ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C& RL N e w s ■ F e b r u a r y 2001 / 2 1 5 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni Roberts and Carol Drost, editors Am erican Psychological Association. Access: http://www.apa.org. The American Psychological Association (APA) has 52 divisions, 159,000 members, and . claims to be the largest “scientific and profes­ sional organization representing psychology in the United States.” The APA Web page is crammed with information, not only about its organization, business, programs, and confer­ ences, but also about psychological issues in the form of news, online brochures, journal articles, and other full-text content. Dodging the advertising to find the free stuff, however, takes a little work. There is something for everyone at the APA site. The main page invites psychologists, stu­ dents, and the general public to enter the site via different portals, which market to their varied interests. And market they do. The stu­ dent page, for instance, highlights the advan­ tages of joining APA, while the psychologist link focuses on online services and new prod­ ucts. The public site features hot topics in ten “What you need to know about” categories, providing brief reports and news on each topic. But eventually all paths lead to the sale of APA newsletters, journals, books, products, or ser­ vices. Plan on spending some time at this site. The pages are cluttered with icons and head­ ings competing for attention and can be dis­ tracting to navigate. In addition, each link leads to loads of other pages. A pair of search en­ gines, designed to scan the APA site and re­ lated Web sites, seems to promise relief, ask­ ing simply “What are you looking for?” But searching success can be limited and unpre­ dictable. For those hoping to locate research articles, using these search engines can be frus­ trating. A better path for researchers is to start with the “Site Map,” discretely located in the header of all pages. Here one can easily find the “Jour­ nal Search” and “Book Search” features, which allow retrieval of full-text articles or abstracts from dozens of APA journals and books. This page also provides a no-nonsense alphabetic display of the rest of the sites offerings. Alter­ natively, the “Latest News” link from the header of the main page provides a similarly direct route to research, albeit more commercial. More full-text content is apparently also avail­ able with membership to APA. This site will appeal to anyone looking for psychology news, professional development opportunities in psychology, and information about the APA. With all the content available at this site, one is bound to find something useful.— Barbara Valentine, Linfield College, bualen@linfield.edu E s tro n a u t: A F o ru m f o r W o m e n 's Health. Access: h ttp ://w w w .estro n au t. com or http://www.womenshealth.org. The Web can be a valuable tool for find­ ing information on personal health issues not fo u n d in co n v en tio n al referen ce w orks. Estronaut is an online resource addressing a variety o f subjects co n cern in g w o m e n ’s health. D eveloped and maintained by GenneX Healthcare Technologies Inc., Estronaut’s goal is to offer current information and advice from physicians who specialize in wom en’s health. Information for this site is gathered from pu b ­ lished medical studies and recent textbooks. The site’s content is monitored by medical director and CEO of GenneX Healthcare Tech­ nologies, Karen Sarpolis. Written in frank language, topics on this site are organized by subject and age group. Medical terminology is defined, illustrating the site’s intended general audience. While there are articles written for adolescents, the major­ ity of articles are for adult women. The articles Joni R. Roberts is associate university librarian for public services and collection development at W illam ette 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://www.apa.org mailto:bvalen@linfield.edu http://www.estronaut http://www.womenshealth.org mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu 216 / C&RL News ■ February 2001 found at Estronaut either respond to specific questions or examine results from studies pub­ lished elsewhere. Estronaut informed readers early o n of the problem s w ith Fen-Phen, Fosamax, and Tamoxifen. Maneuvering around Estronaut is simple with a side bar menu on each screen, or users can search the site by keyword. Each article has a link to any scien­ tific references used in the article. Visitors to Estronaut are invited to be active users; they are encouraged to rate each article. Also read­ ers may e-mail questions to the medical advi­ sor, Sarpolis. Although the organization, treatment, and goals of Estronaut are admirable, there are sev­ eral aspects of this Web site that disappoint. The articles vary in quality; the strongest ar­ ticles are those dealing with medical issues or pharmaceuticals. None of the articles credit an author or originating source. Of sixteen articles exam ined, only tw o had single references listed. No information is available concerning w hen Estronaut was established, nor is one able to determine how often the site is up­ dated or w hen the last update occurred. Read­ ers are invited to rate each article (via e-mail), but the results are not posted on the site. Although Estronaut does not quite m eet its goals, it serves as a good introduction to women's health issues and offers general au­ diences, including college students, basic in­ formation on a variety of topics.— Kimberly Bartosz, Eastern Connecticut State University, bartoszk@easternct.edu free! The Freedom Forum Online. Ac­ cess: http://www.freedomforum.org/. free!, the official Web site and online news service o f the Freedom Forum Foundation, is e ss e n tia l for students, e d u c a t o r s , jo u r n a lis ts , and anyone interested in m e d ia a n d freedom issues. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the Foundation is a “nonpartisan, international foundation, d ed ica ted to free press, free speech, and free spirit for all people,” focus­ ing on four principal priorities: the Newseum, an interactive museum of news; First Amend­ m ent issues; new sroom diversity; and world press freedom. These primary concerns are evident w hen viewing their Web site, which is first-class in coverage and scope. Full-text articles, columns, and in-depth analysis lead to a wealth of research information for further study of free expression. Librarians can take advantage of recent current awareness features such as Internet filtering in schools, flag burn­ ing, and censorship of literature. Subject matter is organized into two major categories: “freedoms” and “programs.” The “freedoms” section covers First Amendment rights, technology issues, and international media topics. Most of the daily news stories originate within this grouping. “Programs” in­ cludes links to the Newseum, Foundation pub­ lications, and topics such as press fairness and journalism education. The center of the open­ ing page presents brief excerpts with links to current articles contained within the outer two sections. One minor flaw in this otherwise outstand­ ing site is the initial confusion resulting from these repetitive links. Freedom Forum staff and Associated Press correspondents author the articles presented here. Once connected to a particular page, “In This Section” typically of­ fers additional resources pertaining to the spe­ cific topic being viewed (e.g., Web sites, FAQ’s, bibliographies, related new s stories, etc.). Documents are updated on a daily basis, and the entire site is searchable. The free! site offers distinctive features such as the “First Amendment Outrage of the Week,” where a single government act or gesture most offensive to the spirit of free speech, free press, and free expression is identified with com­ mentary. Another unique feature is free!Radio, a compilation of audio broadcasts. These pro­ grams are an effortless way to stay abreast of journalism issues or challenges to First Amend­ ment rights. A noteworthy program, “Newseum Radio,” is a one-hour weekly series co-pro­ duced by the Newseum and the Foundation. Works in progress include the First Amend­ ment Center’s U. S. Supreme Court Files. This invaluable section contains full-text opinions of First Amendment decisions by the Supreme Court since 1990. What is readily apparent af­ ter repeated visits to this site is the rich and exceptional content dealing that is accessible. The authority of contributors is sound, and the currency o f material is unbeatable.— Gail Golderman, Union College, goldermg@union. edit ■ mailto:bartoszk@easternct.edu http://www.freedomforum.org/ C&RL News ■ February 2001 / 217