- Email: [email protected]
United States Fish and Wildlife Service Web Site
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Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 243–281
feature, available links work well; on a random browsing through two features and two columns, this reviewer found responses accurate and timely, despite accessing the Internet in the middle of the afternoon. As an example, linking through the various sites from a column on web access to rules of court was a rewarding Internet trip. The all-important concern of reliability stood up to all tests for currency, authority, and accuracy. LLRX is a well-managed site editorially, and the twice a month updating frequency insures the user access to reliable information. Another key concern is being able to contact page administrators—this reviewer was able to do so with little difficulty. LLRX survives through advertising. Fees are based on the number of hits each advertiser receives from LLRX users. Both Chick (in Los Angeles) and Pacifici (Washington, DC) manage library and research services in major law firms and have a good feel for what legal professional and information technologists need in their daily work. LLRX is the result of their vision to provide web access to the legal industry, and, as measured by awards ⬍www.llrx.com⬎ has garnered, the two, with an extensive team of contributors, have met and exceeded their goal. Attorney Tools Internet Star (⬍http://www.netlawtools.com/ awards.html⬎) calls LLRX “an outstanding collection of resources of interest to legal researchers” and the National Law Journal termed LLRX “among the finest legal sites on the web.” Lycos has rated LLRX in the top five percent of web sites. Legal researchers from the law profession, academics, the private sector, and government agencies will all find LLRX an essential source as they attempt to navigate the murky and turbulent waters of the law. Note 1. “LLRX: Law Library Resources Xchange: An Interview of Sabrina Pacifici and Cindy Chick by Marsha Pront,” Information Innovators 4 (March 1999):1–2, 4.
Boyd Childress Auburn University Libraries 231 Mell Street Auburn, AL 36849, USA PII: S1352-0237(00)00139-8
United States Fish and Wildlife Service Web Site Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. ⬍http://www.fws.gov⬎. Visited July 1999. Anyone unfamiliar with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will no longer be confused about the work they do after visiting them on the Internet. The agency’s mission “to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats” is well represented by their web site. It features a wealth of research information on conservation and environmental issues, plus much material casual browsers will find interesting: from directory information for wildlife refuges, to news releases on endangered species. Unfortunately, while it has great content, the site suffers from poor presentation and organization.
Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 243–281
249
At the top of the home page there are some standard links: FAQs, News, Search, Offices (showing the organizational structure of the FWS), and Who We Are. The main section of the home page that is visible without scrolling is devoted to graphics and links highlighting recent news and promotional information. In July, for example, there were news releases on improved breeding habitat for ducks and the discovery of Canada Lynx kittens in Maine, a page on this year’s National Wildlife Refuge Week, and a link to wildlife photographs. Underneath the highlights is a table of 24 of the Service’s “most popular sites.” The links in this table appear to be organizational (Jobs/Personnel, State Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Federal Aid to States), format-oriented (Pictures/Publications, Directives, Speeches) and topical (Wetlands, Migratory Birds, Environmental Contaminants). In fact, most of the headings that appear to be subject-oriented actually link to sub-agencies within the FWS. For instance, the “Migratory Birds” heading links to the Office of Migratory Bird Management, the “Waterfowl” heading links to the North American Waterfowl and Wetlands Office, and so on. Thus the FWS page is mainly a collection of links to the offices, centers and other sub-units within the agency. The level of content varies from site to site. Some have only basic background information on the unit, while others have more in-depth information. One of the best is the Endangered Species web page. It includes news releases on the status of various species, articles from the Endangered Species Bulletin, educational links for children and information on policies and how species become listed. The most useful part of the site is its extensive list of all 1,181 endangered and threatened species. They are listed by common name and by state, with links to more information on each one. Many have photos and “species accounts,” which provide information on the species’ status, range, habitat, reasons for current status, management and protection efforts. These species accounts also include bibliographies. The National Wetlands Inventory is another good site, with ftp access to geo-spatial data in DLG and Arc Export format, education resources for teachers, and an “Ask Dr. Wetland” e-mail reference service. The “Pictures/Publications” link provides access to many wildlife photos, most of which are not copyrighted. The Publications section is limited at this point to an alphabetical list of titles. A searchable database is under development that will provide keyword, author, title and format searching. This will be a nice improvement for librarians and others looking specifically for online versions of the agency’s publications. The site-wide search function uses the Microsoft Index Server and supports Boolean and proximity operators, truncation, free text queries, and property value queries (which allow you to limit a search by document properties such as file size, author, type of file, etc.). There are two help screens available: basic and advanced. The basic help screen is well written and easy to understand. The advanced screen goes into more detail about the search features and is probably more than the average searcher needs to know, but it is helpful for advanced searchers. The search results include the titles of pages and abstracts (the first few lines of the body of the page linked to) so that users can easily assess the relevance of the search results. If relevance is not apparent from the title and abstracts, there are also links to a “summary” and “full” view. These are somewhat misleading labels. They are actually links to KWIC views (Key Word In Context) showing the search words in the resulting documents with short excerpts immediately before and after. Overall, the FWS web site, like many government web sites, provides online access to valuable information, but lacks a really polished design and navigational structure. The look and feel varies considerably from page to page within the site. Most headings used for links are clear,
250
Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 243–281
but they are not organized in any logical way. This requires the user to rely on a lot of browsing to find information. Some of the headings used for links are not clear at all. It is not always obvious that the linked page matches the heading. For instance the “Water Resources Development” heading links to the page for the Division of Habitat Conservation, Branch of Federal Activities. Only by reading through a lot of text on that page does one understand why this page is relevant to water resources. Another example is the link on the “photos/images” page called “searchable images.” This links to the National Conservation Training Center, which does have links to photos, but there is no obvious link to a searchable database on that page. While there is not a comprehensive collection of the agency’s publications, it appears that more and more are going online. Many of the publications on the site are brief fact-sheets on wildlife species and news releases, but there are also more substantial publications becoming available online. Many regional offices are beginning to post the full text of environmental impact statements and species recovery plans. Despite the lack of polish, the Fish and Wildlife Service web site is definitely a valuable resource for those seeking information about wildlife and habitat conservation. Carolyn Ottow The Valley Library Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331, USA PII: S1352-0237(00)00140-4
Handbook for Producing National Statistical Reports on Women and Men United Nations, New York, 1997, 315 pages, ISBN 9211613949, UN Sales No. E.97.XVII.10, $24.95. Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Developing Information, Education and Communication United Nations, New York, 1998, 123 pages, ISBN 9211613973, UN Sales No. E.98.XVII.4, $25.00. Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Policies and Protocols for the Release and Archiving of Individual Records United Nations, New York, 1998, 23 pages, ISBN 9211614007, UN Sales No. E.98.XVII.6, $15.00. Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 1 United Nations, New York, 1998, 274 pages, ISBN 9211614023, UN Sales No. E.98.XVII.8, $35.00. Government information librarians and political science students and professors should spend more time reading dry-sounding technical manuals! Four handbooks recently published by the United Nations help prove this point. The publications, listed above, deal with
Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 243–281
feature, available links work well; on a random browsing through two features and two columns, this reviewer found responses accurate and timely, despite accessing the Internet in the middle of the afternoon. As an example, linking through the various sites from a column on web access to rules of court was a rewarding Internet trip. The all-important concern of reliability stood up to all tests for currency, authority, and accuracy. LLRX is a well-managed site editorially, and the twice a month updating frequency insures the user access to reliable information. Another key concern is being able to contact page administrators—this reviewer was able to do so with little difficulty. LLRX survives through advertising. Fees are based on the number of hits each advertiser receives from LLRX users. Both Chick (in Los Angeles) and Pacifici (Washington, DC) manage library and research services in major law firms and have a good feel for what legal professional and information technologists need in their daily work. LLRX is the result of their vision to provide web access to the legal industry, and, as measured by awards ⬍www.llrx.com⬎ has garnered, the two, with an extensive team of contributors, have met and exceeded their goal. Attorney Tools Internet Star (⬍http://www.netlawtools.com/ awards.html⬎) calls LLRX “an outstanding collection of resources of interest to legal researchers” and the National Law Journal termed LLRX “among the finest legal sites on the web.” Lycos has rated LLRX in the top five percent of web sites. Legal researchers from the law profession, academics, the private sector, and government agencies will all find LLRX an essential source as they attempt to navigate the murky and turbulent waters of the law. Note 1. “LLRX: Law Library Resources Xchange: An Interview of Sabrina Pacifici and Cindy Chick by Marsha Pront,” Information Innovators 4 (March 1999):1–2, 4.
Boyd Childress Auburn University Libraries 231 Mell Street Auburn, AL 36849, USA PII: S1352-0237(00)00139-8
United States Fish and Wildlife Service Web Site Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. ⬍http://www.fws.gov⬎. Visited July 1999. Anyone unfamiliar with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will no longer be confused about the work they do after visiting them on the Internet. The agency’s mission “to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats” is well represented by their web site. It features a wealth of research information on conservation and environmental issues, plus much material casual browsers will find interesting: from directory information for wildlife refuges, to news releases on endangered species. Unfortunately, while it has great content, the site suffers from poor presentation and organization.
Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 243–281
249
At the top of the home page there are some standard links: FAQs, News, Search, Offices (showing the organizational structure of the FWS), and Who We Are. The main section of the home page that is visible without scrolling is devoted to graphics and links highlighting recent news and promotional information. In July, for example, there were news releases on improved breeding habitat for ducks and the discovery of Canada Lynx kittens in Maine, a page on this year’s National Wildlife Refuge Week, and a link to wildlife photographs. Underneath the highlights is a table of 24 of the Service’s “most popular sites.” The links in this table appear to be organizational (Jobs/Personnel, State Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Federal Aid to States), format-oriented (Pictures/Publications, Directives, Speeches) and topical (Wetlands, Migratory Birds, Environmental Contaminants). In fact, most of the headings that appear to be subject-oriented actually link to sub-agencies within the FWS. For instance, the “Migratory Birds” heading links to the Office of Migratory Bird Management, the “Waterfowl” heading links to the North American Waterfowl and Wetlands Office, and so on. Thus the FWS page is mainly a collection of links to the offices, centers and other sub-units within the agency. The level of content varies from site to site. Some have only basic background information on the unit, while others have more in-depth information. One of the best is the Endangered Species web page. It includes news releases on the status of various species, articles from the Endangered Species Bulletin, educational links for children and information on policies and how species become listed. The most useful part of the site is its extensive list of all 1,181 endangered and threatened species. They are listed by common name and by state, with links to more information on each one. Many have photos and “species accounts,” which provide information on the species’ status, range, habitat, reasons for current status, management and protection efforts. These species accounts also include bibliographies. The National Wetlands Inventory is another good site, with ftp access to geo-spatial data in DLG and Arc Export format, education resources for teachers, and an “Ask Dr. Wetland” e-mail reference service. The “Pictures/Publications” link provides access to many wildlife photos, most of which are not copyrighted. The Publications section is limited at this point to an alphabetical list of titles. A searchable database is under development that will provide keyword, author, title and format searching. This will be a nice improvement for librarians and others looking specifically for online versions of the agency’s publications. The site-wide search function uses the Microsoft Index Server and supports Boolean and proximity operators, truncation, free text queries, and property value queries (which allow you to limit a search by document properties such as file size, author, type of file, etc.). There are two help screens available: basic and advanced. The basic help screen is well written and easy to understand. The advanced screen goes into more detail about the search features and is probably more than the average searcher needs to know, but it is helpful for advanced searchers. The search results include the titles of pages and abstracts (the first few lines of the body of the page linked to) so that users can easily assess the relevance of the search results. If relevance is not apparent from the title and abstracts, there are also links to a “summary” and “full” view. These are somewhat misleading labels. They are actually links to KWIC views (Key Word In Context) showing the search words in the resulting documents with short excerpts immediately before and after. Overall, the FWS web site, like many government web sites, provides online access to valuable information, but lacks a really polished design and navigational structure. The look and feel varies considerably from page to page within the site. Most headings used for links are clear,
250
Reviews / Journal of Government Information 27 (2000) 243–281
but they are not organized in any logical way. This requires the user to rely on a lot of browsing to find information. Some of the headings used for links are not clear at all. It is not always obvious that the linked page matches the heading. For instance the “Water Resources Development” heading links to the page for the Division of Habitat Conservation, Branch of Federal Activities. Only by reading through a lot of text on that page does one understand why this page is relevant to water resources. Another example is the link on the “photos/images” page called “searchable images.” This links to the National Conservation Training Center, which does have links to photos, but there is no obvious link to a searchable database on that page. While there is not a comprehensive collection of the agency’s publications, it appears that more and more are going online. Many of the publications on the site are brief fact-sheets on wildlife species and news releases, but there are also more substantial publications becoming available online. Many regional offices are beginning to post the full text of environmental impact statements and species recovery plans. Despite the lack of polish, the Fish and Wildlife Service web site is definitely a valuable resource for those seeking information about wildlife and habitat conservation. Carolyn Ottow The Valley Library Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331, USA PII: S1352-0237(00)00140-4
Handbook for Producing National Statistical Reports on Women and Men United Nations, New York, 1997, 315 pages, ISBN 9211613949, UN Sales No. E.97.XVII.10, $24.95. Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Developing Information, Education and Communication United Nations, New York, 1998, 123 pages, ISBN 9211613973, UN Sales No. E.98.XVII.4, $25.00. Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Policies and Protocols for the Release and Archiving of Individual Records United Nations, New York, 1998, 23 pages, ISBN 9211614007, UN Sales No. E.98.XVII.6, $15.00. Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 1 United Nations, New York, 1998, 274 pages, ISBN 9211614023, UN Sales No. E.98.XVII.8, $35.00. Government information librarians and political science students and professors should spend more time reading dry-sounding technical manuals! Four handbooks recently published by the United Nations help prove this point. The publications, listed above, deal with