Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collections Online
http://mweb.lacma.org/
LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, recently made available over 25,000 records accompanied by over 10,000 images representing items from its South and Southeast Asian, Japanese, Islamic, Photography, and Costume and Textiles collections. Another 20,000 records will be added in 2002. Keyword searches can be performed by entering text or by selecting from a drop-down menu of about 45 general terms, such as archaeological artifacts, arms & armor, furniture, glass, jewelry, prints, terracotta, or utilitarian objects. Searches can be limited to include only records with images, so that a search on shoes retrieved 45 illustrated examples of women's and children's shoes dating from the 18th to 20th centuries. Users can also browse categories such as Storeroom Treasures, Costume & Textiles, Islamic Art, Japanese Art, Photography, and South and Southeast Asian Art. [DS]
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Two on School Safety
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2001 -- NCES [.pdf, Excel, .zip]
http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002113
In the Spotlight: School Safety -- NCJRS [.pdf]
http://www.ncjrs.org/school_safety/school_safety.html
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) last week released their annual report Indicators of School Crime and Safety (last discussed in the November 3, 2000 Scout Report). The text, which draws from a variety of sources including the National Crime Victimization Survey and School Crime Supplement, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, and the School and Staffing Survey, presents data on violent deaths at schools, other types of violence and crime, nonfatal student and teacher victimization, drug use, and more. Users can read the executive summary and indicators online or download the report in sections in .pdf format. Also focused on school safety, the second site above provides a host of information from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). As with previous In the Spotlight offerings from NCJRS (see the August 17, 2001 Scout Report), the front page of the School Safety site acts as a portal to statistical information, legislation, relevant publications, funding opportunities, other related Websites, and more. [TK]
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Social Indicators [.pdf]
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-083.pdf
The House of Commons Library Research Papers are published for the benefit of Parliament members, but this one should be of interest to both researchers and general readers wanting to learn more about contemporary British social issues. Social Indicators is the first paper in a new series that will be published three times a year. The 71-page paper includes a wide range of topic pages that present social statistics on a variety of issues, from the prison population to defense expenses to agricultural outputs. Each Social Indicator paper will also offer feature articles that give a closer look at specific subjects (in this instance,, election turnout and adult literacy) and an article on statistical sources for a particular issue (in this paper, social security statistics). The last few pages are devoted to a list of important, recent governmental statistical publications. [TK]
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Artificial Anatomy: Paper Mache Anatomical Models -- NMAH [.pdf]
http://americanhistory.si.edu/anatomy/index.html
This new exhibit from the National Museum of American History gives a look at their collection of paper mache anatomical models. The models themselves (human, veterinary, and botanical) are displayed as expandable thumbnails in the Collection section of the exhibit. The History and Preservation sections give background, including .pdf-formatted conservation reports. Users looking for more information can consult the bibliography available from the resources link at the bottom of the page. The Body Parts section offers a bit of whimsy, asking users to identify which parts of the full-sized anatomical model are represented in the mystery images that pop up on the screen. [TK]
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Days after September 11, 2001
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/News/daysafter.html
The University of Chicago Press offers, at this site, a series of essays, "Reflections by our authors in the aftermath." Among the seven essays are "Metaphors of Terror" by George Lakoff, "Islam Has Been Hijacked, And Only Muslims Can Save It" by Jonathan Rauch, and "An Arab American Internment?" by Eric L. Muller. The perspectives here are varied, and the essays are thoughtful meditations, some poetic others analytical. The site opens with a brief passage: "At the moment of catastrophe we fall silent. Language fails. The words come back; understanding takes much longer. As we return to normal -- or to the state of heightened alertness we now call normal -- we return to the task of explicating a world which seems suddenly to have become inexplicable." And in that spirit, Charles Bernstein asks in his essay "Report from Liberty Street," "The question isn't is art up to this but what else is art for?" [TK]
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Muslim Life in America -- DOS
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/muslimlife/homepage.htm
This new pamphlet from the State Department offers a basic introduction to some aspects of Muslim-American life. The front page takes care to emphasize the diversity among Muslim-Americans, and the links from this front page further amplify these differences. The site features a number of Photo Galleries, including Faces of Islam, Family Life, and Mosques and Prayers, among others. Users will also find related articles, a page of demographic facts, a bibliography with selected readings, links to Internet resources and nongovernmental organizations, along with other resources. [TK]
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American Roots Music -- PBS
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/index.html
PBS offers this companion site to their four-part series, which began airing October 29, 2001. As with so many of PBS' sites, this one acts as a nice supplement to the series and an interesting stop of its own right. Users can access episode summaries, read about the songs and artists (as well as read interviews -- oral histories -- with selected artists), and learn about the origins of some "Eternal Songs" and the instruments used to play them. The extensive hyperlinks throughout the site make it easy to go from topic to topic, from instrument to song to musician, and those who are viewing the series will appreciate the lists of songs featured in each episode and the transcripts of oral histories, which are only excerpted on the show. Of course, one wonders why the site has no audio files; this seems like a major oversight. Nonetheless, this is an interesting stop for American folk culture buffs and music fans. [TK]
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