Internet Resources: February 2021 Edition

Selected reviews of digital reference resources from the February issue of Choice.

Posted on February 4, 2021 in Internet Resources

American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Library of Congress Contact publisher for pricing.
https://americanarchive.org/

“The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) features almost 40,000 hours of audio and video recordings produced by noncommercial broadcasting stations across the United States from the late 1940s to the 2010s,” wrote Lizah Ismail and Warren Bareiss for ccAdvisor. “The online collection is expansive,” they added, noting that it ranges “from news broadcasts to arts programming to talk shows and children’s programming, [providing] a seemingly endless amount of information about life in the US across eight decades.” Some examples of topics covered include the Black Power movement, Jewish life in the US, and LGBT issues, though this is just a sampling of the extensive offerings. Organized according to topic, content is either categorized under “Exhibits” or “Special Programs,” both of which are accessible via links prominently displayed on the homepage, though Special Programs tend to be more focused than Exhibits. 

In addition to simple keyword searching, users can sort through content using the Advanced Search link, which allows for searching by title or limiting for exact phrases or words. Results can then be filtered by media type, genre, topic, asset type, contributing organizations, producing organizations, and date. Other welcome features include “research notes [that] direct users to related sources for further exploration” and “the [searchable] transcript that accompanies the AAPB record (where applicable),” Ismail and Bareiss added.

The collection’s greatest strength is its expansive range of topics and the sheer number of audio and video programs it compiles, as it brings together “local, regional, and national programs addressing issues in science, health, religion, politics, music, history, and a host of other general topics.” Infobase’s Films on Demand and the Internet Archive feature somewhat similar content, though neither is exactly analogous to AAPB. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty.

This review is a summary of a longer review by Lizah Ismail, A.J. Eastwood Library, Limestone College and Warren (Wren) Bareiss, University of South Carolina Upstate, originally published in ccAdvisor.org. Copyright © 2020 by The Charleston Company.—Abstracted from, ccAdvisor

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Sustainable Development Goals Online (SDGO). Taylor & Francis Contact publisher for pricing.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/sdgo/

“Sustainable Development Goals Online (SDGO) is a specialized Taylor & Francis collection curated from the publisher’s book chapters, journal articles … and learning resources,” as Marisa Scigliano wrote for ccAdvisor. It was released in 2019 “to support teaching, learning, and research focusing on sustainability practices related” to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As Scigliano elaborated, the SDGs are “calls for action by both developed and developing countries to end poverty and deprivation and improve health and education.” The database assigns “book chapters and articles” from Taylor & Francis imprints “to one or more or the 17 SDGs,” altogether comprising more than 12,000 selections at the time of this review. This is supplemented by a number of teaching and learning resources, including “case studies, lesson plans, presentations, reports, and core essays developed by subject experts and delivered in PowerPoint, PDF, or Word formats, along with videos,” Scigliano added. Users can sort through these resources using the UN SDG interactive color wheel on the homepage. Clicking on a different color allows users to discover each goal and its accompanying resources. A search bar at the top of the homepage also enables users to search these sources by keyword, author, title, or ISBN, though Boolean and advanced search options are not available.

SDGO “meets a specific need in an intuitive, easy-to-use format while leveraging the UN SDG visual assets” and Taylor & Francis’s vast library for undergraduates and faculty seeking to incorporate elements of sustainability into their study, research, and teaching. “There are no comparable full-text products so closely intertwined with the UN SDGs,” Scigliano noted, though free or Open Access resources with rich full-text offerings in relevant subjects include The World Bank’s Open Knowledge Repository, the IMF eLibrary, and SDG Academy. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

This review is a summary of a longer review by Marisa Scigliano, Trent University, originally published in ccAdvisor.org. Copyright © 2020 by The Charleston Company.—Abstracted from, ccAdvisor

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