ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 824 / C&RL News ■ O ctober 2000 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni Robertsand Carol Drost, editors Nam eBase: A C u m u lative Index of Books and Clippings. Access: http:// w w w .n a m eb a se.o rg / o r http://www. pir.org/ nbhome.html. NameBase is an index o f people influen- tial in politics, the military, intelligence, crime, business, and the media since WWII. It started in the late 1960s when New Left activist Daniel Brandt began clipping magazine and news- paper articles and collecting investigative books about the power structure. He com bed each book and article for the nam es o f indi- viduals, groups, corporations, and countries— developing a nam e authority file along the way. In the early 1980s, he incorporated Pub­ lic Information Research to continue the work. NameBase includes close to 100,000 names from ap- p ro x im a tely 2 6 0 ,0 0 0 c ita- tions. The names are drawn from more than 700 books and serials, plus a handful o f documents recovered using the Freedom o f Information Act (FOIA). W h ile th e in d e x d o e s draw from the mainstream and right wing press, most books and articles com e from a leftist perspective. Based on the dem ocratic concept that the people have a right to know, the publi- cations are generally investigative reports de- signed to uncover secrets or conspiracies in high places. The simplest search available is the name search. Enter an individual or organizational proper name and NameBase displays a list of publications and the page numbers on which the name appears. Unfortunately, there is no synopsis describing who the people are or why they were mentioned. There is only a brief annotation describing the contents and poli­ tics o f the publication. Instead, the user will need to track down the original source, either at a library or by ordering the material for a fee from Public Information Research. Fortunately, NameBase does more than list names, it also uses data mining techniques to list other names that appear on the same pages. This proximity feature, available un- der each name as well as a separate search, is the most valuable aspect o f the database. If names appear on the same page o f an in­ vestigative report, then logic dictates that the people named have som e kind o f relation- ship. The database creates a social network diagram by using cluster analysis to help the user visualize the data. Jo sep h Lieberman, for exam ple, is most closely associated with Sybase chairman Mitchell Kertzman, Jea n e Kirkpatrick, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. NameBase offers two other ways to search the index. The country search lists names as­ s o c ia te d w ith a n o n -U .S . country during a specified tim efram e. T h e d ocu m en t scan allows the user to sub- mit a URI. NameBase extracts nam es from the Web page (English language only) and looks them up in the index. As part o f a b rie f tutorial ( h t t p : / / w w w . p i r . o r g / tourl.htm l), NameBase gives an exam ple o f looking up the Web page that lists the Board o f Trustees at a university to find out their affiliatio ns. For those who like to browse, it is useful to Start on the Public Information Research Web page ( http://www.pir.org). Browsing collections include FOIA documents, essays, and the source list for the index. Five hun­ dred and fifty o f the essays and source mate- rials are also broken down into 20 broad sub- ject categories, such as big business (lobby- ing, corporations, intelligence) and repres- sion (federal, police). A search engine is hid- den within the essays and source list brows­ ing collections. Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian fo r public services and co lle c tio n d e v e lo p m e n t a t W illa m e tte University, e-mail: jroberts@ willam ette.edu, and Carol A. Drost is associate university librarian fo r technical services at W illam ette University, e-mail: cdrost@willamette.edu http://www.namebase.org/ http://www http://www.pir.org/ http://www.pir.org mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu C&RL News ■ O ctober 2000 / 825 NaraeBase offers limited access to non- registered users during peak hours and peri- ods o f high load on the Server. During these times, users might retrieve only partial lists o f names. Registering by paying $49 for two years, provides unrestricted access and en- titles the user to order photocopies or faxes o f cited pages. Libraries may purchase library accounts for $199 for two years, which iden- tify users by IP address and eliminate the essays and editorial cartoons. NameBase is most useful to journalists and students tracking down investigative reports and looking for connections between names. It is also useful to students looking for an alternative perspective on topics like the Kennedy assassination, the overthrow of Allende, the Iran Contra affair, or the CIA’s role in the crack cocaine crisis. NameBase also provides unique access to the intelli- gen ce community, boasting “the largest col- lection o f CIA names . . . publicly available anywhere in the world.” NameBase is a fas- cinating one-of-a-kind index that belongs in every lib rarian ’s rep ertoire o f nam e re- sources. (The telnet Version o/'NameBase was pre- viously reviewed. Larry Schankman, “Internet Reviews, ”C&RL News 57, no. 4, (April 1996): 2 4 3 ) —Mark Emmons, University o f New Mexico, emmons@unm.edu P o llin g R e p o r t.c o m . Access: http://www. pollingreport.com. Students, faculty, and P rofession als se e k - ing a myriad o f polling data in the fields o f p o l i t i c a l S c i ­ e n c e , jo u r n a l- ism , b u s in e s s , a n d h e a lt h o r so cia l s c ie n c e s will find relevant research in PollingReport. com . Its print counterpart, the Polling Report, has b e e n published tw ice m onthly sin ce 1985. T h e Polling Report m akes available m uch o f its print Inform ation at th e fre e W eb site, P ollingReport.com . T h e b a n n er o n the W eb site advertises P ollingReport.com as “An in­ d ep en d en t, nonp artisan resou rce o n trends in A m erican p u blic o p in io n .” In a well organized, easy-to-use format, the Web site offers polling results on a wide variety o f topics from the top pollsters in the United States. This site provides polling data on national, political, economic, and socio- cultural topics, such as abortion, the death penalty, gun control, and tobacco industry lawsuits. A sampling o f the polling organiza- tions include Gallup, Harris, Yankelovitch, and the Princeton Research Associates, as well as USA Today, NBC News, Wall Street Jour­ nal, and CNN/Time. The site is organized in broad categories, inclu ding p olitics and policy, business/ economy, and the American scene. Each area is broken down into smaller units that guide the user to a more specific topic. For ex- ample under politics and policy, the user will find president, Congress, issues, and elections. Two additional navigational tools include a table o f contents page and a “search this site” function. Both are easy and effi- cient. The main body o f the hom epage has four sections to peruse: In the News, State o f the Union, Campaign 2000, and Other Recent Additions. The producers o f the site state that “Poll results are added to the site as they are released by the organizations,” and, in fact, the dates are current and up- dated frequently. Useful additions to the Web site include a job bank that lists advertisements for jobs, academic posts, and internships in survey re­ search. The National Barometer section is a “gallery o f political and econom ic trends.” Selected articles on public opinion and sur­ vey research are posted from the Polling Re­ port. T h e site also o ffers Inform ation o n su b- scribing. Subscribers receive a print subscrip- tion to the Polling Report plus they gain ac­ cess to the password-protected subscribers pages o f PollingReport.com. The subscribers pages offer more detailed poll results, includ­ ing state-by-state presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial polls. The user may also request a free copy o f one print issue o f the Polling Report. All in all, PollingReport. com is a site that should not be overlooked due to its value to many academics for a va­ r ie ty o f r e s e a r c h p r o je c t s . — Mary C. M acDonald, University o f Rhode Island, marymac@uri.edu ■ mailto:emmons@unm.edu http://www mailto:marymac@uri.edu