jan10b.indd C&RL News January 2010 42 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 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w sJoni R. Roberts and Carol A. Drost BNET. Access: http://www.bnet.com/. BNET is a slick, multimedia Web site that, in the words of the developers, “pro- vides working professionals with the tools, advice, and insight they need to succeed in today’s workplace.” The homepage features fi ve news articles that continually loop and change throughout the day. Access to these articles is through the “Today” tab. The other seven tabs are “Management,” “Strategy,” “Work Life,” “ Insight,” “Industries,” “Business Library,” and “Video.” Videos are professional and effective. The series includes videos on best practices, such as how to ace a job inter- view and how to handle chronic complainers. A brief 15-second ad precedes each video, which typically lasts fi ve-to-seven minutes. In the “Business Library” users have access to business articles from trade and general in- terest magazines. Although 2009 issues were available for some titles, other titles showed holdings with the latest issues dated 2006 or earlier. Users would be better off using databases in their local library to fi nd articles. The Web site offers a free membership that gives users access to white papers, Webcasts, case studies, and other content. Once a user registers, access is enabled only after the user completes a personal profi le. BNET is forthright in telling the user that it shares per- sonal profi les with companies that produce content, products, or services featured in the Business Library and that these companies may contact the user with information and offers regarding their products and services. Free content has its price CNET Networks launched a beta version of BNET in 2005 and in 2007 launched the Web site in its current iteration. CBS Interactive acquired CNET in 2008 and has since added CBS MoneyWatch as a feature on the Web site. Blogs, podcasts, Webcasts, and videos are widely used to present content. Users can set up RSS feeds, download documents, share and e-mail documents, and leave comments on blog posts. The main audience for BNET is the up-and-coming business manager who wants to further his or her career. Business school students will also fi nd it useful as it gives them a glimpse into the world they will become part of.—Maureen James, University of Arkansas-Little Rock, mejames@ualr.edu Issuu. Access: http://issuu.com. Issuu is a Web-based publishing plat- form that allows easy upload of supported document formats to an attractive online fl ash-based viewer. It also provides access to a library of independent publications that publish on the Issuu platform. Publications can include full books, portfolios, profes- sional magazines, and any document that meets document requirements. Issuu has four sections: “Home,” “Publi- cations,” “People,” and “Groups.” “Home” promotes information about Issuu and fea- tures publications within Issuu, with some customization options if you are logged in. “Publications” provides browsing options to fi nd materials published on Issuu, while the “People section” lets you browse users. The “Groups” section lets you look through user-generated collections, with the option to create your own custom collection, as well. A free ad-supported account will get you started with plenty of features to keep you busy. Uploading documents is a simple pro- cess of pointing to a supported fi le on your computer, providing additional descriptive information, and setting publishing options for the document. You will then be taken to “My Library,” which shows your publications on a virtual wooden shelf. Users can easily share documents by distributing the link to their published document or by embedding the publication into a blog or Web site. “My January 2010 43 C&RL News Library” has basic social networking features to let you make friends within Issuu, share publications with Issuu users, and even cre- ate “Shelves” of your favorite publications to display on your public profi le page. If you click and open one of your publications, it will take you to the full online document viewer. The document viewer is where Issuu truly shines, with its emphasis on readability and intuitive controls. Issuu even hides its own branding to give you as much screen as pos- sible to view the document. You can control the viewer just with the mouse, zooming in and out with a click, and fl ipping through pages by clicking on the arrows to the right or left edge of the page. Issuu is highly recommended as a great low-cost publishing platform that makes sharing documents online easy and attrac- tive. It’s also a great place to fi nd alternative publications that users wouldn’t fi nd in the mainstream media.—Ken Fujiuchi, Buffalo State College, ken.fujiuchi@gmail.com Mondofacto. Access: http://www. mondofacto.com. Mondofacto is a Web site that provides subject-specifi c dictionaries, word tools, and writing and studying tutorials. This site, devel- oped by an education company, specializes in online learning resources and the Online Medical Dictionary. However, information about the company and its contributors is vague. Nowhere does it state who the editors and content writers are or how they defi ne community. Mondofacto is divided into four sections: “Dictionary,” “Word Tools,” “Study Skills,” and “Forum.” The site is easily navigated using either the graphics on the front page or the listing at the bottom. Each section is subdivided. “Dictionary” defaults to a medical dictionary, but the user can choose to look up terms in computing or educa- tion. “Word Tools” includes a word fi nder, Scrabble solver, anagram solver, crossword solver, and word visualizer. “Study Skills” Discover Great Value In a Valuable Discovery Tool! Project MUSE is a core discovery and research tool for faculty and students. And now, discovery has never been more affordable. Our tiered pricing and six collection options offer unbeatable value and can satisfy any budget. Coming in 2010, many back issues will be included at no additional cost! With Project MUSE you get: ● 24/7 access to current, full text, peer reviewed humanities and social science journals ● new, easy to use search and browsing tools ● stable online content with archival rights So renew, upgrade or try us out free today and discover the value of Project MUSE. FREE 45-day trial at http://muse.jhu.edu/trialrequest http://muse.jhu.edu (continues on page 51) January 2010 51 C&RL News brary on August 31, 2009. York joined the University Library staff as a serials cata- loger in 1969 and became a government documents reference librarian the follow- ing year. She was best known distributing government information via the Internet beginning in the early 1990s. York re- ceived numerous recognitions, including ALA GODORT’s James Bennett Childs Award, ACRL Law and Political Science Section’s Marta Lange Award, Michigan GODORT’s Paul Thurston Award, and the University of Michigan Librarian Achieve- ment Award. D e a t h s Janet Bergquist Dixon, maps librarian; liaison to the geosciences, environmental dynamics, and anthropology programs and departments; and full librarian/full profes- sor in the University of Arkansas Libraries, has died. Dixon served as Environmental Specialist and Park Planner for the Plan- ning Division, Southeast/Southwest Team of the U.S. National Park Service in Den- ver, Colorado. She worked in 1982 as a research assistant at the University of Ar- kansas in the Department of Botany and Microbiology, then at the University Librar- ies as an hourly staff member in 1983, and was promoted as a library technical assis- tant III in 1984. She was appointed a vis- iting assistant librarian in 1989, served as acting head of the Periodicals Room for a year in 1998, was promoted to associate li- brarian in 2001, and was then promoted to librarian and awarded tenure in 2007. She accumulated a total of 26 years of service at the University of Arkansas. During Dix- on’s tenure as maps librarian at the Univer- sity Libraries, the map collection grew by more than 19,000 maps, the historic and archival maps in Special Collections were organized and cataloged for the fi rst time, and library services related to pioneering electronic map and aerial images of Arkan- sas, made in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies through Geographical Information Systems (GIS), were initiated and grew rapidly. Under her leadership, the popular GIS Day was implemented in 1998 and continues each year, attracting numerous campus faculty and students, as well as community citi- zens, businesses, and organizations. has areas on researching, study skills, presentation skills, and personal research. The fi nal section is a group of forums for users to contribute to and read. Many of the words and terms could be found in other places, and other words you would expect to fi nd are missing. For instance, a quick check of the education dic- tionary did not contain an entry on “Bloom’s taxonomy.” The medical dictionary was the most thorough, which is understandable since the site specializes in the Online Medical Dic- tionary. While the prefi x, suffi x, abbreviation, and acronym dictionaries were entertaining, they were not exhaustive. The visualizer, the most academic of the “Word Tools,” could be useful as a thesaurus. The most helpful area of the site is the section on study skills; it contains information to help students write a paper, abstract, litera- ture review, or bibliography. Each discussion begins with a list of instructional objectives and the time it should take to complete the lesson. “Reading” has a discussion of reading skills, which could be very useful for new college students. The site is entirely funded through adver- tising revenue, which is annoying at times. The “Study Skills” section is worthwhile, but the site’s use of advertising greatly devalues what could be a useful resource. There are more scholarly and thorough resources on the Web.—Delores Carlito, University of Alabama-Birmingham, delo@ uab.edu (“Internet reviews,” continued from page 43)