WISR MA student, Nasira Abdul-Aleem, has forwarded a series of web links to literally dozens of mainstream and alternative news and information sources, that at least some refer to as the "Best 2007 Activists' Information Sources."

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Not news to most of us, but a recently publicized study says, "Plight Deepens for Black Men Studies Warn." Also, by following the link to this article, you can sign up for free online access to The New York Times.

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ACCESS TO MAJOR UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. WISR students can access parts of the University of California at Berkeley Library by purchasing a membership in the Cal-Berkeley Alumni Association (even people who have never attended UC Berkeley can do this). The cost is approximately $50/year, and if you get your receipt for this, WISR will reimburse any currently enrolled WISR student the fee. To find out more go to the: Cal Alumni Association Membership web site. To find out a portion of what's available at the UC Berkeley library, go to: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/
Regarding access to the Stanford University Library, WISR PhD student, Sandy Tomlin reports as follows: I just checked with Stanford and there are 7 free days of public access to their library, including their archival one. You can look at the books in the library. They have zerox machines. 7 free days per year. Just need to bring a photo ID.
The direct line to Stanford library access info is (650) 723-1492. 7 days free access to the public. After that access is $5 per 1 day, $30 per week, $80 per month. Access and borrowing books is $200 for 3 months and $500 for 5 months. See the Stanford Library website for more information.

All WISR students are encouraged to learn more about what's available in WISR's library. For more information about the organization of books by broad subject matter categories, or for an informal "tour" of WISR's library, contact John Bilorusky.

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MIT President Charles M. Vest has announced that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will make the materials for nearly all its courses freely available on the Internet over the next ten years. Go to: MIT's OpenCourseWare: a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.

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• WISR MA student, Eric Mauer, and WISR faculty member, Terry Lunsford suggest this web site for pertinent articles not always covered by mainstream media: www.truthout.org/

• Sevgi Fernandez recommends www.highbeam.com as a relatively inexpensive (about $50 for six months) way to access over 35 million documents from over 3,000 sources--primarily various general interest as well as some specialized periodicals.

• Eric Mauer recommends the Real History Blog and the web site, www.RealHistoryAcrhives.com, for alternative perspectives on history as well as on "news" and "propaganda" today.

• Mark Snaer calls our attention to the work of the Institute for the Study of Homeless and Poverty. Their web site contains access to a number of publications, fact sheets, and links to other web sites. For example this Institute's web site refers us to the recently released study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that "New IRS Data Show Income Inequality is Again on the Rise."

• Mark Snaer also tells about a web search engine that's set up kind of like Working Assets where part of their revenue goes to help the environment and social causes. To do your web searches, use CooRah.com