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.

Digital Dante: Original Research & Ideas. Access: https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/.

Digital Dante originated in the early 1990s by Jen Hogan, a PhD Candidate in Columbia University’s Teachers College, who sought “to create a website around a text that would embody the values of a liberal arts education.” Hogan worked with renowned Dante scholar Teodolinda Barolini, professor of Italian at Columbia University, but after Hogan graduated the site fell dormant. In 2011, in response to inquiries from other Dante scholars, Barolini decided to revive the site with the collaboration of the Columbia University Libraries. The current site was relaunched in 2014 with Barolini as editor-in-chief and the Columbia University Libraries Digital Scholarship Services supporting the technological aspects of the site.

Described as “primarily a curated online scholarly site devoted to original research and ideas,” Digital Dante can be divided into three major sections. The main section contains The Divine Comedy and deftly interlinks the Commento Baroliniano, the first online commentary to the work, with videos of Barolini’s yearlong course on The Divine Comedy, the Giorgio Petrocchi Italian text, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Alan Mandelbaum translations. It includes a gallery of illustrations from three rare books, dating from 1497 to 1568 from the Columbia University Library’s Special Collections. Additionally, there are audio recordings of The Inferno, with plans for recording the entire text.

The second section, the “Intertextual Dante,” actively shows connections between The Divine Comedy and Ovid’s works. The third section contains original research articles, dating from 2014 to 2022, related to “Image,” “Sound,” “History,” and “Text” that were submitted by artists, philosophers, and scholars. Topics range from “Geometrical Models of the Cosmology of the Commedia” to “A 21st-Century Illuminated Manuscript and the Artistic Tradition of Dante’s Inferno.”

The real strength of this site is its combination of interactive text, commentary, video, and related images that can be found for each canto of The Divine Comedy. This differs from Dartmouth’s Dante Project and its Dante Lab Reader, which provides 75 commentaries from 1322 onward in textual form only. The World of Dante from the University of Virginia supplements its side-by-side text and translation with notes linking to people, places, images, etc.

Although the interactive nature of this site would attract undergraduate students researching Dante, Digital Dante also offers much original research for academic Dante scholars. — Doreen Simonsen, Willamette University, dsimonse@willamette.edu

Tax Foundation. Access: https://taxfoundation.org/.

The Tax Foundation website stands out as a reliable source of tax information for individuals and policymakers. It offers a unique blend of basic knowledge, in-depth research, and tax analysis. This nonpartisan, nonprofit educational organization has been operating since 1937, ensuring its tax assessment and guidance are not influenced by any party or group, thus maintaining its objectivity.

The site provides tax information for the United States and Europe. On the top of the homepage, one can select which area to narrow down to, with the United States being the default, although Europe has less information. The website is designed with user-friendliness in mind and organized into several sections, with the main content providing abundant research. The content consists of blog posts, research reports and articles, data maps and statistics, educational videos and resources, podcasts, and webinars. Topic headings and related documents facilitate exploration, creating an easy-to-use and well-structured website. Current topics of interest are provided, including an analysis of the tax plans of the US presidential candidates, with easy-to-understand explanations.

The “Experts” section details the Tax Foundation’s authoritative professionals and scholars in the field. There is a detailed photo of each expert, a biography outlining their credentials, email contact information, links to their work and social media profiles, and a form to request their speaking services.

Data and statistics are arranged by topics such as federal, state, global, and EU taxes. The “Education” section includes resources for educators, such as a glossary of terms, instructional videos, lesson plans, case studies, and assessments, to aid in teaching financial literacy. However, this section can also be helpful for individuals who want to engage in personal learning. Moreover, it offers courses such as “Tax Foundation University” and “State Tax Policy Bootcamp” and a podcast called “The Deduction.”

There is no advanced search feature on the Tax Foundation website, but users can refine their search by using filters. Filters such as focus, topic, content type, data maps, location, author, date, and tags allow you to narrow your search results in various ways. Selecting a filter makes it easier to locate the desired information since all search term options and number of related documents are displayed.

One can subscribe to five newsletters and receive updates about new content, including events, videos, and a daily digest of the latest tax news. This resource is essential for anyone seeking to comprehend taxation’s constantly evolving and intricate realm, particularly for individuals involved in US tax policymaking.—Colleen Lougen, SUNY New Paltz, lougenc@newpaltz.edu

Call for Reviewers

If you are interested in writing for the “Internet Reviews” column in College & Research Libraries News, please contact Joni Roberts (jroberts@willamette.edu) or Carol Drost (cdrost@willamette.edu); be sure and include your subject interests with your email. Reviews need to be approximately 380 words. We look forward to hearing from you!