Reviewed By: Jennifer Snoek-Brown

Legends -- Fairy Tales

http://www.legends.dm.net/fairy/index.html

Introduction: Legends is a site devoted to information about legends and the oral tradition, such as Robin Hood, sagas, ballads and poetry, myths, and fairy tales. I chose to concentrate on the Fairy Tales section, but there are other sections relevant to the oral tradition and storytelling. Fairy Tales is divided into three pages: Classic Tales, Into the Woods, and Selchies (seal-folk of Ireland and Scotland). Authority: The editor and creator of this web site is clearly stated in the Colophon Cast & Crew page. Paula Kate Marmor is the editor, and her qualifications are mentioned. There is also a link to email the edtor, as well as a link to her personal home page. There is also information about major contributors to the site, plus access to work (text and graphics) used on the site. Legends is part of the Dueling Modems network, which provides forums and services on creative aspects such as film, the arts, and travel. There is a link on the home page to the Dueling Modems main website. Accuracy: The site's editor, Marmor, is a professional editor, so the quality of the text and information is good. Quotes are documented, as well as illustrations. There are bibliographies on many pages, including the Into the Woods page, and there are many links to verify information. Currency: Each page has a date on which it was last modified, although some of the pages have not been modified since 2000 (Selchies page) or 2001 (Classic Tales). However, Into the Woods was last modified Sept. 8, 2002. Many links to other Internet sources have identifiers like "New!" or "New URL," which is helpful to users. However, some of the links on the Selchies and Classic Tales pages did not work (or the addresses had changed), so some updating is definitely needed. There is also a What's New page, listed on the home page and site map. Content: The main goal of the site, as stated on the home page, is to provide guided access to primary sources. Every page has subject headings and links to other sources on the Internet. The Classic Fairy Tales page has quotes about what fairy tales are, with links to classic fairy tales available on the Internet, as well as links to special projects such as The Cinderella Project. The page, Into the Woods, is devoted to the contributions of Terri Windling, an illustrator, editor, and storyteller. There is an article about her, plus bibliographies of works on which she has contributed. The Selchies page has information on the seal-folk of Ireland and Scotland, a fascinating topic, which has a brief introduction with links to other Internet sources of particular aspects of the Selchies. Although most of the content is not original, as it acts more as a gateway site to other sources, the organization of the site is excellent. There is relevant commentary, some original articles and commentary, and obvious research and links. Objectivity: There are no advertisements, and the link to the site's sponsor is only on the home page. The editor obviously loves the topics on the web site, so there is definite enthusiasm for the subjects on the site. However, there is a professional tone, in text, content, and design, throughout the site. Design: The design, organization, and layout of the information is excellent. The light beige background showcases the text, and the graphics are relevant to the information. Also, there are links to the home page, a site map, the colophon, and notes about illustrations available on every page. This makes the site very easy to navigate. This site has many resources, including information on Fairy Tales. The site's organization and easy navigation are its strong points. It has many outlets and links to primary sources on the Internet on these varied and interesting topics, although some pages need more updating than others. This site is easy to browse with many interesting topics on the oral tradition.

Reviewed By: Zelda Mac

I. Authorship The University of Maryland clearly states it’s sponsorship of this site by including it’s name and emblem on the upper left hand corner of the title page. Four contacts have links located at the bottom of the page for comments, they include University Libraries, University of Maryland, Webmaster and Information Power. In addition the university address and phone number are also listed. II. Design This site has a very simple design with minimal graphics and color. The navigation bar is yellow/gold and includes the following five links: home, catalog, databases, e-journals and reference shelf. Above the navigation bar are three help features. The university emblem is the only graphic and the fact that there is no background gives this site a crisp clean feel. The text is aligned on the left hand side and the fairy tales are listed in alphabetical order. III. Content This site is a fairy tale gold mine. Although this site was last revised in September of 2001 on March 7, 2003 all of the links were active. The only word of caution clearly indicated by the site itself is, “Welcome to the World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts.”