[ILL-L] MLA & EBSCO

[Robinson, Arthur]

I too use this as a teaching moment in my library instruction for
freshman English.  I show them how to do a Boolean search in MLA, then
show them a full citation and ask if they can see any possible problems
with the article.  Usually someone catches that it's in Korean.  But not
always.

 

Irrelevant anecdotes: (1)   I had one year of German, which allows me to
understand words like "Band" and "Teil" but isn't much use for reading
articles.  I once had a job interview at which I was asked if I could
read a scholarly book in German in two hours.  I didn't get the job.
(It takes me twice that long to read an Agatha Christie novel in
English.)

 

(2)  I had a classmate in graduate school whose German was a lot better
than mine, but she had difficulty in understanding a scholarly article
in German, so she consulted another grad student who came from Germany.
He couldn't figure out what the article was about, either.

 

Arthur

 

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Leslie Starasta
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 11:51 AM
To: 'Interlibrary Loan Listserv'
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] MLA & EBSCO

 

In addition to my ILL responsibilities, I handle most of our information
literacy instruction.  I have found that one of the first things I teach
students in courses that require using MLA, PsycINFO, or other databases
that have non-English items is to go in and mark English as the language
in Advanced Search.  I always provide a caveat that if they are fluent
in another language to mark that as well but let them know that my few
years of high school and college French were inadequate to actually read
an article.  Students always chuckle and them remember to check the
English box or select English from the language list.  

 

Leslie Starasta 
Information Services Librarian 
Jessie C. Eury Library 
Lincoln Christian College & Seminary 
lstarasta at lccs.edu 

 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Robinson, Arthur 
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 10:03 AM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] MLA & EBSCO

 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Andrew Shuping
Sent: Wed 4/2/2008 8:58 AM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: Re: [ILL-L] MLA & EBSCO

Perhaps the database vendors could make it prominent that the article is
international.  I know the problem that my patrons have (and staff as
well) is the MLA and EBSCO translate the information into English.
Maybe bold flashing neon colors that would quickly let us know that yes
indeed, this is a international publication and not just run of the mill
easily accessible English title. 

 

 

 

This an excellent idea.  Here's my revision of a typical MLA citation:

 

Title: [The Taming of the Shrew: A Reading as a Text of Comedy]

Author(s):  Kong, Sung-Uk
<javascript:__doLinkPostBack('detail','ss%257E%257EAU%2520%252522Kong%25
252c%2520Sung%252DUk%252522%257C%257Csl%257E%257Erl','');> 

Source:  Medieval and Early Modern English Studies
<javascript:__doLinkPostBack('detail','ss%257E%257EJN%2520%252522Medieva
l%2520and%2520Early%2520Modern%2520English%2520Studies%252522%257C%257Cs
l%257E%257Erl','');>  (MES) 2007 Aug; 15 (2): 419-41.

Notes:  In Korean

THIS ARTICLE IS NOT IN ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!

 

Unfortunately we do this sort of thing with our book bands (DO NOT
REMOVE BOOK BAND!!!!) and it doesn't work.

 

Arthur Robinson (GLG)

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