ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries March 1996/163 Internet Reviews Sa ra Am a to, editor De P ro v e rb io . Access: http://info.utas.edu.au/ docs/flonta/. De Proverbio: An Electronic Journal o f International Proverb Studies resides at the University o f Tasmania, Aus­ tralia, and is under the edi­ torial direction o f T e o d o r Flonta, w h o is on the fac­ ulty o f m odern languages. V olu m e 1, number 1 ap­ peared in 1995, and the pub­ lication schedule calls for a new issue tw ice yearly— ’’around February- March and around September-October.” The title is from the Latin, meaning “about the prov­ erb,” and the disciplines touched upon by this topic include folklore, psychology, mass-me­ dia, sociology, and literature. Regular features include The Masters, reprinting seminal articles in the field, and Current Research, “a platform for the m ost recen t sch ola rly fin d in gs o f parem iologists around the w o rld .” The De Proverbio site w ill also contain apparatus for the study o f proverbs, including bibliographies and collections o f proverbs. The premier issue includes eigh t p ro verb -sp ecific articles by Wolfgang Mieder in the Masters section, four articles in Current Research, book reviews, a section o f bibliographies, and tw o entire books, one o f w h ich is the ed itor’s o w n English- Romanian Dictionary o f Equivalent Proverbs (2nd edition). One issue has appeared since then, and Flonta has set a high standard for the publication, resulting in a lively, highly read­ able W eb site. The next issue is projected for March 1996. As yet, the publication is free to users o f the W orld W ide Web, and participa­ tion is sought by Flonta. The journal is refer­ eed, with the editorial board com prised of: W olfgang Mieder (University o f Vermont, Bur­ lington), Shirley L. Arora (University o f Califor­ nia, Los Angeles), Peter Grzybek (Karl-Franzens- U n iversitt, A u stria ), R aym o n d D. D o c to r (University o f Poona, India), Ariella Flonta (Uni­ versity o f Tasmania), and Cezar Tabarcea (U ni­ versity o f Bucharest). A search engine would add greatly to De Proverbio’s usefulness, but oth­ Sara Amato is automated systems librarian at Central Washington University; samato@tahoma.cwu.edu erwise the navigational aids are quite helpful and the lay­ out straightforward.— David Dodd, University o f Colorado at Colorado Springs; ddodd@ serf.uccs.edu CNN Interactive. Access: http://cnn.com. The Internet is becoming the choice o f many for keeping abreast o f current news sto­ ries. Timeliness, w id e acces­ sibility, and easily digested formats help make online news sources increasingly popular. Many major news services and regional and national newspapers have, or are planning to have, a presence on the Internet. A major broadcast news player, CNN, en­ tered the W orld W ide W eb fray last August w hen it launched its CNN Interactive multime­ dia news site. CNN Interactive uses the same vast news gathering sources as its televised counterpart (nine domestic and eleven inter­ national bureaus plus several hundred w orld­ w id e broadcast affiliates) w hen compiling news stories. Also, CNN has entered into an agree­ ment with the LEXIS-NEXIS Information Ser­ vice to provide additional stories for selected topics. The result is a depth and breadth o f topics that should satisfy most students, fac­ ulty, or anyone else trying to keep up with current news in any o f the 10 subject fields. Updates are made continuously 24 hours a day. The look and feel o f CNN Interactive is un­ cluttered and lends itself to easy navigation. The main topic fields are displayed at the top o f the hom epage so a user can g o directly to a desired area. The format varies within each field but generally offers headline style information with the option o f the full story. A unique fea­ ture is the list o f linked “Related Stories” or “Related Sites” included after many articles. These sites are usually well-considered choices. CNN Interactive exploits the multimedia possibilities o f the W eb better than any other site o f its kind. The sound bites and/or video images are not just glitzy add-ons, but enhance­ ments to the story. The HELP files give the user information on the video, picture, and audio file formats. http://info.utas.edu.au/ http://cnn.com mailto:samato@taboma.cwu.edu 164/C&RL News There are some definite CNN promotional overtones. Listings o f CNN programs by time and subject are available, as w ell as fre­ quent listings o f Larry King’s pro­ gram guests. H ow ever, the transcripts o f CNN pro­ grams are very interest­ ing and cover a w ide range o f dates. — Linda Sharp, Uni­ versity o f Notre Dame, lsba rpl@ nd.edu Science an d the Environment— A Learning Tool. Access: http://www. voyagepu b.com /pub- l i s h / v o y a g e . Voyage Publishing produces an electronic news summary magazine, Science and the Environment. htm. According to its editor, Science and the Envi­ ronment—A Learning Tool exists “to bring stu­ dents relevant, real-world environmental news with a com pelling mix o f science, politics, g e ­ ography, and com m erce.” This n ew (since the fall o f 1995) electronic news summary maga­ zine is geared toward high school and univer­ sity instructors and students, and is intended to bring summaries o f current periodical articles into the classroom for discussion and debate. V oyage Publishing staff, all o f w h om have experience writing about environmental issues, review m ore than 500 magazines, journals, and newspapers for each bimonthly issue’s 80 sum­ Put C&RL N ew s on your mailing list Does your institution issue press releases or publish a newsletter? Be sure that C&RL News is on those distribution lists. C&RL News wants to hear about your library’s activities. Information in the News from the Field, Grants & Acquisi­ tions, and People in the News columns is gath­ ered from press releases and notices w e re­ ceive. Be sure to put C&RL News on your mailing list today. Send notices to the Editor, C&RL News‚ 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; or e-mail: m a ry .ellen .d a vis@ a la .o rg (a fte r A pril 1: medavis@ala.org) marized articles. These 80 summaries are ar­ ra n g e d in th e f o llo w in g e ig h t ch ap ters: B io d iversity & W ild life ; Health, Popu lation , & Agriculture; M arin e E c o lo g y ; C lean Water; Alternative En­ ergy & Fuels; Climate C h a n ge & A t m o ­ s p h eric Studies; W a ste M a n a g e ­ m en t & R e c y ­ cling; and Clean Air. They appear to be w ell written and unbiased, and m ost are o n e to t w o p a g e s in length. Every article summary includes a small picture or tw o to enhance the text, w h ic h can b e d o w n lo a d e d as a separate file. These pictures are the only real loss w h en view in g this resource with a text- based browser. Periodicals covered range from the Wall Street Journal to Scientific American. V oyage encourages instructors to print or dow n load the summaries and distribute them to students— there are no copyright restrictions, and because o f support from “sponsors and supporters,” the entire service is free. Each o f the eight chapters has a sponsor, w h o is listed, along with a link to their homepage, at the top o f the page. V oyage editors insist that article summaries w ill not be biased toward any spon­ sors, and none o f the summaries exam ined for this review were. It’s also possible to subscribe to a mailing list which w ill notify subscribers w h en a n ew issue is posted to the page. Back issues w ill not be made available online, but Voyage Pub­ lishing plans to produce a CD-ROM containing this information sometime in the near future. Though these pages seem geared m ore to­ ward classroom discussion, they may prove valuable in the academic library as a colorful, if not limited, periodical index. A drawback is the lack o f com plete bibliographic citations, but enough information is provided to find the ref­ erenced article. This is an interesting place to steer undergraduates w h o need an idea for that environmental opinion paper.— Paul R. Pival, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; paulp@alpha.acast.nova.edu ■ http://www mailto:paulp@alpha.acast.nova.edu mailto:mary.ellen.davis@ala.org mailto:medavis@ala.org