ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


328 / C&RL News ■ March 2001

I n t e r n e t  R e v i e w s Joni Roberts and Carol Drost, editors

Im agine th e U n iverse! Access: 
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov.
As noted in the welcoming statement on its 

homepage, the Imagine the Universe! Web site 
from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center 
Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics will 
serve the needs o f both the general public and 
students 14 years old or older. Much of the 
astronomical information contained on this site 
may also be appropriate for community col­
lege and university student audiences, as well 
as for 6th- to 12th-grade teachers, college edu­
cation majors, and higher education faculty. 
T he site is lo g ically  org anized , and the 
hom epage’s layout and navigation schem e 
make Imagine easy to navigate. A search engine 
and lengthy site map add to the ease of use.

The site’s functionality centers around sev­
eral information-packed main sections, many 
o f which lead to valuable ancillary subsections. 
The “Science” section contains dozens o f in­
troductory articles on a variety o f topics, from 
the electromagnetic spectrum to the solar co­
rona. The “Advanced Science" subsection of­
fers longer, more complex articles on topics 
such as black holes, white dwarfs, and pulsars.

Many articles and pages contain hypertext 
links that display a definition of the word or 
phrase linked from the “Imagine the Universe! 
Dictionary.” The dictionary consists o f approxi­
mately 300 clearly defined terms, many o f 
which contain links to high-quality images and 
further information within the site.

One may post questions to NASA scientists 
in the “Ask a High Energy Astronomer” sec­
tion, which includes a considerable archive. 
“Exhibit Central” showcases a variety o f cur­
rent online exhibits at NASA such as features 
on scientists, QuickTime videos of star activ­
ity, and satellite exhibits.

“Teacher’s Corner” includes links to post­
ers and activity booklets, and to lesson plans 
with whimsical names such as “Lotto or Life: 
What Are the Chances” (about the probability 
o f life elsewhere in the universe) and “Detec­
tive Digit and the Slap Happy Computer Ca­
per” (about using the binary number system). 
This section includes a link to the excellent 
NASA Space Education Resources Directory, 
from which you can browse and search the 
Web site by grade level or by topic. The “Sat­
ellites and Data” section links to articles on x ­
ray, gamma-ray, and cosmic-ray satellites and 
missions; each contains a historical timeline of 
events related to these areas.

One o f the few annoying details o f the site, 
the visually pleasing but graphics-intensive 
homepage, weighs in at approximately 240K 
and can be slow to download. Forgetting this 
minor detail, Imagine the Universe! will en­
hance the teaching and learning experience 
for a variety o f teachers and students.—-John 
Creech, Central Washington University, 
creechj@mumbly.lib.cwu.edu

Making of America. Access: http://moa.
umdl.umich.edu.
Providing full-text access to primary source 

documents in American history, Making of 
America (MoA) is a valuable resource for fac­
ulty, students, and other researchers. With more 
than 1 million pages o f text and images cur­
rently available, MoA is also a significant col­
lection o f digitized books and journals dating 
from the antebellum period through recon­
struction (1850-1877).

Since 1995, when MoA began as a collabo­
rative effort between the University o f Michi­
gan and Cornell University, the intent o f the 
project has been to use digital technology to 
preserve and make accessible historical col­
lections held at both institutions. While the 
collection may eventually grow to include

Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public 
services and collection development at Willamette 
University, e-mail: jroberts@willamette.edu, and Carol A. 
Drost is associate university librarian for technical services 
at Willamette University, e-mail: cdrost@willamette.edu

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov
mailto:creechj@mumbly.lib.civu.edu
http://moa
mailto:jroberts@wlllamette.edu
mailto:cdrost@wlllamette.edu


C&RL News ■ March 2001 / 329

documents from a 100-year period (1 8 5 0 - 
1950), MoA at present thematically focuses on 
the mid-19th century. This period was chosen 
for its continuing interest to scholars and the 
general population, the manageable size o f 
the collection, the rapidly deteriorating condi­
tion o f many o f the publications, and its pub­
lic domain status.

After documents are selected for inclusion, 
they are scanned and SGML encoded. Opti­
cal Character Recognition (OCR) is then per­
formed on the documents to further improve 
search capabilities. Given this structure, us­
ers may browse journal and b ook bibliogra­
phies, as well as perform simple keyword, 
B oolean , frequency, proximity, and index 
searches. Pages may be viewed and printed 
in either PDF or text versions o f the scanned 
images. The interface is relatively easy to 
negotiate, with pull-down menu options and 
help files easy to find.

Despite its relative ease o f use, it’s impor­
tant to rem ember that MoA is also a sophisti­
cated research tool. Although the collection is 
currently limited to a relatively short 27-year 
period in American history, the depth o f the 
collection is extensive. Ranging from single 
images to journal articles, journal issues, and 
entire books, MoA is best viewed with frames- 
capable browsers. Access requires a fairly ro­
bust personal computer and modem connec­
tion. Users may need to b e cautioned that 
books are downloaded as large text files. These 
very large files are not formatted by page, may 
take a long time to download, and can cause 
Web browsers to crash.

When used in conjunction with other digi­
tal library collections, such as the Library o f 
Congress American Memory Project, the Hu­
manities Text Initiative, National Archives and 
Records Administration Archival Information 
Locator, and subscription databases such as 
JSTOR, American history scholars using MoA 
have access to a growing collection o f primary 
source documents.— Linda Frederiksen, Wash­
ington State University Vancouver, frederik@
vancouver. ivsu.edu

United S ta te s H olocaust M em orial
Museum. Access: http://www.ushmm.org/.
It is no easy task to plumb the depths of 

the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
Web site. In addition to the usual announce­
ments, calendars, contacts, etc., the site fea­
tures an impressive array o f deeply moving 
multimedia resources. One section entitled 
“Historical Topics” covers subjects such as po­
groms, refugees, and ghettos. In each presen­
tation, the text is enhanced by careful use of 
links to picture files, sound files, photographs, 
interviews, film footage, and other text files.

Researchers and librarians will also appre­
ciate the extensive “Collections & Archives” 
section from which it is possible to search an 
extensive collection o f online photographs, as 
well as the archives themselves. There are also 
links to the Museum Library, which has its own 
online catalog, and to related resources such 
as the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies 
and the Committee on Conscience, each wor­
thy o f its own review.

The reviewer was riveted by “Do you re­
member, w hen” in the “Online Exhibitions" 
section o f the site. The exhibition centers on a 
small handmade b o o k  created by Manfred 
Lewin, a young Je w  w ho was active in one of 
Berlin’s Zionist youth groups until his depor­
tation and murder in Auschwitz-Birkenau. 
Lewin’s illustrated entries in this small book 
reflect the turbulent times in Berlin and also 
his affection for his gay companion, Gad Beck. 
The book was a gift to B eck w ho now  lives in 
Berlin. T he exh ibition  allow s the reader/ 
viewer/listener to turn the pages o f the little 
book, one at a time, and to view accompany­
ing translations with a simple movement of 
the mouse. T he presentation also includes 
video and sound files and even film footage 
from an interview with B eck himself.

T he site is beautifully presented against 
quiet, tasteful backgrounds that stand in stark 
contrast to the horrifying subject matter. Multi­
media are seamlessly integrated throughout 
and are an integral part o f the presentation. A 
check with the site administrator confirmed 
that having a 4.0 browser or above and the 
latest version o f RealPlayer installed will en­
sure optimal use o f the site. Java and JavaScript 
should be enabled. Flash is also used sparingly 
on the site. Do not miss this remarkable re­
source.— TomNichol, College o f St. Benedict &  St. 
John’s University, tnichol@csbsju.edu ■

http://www.ushmm.org/
mailto:tnichol@csbsju.edu