It's a unique sort of book that can simultaneously frustrate you beyond all belief and draw you in even deeper. Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is one of those books, and it's driving me nuts at the moment.
On the surface, it's a deeply complicated book -- at least four major plots (one of which includes you. Yes, you, the poor soul reading it), the beginnings of ten engrossing novels, and at least one secret society out to steal the source of all stories. Throughout it all, Calvino meditates on the nature of literature, the act of reading, and the way both interact within the reader's mind.
Below the surface, it's irritating. Each of the ten novels in the book starts off a little slowly, then builds up terrifically well all the way to a particularly suspenseful point -- and then is chopped off. Of course, all of this is in service to the overall plot, which centers around two readers who are having the same problem you are: Getting suckered into a particularly good book only to have it cut off at a particularly critical moment for one reason or another. Gah.
I'm sure by the book's end, I'll rave about it, but at the moment, I just want to know what happens next.
Okay, moving on. First, I'd like to announce that it's once again time for our Undergraduate Research Paper Award. If you're an undergrad who's written what you feel is an especially good research paper at any point since the beginning of Spring 2009, send it to us. If you win, you get a $200 Barnes & Noble gift card, which is a prize I'd envy under any circumstance. You can find more details, including our submission criteria and instructions, here. If you're a faculty member reading this, by all means, please feel free to encourage the authors of the best papers you've seen to submit their work!
Now, let's get back on track with deaf research. I believe we left off with our pathfinders, a list of which you can find here.
The pathfinders are intended to be quick stops for people who are researching fairly common topics, such as cochlear implants, deaf authors, and interpreting. One thing to bear in mind about those pathfinders -- and this one thing is mentioned in most of them -- is that they don't often list the titles we have in those topics. They're intended to give you suggestions and methods for performing the research yourself. It sounds funny, but that's one of the most important things we try to do here at the Library: teach our students how to perform effective research on their own. It's an important skill to have, and these pathfinders are designed to encourage its development.
They're all laid out in a fairly standard format for most of the pathfinders (exceptions are discussed a little further down):
- Scope
- This discusses exactly what the pathfinder covers. This generally includes a more specific definition of the topic covered (What exactly is covered in the term "Deaf culture?" How exactly does a cochlear implant work?) and gives you a better idea of what sort of information the pathfinder can help you dig up.
- Introduction
- Lists resources that offer introductions to the topic. For example, in the pathfinder about cochlear implants, this section details various texts that may offer useful introductions to cochlear implants and their importance in the deaf community, and points to the websites of some manufacturers.
- Books
- Again, we don't often list specific items. If we were to try to offer a listing of specific books, we'd spend quite a bit of time adding new books as they come in. It would also not be a very good fit for the purpose of the pathfinder, which is, again, intended to guide you along your own course of research. Instead, we offer suggested search terms and instructions on how to access the catalog.
- Periodicals
- Similar to the "Books" section. We also include a discussion of how to approach searching for deaf-related topics in non-deaf-related periodicals; many deaf-related issues are covered in journals that don't have the word "deaf" or "sign" in the title.
- Online Databases/Newspapers/Other Resources
- A particular pathfinder may have anywhere from one to all three of these sections. We generally include suggestions for the best places to look and search terms that will work best in finding what you need.
That's more or less standard, with some variation to accommodate films and microforms. Very few pathfinders don't follow this format; those non-standard pathfinders are concerned mostly with Gallaudet's more unique holdings, like our deaf school yearbooks, which aren't available online. Our yearbooks pathfinder, for example, describes how to search for a specific school's yearbook in our catalog.
In general, the pathfinders are terrific sources for step-by-step help in looking up some of the more common deaf-related topics. If you're looking for something that isn't covered by the pathfinders, you always have at least one more thing you can do: ask a librarian!
That takes care of this week. I'm out of town for the Academic Bowl again next week, so you can expect a shorter post a lá last week's. Enjoy the emerging grass and blue skies! After this week's 30-mile-per-hour winds, of course.
Question of the Week
When are we getting more new books?
We're getting them right now. Carts have been arriving at least once a week for the past few weeks. I'll write up a post about our new books sometime soon!
Posts
Many institutions limit access to their online information. Making this information available will be an asset to all.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree -- I'm a big supporter of the open-source movement, as exemplified by DOAJ (http://www.doaj.org/) -- the Directory of Open Access Journals. Their goal is much like what you said: the free and open access to important academic research.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, most publishers tend to guard their material pretty jealously, crying "copyright violation" if they don't get paid for allowing access to their stuff. Legally, they're correct. Ethically, though, is another matter (and one currently left up to personal opinion).