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.

America’s Health Rankings. Access: https://www.americashealthrankings.org/.

The United Health Foundation has been publishing comparative health data in America’s Health Rankings (AHR) since 1990. The site has a rich collection of in-depth health data topics for each state, which is compared and ranked nationally. This data will be valuable to those researching public health, policy making, and related fields.

While the homepage highlights a few general health topics via a national map, the “View Reports” and “Explore Data” are the true heart of this site. Three reports are released annually by the AHR: Annual Report, Senior Report, and Health of Women and Children Report. In addition, reports are provided about active duty and veteran US service members with special topic briefs such as Mental and Behavioral Health, Chronic Condition Care, and Preparing for Health Care Costs in Retirement. Reports also investigates health disparities by race, ethnicity, metropolitan status, gender, age, education, and income.

The section for “Explore Data” allows individuals to access the data behind the reports. Under “Explore Health Measures,” for example, one can browse through all 280 unique measures from more than 80 publicly available data sources. The data measures are grouped into 23 categories that span a wide range of public health like access to care, air and water quality, behavioral health, climate, safety, economic resources, housing and transit, and additional measures for children, women, and older adults.

Also under “Explore Data,” each state has a summary of strengths and weaknesses, including its ranking, top positive and negative impact factors, and the six general measures by which states are ranked. It is important to note that the two tables for Measures Impacting a State’s Rank provide links to all measure impacts and measure rankings of a state; this is a quick way to access data about a state. The Measure table groups and ranks each impact factor into six main categories: Social and Economic Factors, Physical Environments, Clinical Care, Behaviors, Health Outcomes, and Annual Demographics. The related factors can also be displayed by clicking the plus sign to the right of each measure within the table.

One appreciated aspect of this site is its transparency. The model and ranking methodology are clearly identified as are the advisory committee members. With the rich wealth of information available, this site will strongly appeal to those researching health-related issues ranging from the social sciences to life science.—John Repplinger, Willamette University, jrepplin@willamette.edu

Kennedy Center: Shakespeare. Access: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/collections/collections/theater/shakespeare/.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was declared the United States’ National Cultural Center in 1964. It currently acts as both a digital and physical center for artists across the nation to connect and collaborate. The Kennedy Center website houses a variety of resources for educators, including a robust Shakespeare collection. This webpage gives a closer look into Shakespeare’s pivotal works and discusses historical and cultural effects of the author’s work in modern history.

This webpage is a collection of resources tagged “Shakespeare” in the “Theatre” collection within the “Digital Resources Library,” which is a larger collection of educational materials. There are 32 collections, including topics such as “Classical Music,” “Puppetry,” “World Arts and Culture.” A resource may be tagged to appear in multiple collections, depending on its content. This crossover encourages educators to integrate interdisciplinary research and learning into their curriculum. Once a user clicks on the Shakespeare page, all links go directly to educational resources, with no further delineation. The simplicity of the organization and the depth of the materials provided on the webpage makes this an easy site to navigate, especially for busy educators looking for relevant teaching aids.

The works included in this repository fall into two categories. First, there are deep dives into Shakespeare’s plays. These in-depth pages may include synopses of the plays, discussion topics for classes, and videos of modern adaptations or other interpretations of the works. Second, there are video recordings of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions. Falling outside of these categories are two pages: “Shakespeare and Love: A Look at How the Bard Takes and Breaks Hearts,” a written discussion about how Shakespeare approaches the topic of love and romance in his plays and sonnets; and “José Limón Dance Company: The Moor’s Pavane,” a recorded demonstration with narration over a dance inspired by The Moor’s Pavane, which was the same Italian legend that influenced Shakespeare’s Othello.

Each written piece includes names of the article’s author, editor, and producer, along with the last time the piece was updated. There is room for expansion in the collection, but the page strongly stands as an apex for introductory Shakespeare education.—Sydney Orason, University of Alabama at Birmingham, sorason@uab.edu

Youth.gov. Access: https://youth.gov/.

Youth.gov, a US government website previously entitled FindYouthInfo.gov, was created by the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs to “create, maintain, and strengthen effective youth programs.” The intended audience is individuals or organizations that are involved in creating, administering, and funding youth programs in their communities.

The website is designed to provide information about engaging with youth, implementing evidence-based programs, and finding funding and other resources. Youth.gov provides a blend of youth-related news, facts on thirty youth topics, funding information, tools to locate federal resources and programs, guides for collaboration, and developing skills for providing evidence-based outcomes. Youth.gov meets users at a range of experience levels and provides information on early childhood through high school/young adult.

Visitors to Youth.gov will find the page to be visually appealing and easily navigated. Content is well-organized under the menu hamburger button on the top of each page. Alternatively, visitors can conduct a keyword search. Opportunities for engagement are evident in links to social media, availability of digital badges, and an icon for sharing of content. While the website is text-heavy, there are links to videos, podcasts, and other interactive resources on third party websites. The sheer amount of information available may be overwhelming. For instance, when selecting the topic “Mental Health,” there are 14 subcategories from which to choose as well as 17 “Other Resources on this Topic.” Making use of the menu feature is helpful in focusing on the content that is most relevant for each visitor.

Youth.gov provides references for the information provided, although these are not always the most current, such as providing references ranging from 2004 to 2011 for mental health. Likewise, the website does not provide information on when it was last updated, and the discontinued Twitter bird icon is still present on the page’s footer. However, announcements on the homepage are timely, suggesting regular updating. Unfortunately, the website is only available in English, which is disappointing in its lack of inclusivity and accessibility.

Youth.gov is a robust resource that will be useful in school, public, and academic libraries as both a source of information about youth and a tool to facilitate community youth programs. However, at the time of publication, the website has gone offline.—Dawn Behrend, Lenoir-Rhyne University, dawn.behrend@lr.edu