The Charleston Advisor Volume 23 #2

The Charleston

ADVISOR Critical Reviews of Web Products for Information Professionals

ISSN: 1525–4011

www.charlestonco.com

Contents

Volume 23, Number 2

October 2021

Advisor Reviews in This Issue

▼ ADVISOR INTRODUCTIONS

▼ ADVISOR REVIEWS––STANDARD REVIEWS

From Your Managing Editor: Nineteenth Annual Readers’ Choice Awards

by George Machovec........................................................ 3

Arctic Science and Technology Information System

by Jane C. Duffy............................................................ 5

Advisor Review Elements............................................... 4 Advisor Rating Guidelines.............................................. 4 ▼ ADVISOR REPORTS FROM THE FIELD Heard on the Net: When Is a Library Not a Library?

by Jill Emery............................................................... 53 ▼ ADVISOR SCOREBOARD TCA Scoreboard............................................On the Web

Comics Plus

by Michael J. Hughes....................................................... 8 Gale Literature Criticism

by Stacy Magedanz....................................................... 12 Medical Services and Warfare, Module II

by Michael DeNotto...................................................... 16 Pivot-RP

by Ellie Dworak, née Laura Suzanne Hudson....................... 23 ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

by Alissa A. Droog........................................................ 30 ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals

by Thomas J. Beck......................................................... 34 PsyArXiv

by Margie Ruppel......................................................... 38 Revolution and Protest Online

by Thomas J. Beck......................................................... 43 RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text

by Alyson Vaaler........................................................... 47 Theology & Religion Online

by Larry Sheret............................................................ 50

ADVERTISERS Accessible Archives.................................................................. 56 Association for Computing Machinery.................................... 58 Brepols Publishers.................................................................... 49

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press...................................... 60 International Monetary Fund................................................... 57 Modern Language Association................................................. 59

Subscription information on pages 29 and 57. Scoreboard on the Web.

The Charleston Advisor / 6180 E. Warren Ave., Denver CO 80222 / www.charlestonco.com

The Charleston Advisor Editorial and Corporate Offices 6180 E. Warren Ave., Denver, CO 80222 (303) 282-9706; Fax (303) 282-9743 E-mail: rlenzini@charlestonco.com President, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief: Rebecca T. Lenzini Managing Editor: George Machovec Executive Director The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries george@coalliance.org Chair of the Board: Katina Strauch Assistant Dean for Technical Services and Collection Development Emeritus Addlestone Library, College of Charleston kstrauch@comcast.net

Research and Conference Editor: Judy Luther President, Informed Strategies judy.luther@informedstrategies.com

EDITORIAL BOARD (in alphabetical order)

Dennis Brunning Associate University Librarian for Academic Programs Emeritus Arizona State University brunning@asu.edu

Tom Gilson Head of Reference Emeritus Robert Scott Small Library College of Charleston gilsont@cofc.edu

Natyra Pancsofar Resource Acquisitions Librarian, O’Neill Library Boston College pancsofa@bc.edu

Rick Burke Executive Director, Retired SCELC (Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium) rburke@scelc.org

Michelle Jeske City Librarian Denver Public Library mjeske@denverlibrary.org

Bonnie Parks Collections Technology Librarian Clark Library University of Portland parks@up.edu

Jill Emery Editor of Heard on the Net Collection Development Librarian Portland State University jemery@pdx.edu

Elizabeth R. Lorbeer Library Director, Homer Stryker M. D. School of Medicine Western Michigan University Elizabeth.Lorbeer@med.wmich.edu

Jolanda-Pieta van Arnhem Editor of Mobile Apps for Libraries Instructor and Training Coordinator Robert Scott Small Library College of Charleston vanarnheimj@cofc.edu Anthony Watkinson Publishing Consultant anthony.watkinson@btinternet.com Mary Wilke Member Liaison and Outreach Services Director Center for Research Libraries mwilke@crl.edu

Copyediting: Sarah Gremillion

Masthead and Art: Jack Thames

TCA Design and Graphics: Anne Flanagan/Anne’s Books adfbooks@mac.com

TCA Web Site Designer: Scott Stockton Quipu Group, LLC <www.quipugroup.com> thefolks@quipugroup.com

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The Charleston Advisor, Critical Reviews of Web Products for Information Professionals (ISSN: 1525-4011) is published in paper quarterly (July, October, January, and April). The online edition (ISSN: 1525-4003) is continuously updated on its site on the World Wide Web <www.charlestonco.com>.

The Charleston Advisor references are supplied by authors and reviewers. We regret any oversights that may occur.

Opinions expressed by the authors are their own, and are not necessarily those of the Publisher or editors.

The Charleston Advisor is published by The Charleston Company, 6180 E. Warren Ave., Denver CO 80222.

All rights reserved. Copyright © 2021 The Charleston Company.

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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ADVISOR INTRODUCTIONS––FROM YOUR MANAGING EDITOR

Nineteenth Annual Readers’ Choice Awards doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.3

George Machovec (Managing Editor, The Charleston Advisor)

<george@coalliance.org>)

The Charleston Advisor is now in volume 23 and this is the nineteenth year the journal is sponsoring a series of awards for products and services of interest to libraries. The awards were skipped in 2020 (volume 22) since relatively few new products and services were released due to the pandemic. So, this year’s awards are covering an extended period. The awards are not necessarily limited to items reviewed by TCA, but TCA reviews (if available) were consulted in the final consideration. Members of the editorial board made the final selections in a September 2021 virtual meeting. Awards are given in a group of standard categories with occasional special one-time categories added as needed.

Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. With a database of more than 2 trillion words, it is the largest corpus of linguistics information in existence.” (Anna Shparberg, TCA 23, no. 1 [July 2021]: 16). <https:// books.google.com/ngrams>

Best New Product/Service

Best New End User Product

ProQuest One Business. This new database from ProQuest is a onestop shop for most business faculty, students, and working professionals. “The database provides access to over 100 newspapers and wire feeds, 2,600 scholarly journals, 55,000 dissertations, 2,500 magazines, 25,000 e-books, 21,000 streaming videos, 15,000 case studies, and thousands of market and industry reports.” (Kaci Resau, TCA 23, no. 1 [July 2021]: 43). It combines many of the top business-oriented databases on ProQuest in a single portal with a slick and intuitive interface. <https://about.proquest.com/en/products-services/ProQuest-One-Business/> Unsub. In an era of transformative open access agreements for libraries and consortia, what would happen if a “big deal” journal contract was reduced or dropped? Our Research has created a powerful analytics tool to help answer that question. By uploading use data, subscription coverage, and resource sharing costs; libraries may analyze the effects of cutting journals in a package to determine the effects on resource sharing as well as the costs for a reduced portfolio of journals.

Our Research began with Elsevier and has been adding other publishers in their analytics tool. Many groups have used this powerful tool to help tailor their subscription packages based on analytics and not just anecdotal assumptions. The service works for individual libraries but also supports a consortial dashboard if a group deal is being analyzed. <https://unsub.org/>

Most Improved Product Google Books Ngram Viewer. For over a decade, Google has been scanning books and other print materials in their Google Books project. To date over 30 million unique titles have been digitized and the project is still growing. With such a huge pile of data, Google has created a free and powerful tool for linguists, researchers, and the interested layperson on how words and phrases have been used over the centuries. The service has been completely redone in the last 2 years with an improved interface and additional underlying documents.

“The Google Books Ngram Viewer is a data mining tool that searches datasets derived from Google Books to generate frequency charts of language usage from the dawn of print until the present time. The available languages are English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian,

Data Planet. This resource provides access to over 13.5 billion data sets with more than 185 billion data points from over 90 providers.

In addition to custom visualizations, the service “provides powerful data analysis tools to manipulate datasets, compare multiple indicators and sources, and derive new statistics.” It was acquired by SAGE Publishing in 2018 who has continued to improve this excellent tool. <https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/dataplanet>

Lean Library. Easy access to digital library resources is key in today’s world. This browser extension allows academic libraries to provide one-click access to library e-resources both on and off campus while also promoting open access resources. The service was begun

by Johan Tilstra and Jan Thij Bakker in 2016 and was acquired in late 2018 by SAGE Publishing. End users may use the free version and there are enhanced versions that may be licensed by a library. <https://www.leanlibrary.com/>

Best Interface Mindscape Commons. Coherent Digital has created a unique immersive tool for VR content relating to the health sciences, counseling, psychology, and social work. As one of the first major products being licensed to libraries using this technology, Coherent Digital has created an excellent resource that engages the student and professional for viewing virtual counseling sessions. The interface works with popular head mounted displays such as Oculus and even smartphones using Google Cardboard. The counseling sessions may also be watched in regular browsers, but the best experience is using 3D virtual reality. <https://mindscapecommons.net/>

Best Content Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has created an excellent aggregation of worldwide research and literature on the Covid-19 virus and the broader pandemic. The database is international in scope with excellent coverage of published literature, preprint articles, grey literature, and other sources. About three quarters of the published articles are Open Access. This may be one of the best overall free resources on this topic serving the world community. <https://www.who.int/emergencies/ diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/global-research-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/>

Article continues on page 55

4 Advisor Introductions / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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ADVISOR INTRODUCTIONS

Charleston Advisor Review Components Title of Product or Resource: The official product name.

Product Description: A narrative description of the product and its content.

References: Citations for other reviews of the product or related materials.

Reviewed by: Name, affiliation and email of the reviewer

User Interface: A detailed examination of the user interface, navigation and searching within the product

Score Box: The composite “score” for each resource is based on four elements—Content, Searchability, Price, and Contract Options.

Original Date of Review: Date of the initial Charleston Advisor review of the product.

Date Last Updated: If the product has been reviewed before this is the date of the latest version Composite Score: The arithmetic composite average of all of the elements in the score box Abstract: An executive summary of the key points of the review Pricing Options: Pricing options available to subscribers.

Critical Evaluation: Examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the product.

Competitive Products: A brief description of other products or services that compete with the product that is being reviewed Contract Provisions: Detailed description of the options and features of the standard contracts offered by the vendor.

Authentication: Description of the authentication and security options available to subscribers.

Contact Information Box: Corporate address, phone, fax, e-mail, and URL. Metadata Box: This box includes elements assigned to each review for creating facets and better searching in the online Choice Charleston Advisor. Included are Free Text Keywords, Primary Category, Secondary Categories, Type of Product being Reviewed, Target Audience, Access (purchasing model) The Charleston Advisor © Copyright 2021

Charleston Advisor Rating Guidelines As a critical evaluation tool for Web-based electronic resources, The Charleston Advisor will use a rating system which will score each product based on four elements: content, searchability, price and contract options/features. A Composite Score averaging these elements will provide an “at a glance” rating which will be prominently displayed near the top of each review.

The rating system will be based on a five-star model (with one star being the lowest and five being the highest). As each of the four elements are rated they should be assigned a ranking with granularity no finer than one-half star (e.g., 3.5 stars). These will then be equally weighted and averaged for an overall Composite Score. It is realized that any ranking system is open to personal opinion and interpretation; however, it is recommended that brief evaluative comments be made following each ranking, especially in cases where a product or service receives less than the highest value in a category.

TCA is meant to be a critical evaluation tool—not just a descriptive review of a product. Our reviewers are tough! They take great care in the ranking section of the review since this will be one of the most visible yet controversial components of TCA. The following brief guidelines will help in understanding the ranking process.

Content Special attention is paid to the intended audience for which the product is targeted—does the product meet the intended user needs? The content should be compared with competitive products in the marketplace and any major omissions or special strengths will be factored into the rating.

Searchability The user interface and search engine are evaluated in terms of meeting the intended purposes. Is the product intuitive and easy-to-use?

Are advanced searching features available if the product warrants it?

Are graphics and other screen design features in keeping with the intent of the product and its audience? Is the search engine reliable and

does it provide consistent results? Are there special features, installation requirements, plug-ins or other special software requirements? If so, is the product easy to use or more of a nuisance?

Price The value of the product in relation to its cost must be assessed. A high price alone does not necessarily mean a low ranking, but the product is evaluated in terms of content, user interface and value added features. However, vendors who resell duplicative content in different “packages,” with enough difference to force libraries into acquiring these different packages, may be marked down. Vendors who are flexible (or inflexible) in their pricing options will be noted.

Contract Options/Features The contract provisions that accompany a service will be viewed in terms of accepted national guidelines (e.g., those adopted by major organizations such as the International Coalition of Library Consortia, Association of Research Libraries, ALA). Factors which might be considered include: definition of acceptable users, archiving provisions (when appropriate), lease/ownership of data, Interlibrary Loan provisions, redistribution of information provisions, or other peculiar or interesting issues.

Composite Score This overall score will be calculated based on an averaging of the above four elements with equal weighting for each element. The Composite Score has been rounded up to the next highest quarter star when necessary (e.g., 3.625 stars).

In the case of Opposing Opinions, an Opposing Composite Score will be calculated, yielding a Combined Composite Score. Not all reviews will have an Opposing Score. n The Charleston Advisor © Copyright 2021

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Arctic Science and Technology Information System doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.5

Date of Review: August 18, 2021

Composite Score: HHHH Reviewed by: Jane C. Duffy MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Abstract ASTIS offers over 83,000 records that provide freely available access to publications, including research and research projects, about Canada’s north. This database is a product of the Arctic Institute of North America at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada which also maintains subsidiary regional, subject, and initiative-based databases.

The subsidiary databases are all housed within and accessible through the main ASTIS database. Examples of the smaller databases include: ArcticNet Publications Database, the Nunavik Bibliography, and the Northern Granular Resources Bibliographic Database. ASTIS offers the ability to browse through its access points, including its own thesauri, thus permitting users to select and use a variety of free-text and controlled search terms.

Pricing Options ASTIS records are openly accessible and are therefore freely searchable to the public.

Product Overview/Description ASTIS is a small, institutionally managed database, which is a product of the Arctic Institute of North America (AINA) at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The AINA also maintains subsidiary regional, subject, and initiative-based databases. A unique information resource, more a repository than a database, ASTIS offers over 83,000 records that provide record-level access to publications, including research and research projects, about Canada’s North. The subsidiary databases are all housed within and accessible through the main ASTIS database. Examples of the smaller databases include: ArcticNet Publications Database, the Nunavik Bibliography, and the Northern Granular Resources Bibliographic Database. While an excellent resource, this database does not provide exhaustive access to literature about Canada’s North. Especially for access to peer reviewed and other scholarly publications, the user would need to turn to GEOSCAN, GEORef, and other broader academic databases such as Science Direct.

The primary purpose of the Arctic Science and Technology Information System is to provide extensive access to records, including grey literature and ephemera, exclusively about all facets of northern Canadian Arctic science and industry information. This includes earth and life sciences, engineering and technology, and mining and environmental sciences. The vast majority of publications within ASTIS date from 1978.

The geographic scope of the ASTIS database covers the Canadian north from the southernmost limit of discontinuous permafrost and their adjacent marine areas including James Bay and Davis Strait and the waters of the Arctic Archipelago. Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories are extensively included, more so than the northern

<duffyj@macewan.ca>

provinces. Some coverage is provided of non-Canadian arctic spaces, but this is minimal.

Of its 83,000 plus records, flagged by the tag “Research Project,” approximately 17,000 are descriptions of research and trade materials that cover all three of Canada’s territories. Research project information covers publications from all major research licensing bodies including Yukon Scientists and Explorers Licenses, Nunavut Research Licenses, the Northern Science Research Database, and the Northwest Territories Wildlife Research Permits.

Many Canadian institutes, agencies, and government bodies have donated their holdings in this subject area to this unique resource: they are publicly unavailable anywhere else. Examples of these donors include the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, TransCanada Pipelines, and the Polar Continental Shelf Project. Growth of ASTIS database depends largely upon continuing sponsorships and donations by these and many other bodies.

The ASTIS database maintains statistics on user log-ons, searches, records viewed, and database opens.

User Interface/Navigation/Searching ASTIS is developed, hosted, and dynamically operated using the MINISIS software. Use of MINISIS facilitates ASTIS’ ability to preserve, manage, and provide access to the materials housed within.

Special features of this package identify file formats for preservation, and, over time, these same settings continuously identify and convert older file formats to newer formats.

ASTIS features cataloguing and search fields that are aligned with both Dublin Core standards and the Open Access Initiative, also allowing the coordination of ASTIS’ holdings with subscribers’ collection management software. It can also function independently as a standalone database.

Simple Search affords direct access hyperlinks via personal and corporate author search terms, geographic terms, subject codes, geographic codes and subject terms. Each of these is hyperlinked and will search the entire database for the word or string entered. The Simple Search interface offers the standard feature that all access points use Boolean AND (see Figure 1). It is also possible to restrict a search by document type (e.g., to research reports, simple citations).

Of particular interest to academic searchers is the ability to search by subject code via a drop-down list. Because ASTIS is highly interdisciplinary, the materials housed within are uniformly catalogued with more than one subject code, and all are accessible through each subject link. Advanced Search offers four additional access points that are particularly helpful for researchers seeking known items (see Figure 2). Also useful to physical geographers and other Canadian Northern specialists is the search by geographic code feature, which allows one to search by more than one area, also through a drop-down

6 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

FIGURE 1 ASTIS Simple Search options

FIGURE 2 ASTIS Advanced Search options

list. Another access point that can be selected from drop down lists are searches by year.

Records are retrieved in batches of 10 at a time, and sorting may be customized in either of two ways, either by descending order of author or year. These records and full-text, where provided, are compatible with printing functions of most Web browsers.

When a search yields a list of hits, the navigation features permit full record display in both English and French, depending on the language entered by the searcher. Direct record-to-user translation and bilingual thesauri, however, are not yet available at this time due to funding constraints.

Critical Evaluation While it is a singular and irreplaceable resource for the specialist Canadian Arctic researcher, ASTIS should not be regarded as a standalone resource for information about this area and its development;it does not yet provide access to all grey publications about Northern Canada, although this is its primary strategic goal. As stated above, larger databases such as GEORef, GEOSCAN, and ScienceDirect remain the go-to sources for academic information about the Canadian Arctic.

ASTIS is funded through independent contracts to produce content; these contractors operate separately, which results in an unevenness

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ASTIS Review Scores Composite: HHHH The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHH

The content of the ASTIS database is unique with records and physical geographic information that the searcher is unlikely to find elsewhere. The absence of full-text for the majority of these records is somewhat of a set-back although seamless access to content is provided through a direct link to the University of Calgary’s efficient document delivery system.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHHH

Keeping in mind that this is a small, highly specialized database, ASTIS is user friendly and accessible to the novice searcher. One major drawback is the unevenness of coverage across different subject areas. Its system of subject codes and geographic codes, however, are an advanced and useful feature.

Pricing: N/A Open Access

Purchase/Contract Options:

N/A

Open Access

in the concentration of content across its subject and geographic areas. However, for the advanced or specialist searcher, the ASTIS systems of alphabetical subject codes and numerical geographic codes are intuitive, retrieval-rich, and highly navigable. While full-text is limited for many records, seamless access to the University of Calgary’s document delivery request processes is built into the database search and retrieval functions.

Purchase & Contract Provisions

Competitive Products

Authentication

Trade and grey literature in the area of Canada’s North are underrepresented in larger science databases such as GEOSCAN and GEORef. While some access to research information about the Canadian North and its development is also available through ScienceDirect, there is a gap in the coverage of specialty government and industry reports in this region. ASTIS fills this gap as a primary resource for Canadian Arctic information. For additional research and data specific to snow and ice, the National Snow and Ice Database, with its broader global scope, would also be a useful supplementary tool to which the searcher may usefully turn. ASTIS, then, is a unique database with no direct competitors, although the above databases covers some peer-reviewed literature and special data sets having to do with Canada’s north. ASTIS’ emphasis is largely upon grey literature including industry and trade reports, government documents and agency briefs.

To protect both internal and external users, the ASTIS database is developed using software that is compatible with all popular and commonly used role-based security features. It also offers a choice of log-on or password-based interfaces. Simple guest log-ins are also facilitated by ASTIS.

Free Text Keywords: Arctic Science and Technology Information System | Canadian Arctic | Northern Studies | Physical Geography | Canadian North | Remote Sensing Primary Category: Science, Technology, Computers, Engineering (including Environment), Mathematics Target Audience: Secondary; General public; Undergraduate (including community colleges); Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access: Open Access (OA); Hybrid (some OA)

Usage and registration of ASTIS is free to subscribing institutions.

ASTIS is funded through government and private sector grants to produce content; these contractors operate separately, independent of each other. As a result, ASTIS is a not-for-profit, Open Access enterprise that has been managed by the University of Calgary since 1978.

It is freely accessible online to the public.

About the Author Jane C. Duffy, BA, MA, MLS, MACT is an academic librarian at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her current professional areas of practice are in mathematics and engineering librarianship, and her research interests are in digital literacy, student evaluations of post-secondary teaching (SETs), and new media communication in STEM. This past spring, Jane completed her Master of Arts in Communications and Technology (MACT) at the University of Alberta. n

Contact Information University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada Arctic Institute of North America Phone: (403) 220-4033 E-mail: <astis@ucalgary.ca> URL: <https://www.aina.ucalgary.ca//astis/>

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Comics Plus doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.8

Date of Review: September 3, 2021

Composite Score: HHHH Reviewed by: Michael J. Hughes Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas

Abstract Comics Plus offers subscribers a digital library of comics, manga, and graphic novels licensed from more than 100 different publishers, including such indie gems as IDW, Boom Studios, Dark Horse, and Kodansha Comics. Its all-access package includes more than 20,000 titles, about 14,000 of which are appropriate for K-12 readers. Granular title control gives admins the power to customize Comics Plus to suit the readers they serve. But some titles aren’t included at all, namely the best-selling books of the industry’s top players. Comics Plus may someday persuade these publishers––Marvel, DC, Image, and VIZ Media––to play ball. Until then, most librarians will need to supplement Comics Plus with other methods of acquisition.

Pricing Options Subscribers are charged one of five price tiers that range from $2,100 to $16,000 depending on audience size and level of access. To obtain a quote, write to <info@librarypass.com>.

Product Overview/Description Comic books once ruled American newsstands. In 1948, sales cleared 60,000,000 copies across 400 different titles. In 1960, Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories sold more than a million copies per issue. But apart from occasional sensations like X-Men #1 (1991), which sold an eye-popping 8.1 million copies amidst a mania for speculation, comic books have long since settled into a hobbyist niche. No longer found in drugstore spinner racks, comic books are now sold by specialty retailers with shibboleth names like Dragon’s Lair and Alien Worlds. Today, it’s unusual for floppies, as they are affectionately known by fans, to sell more than 100,000 copies in a single month.

But if we zoom out, as we must, to account for sales of comics in other formats and through other channels, the news is downright giddy-making. Comics today are read mostly in collected editions known as graphic novels, the pretentious but persistent name for a category that spans the hierarchies of taste and genre, from superhero yarns to literary fictions like Ebony Flowers’s Hot Comb and Kevin Huizenga’s The River at Night. In 2020, the graphic novel had its best year ever, benefiting from a need for escape (about which need I say more?) and spillover interest from an ongoing anime boom.

Publishers Weekly reports that 16.2 million graphic novels were sold last year, good enough to make them “the second-largest adult fiction subcategory.” Of the top ten bestsellers, seven were manga, and five of those seven were volumes of My Hero Academia, a nonsense known to every teen librarian in the country.

And that’s the point, really: the interest that librarians bring to the medium and vice versa. Strong sales are of obvious welcome to publishers and their partners in retail, but libraries, too, are major buyers of comics. We may be some distance from the dominance of what David

<mhughes@trinity.edu>

Hajdu dubbed the ten-cent plague, but we’ve also left behind the bad old elements of that era, including librarians who joined in the effort to suppress and censor comic books. Librarians today aren’t just eager to press comics into their hands of their patrons, they’re avid readers of the stuff (the author being no exception). Such popularity is a recipe for regular replacement. Cheaply produced, graphic novels quickly yield to the various indignities that all library materials face.

And many series run to volumes in the double digits, a major problem for flat or reduced resource budgets. Consider the aforementioned My Hero Academia, now on its thirty-first volume. Unlike a soap opera’s essential ephemerality, manga accretes, and concatenates. Importunate fans, desperate to know what happens next, gather outside library branches like the apocryphal readers of Dickens’s serial novel The Old Curiosity Shop, who were said to have “thronged the New York docks, greeting a ship arriving from England” to learn the fate of sickly Little Nell. Fresh installments must be purchased and processed at great cost––and then repurchased when the volumes are returned in too sorry a state even to be sold at the Friends of the Library yard sale.

Enter Comics Plus, which aims to solve, or at least mitigate, the woes of comics management. Plus offers subscribers a digital library of more than 20,000 comics, graphic novels, and manga. It maintains no waiting lists, and its titles can be read an unlimited number of times by many users simultaneously. And its holdings are indeed vast. But deep though it may be, and despite the generosity of its terms, the contents of Comics Plus all but ensure that it will be supplementary for most subscribers, not a solution unto itself.

User Interface & Navigation Comics Pass counts school, public, and academic libraries among its customers, but the first two are its target market if the interface is any indication. Visitors to the site are greeted by carousels of featured comics, most of which are intended for children or young adults.

Which isn’t to say that Comics Plus contains no works for mature readers, only that the site, for understandable reasons, does not flaunt the access it provides to, say, Heavy Metal, the long-running magazine of softcore space opera. Comics Plus sorts comics into four age tiers: kids and children; teen; young adult; and adult. Adult comics constitute about 30% of the library at time of writing.

Indecisive readers will find many avenues into the Comics Plus library (see Figure 1). Themed collections fill its front page, some conventional (Spooky Reads, Historical Fiction), others out of left field (Graphic Medicine, For When You Feel Alone). Readers can also browse by popularity, recency, genre, or publisher. The last two are especially valuable for discovery: the latter because publishers assiduously cultivate brand identity, strengthening their association with certain kinds of content; the former because Comics Plus is admirably granular in its sorting. Major genres are all on offer, but you’ll also find particular kinds of manga––josei, shoujo, and yaoi––and subgenres catering to nerds and weirdos of every stripe. Being both a

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FIGURE 1 Comics Plus Library with categories

FIGURE 2 Reading a comic via Comics Plus

nerd and a weirdo myself, I use these terms with the greatest respect and admiration.

There’s a search field, of course, allowing readers to find known titles, and item records give each book’s essential details, its author(s), publisher, language, genre, age rating, and a 100-word summary. But it’s not clear that search terms are matched against all of this content.

My key words mostly matched titles, and occasionally turned up peculiar results. Searching “Christian,” for example, produced no books about Christianity, but did retrieve several issues of Crackdown, an adaptation of an Xbox game (and not because “unholy” appears in the plot summary, presumably). I fared better by searching “Christianity,” which matched Kingstone Comics’ 101 Questions About the Bible and Christianity. Librarians who rely on subject headings for research or reader’s advisory are restricted, at least for the moment, to the top-level categories that Comics Plus provides.

Reading on the platform is straightforward. Select a title, then click Read Now, indicated by the universal symbol for play. Doing so launches the Comics Plus reading interface, an unobtrusive frame

that keeps readers fixed on the panels in front of them (see Figure 2).

Clicking anywhere on the page will summon an overlay with zoom tools, a progress indicator, and thumbnails of the book’s pages laid end to end, allowing readers to jump forward or backward. There are no share options, no bookmarking or annotation tools. The interface is mercifully free of such clutter. The sole exception is an option to display one or two pages at a time, a welcome addition but one that can inadvertently squash pages together if images bleed beyond the trim edge.

There are few other reading options. Books in progress are automatically added to a reader’s bookshelf, and a progress bar appears at the bottom of each title, indicating how much remains to be read. But this asceticism seems downright virtuous given the way websites now besiege readers with pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, minders, pleas, notices, and embedded videos, each of which helpfully plays itself without so much as a by-your-leave. But Comics Plus’s competitors have a few bells and whistles to distinguish them. Hoopla in particular has two ideas worth cribbing. Its reading pane dynamically expands to

10 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

display splash pages (widescreen images filling two full pages), a feature called action view. And Hoopla’s pointer functions like a magnifying glass, giving readers fluid control over image enhancement.

This is especially helpful for artists in training who wish to observe the finer details of a master’s work, or for readers who enjoy luxuriating in filigree.

library pays whether I read the book or not, thanks to Hoopla’s costper-checkout business model. These aren’t issues for Comics Plus subscribers, each of whom enjoys unlimited, simultaneous access to all titles in its library. This makes Plus ideal for community reads or classroom instruction, all participants being able to read the same book at the same time.

Fans of Comixology’s Guided View, which “cinematically shift[s] from panel-to-panel at your own pace,” will miss that feature when reading on Comics Plus. But I hazard to guess that only smartphone readers will be disappointed by the lack. It’s useful to break comics into their constituents when reading on a surface six inches wide, but I never enjoyed having my attention so forcibly directed. The magic of comics inheres precisely in the way that meaning is created when the eye travels across the gutter separating two images, “transform[ing] them,” per comics sage Scott McCloud, “into a single idea.” Better that readers exercise these fundamentals of comic book literacy.

What’s more, the novelty of the Comics Plus catalog may be an asset in its favor. Movie studios once counterprogrammed blockbusters by opening smaller, tonally opposite pictures against them. Comics Plus likewise benefits from original stories untrammeled by the commercial dictates of corporate characters. Batman stories must conform to a strict set of parameters handed down by his owner. Not so with the independent works favored by publishers like Boom! (Lumberjanes) and Dark Horse (Hellboy, Usagi Yojimbo), both of which are major Plus partners. In fact, the five biggest contributors to Comics Plus, in descending order, are Dynamite Entertainment (3,626 titles); IDW (2,056); Archie Comics (1,942); Boom! Studios (1,344); and Dark Horse (1,341). Taken together, these publishers license 10,309 books to Comics Plus, about half of the platform’s total contents. Yes, there are oodles of licensed characters here, from My Little Pony to the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and Xena, Zorro, and G.I. Joe. But the greatest rewards will redound to those readers who venture off the beaten path. For them, Comics Plus may be the passport that grants entrée to universes other than those governed by Marvel and DC. But some readers will need to train under Batman just the same. I did, once upon a time.

Critical Evaluation Content is king, as Bill Gates once wrote, and his dictum applies no less to Comics Plus than it did to the internet startups he described in 1996. Comics Plus has gobs of content, to be sure, more than 20,000 books in its full collection, some of them perennials like Bone, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. But CP’s armoire is missing a few articles, viz. certain capes and cowls and knee-high boots. Readers can blunder down blind alleys and never find Batman.

Nor will they hang with Spider-Man or shamble with the Walking Dead. That’s because their publishers––DC, Marvel, and Image respectively––are not among Comics Plus’s 100+ partners. The same goes for VIZ Media, the biggest publisher of manga in the United States. Moreover, many books from these publishers can be found on Hoopla and Libby, Comics Plus’s primary competitors. This means Plus is more likely to supplement than supersede your current method of buying comics. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. It’s a reality familiar to e-resource specialists, and increasingly to ordinary subscribers of streaming services, each of which seeks competitive advantage by locking up hot properties. The situation is little different for Comics Plus. Each title being something of a monopoly unto itself––Chainsaw Man is Chainsaw Man, accept no substitutes––most subscribers will have to stick with whatever licensing-and-purchasing mix their budgets will allow. Even those publishers who partner with Comics Plus, like manga giants Tokyopop and Kodansha, will sometimes embargo best-selling titles so as not to lose out on potential sales. Kodansha’s Quintessential Quintuplets (Go-Tobun no Hanayome) was the sixth best-selling manga last year, but it can’t yet be found on Comics Plus (or Hoopla and Libby, for that matter).

What it lacks in comprehensiveness, Comics Plus makes up in ease of use and freedom of access. Say I want to borrow Grant Morrison’s and Andy Kubert’s Batman and Son from Hoopla. I have 21 days to finish the book before it’s automatically returned. And my

Contact Information

Purchase & Contract Provisions Just about everything a would-be subscriber needs to know can be found on Comics Plus’s website. Famished for legal language? Scroll to the bottom of the homepage and feast upon a cornucopia of terms and conditions and policies on everything from privacy to DMCA compliance. Libraries that require formal contracts are encouraged to send a standard vendor agreement, but Comics Plus requires only that clients provide their billing details and method of authentication.

Authentication Comics Plus offers five authentication methods, each of which is rated by ease of use and strength of security. Details on each method can be found at <https://support.librarypass.com/portal/en/kb/articles/library-authentication-options>.

Author’s References Comics by comiXology.” Comixology, last accessed August 19, 2021. <https://www.comixology.com/new-to-comixology> Furman, Bess. “Comics Debated as Good or Evil.” New York Times, October 30, 1948. <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/10/30/87482163.html?pageNumber=12>

Free Text Keywords: digital comics | graphic novels | manga

LibraryPass

Primary Category:Language and Literature

5114 Balcones Woods Drive, Ste. 307-311 Austin, Texas 78759 E-mail: <info@librarypass.com> Producer URL: <https://librarypass.com> Product URL: <https://comicsplusapp.com>

Type of product being reviewed: App for mobile devices; Ebook collection Target Audience: Secondary; General public Access: Subscription

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Comics Plus Review Scores Composite: HHHH The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHH 1/2

Comics Plus has a vast library featuring faces both familiar and fresh. But books from the biggest names in comics aren’t included, and some readers will regret the lack.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHH 1/2

A no-frills interface keeps reader attention on the page where it belongs. Behind the scenes, Comics Plus would benefit from greater indexing, especially as its library continues to grow.

Pricing:

HHHHH

Tiered pricing makes Comics Plus affordable for libraries of all sizes. And because the platform offers truly unlimited access, subscribers will never experience the invoice shock of pay-per-view pricing.

Purchase/Contract Options:

N/A

Standard stuff, thus nothing to score. Nevertheless, caveat lector!

Glatt, Carra. “When Found, Make a Note of: Tracing the Source of a Dickensian Legend.” Nineteenth Century Studies 28 (2014): 57–71.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993, p. 66 Milliot, Jim. “Print Book Sales Soar in Year’s First Half.” Publishers Weekly, July 9, 2021. <https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/ by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/86863-print-book-salessoar-in-year-s-first-half.html> Miller, John Jackson. “Comic Book Sales Figures for 1960.” Comichron, last modified July 18, 2021. <https://www.comichron.com/ yearlycomicssales/postaldata/1960.html>

Shonen Jump News – Unofficial (@WSJ_manga). “Oricon's Yearly Sales Ranking 2020 - Top 50.” Twitter, February 17, 2021. <https:// twitter.com/WSJ_manga/status/1362048410568843270/photo/1>

About the Author Michael Hughes is an instruction librarian and associate professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. His has written for First Monday, the San Antonio Express-News, Portal: Libraries and the Academy, the Charleston Adviser, and VGMO: Video Game Music Online. He is currently researching depictions of the Falklands War in video games. n

12 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021 www.charlestonco.com

ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Gale Literature Criticism Date of Review: August 15, 2021

doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.12

Composite Score: HHH 5/8 Reviewed by: Stacy Magedanz <magedanz@csusb.edu> John M. Pfau Library, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California

Abstract Gale Literature Criticism provides a (potentially) wide selection of literature criticism articles and original interpretive materials appropriate for undergraduates. Its interface is generally friendly and easy to use, but libraries heavily invested in existing Gale content may find the lack of cross-product search integration to be a problem.

a sort of early, low-tech version of services that would later become familiar in full text aggregated databases. Over time these criticism series, along with author-focused series such as the Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) and Something About the Author (SATA) migrated to digital formats, and their content still forms the basis of several literature-focused products from Gale.

The following series, comprising more than 2,400 e-book volumes, are offered via the Gale Literature Criticism platform:

Pricing Options Gale Literature Criticism is available for one-time purchase and standing order by backfile, series, topic, or volume for academic and public libraries. Academic library pricing is based on FTE. Pricing for smaller academic libraries starts at $522 for an annual subscription based on series. For perpetual access ownership for an annual series, pricing starts at $2,795 for smaller academic libraries. Discounts are offered on purchases of multiple series or subscriptions.

Product Overview/Description Anyone who has worked in the library field for very long will recognize Gale’s many literature-focused reference sources. In pre-Internet days (yes, when dinosaur librarians roamed the earth), Gale’s several multivolume literature criticism series filled many an undergraduate library shelf. Each series focused on literature of a specific time period or type. With their collations of previously published articles, accompanied by original overview essays, the print volumes formed

FIGURE 1 Gale Literature Criticism Home Page

■

Children’s Literature Review

■

Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism

■

Contemporary Literary Criticism

■

Drama Criticism

■

Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800

■

Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism

■

Poetry Criticism

■

Shakespearean Criticism

■

Short-Story Criticism

■

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism

New volumes in each series continue to be published. It is worth noting here that DLB and SATA are not offered as part of Gale Literature Criticism; they use separate search interfaces.

Gale Literature Criticism (GLC) is distinct from, but related to, Gale Literature Resource Center (LRC); see further discussion below.

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FIGURE 2 Gale Literature Criticism Search Options

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FIGURE 3 Gale Literature Criticism What’s Inside Details

FIGURE 4 Gale Literature Criticism Integrated Online Viewer

User Interface/Navigation/Searching The main page of GLC features a tiled selection of frequently studied topics, works, and authors, adding visual interest (see Figure 1). Each links to gateway page that offers the first portion of an Overview essay. Clicking a Read More button takes the use to the full essay; these overviews are taken from various volumes in the ten series, where they served as introductions to the selections of reprinted critical articles. Related topics also appear on the gateway page, and below them, a Featured Criticisms section, which pulls relevant critical articles from some volume in the ten series offered.

The simple search, at the top of every page, will suggest terms and offer any matching topics at the top. The simple search results page is identical to that in LRC, dividing results into categories such as Literature Criticism and Topic & Work Overviews, although with fewer types of material than LRC offers (see Figure 2).

Browse Topics attempts to duplicate the experience of browsing the index of the print volumes. The browse lists for Works and Authors are oddly short, considering the wealth of material covered in GLC; perhaps these are only the essays that have been pulled out to be presented as Overviews.

What’s Inside allows the user to browse by series and volume number (see Figure 3).

The full text content of GLC is presented as a digital image of the physical book page, within its own integrated online viewer. An option to display the plain text or OCR version appears in the viewer.

(For comparison, that same content appearing in LRC will be in html format only.) A menu at the left of the viewer allows easy navigation through the various sections of the topic currently in the viewer, as well as the full table of contents of the volume (see Figure 4).

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FIGURE 5 Gale Literature Criticism Featured Criticisms Feature

Any page with Get Link option is stable and can be used in online course systems, for example. The Download option produces a PDF file of the digital page images, either for the section currently being viewed or for the current page only. The Send To option sends only a citation and link rather than the full text, but the link contains code specific to your institution. At least in our case, this resulted in the link being correctly proxied, which is often a problem.

Critical Evaluation Historically, Gale has done an excellent job of repackaging its content in as many different forms as possible, and its literature criticism series are no exception. Content from these series is spread across multiple, largely similar search portals: ■

■

■

Gale Literature Resource Center (LRC): partial content from Gale lit crit series plus full text journal articles Gale Literature Criticism (GLC): interface for e-book versions of the ten Gale lit crit series Gale Literature: cross-search for a variety of Gale literature-themed products, including LRC, GLC, as well as DLB, SATA, and Gale e-books

LRC, Gale’s flagship subscription-based literature database, generally includes about 30% of each series, except for Contemporary Literary Criticism, which is covered 100% in LRC. Some content from DLB and SATA will appear in the Biographies section of LRC search results. LRC also covers full text from about 400 periodicals.

The result is that the fragmentation of content across multiple portals poses a significant issue. If, as is true of my institution, you have access to LRC, multiple GLC series, plus DLB and SATA, there is only one place you can send your users to search all of them, namely Gale Literature. Unfortunately, the Gale Literature interface lacks the visual interest and topic overviews of the other platforms, although improving the interface is reportedly on the product development roadmap.

Even considering GLC apart from the other portals, the user’s experience will still depend primarily upon the selection of content your library has provided within it, which could be topic-based or series-based, one series or many, one volume or many.

The effect is minimal if you rely on the search box (as most students probably do), where users will see only results actually available to them. Of course, if your institution has only, say, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism and your user is looking for a contemporary author, they will come away disappointed.

In the Browse Topics section and in the Popular highlights on the main page, users will see all topics/authors/works from the various series, whether or not you subscribe to the actual content represented. On the topic gateway pages, the Overviews (i.e., Read More) are always available, regardless of whether you bought or subscribe to the volume where that overview essay originally appeared. The Fea-

tured Criticisms may or not be part of your institutional package. If you don’t have access to them, a message on-screen will inform users and direct them to any matching results that are available in GLC (see Figure 5).

This situation makes GLC extremely difficult to evaluate because it isn’t a single product. The interface is generally clear and user-friendly, as well as consistent with other Gale literature products. The Overviews are unique content; they are typically both concise and informative. But GLC’s utility will largely depend on the content set you offer and your local users’ needs. Libraries not historically invested in the various Gale print series will want to consider whether a product with a broader focus, like LRC, is a better use of their funds than a series or topic-focused package on GLC. It is also disappointing that there are not better opportunities for integrated searching across the massive conglomeration of Gale’s literature-related content. One hopes that Gale will develop its products toward great integration in future.

Competitive Products ProQuest Literature Online (LION) <https://about.proquest.com/en/ products-services/literature_online/> Strictly speaking, there is no product like Gale Literature Criticism since the e-book series it offers are unique to Gale. However, ProQuest LION is certainly a competitor for the constellation of Gale literature-related products. Like GLC and LRC, LION combines full text journal articles with reference materials to contextualize authors and works. In addition, it includes some primary source content in the form of poetry, prose, and drama texts, which GLC and LRC do not.

MLA International Bibliography with Full Text <https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/mla-international-bibliography-full-text> The MLA’s index has much greater depth of coverage than GLC, including linguistics and language disciplines as well as literature criticism. MLA also indexes a greater variety of material, including dissertations, full monographs, and collections of essays, making it more suited graduate-level, in-depth research. The addition of full text journal articles from EBSCOhost’s collections offers some similarity to

Contact Information Gale Cengage 27500 Drake Road Farmington Hills, MI 48331 Phone: (800) 877-4253 E-mail: <gale.customerservice@cengage.com> Producer URL: <www.gale.com> Product URL: <https://www.gale.com/databases/literaturecriticism>

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Gale Literature Criticism Review Scores Composite: HHH 5/8 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHH 1/2

The potential pool of content offered, both original and reprinted, is excellent; the issue lies in what pool of content you end up with.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHH

The interface itself is user friendly, but fragmentation of similar content across different search portals complicates searching.

Pricing:

HHHH

Reasonable for this type of material, with flexible options.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHHH

Multiple options for purchasing or subscription are available, including standing orders for series or topic-based subscription packages.

GLC/LRC, but MLA does not provide any reference materials or contextual overviews.

Literary Reference Center Plus <https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/literary-reference-center-plus> Literary Reference Center offers an expansive array of literature-related reference materials, contextual introductions, and full-text primary sources, along with some full text journal articles of literature criticism.

Purchase & Contract Provisions Gale Literature Criticism is available for one-time purchase and standing order by backfile, series, topic, or volume for academic and public libraries. Academic library pricing is based on FTE. Pricing

for smaller academic libraries starts at $522 for an annual subscription based on series. For perpetual access ownership for an annual series, pricing starts at $2,795 for smaller academic libraries. Discounts are offered on purchases of multiple series or subscriptions. The series that make up GLC are also available in print. A VPAT is available for Gale Literary Sources, which includes GLC, although an updated VPAT is reportedly in the works and should be ready in Fall 2021.

Authentication Authentication is available via IP, password, library-managed, cookie, barcode, referring URL, library-managed passwords, Microsoft Office 365, Google, Shibboleth, and Athens support. The platform is EZproxy-compatible.

Author’s References Free Text Keywords: literary criticism | children’s literature | classical and medieval criticism | contemporary literature criticism | drama criticism | poetry criticism Primary Category: Language and Literature Secondary Categories: Music, Theater, Film Studies Type of product being reviewed: Ebook collection Target Audience: Undergraduate (including community colleges) Access: One-time purchase; Subscription

Rogers, Michael. 2007. “Gale Debuts Literature Criticism Online.”

Library Journal 132 (17): 21. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=27182156&site=ehost-live>

About the Author Stacy Magedanz is Coordinator for Electronic Resources and Serials at California State University San Bernardino and manager of CSUSB’s institutional repository. She has served several terms on the CSU system’s central electronic resources committee, which reviews online resources for the CSU libraries. She holds a master’s degree in English, with an emphasis in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. n

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Medical Services and Warfare, Module II Date of Review: September 10, 2021

doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.16

Composite Score: HHHH Reviewed by: Michael DeNotto Hope College, Holland, Michigan

Abstract Medical Services and Warfare (MSW) is a unique, interdisciplinary, and primary source-focused resource from Adam Matthew Digital that can support disciplines across academia including historical research, military history, gender studies, public health, nursing history, interdisciplinary studies, disability and disease studies, and any programs that look at the progress and advancement of medicine and medical technology. MSW offers collections of high quality materials that include government documents, correspondence, digitized books and periodicals, maps, images, historical objects, scientific notebooks, oral histories, ephemera, videos, contextualizing essays, and the handwritten text searchable papers of Florence Nightingale and Alexander Fleming. MSW and its two modules cover North American and European conflicts between 1850-1949, allowing the user to view military conflicts as a lens through which to examine medical technology and advancement.

Pricing Adam Matthew Digital’s (AMD) Medical Services and Warfare (MSW) is available via AMD’s standard licence agreement, which is for perpetual access, and a Draft Licence Agreement is readily and freely available on the AMD website. An annual hosting fee exists, and this fee is typically calculated at 0.5% of the net purchase price.

Overall pricing is determined by a number of different factors that may reflect the size of the potential user-group. These determining factors may include, but are not limited to, Carnegie Classification and full-time enrollment (FTE).

Overview Adam Matthew Digital’s primary source database Medical Services and Warfare is focused on providing users with primary source material that allow researchers to study war and military conflict as a lens through which to view the advancement of the medical field and its technology, techniques, and medicine. MSW has an intended audience that is academic or upper level research.

MSW is made up of two different modules. This reviewer had access to the items in Module II only. Module I covers the time period of 1850-1927 and conflicts like World War I, the Crimean War, and the American Civil War, while Module II covers the time period of 1928-1949, and begins with the discovery and development of penicillin while also including World War II and the post-war aftermath.

The material provided in MSW seems particularly relevant in the contemporary world; the study of disease and disability are burgeoning and important academic fields, alongside the study of trauma and its effects on mental health. Finally, the development of medical technology (particularly vaccines and their development, distribution, and management) is of contemporary importance.

<denotto@hope.edu>

The institutions that sourced material for MSW include the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Archives, the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, the United States National Library of Medicine, the University of Leeds, and the Library and Archive of Canada. Furthermore, AMD has assembled an editorial board made up of researchers and scholars that are based in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, and the United States.

Some collection highlights from Module I include the Douglas C. McMurtrie collection of printed works on disability and rehabilitation, papers from the Canadian Department of National Health relating to the 1918 flu epidemic, family correspondence from Civil War nurses and soldiers of both armies, and the Florence Nightingale Papers at the British Library available with full-text searchable with handwritten text recognition (HTR) technology.

Module II contains collections like the Stanhope Bayne-Jones collection which contains material on the US Typhus Commission and the Armed Forces Epidemiology Board, World War II footage on the use of penicillin and blood transfusion technology, personal correspondence of British and American Military Medical personnel, and the Alexander Fleming collection which is full-text searchable with the aforementioned HTR technology. Finally, both Modules contain images of prostheses, surgical equipment, and uniforms, as well as contextualizing essays on medical related topics.

No special software is required to use this product, and MSW works with Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer 10 and 11, and the most recent releases of Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome.

User Interface MSW opens to a simple but visually appealing front page (see Figure 1). A slideshow of historical images from the collections rotates through, while a general search bar sits below it. To the right of the search bar is a Quick Links section which includes links to webpages for Selection Criteria, Handwritten Text Recognition, The Nightingale Papers, The Fleming Papers, and Search Directories. A banner adorns the top of the front page with menu options, and remains persistent throughout navigation of the resource and its individual pages.

The banner includes a collapsed menu button, and next to it are general links to sections of MSW. Additionally, there is an option for an Advanced Search as well as navigation via Search Directories (see Figure 2). Persistent links and clear navigation language is very useful here, and there are also accessibility options for High Contrast or Large Text.

The Introduction section of MSW is fairly standard, but the Documents section provides some interesting options (see Figure 3). One can browse documents utilizing facets that can be limited by Conflict, Document Type, Library/Archive, and Module. Furthermore, there is an option to simply view All Documents as a list, or one can view

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FIGURE 1 Front Page of Medical Services and Warfare Site

FIGURE 2 Medical Services and Warfare Site Advanced Search Options

them thematically. When one clicks on these topic groupings, the following page starts with an introductory short essay that provides some informational and historical context, while also providing links that might be useful to items within the collection. After the short essay, there is the listing of documents and options to filter. Once a document is selected, the user is presented with some nicely linked metadata, as well as options to search, download, or add the document to an individual’s AMD My Archive.

The Explore section of MSW provides the user the option to explore the resource by Medical Developments, Biographies, Essays, Search Directories, and External Links. The Medical Developments page provides some short essays that provide historical context while also

providing links to specific documents within MSW (see Figure 4).

Medical developments listed include anaesthesia, antibiotics, Carrel-Dakin Treatment, prostheses, triage, vaccinations, and more. The Biographies section provides some short, paragraph-long biographical sketches of key figures. The essays are included to provide contextual material and information relating to specific collections in MSW, and they are all written by members of the Editorial Board. Each essay is in-depth with robust endnotes, including active links to resources within MSW, while outside sources are unlinked bibliographic entries. As for the External Links section, almost every outside link is to a publicly accessible website or resource, however, one of the links leads to an article that was not available without a subscription from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

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FIGURE 3 Medical Services and Warfare Documents Page

FIGURE 4 Medical Services and Warfare Explore Medical Developments Page

The Audio Visual section is fairly standard with its options being Visual Highlights, Object Gallery, Film, and Oral Histories. The films do not allow one to make clips or download the films, however one can make clips of the oral histories and download the transcript as a PDF. Finally, the Research Tools section provides some unique opportunities for research. The Wounded in Action section provides the user

with an understanding of what one was likely to experience upon being wounded in a specific conflict. One learns the typical types of injuries one would receive in a specific conflict, and then aspects relating to likely transport, treatment, and recovery are detailed. The other two Research Tools that are listed are the highlights of MSW. They are the papers of Florence Nightingale and Alexander Fleming. All of their papers are searchable via Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR).

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FIGURE 5 Medical Services and Warfare HTR Search Results for “agar”

FIGURE 6 Medical Services and Warfare Search Results for “neuroses”

Known item searching was successful, and browsing was straightforward and useful for exploring topics. Additionally, searching via HTR was highly successful (see Figures 5 and 6).

Accessibility Statements are provided by Adam Matthew Digital, and the specifics of the statements are based upon their different tiers of products. Medical Services and Warfare falls under the AMD tier of

White Label Collections, and its accompanying Accessibility Statement reveals what users can expect with regard to accessibility and AMD’s White Label products. AMD states that users should be able to alter the color, contrast, and fonts. Additionally, users can view content with options for high-contrast mode as well as the ability to zoom to up to 300 percent without negatively impacting readability.

Navigation via keyboard or speech recognition should be possible,

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and users can also listen to most of the website with a screen reader.

However, some parts of the MSW product are not fully accessible, particularly the Surviving the Civil War, the Florence Nightingale Papers, and the Alexander Fleming Collection portions, as they are created by a third party.

One of these documents is a Sample Licence Agreement. The Sample Licence Agreement and the other supplemental documents made available by AMD detail some major contract provisions relating to archiving, institutional user limitations, redistribution, COUNTER use statistics, and MARC record availability.

There are two voluntary product accessibility templates (VPAT) available that relate to the MSW product. One is available via the FAQs section of the MSW product, while the other is a broader VPAT for the aforementioned AMD White Label tier of products. The VPAT that is specific to MSW dates back to 2017 (and MSW, Module I), while the broader White Label VPAT is dated January of 2020. The 2017 VPAT shows that MSW either “supports” or “partially supports” every aspect relating to the VPAT criteria sections 1194.22 (Web-Based Internet Information and Applications), 1194.31 (Functional Performance Criteria), and 1194.41 (Information, Documentation and Support). There is no new information specifically related to MSW in the 2020 VPAT for general White Label AMD products. The site is only partially compliant with WCAG version 2.1 AA. This is based on the audit that AMD did in June 2020 for sections of three different White Label products, which revealed some issues relating to the WCAG guidelines of Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.

The specifics are covered in the AMD Accessibility Statement, and they range from alternative missing text, inadequate or unnecessary descriptions, some minor issues with certain screens and optimization, drop-down menus, and more. AMD states that it plans to regularly audit and fix these issues between now and 2024.

AMD utilizes the digital preservation services of Portico, which is an offshoot of the digital technologies non-profit organization ITHAKA, to ensure permanent archival access in case of AMD going out of business, AMD no longer providing access or publishing, back-list titles no longer being available, and lastly in case of long term technical difficulties (90 days) or business interruption via bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership or failure (see Figures 7 and 8).

Critical Evaluation Medical Services and Warfare is a high quality resource, and is available via perpetual access with a small annual hosting fee, that provides access to a deep trove of uncommon primary source materials.

There are minor accessibility issues, but they have been acknowledged and detailed alongside a delineated plan for improvement.

Navigation throughout the resource is easy, and searching was effective, including the Handwritten Text Recognition search which was nearly flawless. The supplemental essays, variety of resource formats included, and the many options that facilitate exploration of topics are all strong components of this resource. All in all, this is a unique resource that can support researchers and students across a variety of disciplines, but it remains somewhat of a niche product that will appeal to certain libraries and humanities programs, but may not be necessary for others.

Competitive Products The Medical Services and Warfare product is unique. There are not any truly direct competitive products available elsewhere. There are certainly broader collections that encompass the time periods that are also covered in MSW. Further, there are products that cover specific wars throughout the globe that are also discussed in MSW. Perhaps the closest competition is Gale’s Public Health Archives. However, there are no other products that specifically use the context of war as a way to examine the history and development of the field of medicine. That use of war as a lens for the field of medicine is what makes MSW so unique.

Purchase Contract On the Adam Matthew Digital website, the webpage for Medical Services and Warfare includes a number of supplemental documents.

Not less than 60 days before the end of the contract, a licensee institution may request a copy of the entire set of metadata to be kept as an Archival Copy, with which the licensee may use such metadata for a locally hosted version, provided that no images are modified, and the use of the local copies complies with the original contractual agreement. Currently, MARC records for the MSW are freely available on the AMD website, and the records were last updated in October of 2020 for Module II. AMD does provide MARC records for discovery services, though the provided MARC records do not contain OCLC numbers, but if contacted AMD will provide them.

The institutional user is defined in the document in fairly standard terms, allowing full and part time students, as well as students enrolled in affiliated or sponsored distance education programs are included, as are employees. Access is contractually allowed to patrons that are physically present via walk-in to the premises, and off-campus access is allowed based on the licensee institution’s definition of individuals that are authenticated as affiliated members of aforementioned institution.

Redistribution and usage of the MSW licensed materials are explicitly for use in research, education, teaching, or other non-commercial use. And, this use includes downloading unlimited portions of the Licensed Materials, the ability to store electronic data or print reasonable portions of the material for use in connection to specific courses offered by the licensee institution, as well as the ability to send limited amounts (no more than 5% of total collection of licensed materials) in hard or electronic copy of Licensed Materials is allowed for personal, scholarly, educational, or research use. Course-packs are al-

Free Text Keywords: disease | illness | medicine | medical | war | warfare | military conflict | disability | nursing | antibiotics | trauma rehabilitation | mental health | vaccines | humanitarian relief | plastic surgery | sanitation | healthcare Primary Category: Medicine, Nursing & Health Secondary Categories: Government Information; History & Area Studies; Multidisciplinary (or interdisciplinary); Science, Technology, Computers, Engineering (including Environment); Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology Target Audience: Undergraduate, Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access Type(s): Subscription Review Type(s): Image database, Primary source digital content, Publisher or Organization content/repository

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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FIGURE 7 Bibliographic Record for an Archival Photograph of Blood Storage Shipment

FIGURE 8 Archival Closeup Photograph of Blood Storage Container

lowed to be distributed to students at the licensee institution for classroom use free of charge. However, saving video content is excluded from downloading, storing, printing, and transmitting.

Data and text mining are allowed but are subject to AMD’s prior written consent and the requirement that such activities not hinder AMD’s servers. Furthermore, when text or data mining consent has occurred,

AMD will provide the requestor with XML formatted document level metadata and a full text data set, when possible. This data set is then considered confidential and can only be used under the terms of the license with no third-party access.

AMD is listed on the COUNTER website as an “audited entity” that is compliant with the “COUNTER Code of Practice 5,” the most re-

22 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

Medical Service and Warfare, Module II Review Scores Composite: HHHH The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHH

A multidisciplinary unique resource that stands out from the crowd with no real competitors, yet remains somewhat niche.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHHH

A clean layout with fairly simple but varied browsing and exploration options. Searchability worked very well.

Pricing: N/A Exact pricing details were unavailable, other than it will be based on FTE/Carnegie Classification.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHHH

Perpetual access with a small hosting fee is the only purchasing option.

cent version and has been effective since January 2019. The COUNTER website indicates that AMD was last audited in February 2019, and it passed that audit in June of 2019. AMD’s next COUNTER audit is listed as being due in February of 2021, though it is unclear if such an audit has actually occurred yet. AMD is happy to provide customers access to a detailed COUNTER report when requested.

Authentication Medical Services and Warfare allows access and authentication through IP authorization, though customers can certainly use Shibboleth, OpenAthens, and others of that ilk.

Author’s References “Medical Services and Warfare.” Adam Matthew Digital, 2021. <https://www.amdigital.co.uk/primary-sources/medical-services-and-warfare>

About the Author Michael DeNotto lives in Grand Rapids, MI. He is the Humanities Librarian at Hope College, a selective liberal arts institution. He

Contact Information Adam Matthew Digital Pelham House, Pelhams Court, London Road Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2AG, UK Phone: +44 (0)1672 511921 (UK) E-mail: <info@amdigital.co.uk> Producer URL: <https://www.amdigital.co.uk/> Product URL: <https://www.medicalservicesandwarfare. amdigital.co.uk/>

teaches a first-year seminar course that uses soccer as a lens to examine global issues, and he has published articles on wine, graffiti, radio history and QSL cards, folkloric traditions, disease and disability, and representations of librarians and academia in popular culture.

He loves to explore and go hiking, play and watch soccer, and read speculative fiction. n

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Pivot-RP Date of Review: August 17, 2021

doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.23

Composite Score: HHHH 1/4 Reviewed by: Ellie Dworak, née Laura Suzanne Hudson Albertsons Library, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho

Abstract Pivot-RP is a source of research funding opportunities, facilitating research collaborations, and offering insight into the funding landscape as well as internal benchmarks. Pivot-RP addresses the needs of researchers and research development professionals alike.

Pricing Options Pivot-RP subscriptions start at $8,000 per year. Subscriptions cover all affiliated users at an institution, including faculty, staff, and students. Ex Libris’ pricing model for Pivot-RP is based on a combination of FTE, number of researchers, and research income level. Discount pricing may be available for multi-institution subscriptions.

Contact Ex Libris for more information and a quote.

Product Overview/Description My first experience with Ex Libris was sometime around the year 2005, when the California State University Chancellor's Office contracted with the company to license SFX (<https://exlibrisgroup. com/products/primo-discovery-service/sfx-link-resolver/>), the first Open-URL link resolver, for all of its universities. It is hard to overstate the impact that this product has had on both academic librarians and our users, and as the Electronic Systems and Services Librarian at San Diego State University, I had the opportunity to see and familiarize myself with the intricate workings of this wonderful product.

Since leaving San Diego State in 2008, I have had little experience with Ex Libris, so I approached the opportunity to review Pivot-RP with curiosity and anticipation. Would it live up to my expectations?

Pivot-RP is a web-based research communications and insights suite designed for use by researchers, research administrators, and research development professionals. Graduate and undergraduate students involved in research may also find the product useful. In addition to an extensive database of current funding opportunities, Pivot-RP includes a database of previously awarded grants; a directory of calls for conference papers; auto-generated (but customizable) researcher profiles, and communication and workflow tools for grant administrators and development professionals.

Prior to 2021, Pivot-RP was called Pivot. In January of 2021, Ex Libris announced Pivot-RP, which incorporates content from Research Professional News, a research policy newsletter from company Research Research Limited (Ex Libris 2021a). In addition to the newsletter, Research Research Limited (known as *Research) is the creator of Research Professional, a funding insights suite with strong ties to the UK, Continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2018, *Research was acquired by Ex Libris (Ex Libris 2018), which allowed them to build a more comprehensive database of funding content (Ex Libris, n.d.a). The *Research team responsible for Research Professional News retains editorial independence.

<elliedworak@boisestate.edu>

No small part of the strength of Pivot-RP is derived from the large number of scholarly communications tools and resources that ProQuest has developed and acquired since the company’s humble origins as a microfilm publisher. However, while content is key, true value is found in integration, and Ex Libris has made a name for itself in this arena.

With Pivot-RP, integration is evident in the way that Ex Libris has woven content from other products in the ProQuest stable into Pivot-RP. Less visible but more important are the back end integrations.

As an example, the Ex Libris’ Central Discovery Index (CDI), which drives Primo (<https://exlibrisgroup. com/products/primo-discovery-service/>) and Summon (<https://exlibrisgroup.com/products/ summon-library-discovery/>) products, is also leveraged, in combination with sophisticated algorithms, to generate the researcher profiles in Pivot-RP. To say that Pivot-RPs funding database is comprehensive is an understatement. The Funding section of this tool is massive, containing over 28,000 active funding opportunities from over 14,000 funders and (at the time of this review), over 116 billion dollars in available funding. The Awarded Grants section is equally massive, containing contributions from forty-six funders including all of the United States agencies that one would expect (the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, etc.) as well as material from funders in at least ten other countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The News section of Pivot-RP ports users to Research Professional News, a research policy publication with an international scope and a broad breadth of subject matter. Figure 1 shows a partial screenshot of the newsletters’ home page, illustrating the wide range of topics.

Additional sections highlight featured news for several geographic areas, including featured news sections for the UK, Europe, Australia/ New Zealand, Africa, the USA, and the World. Note that some content is restricted for users whose institutions do not also subscribe to Research Professional News. The headlines of locked articles have a padlock icon near the headline.

In addition to the major content areas, Pivot-RP offers a number of tools for non-administrative users (usually a faculty researcher) and a set of tools for administrators (e.g., a research development director).

User Interface/Navigation/Searching The Pivot-RP home page (see Figure 2) displays the clean, clear look and feel of many ProQuest databases. Under the large central search box, three clearly defined content areas provide user-customized content and links to the knowledge base and other resources for getting started. The navigation bar for links to the five main content sections (Funding, Profiles, Conferences, Awarded Grants, and News) and is consistent throughout the site. While the links are not large, their lo-

24 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

FIGURE 1 Pivot-RP Home Page with Topics

FIGURE 2 Pivot-RP Home Page Search Bar

cation at the top of the screen, as well as the color scheme, make them easy to spot. I found navigating through Pivot-RP to be easy and intuitive.

LOCATING FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Funding opportunities can be located using the front page search box, via a robust advanced search form, by browsing funders by name, or by browsing by keyword. Pivot-RP allows for full Boolean searching, which I tested in basic search mode (using the search box on the Pivot-RP home page) using the following search string: (“dog* OR canine*”) AND (“cognition OR communication OR etholo* OR

ethogram*”). I was surprised, given how specific the topic, to locate two funding opportunities, both of which were relevant. The first record that I retrieved was a grant for UK researchers who study topics related to guide dogs. The second opportunity was for a small grant ($2,500) funded by an entity called Fear Free Research, funding research in the reduction of stress in pets.

ADVANCED SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY The Advanced Search functionality for locating funding is robust and thoughtfully designed to make the most of the indexing. There are two parts to this screen, each with a set of search boxes followed with a series of pre-limits. The first part of the screen is labeled Find Op-

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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FIGURE 3 Pivot-RP Advanced Search Post-Limit Options

FIGURE 4 Pivot-RP Search Results (Partial)

portunities Matching, and the second Exclude Opportunities Matching. The search box configuration is similar that of most article databases (including ProQuest databases), with boxes that connect search terms together using Boolean operators AND/OR. The pre-limit options include amount of funding, deadlines, citizenship requirements, applicant location (by country), activity location (also a list of countries) citizenship requirements, type of funding, key word, applicant type, funder type, country of origin, and how recently the opportunity was added to Pivot-RP. And, if that isn’t enough, there is also an option to include (or exclude) limited submissions and/or other opportu-

nities that require coordination with the Office of Sponsored Projects (or institutional equivalent).

Figure 3 shows a list of the pre-limit options available in Advanced Search. Several of the options are expanded to show more detail.

The select boxes for Funding Type relate to the type of research or creative activity to be conducted. The Applicant Type selections include researcher institutional characteristics such as Minority Only and Small Business Only. Choices for Funder Type include institutional characteristics such as State, Province, or Local Government,

26 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

FIGURE 5 Pivot-RP Key Word Browse Chart; As displayed (L) and when hovering over a key word slice (R)

FIGURE 6 Pivot-RP Funding Opportunity Detailed Record (partial)

and Professional Society or Association. Finally, a browsable pop-up menu is available for the Keyword limit, letting users select from a list of index terms.

To sample the Funding Advanced Search, in the Include portion of the screen, I used the search phrase “data management” and selected the pre-limit options “Applicant/Institution Location: United States; Unrestricted; Unspecified.” In the Exclude section, I pre-limited to “Applicant type: Small Business Only; Individuals: Early Career or Emerging in Field; Individuals: Graduate Student or Pre-doc; Individuals: Undergraduate Student.”

This search strategy retrieved 34 results, with funding amounts ranging from the pretty big ($100,000) to the gigantic ($95,000,000+).

Because nearly all of the results were for biomedical research, I took a look at the Top Keywords segment and noticed Data Management or Analysis Medical in the list. Because I’m interested in data management planning across disciplines, I decided to try another strategy and changed my search phrase to “data management plan*” (keeping the same pre-limits), which retrieved 23 results (see Figure 4). This set of results was, as hoped, more general and diverse, ranging from a NASA solicitation (“Roses 2021: Planetary Data Archiving, Restoration, and Tools”) to one from a conservation organization dedicated to protecting native fish species (“Bring Back the Natives”).

KEY WORD BROWSE Users can also browse funders by keyword using an interactive radial diagram with slices representing keywords in a research funding taxonomy (see Figure 5). Hovering over any of the slices reveals the key word and an updated amount of available funding in the center of the diagram.

As a data visualization afficionado, I appreciate this interactive graphic both for its visual appeal and in the way that it groups disciplines together and moves from broader topics at the center, to more specific around the radius. Clicking on any key word notes will retrieve search results. While a key word search is also available from the same screen, I would have also utilized a text-based nested key word browse.

SEARCH RESULTS SCREEN Like many article databases, the funding results screen offers users the opportunity to choose from the options available in Advanced Search as post-limits (see Figure 4, left side). From this screen, users can save their search, with the option to receive a weekly e-mail with updated results from the query.

RECORD VIEW The record view (see Figure 6) is concise but not crowded, and includes elements such as the program title, funder, deadline, wheth-

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

er the application deadline is confirmed, funding amount, applicant types, and eligibility details. Also included in the full record is an abstract and a link to the source.

To the right side of the funding opportunity details are several tools.

Track places items in a folder that can be accessed from the Pivot-RP home page. Share opens an e-mail box, and Curate allows one to create lists of funding opportunities and name them. Like tracked items, curated opportunities are accessible from the home page. Each detailed record also contains a Potential Collaborators link that retrieves the profiles of researchers, generated by the Pivot-RP system.

RESEARCHER PROFILES Pivot-RP contains over 3.5 million research profiles, which can be searched in a number of ways, including free text, name, discipline, role, and country. The basic biographical outlines for the profiles are created for institutional customers by the Pivot-RP team. Matching technologies leveraging the CDI, awarded grants database, and other tools are used to fill in the profiles with publications and grants received. In addition to their utility for researchers seeking collaborators, profiles are used by the Pivot-RP system to provide automated funding recommendations for researchers (called Advisor). In addition, research profiles sync with ORCID profiles, and can be updated by a researcher or an assigned proxy.

CONFERENCES The content in the Conferences & Papers Invited section of Pivot-RP is pulled from ProQuest Papers Invited (<https://www.papersinvited. com/>), which is marketed as the world’s largest listing of calls for papers (CFPs). It does appear quite large, with 42,953 entries across 159 topical categories. Fourteen calls for papers are listed for Library Science, including one call for manuscripts and eleven calls for conference proposals, four of which are to be held in the United States.

The dates of the conferences listed range from July 2021 through January 2022. Interestingly, a comparison of these entries to the International Library Related Conferences list (<http://www.lib.montana. edu/~james/>) entries for the same date range demonstrated no overlap.

AWARDED GRANTS The awarded grants section of the database contains the details of over three million previously awarded grants. Options for discovery include browsing by funder or searching, including an advance search screen with fielded search options. Records contain the grant title, funder, award ID, project dates, funding amount, PI, and institution.

Some also include an abstract. This is a very helpful feature for researchers interested in funding patterns for their area of interest as well as for research development professionals interested in funding trends across fields.

TOOLS FOR ADMINISTRATORS Pivot-RP is on the one hand a full featured and exhaustive funding discovery tool and, on the other, doubles as a toolkit for individuals working in research development to increase institutional research capacity. A number of tools are provided to streamline communication.

These include adding local notes to funding opportunities; adding and managing internal funding opportunities; creating groups of research profiles for sharing funding opportunities; curating and sharing customized searches and lists of funding opportunities; and building and scheduling the distribution of custom newsletters by e-mail. I found

www.charlestonco.com 27

all of these functions to be easy to use. Administrators can also create embeddable search widgets and view a range of statistical reports.

DOCUMENTATION Pivot-RP is extensively documented, with clearly written guides for every feature. Tips are embedded abundantly throughout the product, and the front page contains a box linking to Knowledge Center articles and video documentation. In some cases, short product can be launched by the at point of need. In addition, a number of instructional videos are available on the Pivot-RP YouTube channel (<https:// www.youtube.com/user/ ProQuestPivot/>). I enjoyed watching these brief videos to learn more about the product and how it works.

ACCESSIBILITY Ex Libris has posted an accessibility statement in addition to an accessibility Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) report that outlines how well Pivot-RP meets Federal accessibility guidelines (ProQuest and Ex Libris 2019). The VPAT report indicates that Pivot-RP meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (<https://www.w3.org/TR/2008/ REC-WCAG20-20081211/>) levels A and AA with minor exceptions.

Critical Evaluation Overall, Pivot-RP is a good resource that works as advertised. Pivot-RP claims to be the most comprehensive global source of funding opportunities, and as far as I can tell, that’s true. The platform is speedy, and I experienced no hiccups or glitches as I explored the various options. The user interface is easy to use, even for features that I had no experience with, such as creating custom newsletters.

I did have a few quibbles regarding discovery, the largest of which is that it’s difficult to search for NSF Directorates, although one can browse to these opportunities and then refine the results. And while I appreciate the copious documentation for Pivot-RP, the Knowledge Center could use some curation. At times I tried to revisit a resource that I had seen previously, and found myself hunting through similarly named content bins before I found it.

In the end, it is Ex Libris’ commitment to quality that tips the balance in favor of Pivot-RP over its competitors. Throughout this review, I found myself thinking that while this product may not have been created with librarians in mind as a primary audience, it was created by people who understand the importance of the principles which underlie librarianship as a field.

Competitive Products Funding Institutional (Elsevier). The only true competitor to Pivot-RP is Elsevier’s Funding Institutional (<https://www.elsevier.com/ solutions/funding-institutional>), marketed to “Increase grant success rates with funding insights, discovery, and decisions.” However, Funding Institutional is not as comprehensive, with 18,000 funding opportunities to Pivot-RPs 24,000 and tracking 3,500 funders to Pivot-RPs 14,000. In addition, while Pivot-RP employs a multi-lingual team of editors to review and index each opportunity, Elsevier only notes that editors spot check for accuracy.

GrantForward. Another funding opportunity database on the academic market is GrantForward (<https://www.grantforward.com/ index>). This software product appears to be geared directly to researchers, although it does include communication tools for research administrators. Overall, this tool looks interesting, but although they

28 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

Pivot-RP Review Scores Composite: HHHH 1/4 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHH

Excellent resource for research funding opportunities, facilitating research collaborations, and offering insight into the funding landscape.

Global in scope.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHHH

Pivot-RP has an intuitive interface with a clear navigation structure and a variety of search options.

Pricing:

HHHH

It is difficult to score pricing for a product that I’ve not had experience in purchasing, but the value per dollar is there.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHHHH

I have no quibbles with the licensing agreement as it stands.

have some big name users such as Johns Hopkins and the University of Washington, the website gives the appearance of being a product for smaller institutions. The website is somewhat clunky and GrantForward does not have the backing or resources of a product from a major vendor.

GrantSelect. GrantSelect (<https://www.grantselect.com/>) calls itself the practical grants resource. They offer institutional subscriptions, personal subscriptions at $495/year, and a series of topical funding newsletters. GrantSelect’s website does not quantify the number of funders that they monitor.

able for license, and not purchase. Therefore, if the subscription is terminated, so is access to Pivot-RP.

Authentication Pivot-RP uses IP authentication for users in the institutional network in addition to single sign-on or individual user accounts. Researchers who want to use Pivot-RPs tools must create an account, similar to many article databases used in libraries.

Author’s References

SPIN Funding Opportunities. SPIN Funding Opportunities (<https://www.infoedglobal.com/ products/grants-and-contracts/ spin-funding-opportunities>) is produced by InfoEd and is exclusively a funding opportunity database with an email alert feature. Though there is some overlap with Pivot-RP in terms of content, InfoEd emphasizes the efficacy of their search engine and not editorial oversight.

American Library Association. 2018. “Number Employed in Libraries: ALA Library Fact Sheet 2.” Last modified August 2018. <https:// www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets /alalibraryfactsheet02>

Purchase & Contract Provisions

Ex Libris. 2021(b). “Curating Funding Opportunities - Meet the Experts Behind Pivot-RP. August 2, 2021. Video, 4:48. <https://youtu. be/f5s2jkEWPDQ>

The license agreement for Pivot-RP is posted in the footer of the product (Ex Libris n.d.b). Authorized users include current employees and students of the subscribing institution. The product is avail-

Free Text Keywords: funding opportunities | grants | research development | research funding | workflow tools Primary Category: Other (research & development) Type of product being reviewed: Other (research funding communications & insights suite) Target Audience: Graduate/Faculty/Researcher; Other (research development; research administration) Access: Subscription

Ex Libris. 2021(a). “Ex Libris Introduces Pivot-RP, Providing Institutions With Access To The Most Comprehensive Source Of Research Funding.” News release, January 25, 2021. <https://exlibrisgroup. com/press-release/ex-libris-introduces-pivot-rp>

Ex Libris. 2018. “Ex Libris Acquires Research Research Ltd., Industry Leader in the Coverage of Research Funding Opportunities, News, and Analysis.” News release, August 6, 2018. <https://exlibrisgroup.com/press-release/ex-libris-acquires-research- research-ltd-in-

Contact Information Ex Libris (a ProQuest Company) 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 Producer URL: <https://exlibrisgroup.com> Product URL: <https://exlibrisgroup.com/products/pivotfunding-opportunities-and-profiles>

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

www.charlestonco.com 29

dustry-leader-in-the-coverage-of-research-funding-opportunities-news-and-analysis> Ex Libris. n.d.(a). “Ex Libris Acquires Research Research Ltd. - Frequently Asked Questions.” News release, Accessed August 14, 2021. <https://exlibrisgroup.com/wp-content/ uploads/2018/07/Ex-LibrisAcquires-Research-Research-Ltd-Customer-FAQ.pdf> Ex Libris. n.d.(b). “Terms of Use.” Accessed August 18, 2021. <https://pivot.proquest.com/terms> ProQuest. 2015. “ProQuest Completes Acquisition of Ex Libris.”

News release, December 15, 2015. <https://about.proquest.com/en/ news/2015/ProQuest-Completes-Acquisition-of- Ex-Libris> ProQuest and Ex Libris, 2019. “ProQuest/Ex Libris Accessibility Conformance Report.” July 2019. <https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup. com/@api/deki/files/75079/VPAT_Statement.pdf?revision=1>

Subscribe to The

Acknowledgement The author would like to think Eddie Neuwirth, Senior Director for Product Management – Research Services at Ex Libris, for his invaluable assistance in preparing this review.

About the Author Ellie Dworak is the Research Data Librarian at Boise State University. She is a member of the library’s Research Data Management Group, which works with faculty researchers to draft data management plans for funding proposals. She has worked in large academic libraries since earning her master’s degree in Information and Library Services from the University of Michigan in 1996. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, sketching, and spending time with her three English Pointers Sophie, Adrian, and Wallace. n

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.30

Date of Review: August 15, 2021

Composite Score: HHHH 1/3 Reviewed by: Alissa A. Droog Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois

Abstract ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is the world’s largest multidisciplinary database for electronic theses and dissertations. The database contains over 5 million citations and 2.7 million full text works.

The intuitive platform is specially designed for finding dissertations and theses with search fields for specific institutions, advisors, and subject categories. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is useful for current graduate students in any discipline to see samples of other dissertations and theses in their field, for researchers to find the most recent research on a particular topic, and for conducting research on theses and dissertations as a genre.

Pricing Options Pricing for ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is determined at the institutional level based on the Carnegie Classification and fulltime enrollment at the institution. ProQuest offers discounted consortial licensing and other discounts to qualifying institutions. Please contact ProQuest directly for pricing information at your institution.

Product Overview/Description ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT) is “the world’s most comprehensive curated collection of multi-disciplinary dissertations and theses from around the world” (ProQuest, n.d.). ProQuest has been distributing dissertations since 1939 and is the official dissertations repository for the Library of Congress. The database contains over 5 million citations and 2.7 million full text works. The database grows by approximately 200,000 citations annually and updates are made weekly.

The scope of the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is broad.

Theses and dissertations are sourced from over 3,100 institutions and 100 countries. Over 50 languages are represented in the database, although cursory searches reveal that at least 3.8 of the over 5+ million records are in English (see Critical Evaluation for details). The database is truly multidisciplinary, with theses and dissertations from all of the major subjects and disciplines. The earliest records in the database date back to 1637, and there are numerous dissertations drawn from the nineteenth century.

Theses and dissertations are sourced from universities and colleges worldwide. Generally, theses and dissertations end up in PQDT via one of three methods: submissions via ProQuest’s online proprietary ETD Administrator tool; individual FTP submissions with a fee; and online harvesting from institutional repositories by institutional agreement via ProQuest’s Open Archives Initiative (Veve, 2020).

ProQuest also partners with a variety of organizations to source and share citations. PQDT is the official repository of the Library of Congress and as such, contains citations for unpublished theses and dis-

<adroog@niu.edu>

sertations from “all major universities” in the United States (Library of Congress, 2020). ProQuest has also partnered with the China Academic Library and Information System since 2017 to provide access to graduate work from over 60 Chinese universities (ProQuest, 2020). Through the Digital Archiving and Access Program (DAAP), ProQuest works with university libraries to digitize old theses and dissertations. ProQuest also partners with a variety of other databases such as MLA, PsycInfo, Google Scholar, Compendex, Inspec, ERIC, and MathSciNet to increase the visibility of dissertations. Individual authors retain the copyright for their work, royalties are available, and authors can request an embargo.

Graduate students and researchers of all types will find this ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global useful. Graduate students use this database to share their work and to find sample theses and dissertations on their topic or from their institution. Researchers use the database to find the newest research on a given topic. Researchers also study the content, subjects and genre of theses and dissertations to understand changes in the field, interdisciplinarity, and research habits of graduate students. To support this research, ProQuest reports a large demand for text mining software for the collection, and has developed TDM Studio, an additional ProQuest product, which can be used to extract and analyze data from dissertations and theses in the database.

User Interface/Navigation/Searching The user interface for ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is fairly intuitive and will be familiar to those who have used other ProQuest products. PQDT has many specialized search features that are unique to dissertation and theses which make using this database easy for the type of content it contains.

The landing page for PQDT (see Figure 1) defaults to an advanced search with multiple search boxes and fields. The database can be searched via Basic Search, Advanced Search, and by Browsing.

Browsing allows a user to browse by hundreds of defined subjects in the database, or by the country or institution from which the theses or dissertation was completed.

The advanced search options include 24 searchable fields. Many of these fields are common to other academic databases, such as abstract, author, title, publication year, and subject headings. Unfortunately, subject headings are not sourced form Library of Congress Subject Headings which could save researchers time and effort. Given that this database provides access to dissertations and theses exclusively, many fields have been designed that are unique to this topic.

For example, one can search by the school name/code, by school/ name location (country or state), department, degree, advisor, or committee member. These specialized fields are particularly useful for graduate students to find sample dissertations completed under their advisor or in their field. As there is growing interest to analyze the

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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FIGURE 1 PDQT Landing Page

FIGURE 2 PQDT Search Results

FIGURE 3 PQDT Record View

references from theses and dissertations, the database also includes searchable fields for reference, cited author, cited document, cited publication date, and cited publication title. Searching or limiting by subject category can be useful, but there’s been some critique about whether, in the increasingly interdisciplinary world we live in, these categories accurately represent the subjects of theses and dissertations (Bowman et al, 2014).

The results page provides a variety of limiters along the left-hand side. For example, a sample search for “literacy education” reveals 302,792 results (Figure 2). Results can be sorted by relevance or by oldest or newest date. Up to 100 selected results can be exported at a time as citations, to e-mail, and to citation managers.

The landing page for any record will open to the Full text-PDF view if available. From there, you can also view the Abstract/Details (see Figure 3), and in newer records, a page for the references. Useful widgets on the record page include links to documents that share the same references, links to other theses and dissertations that have cited this record, and Related Items. When available, full text is normally available as a PDF. While PDFs are easy to use, they don’t always have accessible heading structures for screen readers.

Although an account is not necessary to use this database, an optional My Research Account with ProQuest allows you to save documents, searches, and interface preferences. Users can also setup alerts and RSS feeds for searches.

32 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

PQDT Review Scores Composite: HHHH 1/3 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHH

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses is the largest and most comprehensive curated collection of theses and dissertations in the world. Coverage is global, but stronger for English-language countries and China. Coverage is stronger for dissertations than theses.

User Interface/Searchability: HHHHH Search interface is intuitive and will be familiar to users of other ProQuest products. Specialized searchable fields unique for dissertations and theses create a powerful search experience.

Pricing: N/A Contact ProQuest directly for pricing information.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHHH

ProQuest has a standard license agreement although some minor points may be negotiable. Contact ProQuest directly for more information.

When it comes to accessibility, ProQuest responds as expected for a vendor this large. A quick mobile test reveals that the layout resizes well and is functional. ProQuest asserts that they conduct regular accessibility checks of their products and “aim to meet Level AA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act for features and functions” (ProQuest, n.d.). ProQuest products work with screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver.

dissertations easy. When available, full text is easy to access, and ordering is available for many other documents.

Critical Evaluation

While PQDT has unrivaled coverage of dissertations from the United States, coverage begins to drop off once outside of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. A search for the letter “a” in PQDT with no specified search field and no limits on August 4, 2021, returned over 4.4 million of the 5+ million records housed in this database. Analyzing the language and source country of these records reveals that, at least for this search, over 85% of the records are English-language, and over half of the records (2.5 million) are from the United States. The United Kingdom, the Peoples Republic of China, and Canada are also well represented in this search. The letter “a” may not exist in other languages, so this search has many limitations, but it does illustrate some limits to PQDT’s coverage. This doesn’t diminish the database, but I would recommend that those searching for dissertations from countries other than those mentioned may benefit from searching a country-specific repository.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global has been long known as a strong indexer for dissertations, and as such, most major institutions in North America, Canada, and many institutions in Europe index their dissertations with ProQuest. ProQuest’s familiar interface and specialized searchable fields for dissertations make finding theses and

Free Text Keywords: dissertations | theses | international dissertations | international theses Primary Category: Multidisciplinary (or interdisciplinary) Secondary Categories: Art & Architecture; Business & Economics; Ethnic, Gender, and LGBTQ Studies; History & Area Studies; Humanities; Language and Literature; Library and Information Science (LIS); Medicine, Nursing & Health; Music, Theater, Film Studies; Philosophy & Religion; Political Science & Law; Science, Technology, Computers, Engineering (including Environment), Mathematics; Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology Type of product being reviewed: Abstracting & Indexing; Aggregator database Target Audience: Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access: Subscription

As a librarian, I have encountered very few challenges with this database. I wish that exporting large numbers of full text documents or references was available for text or data mining, but given that there is strong demand for this, I am not shocked that ProQuest offers an additional product, TDM Studio, designed specifically to analyze the vast content in this database.

Contact Information ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Pkwy.

Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Phone: (877) 779-6768 E-mail: <sales@proquest.com> Producer URL: <https://about.proquest.com/en/dissertations/> Product URL: <https://about.proquest.com/en/dissertations/>

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

One more warning about coverage. While the database does contain dissertations and theses, the coverage of dissertations is much more comprehensive than theses (Library of Congress, 2020). If theses from a particular institution aren’t included, it may be best to search the institutional repository for these.

Competitive Products While ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is probably the easiest to use and has the best searchable metadata for dissertations and theses worldwide, depending on whether you’re looking for dissertations or theses, and where they were published, competitive products exist. A number of free databases are beginning to index dissertations and theses. Of these, the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (<http://www.ndltd.org/>) is the largest with over 6 million records. While the interface is fairly dated, it appears to have stronger global scope and language coverage than PQDT. ProQuest Open contains a subset of the PQDT content and provides free access to open access dissertations. WorldCat also allows searching for Thesis/Dissertation as a document type, and the FirstSearch platform for WorldCat Dissertations is its own standalone database.

If you are looking for dissertations from outside of the United States, coverage may be more comprehensive in country-specific dissertation databases such as the British Library’s Electronic Theses Online Service (EThos), DART-Europe E-theses portal, Theses Canada Portal or the Chinese Electronic Theses and Dissertations. The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) in Chicago also contains over 800,000 dissertations from outside of the U.S. and can be searched from the main CRL catalog (Center for Research Libraries, n.d.). Also, depending on the institution and department, finding master’s theses may be better suited to the local institutional repository as these are less often indexed in PQDT. Lastly, ProQuest partners with many subject databases and Google Scholar to share dissertation metadata. This means that many of the records contained in the database are also available elsewhere. Considering all of these options, PQDT is still the largest curated collection of dissertations in the world.

Purchase & Contract Provisions ProQuest has a standard license agreement although some minor points may be negotiable. Permitted use of the database and content includes Fair Use for research, analysis, digital and print copies, electronic reserves, inter-library loan, and scholarly sharing. Data from research profiles cannot be exported or exploited for profit or marketing purposes. PQDT is COUNTER-compliant. PQDT subscriptions include MARC records that may be shared with Customer’s discovery service and in its online public access catalog (OPAC), provided that the MARC records are used solely for Customer’s benefit.

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PQDT MARC records may not be included in any shared online catalog, record sharing, or other metadata repository except by special arrangement with ProQuest. Subscriptions include MARC records and ProQuest products are COUNTER-compliant. For more specific information, see ProQuest’s Terms and Conditions: <https://about.proquest.com/en/about/terms-and-conditions>.

Authentication ProQuest supports a number of authentication options including IP address, proxy server, barcode, Shibboleth, and Open Athens. They additionally offer support for other authentication methods on an account-by-account basis.

Author’s References Bowman, Timothy, Andrew Tsou, Chaoqun Ni, and Cassidy Sugimoto. 2014. “Post-Interdisciplinary Frames of Reference: Exploring Permeability and Perceptions of Disciplinarity in the Social Sciences.”

Scientometrics 101 (3): 1695–1714.

Center for Research Libraries. (n.d.). CRL Collecting Areas | CRL. Center for Research Libraries Global Resources Network. Retrieved September 1, 2021. <https://www.crl.edu/collections/crl-collecting-areas#other> Library of Congress. 2020. “Does the Library of Congress Have PhD Dissertations in the Collections? - Ask a Librarian.” Library of Congress: Ask a Librarian. August 3, 2020. <https://ask.loc.gov/ faq/300086> ProQuest. 2021. “LibGuides: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.” ProQuest LibGuides. July 30, 2021. <https://proquest.libguides. com/pqdt/about> ProQuest. n.d. “ProQuest Accessibility.” ProQuest. Accessed August 8, 2021. <https://about.proquest.com/en/about/proquest-accessibility/> ProQuest. “ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.” ProQuest. Accessed July 14, 2021. <https://about.proquest.com/en/products-services/pqdtglobal/> Veve, Marielle. 2020. “Using the Harvesting Method to Submit ETDs into ProQuest: A Case Study of a Lesser-Known Approach.” Information Technology & Libraries 39 (3): 1–10.

About the Author Alissa Droog (<https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2868-8495>) is an Assistant Professor and the Education & Social Sciences Librarian at Northern Illinois University where she works primarily with faculty and graduate students in the College of Education. n

34 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021 www.charlestonco.com

ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals Date of Review: June 30, 2021

doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.34

Composite Score: HHH 1/8 Reviewed by: Thomas J. Beck Auraria Library, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado

Abstract ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals is a source for leftist publications (mostly newspapers), largely published in the twentieth century. Here, the user can access articles in PDF format from 156 national and international publications. Navigating this database and the documents therein can be easily done, but articles cannot be magnified or reduced, which may prove problematic with PDFs of old newspapers. Database content can be found through browsing or by using a basic and/or advanced search. The browse and basic search options here are understandable, but the advanced search is not self-explanatory and can possibly confuse the user. As a consequence, a new user of this database will probably benefit from instruction in its use from either the vendor or someone else familiar with this resource. However, when this search function is used properly it can produce numerous, on-point results for any query. The same is true of the basic search and browsing features, though they tend to produce larger lists of results that are less onpoint than the advanced search. The vendor did not provide specific price information for this review, only indicating that pricing is determined by an institution’s size and number of users. As this provides potential subscribers with very little insight into the cost of acquiring this resource, its advised that they contact ProQuest for a price quote tailored to their own institution. Its licensing agreement is the same as those used for all ProQuest databases and is average in its composition (though somewhat longer than average). The quality and quantity of content in this resource is notable, and it will certainly be of use to those looking for articles from leftist newspapers and periodicals.

However, the definition of “leftist” here may be problematic for some users! Communist and Socialist publications are certainly available in this database, but those for Anarchists, Social Democrats, and other leftists are not.

Pricing Options Pricing is determined by the size of a subscribing institution and the number of users there, but ProQuest provides no more information than that. Please contact them for pricing specific to your school or library.

Product Overview/Description This database is a collection of leftist periodicals (largely communist and socialist), dating from 1845–2015. There are 156 titles here, at a total of 185,000 pages. Despite the date range indicated above, only one of these publications has issues from the nineteenth century!

Most have issues from the twentieth century, and several have those from the twenty-first. These publications are of two types: newspapers and historical newspapers (as such, they are all primary sources).

<thomas.j.beck@ucdenver.edu>

However, only three of these are newspapers, while the rest are historical newspapers. Some of the publications available here include Socialist Worker (1977-1981, Cleveland, Ohio), Solidarity & Worker’s Liberty (2007-2014, London), The American Socialist (19141917, Chicago), The New Militant (1934-1936, New York), Africa in Struggle (1975-1978, London), The Communist (1927-1944, New York), and Red Flag (1963-2000, London). The titles in this resource are drawn from 12 U.S. states (New York, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, California, Washington, Minnesota, Alabama, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Connecticut), though a substantial number are from New York City. There are also several international titles, from Britain, France, Belgium, Ireland, Canada, and Sri Lanka, with many coming from London.

This database, as with others from ProQuest, is compatible with all major browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari. It also provides remote access and unlimited concurrent access to users. However, there is no open URL access.

Those looking for primary sources on leftist history or ideology would find this database the most useful, including students and researchers in history, political science, sociology, and the humanities in general. However, this may be a limited number at many colleges and universities, given this database’s primary focus on communism and socialism, and not on other political philosophies on the left (e.g., anarchism, social democracy, liberalism/progressivism, etc.).

User Interface/Navigation/Searching The landing page for this database is unremarkable, but easily understandable. Like many ProQuest pages it is green, gray, and white, and at the center are multiple search bars, separated by the standard Boolean connectors. This is the database’s advanced search page. In the upper left-hand corner of the page are four tabs: Basic Search, Advanced Search (the default), Publications, and Change Databases.

The Advanced Search provides the user with the standard options characteristic of this kind of search. Aside from the above-mentioned Boolean connectors, the user has the option to target a query to a particular field in an article. However, unlike many other advanced searches the number of options here are quite limited, and only include Anywhere, Anywhere Except Full Text, Document Text, and Page. Queries can be further limited by date and source type (however, the only two types available are newspapers and historical newspapers). When any query is executed spelling and form variants for key terms will automatically be searched for, though either of these two options can be turned off by the user.

The Basic Search, as with many others of this type, is a single search bar. However, unlike others it offers no limiters at all, not even a date

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

limitation. Boolean connectors can be used here, but if they are not used a Boolean AND search will be the default.

Under the Publications tab, the various periodicals in the database are listed alphabetically by title. They can be browsed in this fashion or searched for, using a single search bar at the top of the page.

When using this search queries can be limited to title, subject, publication summary, or Title Begins With. When browsing the user can go through the entire list or select to view only newspapers or historical newspapers. Publications can be listed by title only or with a publication summary. This summary will include, at the very least, the title of the publication, overall dates of coverage, dates of both full text and citation/abstract coverage, place of publication, and type (i.e., newspapers or historical newspapers). In some instances, the name of the publisher or the ISSN will also be included.

ProQuest is a vendor for a large number of databases, and many of its customers subscribe to more than one. The Change Databases tab allows users to move from one ProQuest subscription to another. However, users won’t be able to access databases to which they or their institutions don’t subscribe.

The two search functions here are more similar than they are different. The basic search is a default Boolean AND search, where all Boolean connectors can be used. Normally, advanced searches allow the user to better target a query, but in this database that isn’t always the case. For example, a basic search for “Bolshevik Revolution Russia” (performed on July 6, 2021) produced 7,500 results. An advanced search for “Bolshevik AND revolution AND Russia” (performed as on the same date), limited to Anywhere, produced the same number. When the latter query was repeated, but instead limited to Document Text, it produced 7,483 results. The results of these three queries are very similar, if not identical in some cases. They include “We are the Party of the Russian Revolution” (Worker’s Vanguard, Nov. 7, 1986), “Crushing Bolshevism” (The Revolutionary Age, Apr. 5, 1919), “Lenin’s Genius as a Political Leader” (Workers Age, Feb. 5, 1938), and “The Bolshevik Revolution” (Worker’s Hammer, January 1, 2010). The basic search and the advanced search Anywhere are clearly identical.

However, the functionality of the other limiters in this database aren’t quite so clear-cut, so to better understand them its best to pause briefly to review how each works. Limiting to Anywhere indicates a search of a document’s full text and all of its metadata fields. This includes metadata that ProQuest has created (titles, dates, etc.) and everything within the document. Document Text, on the other hand, refers to the full text only and not the metadata. Page allows the user to search for particular words and phrases on specific pages in a document. This requires a two-step procedure, in which words or phrases are entered in one search bar, which is limited to Anywhere, and a page number is added to another search bar, which is limited to Page.

Using this format, an advanced search (performed on July 6, 2021) for “Bolshevik Revolution Russia (limiter Anywhere) AND 1 (limiter Page)” produced 329 results. Evidently, this much lower number of results is a consequence of focusing the query on a single page (page 1) instead of the entire document. This query produced numerous on-point articles, including “25th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution” (The Militant, Nov. 7, 1942), “The Trend of Socialism in Europe” (The Revolutionary Age, Nov. 20, 1918), “Nicholai Lenin, Leader of International Revolution, Dead as Workers Mourn” (The Young Worker, Feb. 15, 1924), and “International Revolution Sweeps Onward” (The New International, November 1, 1917). This makes Page arguably the most effective limiter in the advanced search. Any-

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where Except Full-Text, on the other hand, is the least so! Per the vendor, all page-level content is full text. That being the case, this limiter severs no apparent purpose, as it is designed to search anywhere except full-text! For example, an advanced search for “Bolshevik AND revolution AND Russia” limited to Anywhere Except Full-Text will produce 0 results. For that reason, the vendor is considering removing this feature in the future.

When one or more of the above searches are performed, the results lists are laid out in an identical manner. Every article on the list is numbered, and includes its date and place of publication, the periodical it appeared in, its page number, its designation as a newspaper or historical newspaper, a link to its full text (if one is available), and one or more lines from the article where the keywords searched are highlighted. However, the title of the article is not indicated! That may be because there is frequently more than one article on a given page in the various periodicals in the database. However, that doesn’t entirely explain why the title of an article, that presumably has a high frequency of the keywords searched, is not indicated in the results list, regardless of how many other articles it shares a page with. On the left-hand side of the results page there is a short column with additional limiters. These are only three: full text only, publication date, and sort by (relevance, oldest first, or most recent first). Also, the user can select one or more titles from the results list and cite, email, or save them in a variety of ways. Searches can be saved, search links generated, recent searches viewed, and alerts and RSS feeds generated. There is also an Ask a Librarian feature that allows a user to connect to a librarian at the subscribing institution. This feature can be activated by the subscriber following instructions provided by the vendor (subscribers are not required to activate it).

Once the full text of an article has been selected, the user will see a PDF of the of the original. Above the article, at the top of the page, is its date and place of publication, the periodical it’s in, its page number, and its designation as a newspaper or historical newspaper (much like the article’s entry on the results page). By clicking on the Show Details tab in this section of the page, the user can find much more detail about this document and the periodical it is drawn from, including its volume and issue numbers (where applicable), publisher, place and country of publication, subject, source type (e.g., newspaper or historical newspaper), language of publication, document type, ProQuest document ID, document URL, copyright, and last date updated. These can be viewed in PDF, Excel, Microsoft Word, or as text only. When viewing the article, the user has the option to download, print, cite (in a wide variety of formats), and e-mail it. Also, it can be saved to a folder (while the user is in the database), a personal folder (the user needs to establish a free account with the database to use this), Google Drive, Google Classroom, and Microsoft OneDrive.

The citation can be exported in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, RefWorks, Noodle Tools, EasyBib, and EndNote. The Ask a Librarian feature is also available here.

Critical Evaluation The browse and search options here can be understandable or confusing, depending on which of these options is being used. The advanced search, for instance, is not self-explanatory and can be perplexing for users. Many will require some training by an experienced user or the vendor to use this database effectively. Regardless, when this search is done properly it can produce a large number of on-point results and is (in some ways) a superior means of finding information when compared to the database’s basic search and browsing features. That’s not to say that the latter two are useless in this regard, because they often

36 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals Review Scores Composite: HHH 1/8 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHH 1/2

This is a source for leftist publications, mostly newspapers, largely published in the twentieth century. These include articles in PDF format, of varying visual quality, from 156 national and international publications.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHH

The browse and search options here are alternately understandable or confusing, depending on which is used. The advanced search is not self-explanatory and will require some training in its use. However, when used properly it can be an effective search mechanism, as are the basis search and the browsing function.

Pricing: N/A Pricing can vary considerably, as it is determined by institution size and number of users. The vendor is no more specific than that.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHH

While somewhat long, the licensing agreement here is a standard one and offers little to no cause for concern.

generate numerous results beneficial to the user. However, they tend to produce more unwieldy lists of results that are less on-point than the advanced search does.

Database content is broken into two broad categories, newspapers, and historical newspapers. These various publications are drawn from twelve U.S. states (on the east and west coasts, in the mid-west and the deep south) and from seven countries (including the U.S.), mostly in Europe and North America. However, these are Communist and Socialist publications only, and not those of other leftist organizations. The vendor provides very little pricing information for this database, other than to indicate it’s based on an institution’s number of users and size. Subsequently, pricing for this resource may be quite variable, possibly putting it out of reach for some institutions. The licensing agreement for this database is standard and shouldn’t be of concern to potential subscribers.

Despite its narrowness of scope, this database may prove to be a good source for leftist periodicals for certain institutions. It will be

Free Text Keywords: Separate words or phrases with a vertical bar: leftist | Communist | Socialist | Bolshevik | Revolution | militants | resistance | rebellion | revolt

of greatest use to undergraduates and graduates, as well as researchers, in history and political science, and possibly sociology and other humanities. Its value to potential subscribers will depend, at least in part, on its price, which might be high in some cases given the database’s possible price variability. However, this is a somewhat unique resource, because there don’t appear to be many others directly like it. Undoubtedly, this will make it more desirable for some schools and libraries.

The articles in this resource are PDFs of varying ages, some going back to 1917. It’s reasonable to assume, as a consequence, that a number could potentially be of suboptimal visual quality, as is often the case with old newspapers. That being the case, it’s surprising there’s no magnification option here, to help the user better read text that may be problematic!

Competitive Products One possible competitor for this database is Revolution and Protest Online, from Alexander Street (a ProQuest company). Its scope of coverage is far broader than in this database and it goes well beyond periodicals only, but as a consequence its coverage of periodicals (es-

Primary Category: History & Area Studies

Contact Information

Secondary Categories: Humanities; Political Science & Law; Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology

ProQuest LLC

Type of product being reviewed: Newspaper or news source Target Audience: Undergraduate (including community colleges); Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access: Subscription

789 E. Eisenhower Pkwy.

Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Phone: (877) 779-6768 E-mail: <sales@proquest.com> Producer URL: <https://www.proquest.com> Product URL: <https://about.proquest.com/en/productsservices/pq-hist-news/>

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

pecially of the Communist and Socialist variety) is less. That may make it less desirable to certain institutions. Aside from this resource, there don’t appear to be any databases directly comparable to Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals. There are number of leftist/Communist/Socialist archives at various public and university libraries, but these seldom provide online access, especially to those not directly associated with their institutions. Socialism on Film: The Cold War and International Propaganda from Adam Matthew, is another possible competitor, though its scope is far narrower (e.g., the Communist world from the Russian Revolution to the end of the Cold War) and it offers no print materials, only propaganda films of various kinds.

Purchase & Contract Provisions This agreement is a bit lengthy, at six pages. slightly more than four pages long, and its provisions are generally standard ones. The vendor for this database is ProQuest, and this is its standard licensing agreement. The authorized users indicated here are identical to those found in most other agreements of this kind. For public libraries, they are staff, people served from the “customer’s reasonably defined geographic area,” and walk-in patrons. For schools and academic institutions, they are current students, faculty, staff, visiting scholars, and walk-in patrons. For other organizations, they are employees and independent contractors who are performing their work. Additional authorized users can be added to this agreement using the Order Form or Additional Sites Schedule.

As regards access and use, it must be made via a secure network using secure authentication methods, and remote access is allowed for authorized users. The standard Limited Warranty and Disclaimer of Warranty, Limita-

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tion of Liability, and fair use clauses are present here. Also, ILL and scholarly sharing are permissible if ILL is “not done in a manner or magnitude that would replace the receiving library’s own subscription to the Service or purchase of the underlying work,” and the number of materials shared are no more than “minimal, insubstantial amounts” used for personal purposes or scholarly, educational research. As previously mentioned above, this agreement is a standard one and its provisions show little reason for concern.

Regardless, anyone considering a subscription to this resource is advised to review this agreement carefully before signing it, and to do so (if at all possible), with the assistance of legal counsel.

Authentication This database can be authenticated by IP address only!

About the Author Thomas J. Beck is a Teaching & Learning Librarian at the Auraria Library, at the University of Colorado Denver. He provides library instruction to students in a classroom setting and in-person reference to library users. He also develops subject research guides for assigned subject areas and is one of his library’s liaisons to campus faculty working in the said areas. Prior to working at the Auraria Library (where he has been since 2000), he was a reference librarian at the Englewood Public Library, Englewood, CO from 1996-2000. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1985 and his MLS from Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, in 1995. n

38 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021 www.charlestonco.com

ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

PsyArXiv doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.38

Date of Review: July 16, 2021

Composite Score: HHH 1/2 Reviewed by: Margie Ruppel University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky

Abstract PsyArXiv, an Open Access preprint service, is the only platform in North America dedicated to making psychology and psychological science papers available to scholars, students, and the general public prior to peer review. The Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science operates PsyArXiv; two governing boards provide guidance; and member institutions provide financial support. Key features include an abundance of new scholarship in all areas of psychology, an Open Access infrastructure using the Open Science Framework, and links to associated outputs, thus improving access to research and grey literature. Drawbacks include some accessibility issues and a lack of prominent notices on preprints indicating they have not gone through the peer review process.

Pricing Options Researchers do not pay fees to post papers on PsyArXiv, and any individual with an Internet connection can view all content for free.

Product Overview/Description PsyArXiv is a preprint platform and repository for all areas of psychology. It defines a preprint as “a draft of a scholarly manuscript made available prior to publication in a peer-review journal,” and accepts papers under review, working papers, and studies that may never be published due to null findings or serving as replication studies.1 PsyArXiv preprints are indexed by Google Scholar, SHARE, Unpaywall, Europe PubMed Central, and Microsoft Academic, and are discoverable through web search engines.

PsyArXiv’s purpose is two-fold: 1) a preprint server, and 2) an Open Access archive. As of 2019, most of the papers on PsyArXiv were preprints, rather than postprints.2 On the date of this review, PsyArXiv held 17,757 records, most of them in the area of social and behavioral sciences. Other preprints were classified as neuroscience, psychiatry, life sciences, meta-science, and engineering psychology.

PsyArXiv is currently maintained by the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS), but was originally founded with support from the Center for Open Science (COS) before transitioning to an institutional membership model. SIPS is responsible for the overall financial and legal operations; and the Scientific Advisory Board and Member Advisory Board provide strategic and operational guidance.3 Preprint platforms such as PsyArXiv exist primarily to facilitate rapid dissemination of research and to enable researchers to “establish a precedent of a theory, design, method, or finding.”4 However, the field of psychological science also uses preprints to provide access and visibility to articles that would not normally be accepted by traditional journal outlets:

<margie.ruppel@uky.edu>

“The current journal publishing system heavily emphasizes novel, positive, unexpected results. Studies which fail to meet this threshold are often left in the proverbial ‘file drawer.’”5 Moreover, the psychology discipline is part of the larger ecosystem of open scholarly communication that espouses preregistration of studies and Open Access to data and methodological materials, which has prompted increased creation and use of preprints, datasets, and unpublished studies.6 PsyArXiv was developed to provide open access to scholars but also to the general public and people in developing countries: “In an era that some describe as one of fake news and information bubbles, PsyArXiv gives the public free, first-hand access to new science, meaning that journalists, politicians, business leaders, and high school science teachers can all download the newest science and use facts to inform their decision making, and to fuel their natural curiosity about science.’”7 Social and behavioral scientists, specifically, routinely seek preprints and working papers for research and teaching purposes.8 As the world continues to seek the most up-to-date information related to the coronavirus pandemic, including transmission behavior and mental health consequences, PsyArXiv has been part of a huge increase in preprint usage in psychology.9 A National Institutes of Health preprint pilot launched in June 2020 that brings together preprints from medRxiv, bioRxiv, arXiv, ChemRxiv, Research Square, and SSRN (Social Sciences Research Network) has accelerated dissemination of NIH-supported research on the coronavirus and COVID-19.10 The pandemic's impact on the research ecosystem has led to more efficiencies in journal publishing overall and the need for more noticeable disclaimers on preprints that they lack peer review.11 COS supplied its reusable Open Access infrastructure, the Open Science Framework (OSF), for PsyArXiv, as it did for several other preprint communities such as SocArXiv, EarthArXiv, and AfricArXiv. All COS-affiliated preprint services are searchable through the OSF Preprints website, or separately through branded, customized services.12 Each preprint community manages its own manuscript moderation, governance, and assists in promotion of the service.”13 When a researcher uploads a preprint to PsyArXiv, a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is automatically created through a partnership with Crossref. The content is scanned for text overlap, legal and ethical compliance, and fit with scope.14 The researcher selects relevant subjects from the Bepress taxonomy, adds their own tags, and (if applicable) adds direct links to associated open datasets, preregistered studies, code, spreadsheets, and any other supplemental material.

As multiple versions of preprints are supported on PsyArXiv, the ability to edit a citation is on the COS roadmap.15 Users can set up their PsyArXiv account to pull data from their existing Google Drive, Dataverse, Zotero, OSF, and GitHub accounts (among others). Integra-

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FIGURE 1 PsyArXiv Home Page

FIGURE 2 PsyArXiv Search Results for “isolation pandemic”

tion with journal management systems is currently in development to facilitate the journal submission process.16 PsyArXiv uses Hypothesis, a third-party tool to allow commenting and annotating on preprints, and Plaudit software to display endorsements. Regarding analytics, the number of downloads is already available for each preprint, while social media analytics and numbers of views and shares will be available in the future.17 Studies have shown that Twitter is the most common way researchers are exposed to preprints, and the most common way authors receive feedback on them.18

User Interface/Navigation/Searching The PsyArXiv home page displays noticeable branding, a prominent search box, featured subjects for browsing, and quick links to submit a paper, log in, or donate support (see Figure 1). Navigation is easy as the display options and search functionality are limited.

PsyArXiv uses Lucene, open-source Java-based software, to index and search the contents; help using it is available from the search interface.19 Lucene allows for phrase, truncation, wildcard, proximity, and Boolean searching, filtering by language, and grouping clauses to form sub-queries. Users can also search for words only in the document titles.

Searching in PsyArXiv defaults to keyword searching of all text.

Once the user enters key words into the main search box, the results are displayed in relevance order with the option to re-sort by date last modified. Users can also choose to filter the results by broad subject area. A notice on the left alerts the user that they can also search for their topic through OSF Preprints, which searches all of its affiliated preprint communities.

A keyword search for “isolation pandemic” yields 1,270 documents (see Figure 2). Searching for these words in the titles “(title:pandem-

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FIGURE 3 PsyArXiv Preprint Record

ic title:isolation”) narrows the number of results to 560 documents.

Truncating the key words (“isolat* pandemic*”) produces several more results than when searching for the full words. Alternatively, users can employ Boolean operators (“isolat* AND pandemic*”) or the plus (+) and minus (-) signs to narrow results. Lastly, this search can be tweaked with a proximity command (“isolat* ~5 pandemic*”).

Language filters can be used to further limit the search results (“lang:fr”).

Navigating the preprint record is simple due to the uncluttered layout (see Figure 3). The title is in a large font across the top of the screen, with the authors’ names, and declarations of conflicts of interest directly below, followed by links to publicly available data and preregistrations (if applicable). The preprint document is presented in a PDF reader on the left side, while the abstract, number of downloads, plaudit endorsements, preprint DOI, peer-reviewed publication DOI (if applicable), links to supplemental materials, type of license, disciplines, and tags are on the right side. Users can download the PDF or share it via social media or e-mail.

Each preprint record displays the date created and the last date it was updated. If the preprint has been submitted to a journal, there is a descriptive statement on the first page of the PDF that includes the status, and if it has been accepted the journal title is also available.

If previous versions of the preprint exist, the record includes links to each one directly underneath the PDF. Lastly, each record includes guidance for citing the preprint. All entries in PsyArXiv are labeled as preprints, but most do not have a prominent statement declaring that it has not been peer-reviewed, which does not align with the Committee on Publication Ethics preprint guidance.20 Sometimes the PDF preprint document includes this type of clarifying statement on the first page.

Critical Evaluation PsyArXiv is the only platform in North America dedicated to making psychology and psychological science papers available to scholars, students, and the general public prior to peer review. It contains an

abundance of preprints across all areas of psychology and has seen steady growth and increased usage, thus improving access to research and grey literature in psychology.21 Drawbacks include some accessibility issues and a lack of prominent notices on preprints indicating they have not gone through the peer review process.

Clear indications of preprint version number and links to related research outputs add much value to the experience of using PsyArXiv. The ability to search using Boolean operators and truncation, and resort results by date are also useful. Searching and navigating PsyArXiv content is relatively simple due to the uncluttered layout, but users who seek additional or advanced search and sort options will be disappointed. While several advanced search options are in development or slated for the future, PsyArXiv currently lacks these and does not use a psychology-based taxonomy. In addition, the total number of results is not displayed at the top of the page; users must count the number of pages of results and multiply by ten.

Users will find that PsyArXiv works on mobile devices for both searching and navigating. When checked against the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool, however, the results show PsyArXiv lacks informative page titles, heading structures, page regions, and lan-

Free Text Keywords: preprints | working papers | grey literature | open access | open scholarship | scholarly communication Primary Category: Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology Type of product being reviewed: Publisher or Organization content/repository Target Audience: General public; Undergraduate (including community colleges); Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access: Open Access

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PsyArXiv Review Scores Composite: HHH 1/2 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHH

Abundance of pre-peer review Open Access content across all areas of psychology; growing number of submissions; and links to associated research outputs.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHH

Uncluttered user interface, but limited search and sort options (more are in development). Mobile-friendly but does not meet all accessibility standards.

Pricing: N/A Open Access

Purchase/Contract Options:

N/A

Open Access

guage identification.22 These errors negatively impact the way screen reader software navigates content for users.

PsyArXiv is situated in a flourishing landscape of preprint servers, open science, and open scholarship. It is one of 56 preprint servers currently operating, as preprints are seeing growth in most disciplines.23 A few preprint services have been purchased by vendors (e.g., Elsevier bought SSRN), while others such as PsyArXiv have aligned themselves more closely with institutions and scientific societies, and some have gone out of operation altogether.

Overall, PsyArXiv is likely to grow rapidly due to its growth and rising usage in psychology.24 In addition, the American Psychological Association (APA) has chosen PsyArXiv as its designated preprint server to facilitate journal submissions to APA journals.25 Its longevity depends on funding from its member institutions, but there is currently no proven model for preprints services’ financial sustainability.26

Competitive Products No other Open Access preprint platform dedicated to psychological science currently exists in North America due to a similar platform, Cogprints, ceasing in 2017. Psycharchives.org is the only other preprint platform dedicated to psychology, but it is based in Germany and is smaller in scale.

Users seeking the latest research in psychological science should scan closely related platforms such as SocArXiv, BioRxiv, and MedRxiv because psychology researchers often use the preprint server for the discipline in which they are embedded. SocArXiv is the primary server for preprints in social sciences, including sociology, psychology, counseling, and social work. BioRxiv, a preprint server for biology, currently hosts thousands of papers on neuroscience, the coronavirus, and animal behavior and cognition. The preprint platform for health sciences, MedRxiv, contains a plethora of papers on psychiatry, clinical psychology, neurology, and COVID-19.

Those interested in up-to-date psychological research can also benefit from searching a multidisciplinary preprint platform, for example the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), owned by Elsevier, or Preprints.org from the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Insti-

tute (MDPI). SSRN is a research network in addition to hosting preprints for 60 disciplines.27 Two of its networks could be especially interesting to those in psychology: 1) the Psychology Research Network (PsychRN) currently lists 11,777 preprints, book chapters, dissertations, presentations, and teaching materials; and 2) the Cognitive Science Network (CSN) hosts 25,376 papers. (Dahlen wrote the SSRN CC Advisor review.) While Preprints.org hosts a wide range of preprints from all disciplines, the behavioral and social sciences are well-represented.

Purchase & Contract Provisions PsyArXiv papers have no license by default, but authors can grant users further rights by applying a Creative Commons (CC) license.28 When users submit content to PsyArXiv, they are granting COS a “perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, reproduce, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, and publicly display such content”.29 Adding a CC license allows authors to retain copyright but specify how the paper can and cannot be used and how attributions should be made. PsyArXiv recommends two license types for most papers: a CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International license, which allows others to use and build on a work if they give credit; or a CC0 1.0 Universal license which places the preprint in the public domain.30 The Center for Open Science (COS) promises fifty years of preservation of all Open Science Framework (OSF)-based content, which includes PsyArXiv preprints.31 The OSF Preprints FAQs states “Preprints are part of the scholarly record and cannot be deleted.” Howev-

Contact Information The Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science E-mail:

<contact+psyarxiv@osf.io>; <sips@ improvingpsych.org> Producer URL: <http://improvingpsych.org/> Product URL: <https://psyarxiv.com/>

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er, authors can request to withdraw their preprint and the request may be accepted. In the case of withdrawal, the basic metadata including the DOI is left behind.32

Authentication No authentication is required, as PsyArXiv is Open Access with an open infrastructure.

Author’s References 1. “PsyArXiv Frequently Asked Questions,” PsyArXiv Blog, September 19, 2016, <http://blog.psyarxiv.com/2016/09/19/psyarxiv-faq/> 2. Tom Narock and Evan B. Goldstein. “Quantifying the Growth of Preprint Services Hosted by the Center for Open Science,” Publications 7, no. 2 (2019): 44, <https://doi.org/10.3390/publications7020044> 3. “Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science PsyArXiv Operating Principles.” Open Science Framework, 2019, <https://osf.io/gvaw6> 4. “Introducing PsyArXiv: A Preprint Service for Psychological Science,” PsyArXiv Blog, September 19, 2016, <http://blog.psyarxiv.com/2016/09/19/introducing-psyarxiv/> 5. “PsyArXiv Frequently Asked Questions.”

6. Xuemei Li, Mike Thelwall, and Kayvan Kousha. “The Role of ArXiv, RePEc, SSRN and PMC in Formal Scholarly Communication,” ASLIB Journal of Information Management (2015), <https://doi.org/10.1108/ajim-03-2015-0049>; Claudio Gentili and Ioana A. Cristea. “Challenges and Opportunities for Human Behavior Research in the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic,” Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020), <https://doi. org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01786> 7. David Barner, Benjamin Brown, and Alex Holcombe, “Introducing PsyArXiv: Psychology's Dedicated Open Access Digital Archive,” PsyArXiv Blog, December 8, 2016, <http://blog.psyarxiv.com/2016/12/08/psyarxiv-press-release/> 8. Kristen Cooper, Wanda Marsolek, Amy Riegelman, Shannon Farrell, and Julie Kelly. “Grey Literature: Use, Creation, and Citation Habits of Faculty Researchers across Disciplines,” Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 7, no. 1 (2019), <https://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.2314> 9. Muhsin Yesilada, Dawn Liu Holford, Marlene Wulf , Ulrike Hahn, Stephan Lewandowsky, Stefan Herzog, Marta Radosevic, Erik Stuchlý, Katie Taylor, Siyan Ye, Gaurav Saxena, Gail El-Halaby, 2021. “Who, What, Where: Tracking the Development of COVID-19 Related Psyarxiv Preprints.” PsyArXiv, (2020), <https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/evmgs> 10. “NIH Preprint Pilot,” 2021, National Institutes of Health, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/nihpreprints/> 11. Jane Radecki and Roger C. Schonfeld, “The Impacts of Covid-19 on the Research Enterprise: A Landscape Review.”

(2021). <https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.18665/sr.314247> 12. Amy Riegelman. “OSF Preprints,” The Charleston Advisor 19, no. 3 (2018): 35-38, <https://doi.org/10.5260/chara.19.3.35> 13. Narock and Goldstein.

14. Jamie J. Kirkham, Naomi C Penfold, Fiona Murphy, Isabelle Boutron, John P Ioannidis, Jessica Polka, and David Moher.

“Systematic Examination of Preprint Platforms for Use in the Medical and Biomedical Sciences Setting,” BMJ Open (2020), <https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041849>

15. “COS Requirements and Roadmap.” Center for Open Science, 2021.

16. “COS Requirements and Roadmap.”

17. “COS Requirements and Roadmap.”

18. Andrea Chiarelli, Rob Johnson, Stephen Pinfield, and Emma Rickens. Accelerating Scholarly Communication: The Transformative Role of Preprints, Knowledge Exchange, 2019: 7. <https://zenodo.org/record/3357727#.X6wnvWhKiUl> 19. “Lucene Search Query Help.” Apache Software, 2021, <http:// extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Search+Application+Query+Syntax> 20. COPE Council. “COPE Discussion Document: Preprints.” Committee on Publication Ethics, 2018, <https://publicationethics. org/files/u7140/COPE_Preprints_Mar18.pdf> 21. @PsyArXiv, Twitter post, May 19, 2020, https://twitter.com/PsyArXiv; David M. Condon, Jack Arnal, Grace Binion, Benjamin Brown, and Katherine Corker. “Not One but Many Models of Open Access Publishing,” APS Observer 33, no. 9 (2020), <https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/not-one-butmany-models-of-Open Access-publishing> 22. “WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool.” WebAIM; Utah State University, <https://wave.webaim.org/ > 23. Kirkham, et al, 28.

24. Courtney K. Soderberg, Timothy M. Errington, and Brian A. Nosek. “Credibility of Preprints: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Researchers,” Royal Society Open Science 7, no. 10 (2020): 4, <https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201520>; Lea Winerman. “Psychologists Embrace Open Science (Trends Report),” Monitor on Psychology (2017), <https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/11/ trends-open-science>; Condon, et al, 2020.

25. “APA Journals Program Collaborates with Center for Open Science to Advance Open Science Practices in Psychological Research,” American Psychological Association, 2021, <https:// www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/08/open-science> 26. Oya Y. Rieger, “Preprints in the Spotlight: Establishing Best Practices, Building Trust,” 2020: 18, <https://doi.org/10.18665/ sr.313288> 27. Sarah P.C. Dahlen. “Social Science Research Network,” CC Advisor (2017), <https://doi.org/doi:10.5260/cca.199363> 28. “About the Licenses,” Creative Commons, 2020, <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/> 29. “Center for Open Science, Inc. Terms and Conditions of Use.” Center for Open Science, 2021, <https://github.com/CenterForOpenScience/cos.io/blob/master/TERMS_OF_USE.md> 30. “Licensing Your Work on PsyArXiv,” PsyArXiv Blog, May 14, 2018, <http://blog.psyarxiv.com/2018/05/14/licensing-work-psyarxiv/> 31. Kirkham, et al.

32. “Preprint FAQs,” Open Science Framework, 2021, <https://help. osf.io/hc/en-us/articles/360019930493-Preprint-FAQs>

About the Author Margie Ruppel (she/hers) is the Social Sciences Librarian at the University of Kentucky Libraries, where she specializes in outreach, instruction, collection development, and research services for the departments of psychology, social work, sociology, and anthropology.

Outside of work, Margie enjoys growing flowers and tries to answer all of her young daughter’s questions about the world. n

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Revolution and Protest Online Date of Review: September 9, 2021

doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.43

Composite Score: HHH 1/8 Reviewed by: Thomas J. Beck Auraria Library, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado

Abstract Revolution and Protest Online is an Alexander Street resource, which provides documents, images and videos on revolutions and resistance, protest, and social movements from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. It can be purchased as a standalone collection with a perpetual access license, or it can be accessed as a Related Collection through a subscription to Global Issues Library, another Alexander Street resource. This database contains original documents and images in PDF format, as well as e-books, monographs, journals, and videos. These are drawn from a variety of national and international sources, and collectively represent several hundred images, almost 200 videos, and nearly 100,000 pages of content.

This database is not difficult to navigate, and finding materials there is relatively easy, using either the basic or advanced searches or through browsing. These various search and browse functions can produce useful results, and are easily understandable, though the advanced search is arguably the most flexible and effective (but also the most complex!). Pricing for this database is based on an institution’s budget, FTE, and whatever consortia arrangements it and other institutions make with the vendor. As a consequence, its price can vary considerably from one subscriber to another! For a specific price quote, contact Alexander Street. Its licensing agreement is quite average in its length and composition and is apparently the standard one for the vendor. The quality, quantity, and variety of materials in this database is notable. It will certainly be of use to those researching the political, historical, and social aspects of revolution and protest, both in the United States and around the world. However, given its price variability, it may only be of marginal value to institutions with a high purchase/subscription price and a low demand for these kinds of materials.

Pricing Options Pricing is determined by an institution’s FTE, budget, and consortia arrangement. This database can be accessed as part of a Global Issues Library subscription or as a standalone collection purchased with a Perpetual Access License. Unfortunately, the vendor provides no more information than this, so please contact them for pricing specific to your institution.

Product Overview/Description This database is a collection of materials on revolution and protest movements from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century, and their impact on social and political change in that time period. At its completion, this resource will be a compilation of 100,000 pages of journals, e-books, reports, monographs, personal papers, organizational and government documents, and speeches. It will also contain more than 1,000 images and 175 hours of video. At present there are (or will be shortly), 12 collections, 55 archival collections, and 464 in-

<thomas.j.beck@ucdenver.edu>

dividual titles (e-books, videos, etc.) in this database. These include, but are not limited to, the Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies; General Records of the Department of State; Fascism in Spain Image Collection; Mexican Revolution Image Collection; Costa Rica: Politics, Economics, and Democracy; and Women and Civil War: Impact, Organizations, and Action. The various titles and collections here come from both national and international sources (the United Kingdom, South Africa, France, etc.). This database can be viewed in any one of 97 languages. Chinese (both traditional and simplified), English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian, are just a few of these.

This database is compatible with the current and previous versions of the browsers Firefox and Google Chrome (for both Windows and Mac OS X), Mojave (for Max OS X) and Microsoft Edge (for Windows). DRM playback is not supported on iOS devices or the Apple Safari browser, and playback outside of the United States is prevented. Remote and unlimited concurrent access are both available for authorized users. A subscriber can share a link to a document or put it on a webpage, and these links will be durable, but they don’t necessarily meet the Open URL standard. Subscribers using the link will have full access, but those without paid access will be prompted to log in. If the link is to a video, they will be shown a 30 second preview, along with the full transcript and metadata.

Those looking for primary and secondary sources, videos and images on revolution and related topics are the primary audience for this database, including students and researchers in political science, history, sociology, and anthropology. It will be most suitable for graduate and undergraduate students. Secondary students, on the other hand, will find it of limited use. Like all other digital collections in the Global Issues Library, the collections in this database are static, so the number of pages and hours of video available here are unchanging. As a consequence, current protest movements, such as BLM (Black Lives Matter) or Me Too, are not included.

User Interface/Navigation/Searching The landing page for this resource is both colorful and evocative. In the upper left-hand corner of the page is a single search bar (the basic search), next to an advanced search tab. Beneath these are 12 browsing tabs, that allow the user to browse titles, revolution and protest events and areas, revolution and protest themes, archival collections, publishers, discipline perspectives, subjects, authors/creators, people discussed, places discussed, organizations discussed, and content types. Below these are additional tabs, labeled Featured Events. Presumably these can change over time, but at the time of this writing they included Revolution and Protest Context, European Revolutions of 1848; Russian Revolution, 1905 and 1917; Chinese Revolution of 1911; Egyptian Revolution, 1952; Iranian Revolution, 1953-1979; Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro Regime, 1953-2011; Hungarian

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Revolution, 1956; and Arab Spring, 2010-2011. At the top of the page is another single search bar (in the upper right-hand corner) and a menu button. This database is only one of many provided by Alexander Street. This search button and the various tabs under the menu button allow the user to search one or more of the different Alexander Street databases an institution may subscribe to. These additional tabs permit searching or browsing by individual database, discipline, title, publisher, playlist, and/or clip. There is also an advanced search.

However, if a subscriber has only one database from this vendor this additional search and browse functionality will be of little use!

The single search bar in the upper left-hand corner of the page (the one that searches only Revolution and Protest Online) offers the user no limiters of any kind, except for those present on the results page generated by the search (described below). The advanced search is far more complex and multilayered. The first three options here are to search Words Anywhere, Full Text/Transcripts, and Title and Series.

The remaining 12 options are: Global Event and Area; Author/Creator; Contributor; Publisher; Subject; Discipline Perspective; Global Theme; Person Discussed; Place Discussed; Organization Discussed; and Cultural Group Discussed. Each of these 12 has a Select Terms limiter, which varies in its composition depending on the option selected. For example, these limiters for Global Event and Area include the American Revolution, the Arab Spring, the Boxer Rebellion, the French Revolution, the Prague Spring, the Russian Revolution, and the Velvet Revolution, among many others. Those for Author/Creator, on the other hand, include the names of archives, companies, and institutions (e.g., 13 Productions, 1947 Partition Archives, United Kingdom Admiralty, Heritage Foundation, Young Christian Workers, etc.), as well the names of individual authors (e.g., Tony Benn, Louis Blanc, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Vladimir Lenin, Winston Churchill, Rosa Luxemburg, etc.). At the bottom of the advanced search page the user can find additional limiters: areas of interest (international law, human trafficking, sustainability, terrorism, social issues, and many more), format (text, video, or related web resources), date (either written/recorded or published/released), language, content type (book, case study, chapter, essay, photograph, and many more), archive and archive collection, accession number, collection (this is only applicable if an institution subscribes to more than one of the vendor’s databases), and how to sort results (relevance, title, newest first, or oldest first).

Because of the substantial differences between the single search bar and the advanced search, the results generated by each can vary substantially. The basic search is a default Boolean AND search, and per the vendor it is identical to the advanced search for Words Anywhere, with no other limiters being used. However, this isn’t perfectly accurate in practice! The following searches (performed on August 8, 2021) demonstrate this. A basic search for “Haitian Revolution” produced 47 results, while a Words Anywhere advanced search for these terms produced 44. Also, a basic search for “Cuban Revolution” generated 1,622 results and a Words Anywhere search generated 1,621. The reason for this discrepancy is unknown. However, the results produced by the basic and advanced searches here were very nearly identical, though not perfectly so, and many were on point for the query made. For example, the two searches for “Cuban Revolution” produced “Cuban Revolution 1953-1959 Image Collection” (Bridgeman Art Library), “The United States and the Cuban Revolution, 1958-1960” (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, 1988), and “Correspondence between D. C. Hopson and R. J. M. Wilson, with Enclosure, re: Impact of the Cuban Revolution on Latin America, 1961” (Foreign Office, United Kingdom). The two searches for “Haitian Revolution” generated “Echoes of the Haitian Revolution,

1804-2004” (University of the West Indies Press, 2009), “Viewpoints/ Puntos de Vista: Themes and Interpretations in Latin American History, A Concise History of the Haitian Revolution” (Wiley Blackwell, 2012), and “Haitian Revolution Image Collection” (Bridgeman Art Library).

Despite the above-mentioned similarities between the basic and advanced searches, the latter does provide a much wider range of options to the user when shaping a query! The various limiters there, already mentioned above, are examples of that. One of these that can be particularly useful in targeting a query is the advanced search, Title and Series. Queries submitted here (again on August 8, 2021) for “Haitian Revolution” and “Cuban Revolution” produced 14 and 94 results, respectively; substantially less than Words Anywhere or the basic search. These results included not only some of the items already mentioned previously, but also “Letter from Edward Mathew to Henry Dundas, February 9, 1792 (Colonial Office, United Kingdom), “Buletin de St. Domingue with Translation, December 1791 to January 10, 1792” (Colonial Office, United Kingdom), “Anniversaries: Request Advice About Cuban Invitation to 26th July Celebrations, July 3, 1963” (United Kingdom Embassy, Havana, Cuba), and “Christian Social Movement: A Declaration of Principles -- A Message to Cuban Protestants, by Cuba Council of Churches, November 28-30, 1960” (U.S. Department of State).

Once a basic or advanced search is performed, the results pages will have identical formats. The user has the option to search within the results list by name or keyword. Results are unnumbered and listed by relevance (though the user can change that to newest first, oldest first, or title). These are documents and images of various kinds.

The title of each is indicated as well as one or more of the following: author, source, place of publication/production, date, publisher/producer, number of pages, a summary, and a thumbnail of the document/image. These can be e-mailed, saved to a list (folder), or shared.

The last of these is multifaceted, and includes options to cite, print, e-mail, export (to EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, etc.), save, share (via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.), and/or add to a playlist. There are various limiters in a column on the left-hand side of the page.

These are broken into two broad categories: Global Issues and Refine Your Search. The former (which is arguably misnamed) indicates how many titles in the results list fall into certain topic categories, including Global Issues, Politics & Current Affairs, Religion & Thought, etc., any of which the user can click on and view. The latter allows the user to sort and then view the titles on the results list in numerous ways, including by format, content type, author/creator, subject, publisher, archival collection, and several others.

When any item is selected from the results list how it appears will depend on whether it’s a document or image, or video. Documents and images will be displayed in PDF format. The first page of the document or the primary image being viewed will be at the center of the screen. Thumbnails of all of the pages/images available within the item will be in a column on the left, beneath the citation for document/image. These thumbnails are numbered and can be viewed by clicking on them. The user can switch to a dual page view, in which two pages/images will show at the center of the screen with the thumbnails still on the left. Permalinks/ embed codes can be generated for each item, and it can be cited, emailed, added to a playlist or list (folder), or shared (as mentioned above, this includes sharing via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.; printing; exporting, and so on).

The user can search for key words within an item, see a contents page for it, or view other items related to it. There are also text selection and hand tools, which allow the user to mark and select text in a PDF

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

document. The page/image can be magnified or reduced (or even taken to full screen). Scrolling from one page/image to another can be wrapped, or done horizontally or vertically.

When a video is selected from the results list it will appear on the lefthand side and center of the screen, next to a transcript on the right.

Beneath the video the user will find its title, director, producer, production company, publisher, place of publication/release, release date, and duration, as well as Related Items (i.e., additional documents, images, and videos). The user can make, save, update, or delete a clip from the video; bookmark a position in it: enlarge or reduce the image (including going to full screen); adjust audio and video quality; and view a visual table of contents. When dialog and narration are heard in the video it’s also highlighted in the transcript. Finding words or phrases in the transcript can be done easily, as it is keyword searchable. Additional detail on the video can found under the Details tab behind the transcript. There the user will find a summary of the film, its field of interest, subject, key words, and much more. These videos can be sent to a mobile phone, and also cited, e-mailed, shared, etc., just as documents and images can.

Critical Evaluation The search and browse functions in Revolution and Protest Online are generally effective and understandable, though the advanced search is multilayered and can be complex in some instances. However, the advanced search is the most effective way to target a query and get a manageable list of on-point results, so many users may find it preferable to other search and browse functions available here.

Database content is both extensive and varied, and includes journals, e-books, monographs, reports, speeches, personal papers, organizational and government documents, videos, and a wide array of images. These are either individual titles, or grouped into collections and archival collections, and are drawn from both national and international sources. All of these materials amount to approximately 100,000 pages of content and almost 200 hours of video! While many of these come from foreign and domestic government agencies, like the U.S. State Department and the British Admiralty, and therefore may be publicly available, many others are not. A sizeable amount of materials here come from Cambridge University Press, Cornell University Press, New York University Press, and various other private publishers and entities, and as a consequence are not freely available. The videos here are of high quality and are drawn from reputa-

Free Text Keywords: revolution | protest | rebellion | social movement | civil war | resistance | civil disobedience | non-violent movements | student movements | labor movements | Fascism | Communism | Socialism Primary Category: History & Area Studies Secondary Categories: Humanities; Political Science & Law; Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology Type of product being reviewed: Image database; Ebook collection; Ejournal collection; Primary source digital content; Reports; Streaming video Target Audience: Undergraduate (including community colleges); Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access: One-time purchase; Subscription

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ble sources, like the WGBH Educational Foundation and Filmakers Library. The PDF images and documents are of varying quality, but thanks to the database’s magnification and rotation functions they are generally readable. This database can be viewed in any one of 97 languages from three continents (Africa, Asia, and Europe).

Because the cost of this resource is determined by a subscriber’s FTE, budget and consortia agreements, pricing for it may vary noticeably from one institution to another. For that reason, potential subscribers should contact the vendor for a price specific to their institution.

Researchers, undergraduate, and graduate students looking for information on revolutions, protest movements, and related topics will find this a very useful resource. However, to what degree it will be of use to any institution will depend on the demand there for this kind of information versus its price, which in some instances might be substantial!

Competitive Products Alexander Street, the vendor for this database, is a ProQuest company. ProQuest has another database, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Leftist Newspapers and Periodicals that may be a competitor for this one. However, its scope is far narrower than Revolution and Protest Online, as it focuses on communist and socialist movements and ideology and no other kinds of revolutionary and social movements.

Several history, political science, social science, and multi-subject databases can also provide information on revolutions and protest movements, but generally not with this database’s scope or depth.

These include Historical Abstracts with Full Text (from EBSCO), JSTOR (from ITHAKA), Original Sources (from Western Standard), Academic Search Premier, and Academic Search Complete (from EBSCO), and Academic OneFile (from Gale). There are also a number of academic streaming services that provide videos on these topics, such as Films on Demand, Academic Video Online (AVON), and Docuseek 2. To what degree any of the above resources can serve as substitutes for Revolution and Protest Online will depend on an institution’s need for this kind of information, its budget, and its already existing suite of databases.

Purchase & Contract Provisions This agreement is slightly less than four pages in length, and its provisions are generally standard ones. The vendor for this database is Alexander Street, a ProQuest company, and it uses a ProQuest licensing agreement for all of its resources. The authorized users allowed in this agreement are” library staff, individual residents of Customer’s reasonably defined geographic area served, and walk-in patrons while they are on-site,” for public libraries, “currently enrolled students, faculty, staff, and visiting scholars, as well as walk-in patrons while they are on-site,” for schools and academic institutions, and “employees and independent contractors, while performing their work,” for other kinds of organizations. Other authorized users can be added to the Order Form or Additional Sites Schedule (though under what conditions is unclear). Conditions here regarding authentication, remote access, Limited Warranty and Disclaimer of Warranty, and Limitation of Liability are much like those found in other licensing agreements of this type.

As regards videos, institutions “shall not download or otherwise copy the streaming videos or audio contained in the Service. In the case of content that can potentially be publicly performed, Customer must secure permission from ProQuest’s Licensor and/or the copyright holder for any public performance other than reasonable classroom and educational uses.” As mentioned above, Revolution and Protest Online can be purchased using a

46 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

Revolution and Protest Online Review Scores Composite: HHH 1/8 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHH 1/2

This is a resource for documents, images and videos on revolutions and resistance, protest, and social movements from the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries, equaling roughly 100,000 pages of content. These are of varying visual quality, but are still readable and understandable, nevertheless. They are drawn from a variety of national, international, public, and private sources. However, the collections available here are static and won’t be updated or expanded, so current revolutionary and protest movements are often not included.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHH

The search and browse functions in this resource are generally straightforward, though occasionally complex. However, both can be used effectively and produce numerous on-point results.

Pricing: N/A The vendor’s pricing policies are vague, and pricing can vary considerably, as it is based on an institution’s budget, FTE, and consortia arrangements.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHH

The licensing agreement is generally a standard one and offers little cause for concern.

perpetual archive license (PAL). Purchasers pay a one-time fee for this license, as well as an annual Continuing Service Fee. The provisions of this agreement are unconcerning, as they are generally standard ones. However, those considering a subscription to this resource should read it carefully before signing it, and with the aid of legal counsel, if at all possible.

Contact Information Alexander Street 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 1400 Bethesda, MD 20814 Phone: (800) 521-0600 Producer URL: <https://www.proquest.com> Product URL: <https://alexanderstreet.com/products/ revolution-and-protest-online>

Authentication This database offers several authentication methods, including IP, Proxy, Open Athens, Shibboleth, library barcode, and user name/ password.

About the Author Thomas J. Beck is a Teaching & Learning Librarian at the Auraria Library, at the University of Colorado Denver. He provides library instruction to students in a classroom setting and in-person reference to library users. He also develops subject research guides for assigned subject areas and is one of his library’s liaisons to campus faculty working in the said areas. Prior to working at the Auraria Library (where he has been since 2000), he was a reference librarian at the Englewood Public Library, Englewood, CO from 1996-2000. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1985 and his MLS from Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, in 1995. n

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text Date of Review: September 2, 2021

doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.47

Composite Score: HHHH Reviewed by: Alyson Vaaler Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

Abstract RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text (RAFT) is published by RILM, an internationally recognized authority on providing bibliographic access to music research. The database includes over a million bibliographic records with coverage from the early 1800’s to the present. Full text coverage of more than 250 journals provides additional value to this database. The full text titles are unique to the database and there is very little overlap with other music databases. The comprehensives and quality of RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text is unrivaled among music databases.

The EBSCO interface of RAFT is familiar to many users and offers easy integration with other heavily used music databases, such as Music Index with Full Text and RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals. The heavy coverage of foreign language content and sheer size of the citations may make RAF intimidating to the novice music researcher. However, RILM’s authority on music research and interdisciplinary content make RAFT a necessary database for serious upper-level music research.

Pricing Pricing varies per institution depending on factors such as FTE, existing EBSCO database subscriptions, and consortium agreements. Vendor must be contacted for specific pricing.

Overview RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text is published by the non-profit organization Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM). RILM is an internationally recognized authority on providing bibliographic access to music research. Shortly after RILM’s founding in 1965, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature was published as the first abstracted bibliography in the humanities. Since 1994, it has been available via the EBSCOhost platform. Access is provided to over one million bibliographic records which date from the early 1800’s through the present. Content is pulled from nearly 2,000 music journals and 11,000 interdisciplinary journals. In addition to articles, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature provides access to additional material such as conference proceedings, dissertations, monographs, and essay collections. Subjects range from anthropology, folklore, literature, religion, psychology, sociology, and more.

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature also covers international periodicals, with content from 174 countries.

In July 2016, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature expanded by adding access to music periodicals in full text, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text (RAFT). This expansion includes cover to cover full text access to over 250 journals, including nearly 400,000 full text articles, with approximately 10 full text journals added year-

<asvaaler@library.tamu.edu>

ly. Full text access spans 50 countries and content dates from the early twentieth century to current publications. In addition to articles, full text access is also available for various content types such as editorials, obituaries, advertisements, reviews, and more. Most of the full text access features complete runs of scholarly journals and the content coverage of the full text journals is particularly strong in the areas of music history, musicology, and ethnomusicology.

User Interface RAFT is offered on the EBSCO interface, an interface that many users are likely familiar with. Users can conduct a basic search or advanced search and keep a record of their search history. Advanced search options allow users to limit searches by language, document type, major topics, and peer reviewed journals. Users can also use a RILM created classification system to search for material based on style, geographic location, function, and more. <https://www.rilm. org/abstracts/classification/> The document type search facet is especially useful to users because RAFT contains many different forms of content such as obituaries, product reviews, letters, entertainment reviews, and more. From the results screen, users have the ability to save items to a folder, but must create a free account and sign in to access the folder items at a later date.

The EBSCO interface is also useful because it allows simultaneous searching on Music Index with Full Text and RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (if the library subscribes to these products), two other heavily used databases in music research.

All EBSCO platforms are ADA compliant. EBSCO also completes annual accessibility audits by a qualified third party and tests platforms with both JAWS and NVDA. <https://www.ebsco.com/technology/accessibility>

Critical Evaluation RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text (RAFT) is published from an internationally recognized authority on bibliographic music research. The product is comprehensive both in scope and content offerings. The full text offerings add additional value to the product and there is very little overlap with Music Index with Full Text, a sister music database offering from EBSCO. Both databases can be accessed via the EBSCOhost platform making it possible to search both simultaneously. The EBSCOhost platform is easy to navigate based on its familiarity to many users.

The sheer size of RAFT, as well as its coverage of items in foreign languages, may make it an intimidating product to use for the casual or novice music researcher. However, RAFT’s comprehensiveness of music content, especially pertaining to interdisciplinary music re-

48 Advisor Reviews / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text Review Scores Composite: HHHH The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHHH

The comprehensiveness and quality of the information in this database is unrivaled among music databases. RILM is also an internationally recognized authority on music research and provides continual access to up-to-date and new content.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHHH

The EBSCO interface is largely recognized by users and offers simultaneous searching with other EBSCO music databases such as Music Index and RIPM (if the library subscribes to these products).

Pricing: N/A Largely dependent on an institution’s FTE, current EBSCO subscriptions and ability to negotiate packages/prices.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHH

General standard contract limiting use to authorized users and prohibiting database use for commercial gain. Specific library clauses would need to be clarified and negotiated by the subscribing library.

search and international material, make it an unrivaled music research tool in the field. Judicious use of search terms, limiters, and key words are important to use in navigating the results in this product.

Competitive Products Three other music databases are used frequently for music research.

They are Music Periodicals Database (formally International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP), Music Index with Full Text and RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals. The main differences between these databases are the subjects and dates that they cover.

Music Periodicals Database (ProQuest) includes over 600,000 article records, the majority of which index the most recent eight years of publication. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 600 international music journals, plus full text for 220 journals.

The abstracts and full text date from 1874 to the present, covering a wide array of musical styles and topics, including music education and music theory.

Music Index with Full Text (EBSCOhost) is similar to Music Periodicals Database in content coverage and scope. The database includes over 2 million records from 40 countries, with English translations from 22 languages. Coverage includes content from 1964 to the present and subjects covered span a wide variety of musical styles and subjects including music education, performance, dance, and music history. Aside from journal articles, Music Index also includes other types of material such as bibliographies, obituaries, product reviews, and more. The full text journals in Music Index with Full Text include about 214 journals, half of which are scholarly, peer reviewed journals. The other half represent magazines, newsletters, or trade journals. The subject content of the full text journals varies widely and includes music education, instrument specific publications, as well as publications on ethnomusicology and folk music. There is very little full text overlap with RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text.

RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals. provides indexing coverage to music periodicals from 1760-1966. It is an important database for primary source materials and in addition to articles, includes advertisements, press reviews, illustrations, and more. Most of the periodicals focus on European and American musical culture.

RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals. is often used as a complementary database to RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text.

Purchase Contract EBSCO products have a standard license agreement (<https://www. ebsco.com/license-agreement>) for academic libraries. Of note, authorized users include employees, students, or other patrons authorized to use library databases, but do not cover alumni users. Remote access is permitted to patrons of the subscribing library. Users can download, print, and store information from the database for personal use, but not for commercial gain. Text data mining clauses are available in license agreements as additional terms, depending on the database.

Free Text Keywords: music | musicology | ethnomusicology Primary Category: Music, Theater, Film Studies Secondary Categories: Humanities; Multidisciplinary (or interdisciplinary) Target Audience: Undergraduate, Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access Type(s): Subscription Review Type(s): Abstract & Indexing, Aggregator Database

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

Authentication A variety of authentication methods are available including IP address, patterned IDs, referring URL, cookie, OpenAthens, Shibboleth, and others. <https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/What-authentication-methods-are-available-for-accessing-EBSCO-interfaces?language=en_US>

Author’s References Day, David, “Music Periodical Indexes: An Introduction to Four Music Periodical Indexes.” MusRef. Brigham Young University, July 2020. <https://musref.lib.byu.edu/music-periodical-indexes/>

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Contact Information EBSCO 10 Estes Street Ipswich, MA 01938 Phone: (978) 356-6500 E-mail: <https://www.ebsco.com/contact/generalinquiries> Producer URL: <https://www.ebsco.com/> Product URL: <https://www.ebsco.com/products/researchdatabases/rilm-abstracts-music-literature-fulltext>

Green, Alan. “Keeping Up with the Times: Evaluating Currency of Indexing, Language Coverage and Subject Area Coverage in the Three Music Periodical Databases,” Music Reference Services Quarterly 8, no.1 (2001): 53-68.

Jenkins, Martin. “A Descriptive Study of Subject Indexing and Abstracting in ‘International Index to Music Periodicals,’ ‘RILM Abstracts of Music Literature,’ and ‘The Music Index Online.’” Notes 57, no.4 (2001): 834-863.

Troutman, Leslie. “Comprehensiveness of Indexing in Three Music Periodical Index Databases.” Music Reference Services Quarterly 8, no.1 (2001): 39-51.

About the Author Alyson Vaaler is an assistant professor and business librarian at the Business Library & Collaboration Commons at Texas A&M University. She received a B.A. in music history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a M.M. in music history and literature and M.L.I.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. n

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ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW

Theology & Religion Online doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.50

Date of Review: August 10, 2021

Composite Score: HHHH 1/4 Reviewed by: Larry Sheret Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia

<sheret@marshall.edu>

Abstract

Product Overview/Description

Theology & Religion Online (TARO) is a digital repository consisting of four library collections that focus on Protestant and Catholic doctrine, studies into the historical Jesus, and religion in North America (see Figure 1). It includes newly digitized primary texts by major theologians, multi-volume works, references, e-books, chapters, articles, an image library, peer-reviewed secondary readings on core topics, and commentary on lectionaries. This Christ-focused resource is rounded out with a library covering the diverse religious traditions of North America and the hot topics spawned at the intersection of ethics, social movements, and religion. This database is curated and presented in a way that high school students, college students, and scholars will find easy to navigate with authoritative resources that are comprehensive and regularly added to.

Founded in 1986, Bloomsbury Publishing is a relatively young company. Known for its Harry Potter series, it branched out into academic publishing in 2008. The breadth and depth of its academic products has come, in part, by purchasing other publishers, such as T&T Clark, which was founded in 1821, A & C Black (EST 1807), Methuen Publishing Co. (EST 1889), and Fairchild Publications (EST 1892). Although these are established publishers, it is their newer and digitally exclusive titles that are included in TARO. Having assembled a vast list of fiction and non-fiction books in a wide variety of topics, Bloomsbury created collections of its premier titles in religion and made them available online along with other curated and invited works. T&T Clark Theology Library was the first collection launched in the fall of 2019.

Pricing Options Subscriptions to the four library collections that comprise TARO may be purchased individually or as a bundled set. TARO is a multi-collection research hub. Each collection is available via annual subscription or perpetual access and pricing is based on institution type and FTE. Subscription pricing ranges from $567 to $5,187 for each collection and perpetual access pricing ranges from $3,401 to $31,122 for each collection. Customers who purchase T&T Clark Jesus Library and Library of Catholic Thought via perpetual access pay an annual hosting fee ranging from $200 - $600, and customers who purchase T&T Clark Theology Library and Bloomsbury Religion in North America via perpetual access pay an annual content update fee ranging from $600 - $1,000. Both sets of perpetual access fees are based on institution type and FTE. Consortia pricing is available.

Theology & Religion Online (TARO) consists of four (soon to be six) distinct collections which include the T&T Clark Theology Library, the T&T Clark Jesus Library, the Library of Catholic Thought (T&T Clark Catholic Library) and Bloomsbury Religion in North America.

The focus of the collections is Jesus, Christian doctrine and history, with its roots in Judaism and the Old Testament. However, Bloomsbury Religion in North America includes all major faith traditions including Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and lesser-known sects.

T&T Clark Theology Library | Theology and Religion Online (106 titles, consisting of multi-volume encyclopedias, books, book chapters and articles) <https://www.theologyandreligiononline. com/tt-clark-theology-library> “Includes primary texts and exclusively commissioned introductory articles written by key academics on theologians and theological doctrines. Search and browse recently added titles or browse by topic.

The first of several collections presented on the Theology & Religion Online platform.” This collection is anchored by an exclusive digital version of Carl Barth’s 6,000,000-word magnum opus Church Dogmatics, a 31-volume set, which is one of the most important 20th century works on Protestant theology.

T&T Clark Jesus Library | Theology and Religion Online (67 titles) <https://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/tt-clark-jesus-library>

FIGURE 1 Theology & Religion Online Home Page Image and Description

The T&T Clark Jesus Library offers core resources for studying the life of Jesus and his impact in history and culture. Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries was published in 2020 and includes Vol. 1: From Paul to Josephus: Literary Receptions of Jesus in the First Century CE; Vol. 2: From Thomas to Tertullian: Christian Literary Receptions of Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE; Vol. 3: From Celsus to the Catacombs: Visual, Liturgical, and Non-Christian

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Receptions of Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE. As with the other collections, topical articles are included that have been written by leading academics exclusively for this resource.

Citations are provided for all content in the database in Chicago, APA, and MLA styles. Citations include DOIs down to the chapter level. A list of related readings is also provided with the search results.

Library of Catholic Thought | Theology and Religion Online (55 titles) <https://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/library-of-catholic-thought>

The site is mostly in compliance with accessibility standards Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1. Content is full text and is displayed in HTML for ease of resizing and reading with assistive technology. Mark-up allows screen readers and keyboard only controls to navigate the site and text. Audio and video content is closed captioned, and transcripts are synchronized.

Color contrast ratios ensure accessibility for colorblind and visually impaired users. The World Map, the Timeline, and Museum browse page thumbnails are not yet keyboard-only navigable, but those resources constitute a relatively small percentage of the whole library.

The Library of Catholic Thought, part of Theology and Religion Online, presents essential resources for studying the development of Catholic thought and theology. A key element of the library is the new fully revised third edition of the Jerome Biblical Commentary, titled The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. This 2-million-word project by leading Catholic biblical scholars features a preface by Pope Francis and is digitally exclusive to this resource.

In addition to the biblical commentaries themselves, which are linked to a digital edition of the New American Bible, topical articles cover such themes as social justice, ethics, the Bible in the life of the Church and the Bible in diverse contexts.

Bloomsbury Religion in North America | Theology and Religion Online (228 titles) <https://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/ bloomsbury-religion-in-north-america> “Peer-reviewed articles are organized around key themes for courses in religion in North America. 'The Basics' sections cover broad global introductions to religious traditions suitable for introductory courses on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. 'Religious Traditions' and 'Themes in Religion' Sections give more of an in-depth approach to the North American context and combine overview articles, main articles, case studies, hot topics as well as e-book content.”

User Interface/Navigation/Searching Most users will feel instantly familiar with how to get around the site as the layout is similar to the EBSCOhost platform. The search bar appears at the top of every screen. The default setting is for a keyword search across all four collections, or of those subscribed to. Search results are displayed in the center of the page with the left margin displaying numerous facets that are available to narrow the search.

Depending on the search, facets that have no content are not shown.

The search term appears in yellow highlight wherever it appears in the search results that may be displayed by ascending or descending date, ascending or descending title, or relevance, with 5, 10, or 20 hits per page.

The Advanced Search function accommodates phrase and Boolean, but not wildcards, truncation, or proximity searches. A “content type” menu is provided in the Advanced Search that includes articles, audio, book chapters, case studies, exhibition, hot topics, images, Jesus Library introductory articles, main articles, museum, museum objects, overview articles, reference scripture, theologian introductory articles, and e-books. Selected items on the hits page may be saved to a personal account, printed, or shared via Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

The site works well with any screen reader and any size display, including mobile devices. It functions well with major browsers.

Critical Evaluation The collection is a great resource for background information as well as scholarly research. To see what would come up on the topic of Monophysites, a search of “became the Son of God” provided information about the Ethiopian Church, which has held that the Logos became the Son of God when his divinity admixed with physical nature when he was conceived in Mary. The passage can be printed, and a link generated so as to get back to the passage easily, but it cannot be copied. Print Screen will not work. Snagit Capture was used to get this image of the passage (see Figure 2).

The text is in HTML, which makes it highly accessible, but pagination would normally be lost. This problem has been resolved. Observing the insert, notice the line near the top of the text and the number 261 on the right side of the text. This indicates where the page appears in the PDF version of the book. This feature makes it easy for students to cite the proper page number without requiring the PDF version of the book.

Catholic theology is expounded in modern commentaries of Jerome and others, and Protestant theology by Carl Barth and others. Orthodox Christianity and other sects are covered throughout the collection although no section is specifically dedicated to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Scholars have access to something about every subject, with ample scholarly exposition on important topics. Because of the careful curation of the collection, there is not much overlap, but there are some gaps which are being addressed by annual updates to the collections. For example, a new digitally exclusive five-volume Encylopedia of Christian Theology as well as handbooks and companions have been commissioned and will be added to the T&T Clark Theology Library.

TARO will bring significantly more breadth and depth by adding two stand-alone collections by the end of 2021. The six-volume Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, totaling 7,000,000 words, and the Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries.

FIGURE 2 Passage Image from Theology & Religion Online

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Theology & Religion Online Review Scores Composite: HHHH 1/4 The maximum number of stars in each category is 5.

Content:

HHHH 1/2

Exclusive online content, authoritative texts, well-rounded variety of curated texts with topic breadth and depth.

User Interface/Searchability:

HHHH

The search is similar to the EBSCOhost platform which is the industry standard. Minor glitches when browsing with Brave.

Pricing:

HHHH

Pricing for perpetual access the best value.

Purchase/Contract Options:

HHHH 1/2

Each of the four collections may be subscribed to separately or together as a package.

The topics in eBooks are broken out by chapter. Different chapters appear in different subject and topic areas rather than assembled within a single book. An exception to this is the multivolume eBooks that may be read from beginning to end. Searchable “content types” include Overview Articles, Reference, Case Studies, Theologian Introductory Articles, Image, Scripture, Exhibition, Museum Object, Museum, Audio, and Main Articles, which are usually derived from chapters in the eBooks collection. Articles run from short, a page or two, to as long as a book chapter.

Hot Topics and Case Studies reside primarily within the Religions of North America collection and Museum primarily within The Library of Catholic Thought. It is not possible to search within only one of the four library collections unless only one of them has been subscribed to. Searches always include all the content to which the user is subscribed.

Hot Topics tend to be short, a page to several pages in length. Almost everything in the collection includes a list of references for further

Free Text Keywords: theology | biblical studies | religious studies | patristics | church history | philosophy | arts | catechism | lectionaries | missals | Catholic theology Primary Category: Philosophy & Religion Secondary Categories: General Reference; History & Area Studies; Humanities; Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology Type of product being reviewed: Ebook collection; Encyclopedia/Handbook/Directory/Dictionary; Primary source digital content; Publisher or Organization content/repository Target Audience: Secondary; General public; Undergraduate (including community colleges); Graduate/Faculty/Researcher Access: One-time purchase; Subscription

reading. Hot Topics and Overview Articles provide an excellent orientation to the sides that opponents have taken on various social and religious issues, but they do not provide the breadth and depth needed for serious study. For that, one would turn to an entire e-book about a hot topic. These are available on a hit or miss basis. If this is a weakness in the collection, perhaps it will be addressed by the publisher’s aggressive collection development efforts.

Although the Hot Topics are well written and interesting, they sometimes tend to advocate for a particular culture war position rather than simply providing facts. Since Religions of North America and its Hot Topics content represent a newer part of the library, one would hope that it will become more balanced in time as additional material is added.

Competitive Products Gale eBooks has similar collections, but they might not include the types of invited peer-reviewed articles and multi-volume works offered by Bloomsbury, nor does it offer the content types provided by Bloomsbury. Credo Online Reference Service is an aggregator that includes books from both Gale and Bloomsbury. Credo provides a good place to begin research, but it lacks the depth of coverage found in Theology and Religion Online. ATLA is much larger, and subscriptions may include both books and journal articles, if so desired. Libraries already subscribing to JSTOR or ATLA may have a harder time justifying the cost of adding this database, but they lack the collection curation that TARO offers.

Purchase & Contract Provisions All contracts come with unlimited simultaneous users. Subscriptions may be for any one or all four of the collections. All the digital books in the collections may be purchased separately from Bloomsbury. Inter-Library Loan is permitted. COUNTER 4 and 5 usage statistics are provided, but COUNTER 4 will be phased out at the end of 2022.

MARC records are available at the volume level for all book titles, and your institutional logo will display on the interface.

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Contact Information Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London, WC1B 3DP, UK E-mail: <OnlineSalesUK@bloomsbury.com>; <OnlineSalesUS@bloomsbury.com>; Australia and New Zealand <OnlineSalesANZ@ bloomsbury.com> Producer URL: <https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/> Product URL: <https://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/>

TARO’s Non-Disclosure Agreement can be removed from contracts if this is required by funding agencies.

Pre-authenticated links to content are not available, but instructors are permitted to place links or portions of a work into course packs.

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Authentication Primarily by IP-authentication, proxy server, user name/password, Shibboleth, WAYFless URL, OpenAthens, and WAM tables.

Author’s References Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. “Theology & Religion Online Promotional Materials.” Accessed August 10, 2021, <https://www.theologyandreligiononline.com/promotional-materials>

About the Author Larry Sheret is the Scholarly Communications & Open Educational Resources Librarian at Marshall University. He manages copyright and ingestion of peer-reviewed manuscripts and published articles for Marshall Digital Scholar, Marshall University’s open access institutional repository. He also promotes faculty adoption of open textbooks. n

ADVISOR REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

Heard on the Net When Is a Library Not a Library? doi:10.5260/chara.23.2.54

Jill Emery (Collection Development & Management Librarian, Portland State University)

A

bout five years ago, I got into a back and forth twitter exchange with another librarian regarding what “counts” as a library. My proposition was and still is, that my local tool library is a library. They have a collection of tangible items which they post online and also have available for browsing at a set location and they “check-out” or “loan” to individuals using a card system. The tool library provides videos on how certain construct techniques work and provide reference sheets on the best use of the tools they loan along with care and cleaning for return of a given tool.

This colleague insisted that due to the etymological basis of the word “library” being “liber” [Latin], the word library could only mean entities that are about books or related to books and book collections.

Given this was a twitter exchange, where nuance is continuously lost and often purposefully misinterpreted, I left the conversation amused by the level of commitment to the historical definition of what a library must be as presented in this argument. There are definitely those members of our profession inclined to insist a library must be about books, book collections, and that librarians must epistemologically be forever tied to the etymological basis of the word library.

However, the majority of our libraries and librarians have moved beyond the traditional eighteenth-century construct of an edifice filled with books. In most cases out of necessity and due to the constantly evolving nature of what a library is.

This is evidenced when I go out and look at the mission statements at some of our most revered public and academic Libraries in the United States, I find these statements:

<jemery@pdx.edu>

New York Public Library “The mission of The New York Public Library is to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen our communities.”

San Francisco Public Library “The San Francisco Public Library system is dedicated to free and equal access to information, knowledge, independent learning and the joys of reading for our diverse community.”

Harvard Library “We are expert partners on the pathways to knowledge. We engage with our communities in the creation and sharing of new knowledge, connecting them with vast collections that we curate and steward with collaborators around the world. At its core, our mission is to advance the learning, research and pursuit of truth that are at the heart of Harvard.”

University of California Libraries “The UC libraries provide information resources and services to UC faculty, students, and staff in direct support of the University of California’s teaching, learning, research, patient care, and public service goals by: ■

■

■

Enabling seamless discovery and access to scholarly information at the network level; Managing the building blocks and products of scholarship and research, including content created by UC scholars; Offering expert support and education to find, evaluate, use, and manage information resources;

54 Advisor Reports from the Field / The Charleston Advisor / October 2021 www.charlestonco.com

■

■

Creating and sustaining high-quality spaces for learning, collaboration, and research; and Leading and actively participating in partnerships for national and global initiatives that inform and shape the future of libraries and scholarly communications.”

The list could go on, but you get the point. Not a single one of these mission statements gives any specific reference to the tangible asset, the book. There are references to what one does with a book: “reading” and “collections” and “resources” but these are now a myriad of things in libraries and not solely books. There is also a strong emphasis on “community” and “life-long learning” and “enabling seamless access”. What these statements point to is that what a library is in the twenty-first century is not at all what it was in the eighteenth century.

Our use of the word library has changed to a meaning of being a community resource that provides immediate access to scholarship and the means to enable learning that can happen within or from without an actual fixed place.

This development in definition has definitely been driven home over the past 18 to 20 months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Academic and public libraries throughout the country suddenly became distributors of WiFi hotspots or boosted their in-house WiFi signals so their surrounding grounds & parking lots became viable Internet hotspots.

Public libraries became printing centers, where patrons could send needed print jobs to be picked up via distancing protocols. During the 2020 presidential election during this pandemic, public libraries became places where ballots could be dropped off. Additionally, public libraries also became places where vaccines were distributed and where health testing centers arose.

Academic libraries became centers through which campus information technologies distributed devices, technical hardware and software, and provided instruction on use and set-up of this equipment.

Academic libraries became more like distribution centers; mailing books, delivering documents, purchasing more online collections, and providing ready access to those made available to us free of charge, and scanning content that was sequestered behind library walls to distribute within the guidelines of copyright permissions. All of these points drive home the library mission statements of being centers of community providing access to knowledge however possible.

Libraries are no longer about the book, of the book, and by the book.

In the parlance of our times, what it means to be a library is no longer driven by a nostalgic eighteenth century ideal. Being a library is a more vital entity that does connect knowledge with those seeking it.

This is why, in the copyright lawsuit enacted by AAP against the Internet Archive, the determination on whether the Internet Archive is or is not a library should be easy to make. The Internet Archive’s mission fits in readily with those given above: “Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.”

While the Internet Archive does not maintain a physical public reading room, they have hired information professionals, many with library degrees, who do organize, catalog, and make digital preservation copies of their warehouses of physical collections of various tangible media. They arrange and provide access to substantial digital collections, many of which were born digitally. Academic and public libraries are committing more and more to capturing and providing ready access to digital collections. The Internet Archive does not loan out or mail out physical items, but they do make a significant portion of their collections readily available through their online presence.

This work is not significantly different from what academic and public libraries accomplished during the past 18 to 20 months. The Internet Archive folks participate in our professional societies and organizations along with librarians from academic and public libraries.

Trying to argue that the Internet Archive is not a library is an attempt to try to push all libraries/librarians back into the stringent historical construct of what libraries and librarians used to be. However, the definition of what a library is has evolved and morphed and changed in meaning throughout time. Here, in the midst of the twenty-first century, what it means to be a library isn’t as cut and dry as it once was. The similarities between what the Internet Archive does and what academic and public libraries do is greater than our differences. The COVID-19 pandemic taught U.S. librarians that we are more than our physical representations of ourselves. Our reading and physical spaces matter to our patrons and end-users, but our digital resources and ability to provide access to knowledge and information is just as important if not more so when our physical spaces are unavailable for use. In the end, we all stand to lose more than we gain if it is determined that the Internet Archive is not a library. n

The Charleston Advisor / October 2021

www.charlestonco.com 55

FROM YOUR MANAGING EDITOR, continued from page 3

Eighteenth Annual Readers’ Choice Awards American Indian Newspapers. Adam Matthew has created a unique resource which offers a unique look at how news was reported by and to Native American communities across the US and Canada over the course of the last two centuries. The resource covers 45 newspapers with varying years of coverage from 1828 to 2016. Many of these newspapers are hard to find and aggregating them in one place using the excellent Adam Matthew software makes them very accessible for students, faculty, and researchers. Some of the newspapers are in English but many are also published in their local languages. If a library is looking to broaden their collections, this resource should be seriously considered. This is a great tool to study areas of interest including land and water rights, tribal laws and elections, environmentalism, sovereignty, local language, and culture. <https://www.americanindiannewspapers.amdigital.co.uk/>

Best Pricing The pandemic has put great financial pressure on libraries as budgets were reduced and libraries entered a period of uncertainty. Kudos to the publishers and vendors who held inflation costs flat and, in some cases, gave pathways to lowering costs. Many libraries have had to drop products or renegotiate contracts due to their budget crisis coupled with an uncertain future. The problem is even more complicated with consortial contracts where libraries have different needs and priorities often affecting others in the group.

Best Effort Pivot-RP. Ex Libris (a ProQuest company), has released an updated version of their database for research funding opportunities which facilitates research collaborations, and offering insight into global funding opportunities. Many of the other tools in this domain are quite expensive. The service has great content, an intuitive interface and clear navigation. See the review in this issue. <https://exlibrisgroup.com/ products/pivot-funding-opportunities-and-profiles/>

Ones to Watch Panorama. EBSCO has released a new analytics platform for academic libraries that combines library and campus data sets to assist libraries in making better decisions based on quantitative metrics. Often different data sets are discrete and do not interact with each other making it difficult to see the big picture. The service was released in Spring 2021 and was developed, and field tested with several academic libraries in the U.S. and abroad. Libraries value data analytics and this new entry is well worth considering. <https://www.ebsco.com/ products/panorama> ReShare. Resource sharing has always been a mainstay in the library community but has become increasingly important with the pandemic and concomitant budget restrictions. ReShare was developed as a community-driven open-source solution by Index Data and Knowledge International, the same organizations which have been developing the FOLIO library management system. This freshly developed

union catalog can load records from most library platforms and uses a modular design to build the components. It uses existing standards where possible and has a forward-looking approach which opens the door for upcoming features such as controlled digital lending, linking regional ReShare systems, and other optimizations which are needed in a mixed print and digital environment. The first two live implementations (PALCI and ConnectNY) took place in Q3 2021 and many others are planning on using this solution. <https://projectreshare. org/> Rapido. Ex Libris acquired the RapidILL resource sharing system several years ago from Colorado State University which includes both returnables and non-returnables. The service has been taken to a new level with Rapido which allows resource sharing features to be built right into the Primo discovery without forcing the patron to go to a separate Website to request books, articles, and other materials not locally held. The expedited workflows greatly assist library staff in filling requests while patrons have one stop shopping for most bibliographic needs that cannot be met by the local library. <https://exlibrisgroup.com/products/rapido-library-resource-sharing/>

Shout Out (One Time) Academic Libraries Video Trust. “The Academic Libraries Video Trust is a service facilitating the preservation of audiovisual (“AV”) works in the collections of member libraries.” The service acts as a repository and clearinghouse for orphan videos (mostly VHS) which have been digitized and can be shared among members. ALVT is a unique program which academic libraries should support if they have materials that fit this profile. “Video Trust offers this service in order to encourage the preservation and appreciation of the educational films, motion pictures, documentaries, and other works that are increasingly out of reach because of the obsolete technology.” <https:// alvt.videotrust.org/> SPARC. As a leader in the open access movement, SPARC has been a leader in helping libraries assess and become informed about open access. A practical example of their work includes a repository of “big deal” contracts which anyone may access to see what others have been able to accomplish in their negotiations. Great organization, great work. <https://sparcopen.org/> Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations. The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications has released an excellent set of toolkits and resources for equity in scholarly publishing. Evolving editions of their work provide updated and helpful information and practical steps in the quest for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications was founded by 10 trade and professional associations that represent organizations and individuals working in scholarly communications. The Coalition was formed to discuss and address issues of diversity and inclusion within our industry.” <https://c4disc.pubpub. org/> n

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