http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/FBC/Pages/home.php

As with many states across the country, Louisiana remains strongly committed to creating and maintaining a digital database that accurately reflects their culture and history. They have done a fine job, and the Frank-Bertacci Collection is a real treat, particularly for students of the history of New Orleans and its transformation in the twentieth century. This photograph collection includes work from both the Charles L. Frank Photographers Studio, and its subsequent work under the direction of Albert Bertacci. Through the online archive of over 2000 photographs, visitors will be treated to views of 1960s subdivisions, mansions in the French Quarter, and the construction of the Louisiana Superdome. Visitors can perform basic keyword searches across various fields, including title, subject, date, among others. For visitors seeking a bit more direction in their searching, there is also a subject list offered here for their use. [KMG]

http://www.usgbc.org/

Building "green" buildings is more than just a guideline for the U.S. Green Buildings Council; it's their primary goal and passion. With over 7500 member organizations, their number includes representatives from all sectors of the building industry who are dedicated to promoting buildings that are "environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work." While some of their online materials are only for members, visitors will find plenty of valuable materials on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating system, which is recognized as the benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. Visitors to the LEED section of the site can learn more about the system and view presentations on the subject. Finally, the homepage contains news updates about their work and outreach efforts. [KMG]

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/insideindies/shortsfest/index.html

Since its creation a few years ago, the Independent Lens series has worked with various filmmakers and producers to create thoughtful portraits. These portraits have included subjects such as the life of Billy Strayhorn, people living with dystonia, and the world of Ethiopian coffee growers. Recently, they also embarked on yet another ambitious project: an online shorts festival. Visitors to this site can partake of all ten of these films at their leisure. Included are a film that explores a Parisian secret from 1951, a meditation of growing old, and an artist who created a monument out of mud, old paint, and adobe. After viewing the films, visitors are also welcome to leave their comments in the "Talkback" section, submit a film or find out more about the members of the jury for this online film festival. [KMG]

http://www.drummerworld.com/index2.html

Drummers and those who generally love the musical arts will appreciate Bernhard Castiglioni's very comprehensive website dedicated to the art and practice of drumming. Based in Switzerland, Castiglioni has spent a great deal of his personal attention and care in crafting a site that contains information about dozens of drummers, material on drum clinics, and reports from major drumming conventions and conferences. The "DrumClinic" section should be a first-stop for aspiring drummers, as they can browse through video clips of professionals demonstrating various techniques and grooves. And best of all, the material is by no means limited to just jazz and rock drumming, as other styles, such as Latin and gospel drumming are covered as well. Of course, the section "Drummers" contains very fine clips of numerous musicians, including contemporary favorites as Sheila E. and Meg White and jazz stalwarts such as Rashied Ali and Art Blakey. Other notable performances include a meeting between Gene Krupa, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the man who was billed as the "world's greatest drummer", Buddy Rich. [KMG]

http://www.storycorps.net/

Drawing inspiration from the wide-ranging projects of the Works Progress Administration, the StoryCorps project was created "to instruct and inspire people to record each others' stories in sound." Over the past four years, they have taken a number of their mobile recording booths (called "Storybooths") on the road across the country, and since that time, they have made thousands of recordings. They have done an admirable job throughout, and some of the fruits of their labors may be found on this site. Visitors can click on the "Listen" section to some of the recordings, and they can also browse the stories by subject headings, which include "wisdom", "friendship", and "growing up". Visitors who are inspired to tell their own stories can view a list of upcoming Storybooth locations and also sign up to receive email updates about the project. [KMG]

http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/

Created in 1965, the Commonwealth Foundation was created with a mandate to strengthen civil society in all of the member nations. Membership of the Foundation is open to all Commonwealth countries and as of 2006 membership stood at 45 governments. Over the past four decades, they have worked on issues including human rights, gender equality, poverty eradication, and good governance. As might be expected, the site contains ample material on their various initiatives, along with information for those who might be seeking funding for their own projects (if they happen to be a citizen of a member Commonwealth). The "Resource Material" includes audiovisual materials that include some very fun and interesting short stories submitted for the annual Commonwealth Short Story Competition and their in-house publication, "Commonwealth People". For visitors who wish to stay abreast of the Foundation's work, there is a place here to sign up to receive their electronic newsletter. [KMG]

http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/index.asp

Since 2001, staff members at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland have worked to create an electronic archive of United States Commission on Civil Rights publications. They have worked with a number of partners on this ambitious project, including the United States Government Printing Office and The United States Commission on Civil Rights. The site is easy to use, as visitors can locate various publications merely by consulting the materials by title, date, or subject. The subject listing is quite thorough, as visitors can look through headings like "Alaska", "Migrant Workers", and "Welfare reform". Browsing by year is an equally fruitful proposition as documents such as "Racism in America and how to combat it" from 1970 and 1992's "Civil rights issues facing Asian Americans in the 1990" will be of interest to legal scholars, historians, and others. [KMG]

http://slisweb.lis.wisc.edu/~history/index.html

In 1895, the initial framework was in place for what would later become the University of Wisconsin's Library School. Now known as the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), the School continues to honor the traditions of librarianship, while incorporating the modern technologies that continue to push the discipline and profession forward. This particular collection of digital images documents the activities of students in the library school from the 1910s to the 1960s. Created by students in SLIS, the program includes digital images culled from yearlogs assembled by previous generations of students. Here visitors can browse the collection by people, year, place, or activity. Some of the photos include class pictures, May Day celebrations, and numerous images of faculty members and even the former home of the school, which for a number of years was a converted fraternity house on campus. [KMG]