Margaret Sanger Papers Project
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/index.html
The Margaret Sanger Papers Project is a historical editing project sponsored by the Department of History at New York University. The Project was formed in 1985 to "locate, arrange, edit, research, and publish" the papers of Margaret Sanger. This user-friendly site includes a biographical sketch, selected microfilm and electronic editions of her letters and writings, the project's newsletter, photos courtesy of the Sophia Smith Collection, available project internships, and links to related sites. It is an excellent place to start for research and/or general information on the founder of the birth control movement. [MG]
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Scholarly Work in the Humanities and the Evolving Information Environment
http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub104abst.html
This new report from CLIR (the Council on Library and Information Resources) describes the Scholarly Work in the Humanities Project, a project initiated to discover how humanities scholars use digital and print resources available to them and to help libraries to develop print and digital collections to better serve scholars' needs. Thirty-three scholars participated, with interests ranging from nineteenth-century English poetry and painting, to ancient language translation, to madness in fourteenth-and fifteenth-century drama and culture, to early twentieth-century African-American poetry. In general, the study found that humanities scholars are no longer the technophobes they have been portrayed previously. Even more importantly, the study found a pattern of scholars sniffing out related information by following circuitous citation chains, tracking footnotes, and finding works that cite back to each other. An awareness of this pattern can help libraries select materials for digitization more intelligently. Carole Palmer, one of the investigators, says libraries' digitizing efforts have been trying to create a critical mass of digital materials and should instead try to create a "contextual mass." [DS]
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Biennial Report to Congress on the Status of GPO Access
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/biennial/index.html
Readable online and as a downloadable .pdf, the Biennial Report comprises 60 pages of text and statistics about GPO Access, an online source of free, official government information. In its 2001 report, the GPO, the government's primary point of data dissemination, notes that for the last calender year, GPO Access responded to more than 355 million online requests for information. That number is up more than ten fold from the first full year of online access in 1996. From almost every perspective, GPO Access has been a resounding, if somewhat unexpected success. Thus one reads with pleasure that not only does GPO Access run under its projected annual budget, but that its user-base is also on the rise, thanks, in large part, to the site's administrators, who have worked in conjunction with numerous government agencies to advertise GPO Access as the central clearinghouse for information regarding nearly every federally-funded agency, commission, or program. Captivating reading in its own right, especially to those in information services of any kind, the GPO Access Biennial Report is an invaluable Web resource, listing URLs and other points of contact for its most popular electronic services and links. [WH]
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Law Library of Congress Home Page
http://www.loc.gov/law/public/htdoc/index.html
The Law Library of Congress Web site is an outstanding tribute to this nation's foremost legal library, which comprises more than two million volumes, including a 65,000 volume reference collection. The largest legal library in the world, the Law Library was established in 1832 as a separate branch of the Library of Congress, serving as the library of record and official repository of the Congress of the United States. Both historically and practically valuable, the Law Library site offers information on the library's vast holdings and a wealth of information about the great edifice constructed to house them. The site offers numerous links to electronic records made available by the Library, primarily through the Guide to Online Law and GLIN, the Global Legal Information Network. Also impressive are two presentations on the inscriptions and art gracing the library building, respectively entitled "On These Walls" and "And Sovereign Laws." While serving as a portal to the study of the American law, through such services as the Thomas Register and the Congressional Report, the Law Library Web site links information on the laws and legislative institutions of other lands as well, many presented in both native languages and English translations. A study in itself, the site is a great starting point for the study of law by both students and scholars, offering great historical perspective of the birth and evolution of American legal concepts and practices while maintaining up-to-the-minute information regarding challenges to and revisions of our great judicial heritage. [WH]
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Canadian Agriculture Library
http://www.agr.gc.ca/cal/calweb1.html
The Canadian Agriculture Library is the "single most important library in agriculture and food in Canada." Users are able to view a list of the library's most recent acquisitions updated each month. For example, one of its online publications, the out-of-print Historical Series of Agriculture Canada, highlights the "development and history of Canadian agriculture and agribusiness". This Web site, which can be viewed in either English or French, features an online catalog of the library's main collection, a document delivery service that allows users to request either paper or electronic documents, a directory of Web-based resources, and a public information request service. [AL]
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Urhobo Historical Society
http://www.waado.org/Contents.html
The Urhobo Historical Society site offers basic information about the Urhobo Peoples of Southern Nigeria. This site was designed and constructed by Peter P. Ekeh, Ph.D. of the State University of New York at Buffalo, and it includes general information regarding Urhobo history, economy, political systems, and religion. In addition, the site offers a glimpse of various Urhobo art forms -- paintings, sculptures, literature, poetry, and music. [MG]
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Civil War Cartoons
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/SCARTOONS/cartoons.html
Civil War Cartoons is a paper that investigates American visual satire (political cartoons) during the Civil War era. An American Studies Project at the University of Virginia, the site was originally created by Ian Finseth and later edited with a graphic introduction by Dan Backer. Beginning at the start of the Civil War and ending with its aftermath, the site is a history lesson that emphasizes the importance of understanding the ways in which political cartoons contributed to the nation's social and political climate of the time. Furthermore, it reveals the potency of the medium, tracing the success and influence of visual images during the Civil War-era. It shows the period to be a significant landmark in the history of American political art. [MG]
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TAPPED IN Services
http://www.tappedin.sri.com/
TAPPED IN is an online work place for an international community of education professionals, ranging from educators, librarians, and students in K-12 and higher education to researchers who are engaged in professional development programs and informal collaborative activities. TAPPED IN is a trademark of SRI International and is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. It is an online service that helps "professional development projects, education agencies, philanthropic organizations, and for-profit organizations use the Internet to connect with and support teachers via the Web." With technological support grounded in a "web-based multi-user virtual environment," the site uses an integrated set of communication mechanisms designed to support large numbers of education professionals in a single virtual place. It offers free membership and comprehensive explanations of their services. If interested in holding discussions, offering training, or collaborating with students and colleagues, it is definitely a site to explore. [MG]
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A Dictionary of Slang
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/news.htm
'A Dictionary of Slang' is an amusing reference guide of the rich and colorful language known as slang. The "monster online dictionary" was created by Ted Duckworth and is written from a British perspective. However, the dictionary includes many words and phrases that originate from outside the United Kingdom, and in such cases, if known, indicates the country of origin. This site provides interesting and informative data (for those who know little about slang expressions) and organizes the language into categories ranging from rap slang to crime and prison slang. It also provides related links for each category and offers a form to submit slang expressions. It is important to note that all submissions are verified for meaning and use before listed in the dictionary. [MG]
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Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
http://bcri.bham.al.us/
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute takes its visitors on a journey moving from the nation's segregation era to the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. The Institute's historic galleries capture the spirit and courage of countless individuals who dared to confront the "bigotry and racial discrimination of American society." This site provides a range of exhibitions (both permanent and traveling) that will peak the interest of anyone interested in learning more about American history and historical art form during the 1950s and 1960s. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is more than an online museum; it is a place that promotes research and provides education and discussion regarding civil and human rights issues in America and around the world. [MG]
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US Export Sales Reports
http://www.fas.usda.gov/export-sales/esrd1.html
Providing graphic and statistical representation of weekly, monthly, and yearly sales, the US Export Sales Reports track primary American commodities marketed abroad, including wheat, cotton, feed grains, oilseeds, rice, beef, and hides and skins. Especially from a lay person's perspective, the level of detail of each report is astonishingly minute and analytical. For instance, for wheat and rice alone, each commodity is broken down and tracked by no fewer than six or seven specific varieties respectively. Beyond their reporting services, the FAS also tracks five year trends and makes future sales projections of listed commodities. Not only interesting from the agricultural and economic perspectives, the Export Sales Reports also serve as significant indicators of foreign trade and political relations between the United States and its major trading partners, illustrated by the reports' listing of the primary purchasers of commodities by nation. In addition to its various weekly features, the Export Sales Report site also links to a variety of other USDA sites, including detailed historical explanations of the reports' evolution and the agencies that generate them. Among the most interesting histories is the site's description of the massive Soviet purchase of US grain in 1972, the event behind the creation of the Export Sales Report. [WH]
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Humbul Humanities Hub
http://www.humbul.ac.uk/about/
Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and hosted by the University of Oxford, the Humbul Humanities Hub is a service of the Resource Discovery Network. The site is geared towards meeting the needs of the humanities community and includes information in areas ranging from language and literature, to American studies, to archaeology, to philosophy. Furthermore, this site contains a searchable archive with links to various museums and libraries. During its nascent stage, this site was covered in the Scout Report's July 22, 1994 edition. However, since then, the site has added geography, education, sport, and tourism/leisure in order to ensure that interdisciplinary subjects are adequately covered. These additions give its visitors greater flexibility and diversity in deciding what to search for and how to conduct a search. [MG]
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Delivering on the Promise: Preliminary Report of Federal Agencies' Actions to Eliminate Barriers and Promote Community Integration
http://www.hhs.gov/newfreedom/prelim/
As one of his first acts in office, President George W. Bush unveiled the New Freedom Initiative to carry out his plan to tear down remaining barriers to equality for the "54 million Americans with disabilities." The President then acted on this plan with Executive Order 13217: Community-Based Alternatives for Individuals with Disabilities, asking federal agencies to work together to identify and address barriers to community integration. As a result, this status report was submitted to the President by Tommy G. Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in an effort to meet the charge of "delivering on the promise." According to Thompson, this report "establishes a blueprint for action that will make a measurable impact on the lives of people with disabilities as they work to secure appropriate health care, housing, transportation, employment, education and other opportunities in their communities." This lengthy, yet informative, report can be read in html, .doc, or .pdf format. [MG]
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Public Health Image Library
http://phil.cdc.gov/Phil/default.asp
The Public Health Image Library (PHIL) offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is an extensive collection of images and multimedia files related to public health. If you've ever wanted to see the life cycle of a hookworm or pictures of anthrax lesions, you can see them here. The site can be searched by category, keyword, or image id number, and although the Java-based search engine is a bit cumbersome, spending several hours here will be easy. Often graphic, many of the images are of diseased organs and microscopic slides. Educators, researchers, and professionals should find this site interesting. [JAB]
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Web Publishing Curriculum Resources
http://libweb.uoregon.edu/it/webpub/
The Web Publishing Curriculum is housed at the University of Oregon and has been in existence since 1994. In the summer of 2001, the Web Publishing Curriculum was redesigned to incorporate many of the latest standards, including HTML 4.01 and Cascading Style Sheets. The site provides workshops on basic Web mechanics, Web publishing processes, and Web page creation. It also provides notes on the anatomy of an URL, guidelines for good practice, and links to other related sites. Its useful information is definitely a wonderful resource for novice Web users. [MG]
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Counterpane Labs: Password Safe
http://www.counterpane.com/passsafe.html
Tired of trying to memorize numerous computer passwords? Password Safe is a free Windows 9x/2000 utility that provides users the opportunity to keep their passwords securely encrypted on their computers and provides a single Safe Combination that unlocks all passwords. Password Safe "protects passwords with the Blowfish encryption algorithm, a fast, free alternative to DES." The program's security has been thoroughly verified by Counterpane Labs under the supervision of Bruce Schneier, author of Applied Cryptography and creator of the Blowfish algorithm. Password Safe features a simple, intuitive interface that lets users set up their password database in minutes. One can copy a password just by double clicking and pasting it directly into his/her application. Best of all, Password Safe is completely free: no license requirements, shareware fees, or other strings attached. [MG]
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Cornel West Controversy
Tavis Interview: Academic Speaks Out on Conflict with Harvard's New President [RealPlayer]
http://www.npr.org/programs/tavis/features/2002/jan/020107.west.html
Black Scholar Chides Summers for 'Attack'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6129-2002Jan6.html
Harvard president cools dispute
http://fyi.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers.ednews/01/05/scholars.harvard.reut/
'Sketches of My Culture' - Audio Download [.mpeg]
http://www.cornelwest.com
Who is Cornel West?
http://new.blackvoices.com/news/bv-west020108.story?coll=bv-news-black-headlineshttp://new.blackvoices.com/news/bv-west020108.story?coll=bv-news-black-headlines
Harvard University Professor, theologian, and social activist Cornel West may soon be leaving his position at Harvard for Princeton University due to strained relations with Harvard's new president, Lawrence Summers. A primary source of the conflict was West's compact disc released last summer titled 'Sketches of My Culture.' Summers, who arrived on campus in October after serving as Treasury Secretary during the latter days of the Clinton administration, criticized West during one of their private conversations. Discussing the conflict during an interview with Tavis Smily, West characterizes what transpired as "an assault on his integrity." He further states "In my 26 years of teaching this is unprecedented for me... I've never been attacked or insulted in that particular way." After Summers' apology, Harvard spokesperson, Joe Wrinn stated "President Summers and Professor West had a good conversation that cleared the air and ended with a feeling of mutual respect." However, a spokesman for West revealed that West is still considering leaving Harvard but will not make a definite decision until February at the earliest. For now, West is devoting all of his focus and energy on his health. He will soon be facing prostate cancer surgery.
In the interview with Tavis Smiley, West discusses his meeting last month with Summers. The Washington Post and CNN news both posted articles on the controversy announcing Summers' apology the day after West's interview with Tavis Smiley. A Web site maintained by Clifton West offers track titles of 'Sketches of My Culture' and the opportunity to download some of its songs, compressed into .mpeg files. Black Voices, an African American Web portal, published an article that prefaces its discussion of the conflict with information about Cornel West's career.
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