Academic Earth: Video Lectures from the World’s Top Scholars.  Internet Resource.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2009jul CHOICE.
46-5926     
http://www.academicearth.org/ 
[Visited Apr’09]

Academic Earth, an entrepreneurial effort that is free online, is “an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education.” Six top-rated universities and their scholars provide more than 1,500 videos of courses and individual guest lectures that take place in the classroom. No registration is required and no credit is given. Optional registration allows users to save favorite lectures and post comments. Video and audio portions of each lecture are excellent throughout. Users may select lectures/courses by browsing among the 17 discipline areas–from astronomy to religion–and by instructor, institution, or featured course/lecture. An advanced search feature offers 32 subjects and filters for narrowing a search. Searching and navigation are easy and download-time, to either a PC or an iPod, is fast.
 
Lectures run from approximately 40 to 90 minutes, and courses are composed of approximately 20 to 45 lectures. Many lectures feature related materials, including transcripts, PowerPoint slides, assignments, readings, and more. Students can assign grades to each course, and lecture and grade averages are posted. The FAQ file is a good way to start, and a feedback form is readily available for comments and questions. Similar sites do not compare, including MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm (CH, Aug’07, 44-6573; course materials only), and Apple’s iTunesU http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning// (individual lectures and short video clips). Academic Earth is more inclusive–offering full lectures, courses, and related materials all in one place. It would be of great use to students and other Internet users who want to learn more about a topic. Some academic disciplines are missing, e.g., art, sociology, and geology, but new material is regularly added, and most likely this user-friendly site will expand its offerings. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, general audience, and professionals. –
B. Anderson, Northern Illinois University

American Rhetoric, Michael E. Eidenmuller.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2006jun CHOICE.
43-5719     
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/ 
[Visited Mar’06]

With this site, Eidenmuller (Univ. of Texas, Tyler) provides a gateway to a number of useful resources, including the full transcribed text and, in many cases, streaming audio of numerous famous and important speeches. Most of the audio clips are in MP3 format, compatible with standard PC and Mac media players. Some speeches from the era before audio-recording technology are available in versions read by actors and other personalities (for example, Johnny Cash reads Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”). The site encompasses material both in the public domain and protected by copyright (a caveat alerts users to the presence of copyrighted material and notes that its inclusion on the site is consistent with the principles of fair use for educational purposes). The site also provides links to professional resources for scholars of rhetoric, most notably the major scholarly organizations. Among the site’s interesting pages: a rhetoric quiz with clips to identify from famous speeches and transcribed material for classroom exercises–an interchange from professional basketball and a dialogue from ancient Greek philosophy. Another useful page is Rhetorical Figures in Sound, a collection of audio clips illustrating more than 40 figures of speech. This site will be a useful resource for primary material and a helpful noncommercial alternative to the History Channel’s Speeches and Video http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/home/ for those seeking the text and recordings of speeches for classroom projects or general enrichment. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates; faculty; general users. — L. R. Braunstein, Dartmouth College 

Archive of American Television, from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2010mar CHOICE.
47-3539     
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/ 
[Visited Dec’09]

The Archive of American Television has been conducting video-recorded interviews with well-established television professionals since 1997. The majority of these 600-plus interviews are now available for viewing online. In addition to many well-known actors, interview subjects include people in behind-the-scenes positions such as directors, executives, designers, stylists, location managers, and more. All of the subjects are seasoned professionals who speak with decades of experience behind them. The videos are professionally conducted one-on-one formal interviews. Consequently, the content has much greater depth than the typical publicity interview in which a new project is being promoted. The lengthy interviews are divided into chapters for access to specific segments. Each interview is accompanied by a thorough summary of the person and the topics under discussion. Contents of the interviews are indexed by Shows, People, Topics, and Genres. Users may find content either through searching or browsing. With its multiple scrollable boxes, the interface is a little confusing; however, the format is consistent throughout, so navigating is easy enough after a brief exploration of the arrangement. With videos embedded from YouTube, users are unlikely to have trouble viewing segments. The advertising banner that appears at the start of each video is mildly annoying, but easily minimized. This Web resource will be of special interest to film and television studies programs, but very useful to students at all levels and from a variety of backgrounds. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general audience. — B. J. Bergman, Minnesota State University, Mankato 

Connie Martinson Talks Books.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009mar CHOICE.
46-3586     
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/col/cmt/ 
[Visited Dec’08]

Connie Martinson Talks Books is a collection of video podcasts within the Claremont Colleges Digital Library (CCDL). It consists of 65 of Martinson’s interviews with authors, conducted from 1983 through 2007: Jackie Collins to Tina Brown. In between Martinson interviews such writers as Art Buchwald, Alan Dershowitz, Amy Tan, Anne Rice, Calvin Trillin, Elie Wiesel, Louis L’Amour, Khaled Hosseini, and Mary Gordon. This collection includes a 1995 interview with Barack Obama after the publication of Dreams from My Father and a 1992 interview with Rosa Parks after the publication of her autobiography, My Story. The best way to negotiate the Martinson site is simply to browse through the 65 titles. The CCDL provides author, title, and subject indexes, but these serve the entire digital library, and most links do not match anything in the Martinson collection. However, each podcast record does include several subject headings. Working from a fiber-optic cable wireless connection, the podcasts load immediately and play through smoothly. Each interview is about 30 minutes. Martinson knows her material and conducts an excellent interview. This is a valuable resource that deserves wide dissemination. A library considering cataloging or linking to this site would be well served to link to the Free Library of Philadelphia’s collection of over 260 (and added to on a weekly basis) MP3s from their Author Event series http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/ and FORA.tv’s Programs on Books http://fora.tv/tag/books. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. — R. Stuhr, Grinnell College 

Counseling and Therapy in Video.  Alexander Street. Subscription pricing for academic libraries ranges from $1,500.00 to $3,600.00 depending on number of simultaneous users.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009oct CHOICE.
47-1137     
http://alexanderstreet.com/products/ctiv.htm 
[Visited Jul’09]

Since it was founded in 2000, Alexander Street has developed or acquired more than 60 collections of primary source material in the humanities and social sciences. This particular collection includes streaming video of therapy sessions interspersed with consultation and analysis, lectures and interviews by well-known practitioners, and downloadable teaching and discussion guides. It has a sophisticated but easy-to-use interface. One can browse by title, subject, therapist, therapy type, theme, and video type or use the quick or advanced search mode. Advanced search provides a variety of fields, indexes, and limits to create sophisticated search strategy.
 
Videos display with an accompanying synchronized transcript that can be searched and used as a means of negotiating through the program. One can also divide video into segments of various lengths for easy incremental viewing and selection. The interface enables the user to create playlists that can contain not only full-length programs but clips of video to individual specifications. These can be used in the classroom or embedded in a Web site or course-management system (for access by authenticated users). The publisher’s product page provides guided demonstration of the collection and the capabilities of the interface. Included here are current well-known researchers and practitioners in the field; unfortunately, some classic figures (Carl Rogers, Albert Ellis, Virginia Satir) are missing. Although primary source video for these individuals can be found elsewhere (e.g., YouTube), this reviewer hopes the present collection will grow to include such historical names. This resource joins Alexander Street’s outstanding Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcripts, Client Narratives, and Reference Works (CH, Nov’08, 46-1766), which has no video. A unique resource for those interested in social work, clinical psychology, and psychiatric counseling. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty/professionals. — C. L. Hebblethwaite, SUNY Oswego

Films on Demand.  Films Media Group. Annual subscription prices are based on a combination of institution type and size.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2010jun CHOICE.
47-5366     
http://ffh.films.com/digitallanding.aspx 
[Visited Mar’10]

Films on Demand is the streaming video service from Films Media Group (FMG) and its affiliates (Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge Educational, Shopware, and Meridian Education). Video delivery is a developing field with few if any standards. By providing access to more than 6,300 titles in its extensive catalog, FMG has been one of the frontrunners in the licensing of digital rights for streamed video. Films can be viewed using Flash, QuickTime, or Windows Media. Different resolutions (1.5Mbps, 700Kbps, 400Kbps) are available in order to accommodate different bandwidths. Users may search by keyword, subject, and producer, among other options. They may browse eight subject categories with subtopics: Humanities and Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Science and Mathematics, Health and Medicine, Technical Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, Careers and Job Search, and Guidance and Counseling. Users should not expect high-definition quality, especially from older films, but image quality is adequate for the educational content that is being provided. Individuals may create their own log-ins in order to set their preferred media player and resolution. The option of bookmarking favorites is useful for noting entire films and queuing up clips for use during a class period. Playlists are assigned a unique code so that a specific viewing list can be shared, e.g., with students for an assignment. Viewers may turn on closed captioning as needed.
 
Search results include a summary plus chapter descriptions. These are useful for easily determining whether the film covers specific elements of a topic. Unfortunately, production dates are not readily evident; one must look at the full description, via a title’s URL, under Details. Knowing the date sooner would be useful, to avoid frustration, e.g., the BBC film on Ryanair is unintentionally humorous because of references to airline practices that have changed drastically since the news report was filmed in 2003. FMG provides multiple access options–leasing, purchase, and subscription–for its streaming video. The list price for a three-year streaming license is generally the same as DVD purchase. The combination of DVD plus three-year license is available for an additional cost. Pricing often includes a credit for previously purchased titles. Librarians should discuss their needs and wants with FMG representatives to determine the best options for their library or consortium. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through graduate students, two-year technical program students, and general audience. — B. J. Bergman, Minnesota State University, Mankato

FORA.tv.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009apr CHOICE.
46-4165     
http://fora.tv/ 
[Visited Jan’08]

FORA.tv aims to “deliver discourse, discussion and debates on the world’s most interesting political, social and cultural issues” by hosting a large collection of unedited videos from events such as interviews, panel discussions, conferences, and symposia. Sample content includes Lawrence Lessig’s “Big Idea” (about the loss of faith in Congress), presented at the Aspen Institute; Michael Dobbs’s “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” at the Commonwealth Club; Jimmy Wales speaking on democratizing search engines at the Ford Hall Forum; Jeffrey Toobin talking about the Supreme Court at the Chautauqua Institution; Neal Stephenson’s “Science Fiction as a Literary Genre,” presented at Gresham College; Ani DeFranco, on illegal file sharing, speaking at City Arts and Lectures; and Eli Broad’s discussion of a remedy for the auto industry, at the Los Angeles Public Library.

Videos range from a few minutes (the home page’s left margin is titled Attention Deficit Theater) to a few hours, and date back to at least 2002 (Gore Vidal, “Understanding America’s Terrorist Crisis”), although most date from the last two years. The home page shows a top story, Editor’s Picks, and several featured videos sponsored by corporations and foundations (clearly indicated by logos). The site hosts ads as well. Contents are organized into tabbed categories: Politics, Business, Tech and Science, The World, and Culture. Each tab is further divided; e.g., Culture is organized into Religion, History, Music, Books and Authors, Visual Arts and Film, Law, Sports, and Giving. Subject searching and a speakers’ directory are provided. Those viewing videos will see a list of related content in the right margin; chapters, speaker biographies, and the transcript (if available) appear under the player. Registered members may participate in ThinkTanks and comment on videos. A blog and podcasts are available. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. — S. Clerc, Southern Connecticut State University

Great Issues Forum.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009jun CHOICE.
46-5356     
http://www.greatissuesforum.org/ 
[Visited Mar’09]

The Great Issues Forum is an online lecture series and blog for the academic community, sponsored by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Each year the forum presents a series of lectures, Conversations @ the Forum, on a critical issue that reflects the global community today. The collective topic for 2008-09 is that of power. A series of lectures presented by prominent civic leaders, artists, and intellectuals is exploring power from economic, political, educational, military, and cultural points of view. One such conversation was a March 2009 lecture, “Military Power,” presented by Alex de Waal, writer and activist on African issues; General Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star general; and Samantha Power from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Lectures for 2009-11 will be “Place” and “Faith.” All are available online through a video/audio archive.
 
Also offered are a related series of discussions, Seminars @ the Forum, which are presented in an online blog format with invited intellectuals and selected CUNY faculty and graduate students. New topics are introduced every two weeks. These seminars address the overall topic and discuss related canonical texts on the same theme as the conversations. Taken as a whole, this intuitive, efficient site offers quality, in-depth discussions on philosophical questions that relate to the contemporary world. It would be especially useful to college-level faculty members looking for sources of discussion and analysis on one of the highlighted topics. The archives provide recorded lectures and readings to initiate further discussion. This site also would be of special interest to intellectually inclined individuals who want to contribute to in-depth philosophical discussions. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. –
C. W. Bruns, California State University—Fullerton

The Paley Center Seminars.  ProQuest. Annual academic subscription for graduate-level institutions with 10,000 FTE is approx. $3,000. Also available for purchase.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2010jan CHOICE.
47-2345     
http://www.proquest.com/ 
[Visited Oct’09]

The Paley Center for Media http://www.paleycenter.org/, formerly known as the Museum of Television and Radio, has put together a video database of interviews recorded from 1998 forward. Currently some 75 programs are available; the center plans ultimately to include all 300 programs from its archives. The majority of the interviews are with well-known movie and television personalities, with the actors usually discussing their current project. In addition to the many interviews related to drama and comedy programming, topics in the available videos include documentaries, journalism, politics in the media, literature, radio, talk shows, reality television, women in the media, and writing. Interviews, which range in length from 30 to 90 minutes, are divided into chapters for easy access to sections. Users may browse the content by subject or title, and full transcripts make the database very searchable. Users also may download chapters for later viewing. The database offers the capability to make and save clips of user-selected sections of the interviews. Video quality is adequate for what essentially are talking-head interviews. The image can be expanded to full screen but is relatively low resolution, so it is better viewed at the smaller default size. This database will be of interest to institutions with strong programs in film and television studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates. — B. J. Bergman, Minnesota State University, Mankato 

ResearchChannel.  Internet Resource.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2008apr CHOICE.
45-4111     
http://www.researchchannel.org/ 
[Visited Jan’08]

ResearchChannel is the gateway to the programs of a television channel distributed to satellite and cable television subscribers. Founded by a consortium of research and academic institutions, it has the ambitious goals of (1) connecting these entities with a global audience interested in the impact of research, and (2) disseminating the research conducted at leading institutions directly to the public. With a board drawn primarily from the academic community, the consortium includes members from national organizations, corporations, and elite universities. Beyond cable television and broadcast satellite, the Research Channel is also accessible online through a Webcast that broadcasts all its programs simultaneously 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in audio and four video bandwidths. The other online option, video on demand, offers a collection of over 3,000 programs and news releases that may be watched any time using Windows Media Player or QuickTime via modem, DSL, or cable.
 
The Video Library offers programs under the categories of Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, Computer Science and Engineering, Health and Medicine, K-12 and Education, Sciences and Social Sciences. In addition to searching by title or keyword, one may browse by program title, series, or institution/university. A couple clicks of the mouse download the actual programs, which can be viewed or saved. An online registration form also facilitates free retransmission. This is a powerful teaching tool for use in the classroom, for student research, or as a component in distance learning programs. Brokered through a single powerful gateway, ResearchChannel’s offerings are of a level and breadth that strongly warrants adding the site’s URL to teaching resources, and accessing it regularly as part of class preparation. It offers a very promising means of access to classroom- or individual-use media. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. –
M. Nilsen, Indiana University South Bend

Scripps Library and Multimedia Archive.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2008dec CHOICE.
46-1857     
http://millercenter.org/scripps/ 
[Visited Sep’08]

The Scripps Library’s multimedia archive includes three terabytes of information with “more than 2,500 hours of secret White House recordings, hundreds of presidential oral history interviews, audio and video recordings … and documents related to the executive branch of American government.” Documents and recordings are grouped into three main categories: General Presidential Materials features recordings, speeches, documents, and oral histories; Miller Center Scholarship and Programs includes transcripts, forums, colloquia, panels, and other secondary sources; and Online Reference provides bibliographies, presidential papers, and online resources. A link to the online catalog for the Scripps Library book collection is also available.
 
The extent of information available varies considerably between categories, e.g., daily schedules (under Presidential Documents) are available for only 2 presidents; secret presidential recordings are available for 5, and speeches for 42. Navigation under the subcategories is inconsistent; sometimes drop-down menus are used to enable skimming, whereas other times the user must click through multiple layers. In some cases, information is available in multiple formats; some presidential speeches are available as transcripts, audio, and video files. Multiple video file formats are used, including Quicktime, Windows Media, and RealPlayer. Users may search the collection by keyword, with the search tool allowing one to narrow down results by content type. Since the collection of documents is growing, a link to a page with recent/pending additions might be helpful to alert users to newly available resources. This archive offers a centrally located repository of printed information such as documents and transcripts, with a growing collection of multimedia. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates; general readers. –
R. Withers, Miami University

Smithsonian Folkways.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009dec CHOICE.
47-1762     
http://www.folkways.si.edu/ 
[Visited Sep’09]

The establishment of this online site has opened a new chapter in the Smithsonian’s distinguished history. Users will find liner notes and audio samples from all musical and spoken word recordings issued by Folkways and its affiliates since Folkways’ inception in 1948. For some of the newer recordings, Smithsonian Folkways provides complete audio renditions of selected songs, speeches, and interviews, which one may listen to on a FLAC or MP3 sound-stream. Some short video presentations that use Java are included. Streaming video ethnographies also are available. Users may conduct a basic search by album title, artist, and track title; or an advanced search by country, culture group, genre, instrument, label/archive, language, or year/decade. The site offers the option of browsing by genre. A newly established podcast collection comprises 24 one-hour programs exploring various aspects of folklife. Another recent addition is the online Folkways Magazine, which was inaugurated in spring 2009. Also created for listening enjoyment is Folkways Radio, which presents continuous performances of musical selections from the Folkways library. Finally, the site features links to resources for classroom use.
 
All of the content of Smithsonian Global Sound http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/ (Alexander Street version, CH, Jan’06, 43-2554) is now available through Smithsonian Folkways. The only comparable folk music resources are two that are available only through paid subscription, namely, Naxos Music Library http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/home.asp (CH, Jul’06, 43-6434) and DRAM http://www.dramonline.org/. Naxos Music Library possesses a large number of folk and traditional music recordings, but users can access liner notes for only a few of these. DRAM provides access to both music and liner notes, but its purview is limited to American music. Although Smithsonian Folkways offers fewer complete performances, all of the liner notes are accessible; it charges no subscription fee, but downloading music or purchasing CDs/cassettes will incur fees in many cases. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audience.
 — D. Ossenkop, emeritus, SUNY College at Potsdam 

TeachingBooks.net.  TeachingBooks.net. $850.00 annual site license for academic institutions.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2007dec CHOICE.
45-2170     
http://www.teachingbooks.net/ 
[Visited Sep’07]

A good, unique resource that will get better as its database grows, TeachingBooks.net is designed to stimulate interest in reading by providing teachers and students with multimedia materials on authors, illustrators, and book resources. Hundreds of modern authors and illustrators of children’s and young adult literature are featured in various formats, including interviews and videos in which they describe their work. Users can conduct searches by author or illustrator, book title, grade level (K-12), subject, language (English or Spanish), type of material (interviews, oral readings, book guides, reader’s theater), or medium (written, audio, video). Once the user accesses a particular author or illustrator page, a variety of resources for that person is listed, but the same breadth of resources is not available for all featured artists. Some resources lead to sites outside TeachingBooks, which can make getting back to an original search difficult. The main challenge in using this site is determining which resources are designed for students. Some author interviews and videos of illustrators at work would be excellent for students, while other segments are more appropriate for teachers. Some links offer outstanding teacher resources, such as reader theater scripts or book guides including summaries and stimulating questions. While a fun site to browse, its large quantity of material best suits those looking for resources about a specific author, illustrator, or book. An interesting feature of the site is a link from the home page to an online collection of downloadable MP3 files of authors and illustrators pronouncing their names. Undergraduates will find many resources helpful for student teaching or as background information to expand their ideas of how to use literature in the classroom to make cultural and subject area connections. Summing Up: Recommended. Academic and practitioner collections. — J. H. Smith, Elmira College 

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2008dec CHOICE.
46-1805     
http://www.ted.com/ 
[Visited Sep’08]

Bring together fascinating people and challenge them to give the “talk of their lives” in 20 minutes or less. That is the purpose of the annual TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conferences, and the best of these talks/artistic performances are posted here. More than 200 talks cover wide-ranging topics including motivation, origami, faith, and technology. Speakers/performers include Billy Graham, Al Gore, Amy Tan, Jane Goodall, Vusi Mahlasela, and Nicholas Negroponte. Offerings are organized by Visualization (the graphically arranged default) or List, according to Themes, Speakers, or Talks, and feature nine broad areas (e.g., Global Issues, Arts, Science). The site also offers a search box. Results display on the right with headings that augment the broad themes (e.g., Africa: The Next Chapter; A Greener Future). Users may also reorder the Visualization section by Most emailed, Most discussed, Most talks, and Recently updated.
 
Length and date of each video display in the list view. Adobe Flash is required for viewing the videos; the option for high resolution MP4 files requires Quicktime, and download times vary. Talks download to desktop or iPod; may be shared (e.g., e-mail, link, or embed in Blackboard) under a Creative Commons license; and may be posted to Digg or del.icio.us. The quality of the videos is very good when viewed on a small screen; users may select the high resolution version for large screen viewing. Links to speaker biographies and/or Web sites are included. Advertisements from sponsors bookend the presentations but total about 40 seconds. The ease of use and broad multidisciplinary coverage, combined with the Creative Commons license, make this site’s content ideal for advancing discussion in a variety of academic settings. Similar sites (Big Think, Fora.tv, and Doors of Perception) are more narrowly focused, and the videos are often longer. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. –
E. M. Bentsen, Baylor University Libraries

VideoLectures.net.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2010jan CHOICE.
47-2335     
http://videolectures.net/ 
[Visited Oct’09]

VideoLectures.net is an open-access educational repository/portal of high-quality, mainly scientific video lectures. Started by the Jozef Stefan Institute’s Center for Knowledge Transfer in Slovenia in 2002, its target audience is graduate students, researchers and scholars, and increasingly the general public, along with high school and undergraduate students. Developed under a Creative Commons license, this well-designed portal offers a clean interface and many Web 2.0 features; e.g., users can join its Facebook group, follow it on Twitter, and receive updates via RSS feeds. A typical video lecture features high-quality video, descriptive information, category tags, and related contents links. Users easily can view, download, comment on, and share the content with others. All videos on the portal are currently available only in Windows Media Player format for both PCs and Macs. Users may search for a video, or browse content by popularity, publication date, categories, authors/presenters, and events (most lectures took place at events such as conferences and workshops).
 
At present nearly 300 events, more than 5,300 authors, 6,000-plus lectures, and 8,300-plus videos are available. The site, which won a 2009 World Summit Award http://www.wsis-award.org/winners/winners.wbp, is expanding its subject coverage to include “non-technical and natural science disciplines like Fine Arts, Humanities, Social studies and Law”; the Business category already includes more than 170 lectures. With more users preferring online access for knowledge acquisition, VideoLectures.net serves as an excellent resource for students, educators, and scholars. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audience. — N. N. Xiao, University of Southern California

Wired for Books: Poems, Stories, Plays, Essays, Lectures, and Interviews for Children and Adults.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2009sep CHOICE.
47-0026     
http://wiredforbooks.org/ 
[Visited Jun’09]

Wired for Books streams audio and video interviews, readings, lectures, and other material from an impressive list of well-known authors, including Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, John Updike, Norman Mailer, and Kurt Vonnegut. A number of (mostly older) audio books and plays also are available, including children’s classics. The audio quality of the recordings is excellent; files play promptly and clearly over a broadband network. The WOUB Center for Public Media at Ohio University hosts the Web site; librarian/Web developer David Kurz has directed Wired for Books since its 1997 inception. About 700 of the approximately 1,000 recordings come from “Book Beat,” a daily two-minute CBS Radio feature from the 1980s that was hosted by radio journalist Don Swaim. The two-minute segments were edited out from longer interviews of 30 minutes or more, which also are available at Wired for Books in their entirety. The rest of the site’s author recordings come from Ohio University’s annual Spring Literary Festival.

Despite the wealth of valuable information on the site, no search interface is available, and locating recordings of specific people requires looking for the last name alphabetically across a number of Web pages. An index by author name, and by title of work for the audio books, would be a welcome addition. Other free media files of authors and poets reading their work are available through the Library of Congress (see, e.g., Recorded Sound Reference Center http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/, Smithsonian Folkways http://www.folkways.si.edu/, and the Poetry Archive http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do, CH, Aug’09, 45-6507). A number of commercial publishers offer similar services but make only a small number of files available at no charge. The recordings at Wired for Books are a welcome addition to the small group of freely available, online audiovisual literary resources. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers.
 — A. M. Weiler, Onondaga Community College