[1] From: James O'Donnell <jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu> (22)
Subject: Arachnet?
[2] From: Judy <JUDYR@SJSUVM1.sjsu.edu> (48)
Subject: Teaching the MLA International Bibliography
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Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 08:01:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: James O'Donnell <jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Subject: Arachnet?
Happy birthday, Humanist. I address here the old timers among you, from
the days when there were giants on the earth, Kessler and Paramskas and
Brown and Flanagan, to say nothing of Sire Willard the Prime Mover. One
of Humanist's spinoffs somewhere around 1990 was ARACHNET, a separate list
for discussion of scholarly publishing, a sort of meta-list for talking
*about* things like Humanist but e-journals as well. I'm on a small
self-assigned mission to track down that list and its archives, if they
exist, to recover a sense of what people thought possible and desirable
back at the dawn of recorded history, this at a moment when a list I
co-moderate, NewJour, reports over 3700 existing e-journals and we know
that we are scrambling just to keep from falling further behind in
reporting them. An Alta Vista search on Arachnet shows mainly that
Willard was once again prescient, and that the *word* "arachnet" is a
coinage that has been made repeatedly and for many and diverse purposes
lately, but I do not find that it leads to anything from the old list.
Willard reminds me that Diane Kovacs took it up when he had to let it go,
but she seems no longer associated with Kent State, and there are too many
homonyms in Yahoo People Search. Humanists, aux secours!
Jim O'Donnell
Classics, U. of Penn
jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
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Date: Mon, 07 Apr 97 13:25:13 PDT
From: Judy <JUDYR@SJSUVM1.sjsu.edu>
Subject: Teaching the MLA International Bibliography
From: Judy <JUDYR@SJSUVM1.sjsu.edu>
Last Opportunity to Respond to the
Survey on Teaching the MLA
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I am gathering information to write an article about teaching
students how to use the Modern Language Association
International Bibliography. I would appreciate you taking the
time to participate in this survey and returning it to me.
Thanks, Judy Reynolds judyr@sjsuvm1.sjsu.edu
This message has been cross-listed on Bi-L, EALSL and
Humanist, please excuse any duplication.
1. Do you think that students search MLAIB differently
in the electronic and paper forms?
2. Has the evolution of the database and the growing
familiarity with electronic indexes changed the way you
teach. Do you think that students have a more detailed
mental map and/or grasp of the vocabulary or is it
just different? Explain?
3. What changes do you make to target diffent audience
levels? Do you teach undergrads alternative resources
such as the Humanities Index because they are mainly
interested in locally available resources?
4. Have Stephen Wiberley's findings that humanists
to use concrete nouns in their searches more often
than has been generally thought alterned your approach
to emphasize only specific writers/works? Or, do find
that students need to learn how to use the thesaurus
to locate subjects headings to find works on genre,
theme subjects?
5. Do you find topics where the MLA has a unique
perspective?
6. Where do you turn for teaching materials? Do you
make all your own? If you adapt or borrow from others,
what sources do you find most helpful?
7. What about linguistics or folklore, film or theatre
research classes? What role and special techniques
do you suggest and use in teaching them? What other
databases do you teach?
8. Have you introducted new modes of teaching such
as live demonstrations, hands-on instruction, Internet
or Web based instruction or other forms? What
techniques continue to be useful?
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Judy Reynolds (408) 924-2725
Library judyr@sjsuvm1.sjsu.edu
San Jose State University judyr@email.sjsu.edu
1 Washington Sq.
San Jose, Ca. 95192-0028
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