Internet Reviews

Joni R. Roberts and Carol 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.

British Online Archives. Access: https://microform.digital/boa/.

British Online Archives (BOA) provides subscription access to digitized primary source collections held by institutions across the United Kingdom and the world. An editorial board of international humanities and social sciences experts review which collections are added to the BOA. More than 120 collections are currently shared, and more are added regularly. Together, the BOA covers more than 1,000 years of world history.

The BOA site is straightforward. Tabs across the top of the homepage open dropdown menus that lead to primary source collections, licensing information, and media about BOA holdings. Collections are keyword searchable or may be browsed. Each collection’s landing page provides rich historical context, previews of content, and access instructions. Subject-related groupings of collections, called “series,” are curated by editors. One example, “World Wars, 1863–1974,” combines 12 collections provided by eight archives and libraries, both public and private.

The BOA provides content-related articles, essays, blog posts, and more. These contextualizing documents are free to access without a subscription. The articles and essays include footnotes and list the author’s credentials, making them a reliable source of scholarly information.

Users will encounter challenges to using the BOA. First, the keyword search function is difficult to use. This reviewer searched the term “religion” and received results that highlighted groupings of letters within the keyword. Adding quotation marks to the term returned zero results. This appears to be a bug or poor design, as “Philosophy and Religion” is a listed subject on seven collections.

Licensing provides the biggest usage hurdle. Individuals may purchase weekly or monthly licenses to some but not all collections. Each collection must be licensed individually, so a researcher interested in the World War series described above must purchase 12 licenses. Lastly, the BOA Terms of Service state that sharing a resource in the classroom is forbidden if accessed individually. Only institutional licenses allow for educational redistribution. Instructors whose institutions cannot afford large-scale subscriptions are out of luck. In an era of universal budget cuts, this requirement seems draconian.

This resource is first recommended to librarians who can acquire institutional licenses. Secondary recommendation goes to individual researchers for personal study. This resource is not recommended to anyone who lacks institutional access and has a desire to use primary sources in their teaching.—Katharine Van Arsdale, Adventist Digital Library, vanarsdk@andrews.edu

Digital Transgender Archive. Access: https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/.

The homepage of Digital Transgender Archive leads with the phrase “Trans History, Linked,” an apt description of the extensive aggregated collection of documents, essays, media, and other materials from around the world. Although the target audience for the site may be researchers in transgender history and activism, it is also welcoming to users simply wanting to learn more about trans folks and their histories in the world. The site provides multiple paths to explore the archive’s contents. The top of the homepage provides a search box for users to conduct a federated search across the entire collection. A sample search of New Jersey retrieved nearly 3,000 results, including everything from photographs of prominent New Jerseyans, publications from and about the transgender community, short news and documentary clips, and more. Users can narrow the results by date, resource type, collections, and other facets. Visitors may also want to browse collections without using the search box; the site provides several ways to do so, including browsing by collection or holding institution, region, topic, or date. Under a tab labeled “learn,” users will find essays, a glossary, links to organizations, and more. The essays are well cited yet accessible. In February of 2024, a highlighted essay discussed gender expression in pre-colonial North America.

Perhaps the most useful place to begin exploring is the “DTA Starter Guide,” linked at the bottom of the homepage. It provides information for those new to exploring transgender history, with an overview of the evolution of the lived experiences and identities of transgender people. The starter kit provides links to famous trans people throughout history, a guide to being an ally, and digs into controversies both within the trans community and aimed at the community. It also offers information on activism and activists, transgender discussions outside of the United States, and links to various publications.

As misinformation about the transgender community continues in media, politics, and other spheres, the Digital Transgender Archive is an excellent tool to find primary and secondary sources for researchers, activists, journalists, and others.—Bart H. Everts, Rutgers University-Camden, bart.everts@rutgers.edu

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Access: https://fair.org/.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) describes its organization as a “media watch group” and has been in existence since 1986. The writers at FAIR encourage readers to orient themselves to FAIR’s philosophy and mission by reading “What’s Wrong with the News,” which describes the biases and conflicts of interest that plagues all media outlets. This organization spotlights journalists that have been censored or penalized for doing their jobs, highlights questionably underreported stories, and advocates for first amendment rights. FAIR has daily articles, longer features about mistreatment of journalists, and a call to action. Of course, as with most not-for-profit organizations, readers are encouraged to donate to support the mission of FAIR.

The site hosts a weekly podcast, CounterSpin Radio, and has a sponsored weekly newsletter Extra!, which prides itself on being a brief newsletter. Most of the articles or featured issues on this source are very concise, which would be refreshing for students who may be bogged down by reading long scholarly articles. In an interesting take on reporting about news media, the site has a segment titled “FAIR Studies” that underscores inequities in reporting of major news outlets such as NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. The purpose of this resource is to raise awareness that failure of journalistic ethics happens more often and more widely than generally thought. Fellow librarians will appreciate the area of “Issues/Topics” that alphabetically organizes articles from abortion to voter suppression, regions and countries, and highlights specific media outlets and personalities.

FAIR would be excellent for an undergraduate journalism course that focuses on the First Amendment and legal issues that are inherent in the journalism profession. While at the same time, FAIR is unique in that it is a clearinghouse for the meta-analysis of news media and the news industry. There is also a certain CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints feel to this source in some areas. Additionally, FAIR would be a good source for a public speaking or rhetorical debate course. Very much recommended.—Molly Susan Mathias, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, mathiasm@uwm.edu