucf.edu

Environmental Working Group. Access: https://www.ewg.org/.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) describes its organization as a “non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment.” EWG’s overall goal is to be a consumer advocacy think tank that strives to educate consumers about toxic hazards in the environment, government policies that impact the environment, and how to incorporate healthier habits by embracing an organic lifestyle.

The scope of the website falls into a variety of “Key issues,” such as “Toxics,” Children’s health,” “Farming,” “Food,” “Water,” “Cosmetics,” “Consumer products,” and “Energy.” Each category has different content and layout, which may be confusing for some users. The website’s content has detailed cases of companies or utilities that eschewed a government policy or benefited from the loosening of government regulations at the expense of consumers.

EWG has a conservation database containing data about the status of green energy, organic farms, and wildlife habitats by state. The “News” area is extremely current and is tagged by EWG’s “Key issues.” There is almost a CQ Researcher feel to the news articles, since each article provides links to additional sources, investigations, and government reports. EWG also offers a selection of open access scholarly articles written by scientists who are EWG members.

Overall, EWG has a lot of current information linking their own studies and research with government policies, all with the desire to educate consumers about environmental health risks. There are several recent short articles highlighting the social inequities surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The content of this website has a myriad of different types of information ranging from scholarly articles, census data, short articles, full government bills and hearings, and more. There are also healthy lifestyle tips and infographics.

One good use of this source from an information literacy standpoint would be to highlight audience differences and contextualization of information. Lastly, EWG is highly critical of the current presidential administration, so it may be a teaching opportunity to discuss data, science, bias, and partisan government environmental policies.—Molly Susan Mathias, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, mathiasm@uwm.edu

PTSD: National Center for PTSD. Access: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/.

According to their website, the National Center for PTSD is the “world’s leading research and educational center of excellence on PTSD and traumatic stress.” While the center is under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, they do not limit their scope to only providing care for veterans. They aim to advance the welfare of anyone (including veterans) who suffers from PTSD or who has experienced trauma.

The center’s website provides a wealth of information geared toward patients, families, and providers, and portions of the website are also available in Spanish. In addition to regularly updated general information about PTSD and its treatment, they have an interactive tool called the “PTSD Treatment Decision Aid.” This tool walks the user through different types of treatment and helps them determine which may be worth further investigation. It features survey questions, videos, and charts to help with exploring different treatment options and building a list of questions and topics to discuss with healthcare providers.

The National Center for PTSD’s website also is home to two research databases, which will be of interest to researchers, librarians, and other professionals. The PTSDpubs Database (formerly PILOTS) is freely available on the ProQuest platform, and contains citations and abstracts for PTSD literature. This database is global in scope and focuses on PTSD in all populations, not just in veterans. It also features a custom thesaurus and detailed tests and measures to allow for more precise searching. Libraries can add PTSDpubs to their ProQuest accounts for free by contacting ProQuest Support. The center has also created several preformulated searches for common topics.

The PTSD Trials Standardized Data Repository houses data from more than 300 published randomized controlled clinical trials related to PTSD. Data is from studies published in English between 1988 and 2018, though the website claims that new data is added annually. This database features a number of data visualizations and data stories and allows users to create charts and visualizations of their own. Data can be downloaded for offline use and filtered directly in the database.

The National Center for PTSD site is a helpful resource for those researching this important topic.—Emily Underwood, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, underwood@hws.edu