Copyright (c) 2009 University of Nebraska - Lincoln All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience Recent documents in Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:24:13 PST 3600 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/200 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/200 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:11:14 PST Provides an overview of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries' institutional repository, the Digital Commons, on the BEPress platform. Sue Ann Gardner http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/199 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/199 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:41:20 PST Open access to scholarly content is increasing, and will continue to do so. This phenomenon is driving the economics of publishing to change dramatically. The question is: what will the economics of open access look like when this correction settles into a sustainable model? I will cover some of the ideas that have recently been articulated by economists, information professionals and others regarding retooling the evolving publishing business model, and will present some proposed solutions to the problem of "who is going to pay for it?" Sue Ann Gardner http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/198 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/198 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:59:39 PDT This essay discusses many of the opportunities for teachers I believe are present in the Willa Cather Archive (http://cather.unl.edu), particularly in the way the Archive makes new materials available or older materials available in a new way. Additionally, this essay suggests some of the implications of the Archive's digital presentation of resources. However, the place of digital scholarship in academic life is still evolving, and students and teachers are just getting accustomed to using the form. Given this circumstance, many of my thoughts are inconclusive, observations based upon preliminary understandings into how this resource affects our classrooms. I avoid confident pronouncements on the nature of these effects and instead articulate what I see as the most likely changes the Cather Archive might bring to the teaching of Willa Cather's works. Andrew Jewell http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/197 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/197 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:48:13 PDT Librarians, faculty, and professional researchers, and students already encounter difficulties in locating journal articles for the field of archaeology, yet, in the current budgetary climate, librarians needing to reduce subscription costs may be tempted to cancel smaller, discipline-specific indexes in favor of large multi- subject indexes with broad coverage. This study examines and compares the coverage provided to 208 archaeology and archaeology-related journals and magazines by six multi-subject indexes (Academic Search Premier, ArticleFirst, eLibrary, IngentaConnect, Wilson OmniFile, Web of Science) and by anthropology's primary index, Anthropological Literature, over a twenty year period (1988-2007). David Tyler http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/196 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/196 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:55:17 PDT Before statehood, the Territorial courts--empowered by the legislation that created each Territory--had the responsibility of adjudicating many questions, including those arising over the interpretation of American Indian treaties. This article identifies 150 citations, to 79 ratified Indian treaties or supplemental articles, in 55 opinions between the years 1846 and 1909 before 12 Territorial court systems. The cases listed here mark the significance of these documents before these and later courts; many of these proceedings foreshadowed some of today's dilemmas between the tribes and others. Charles D. Bernholz http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/195 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/195 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:53:38 PDT Briggs chronicles the cholera epidemic in the Amacuro Delta of Venezuela in 1992 and 1993 and examines the modes of discourse that shaped perceptions of the tragedy. He demonstrates how the dominant narrative-that is, that of public health officials, journalists, and doctors-was based not on data and reason, but primarily on deeply ingrained cultural and racial stereotypes. He contends that the racialized discourse adversely affected the response of the health care community to the epidemic, resulting in hundreds of preventable deaths.Briggs reports that health care facilities were unavailable to the indigenous Warao, and due to an ineffectual outreach infrastructure, health care workers did not attempt to treat the ill where they lived. The afflicted were left to seek medical assistance, often at great distances from their home without adequate transportation, and one group was quarantined. Briggs then reports how and why official statistics related to the outbreak were distorted.Briggs also discusses Warao medical practices. He notes that the healers were unfamiliar with cholera, which had not been reported in the Delta since the previous century, so they had no tools to respond to the outbreak. Though it could have used a tighter outline, it is readable and well footnoted. Mantini-Briggs's contributions to the book are particularly engaging. Her descriptions of her experience helping the cholera victims and her negative interactions with her health care colleagues are chilling end moving. Sue Ann Gardner http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/194 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/194 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:42:37 PDT Scattered Shadows, by the author of the groundbreaking Black Like Me, is a memoir comprising essays written in the 1940s and 1950s covering Griffin's gradual descent into blindness after a war injury, and the sudden, spontaneous, inexplicable restoration of his vision ten years later. Here Griffin beautifully recounts his eventual acceptance, and even embracing, of his disability. For avid readers, who read many good things all the time, it is a revelation to come across a book that is as outstanding as this one. Page after page is filled with intelligence, insight, and occasional humor. The chapter titled "The Blind Man of Tours" exemplifies the book's poignancy. Griffin recalls his exchange with a blind beggar in France, whom he visited to gain understanding of what lay ahead for him as his vision was fading. The beggar, who presented himself as a vagabond by day, appeared in silk brocade and leather slippers when he greeted Griffin at the door of his room. The two listened to classical music as they carried on a conversation that was deeply meaningful and satisfying to both of them, and instructive to Griffin. The editing, by Griffin's widow's second husband, is excellent. The selections chosen take the reader crisply through the author's odyssey of disability, including accounts of the author's studying Gregorian chant, farming livestock, writing best-selling novels, and starting a family. They demonstrate Griffin's resourcefulness, candor, and lack of willingness to succumb to self-pity or inability. Sue Ann Gardner http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/193 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/193 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:14:52 PDT The leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai has been covered in a number of books over the years, both fiction and nonfiction, many focusing on the efforts of Father Damien of Belgium, who sacrificed his own health to improve the conditions of the exiles. This latest volume is written from the perspective of a 12-year-old Hawaiian girl, Liliha, who contracts the disease from her cruel grandmother, and the novel is set in the years before Father Damien arrived at the colony in 1873. Before his arrival, there was anarchy, little food for the inhabitants, no health care, and no shelter. In this depiction, little detail is spared of the horrors of leprosy and the terror of lawlessness, though it shows that even a resourceful child was able to rise above many of the tremendous hardships.This is a first novel. The book is well written and engaging and would be of interest to young readers. While the story is unambiguously moralistic, it is light-handed and somewhat unconventional. That Liliha must grapple with serious ethical issues as well as fend for hers elf in every way may resonate with modern teens who, increasingly, have to deal with hardships of their own, including the fear of violence and split families. Sue Ann Gardner http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/192 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/192 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:55:43 PDT A renowned expert in global agricultural and environmental issues, Shiva has produced another volume, this time on the perils of privatization and pollution of water resources. Covering water's significance, from its practical necessity to its spiritual essence, Shiva sets out to justify the premise that "The water crisis is the most pervasive, most severe, and most invisible dimension of the ecological devastation of the earth."Though the topic is timely and poignant, the presentation is more that of a collection of research notes than a fully formed essay. The organization is not straightforward either chronologically or in terms of subject matter. The book also contains numerous unsubstantiated pronouncements. One example, on page 66: "I was personally involved in assessing the impact of World Bank-financed dams on [several Indian] Rivers. In each case, the ecological and social costs far surpassed the benefits. Typically, the benefits were grossly exaggerated in order to accommodate the World Bank's logic of returns on investment." I would have liked specifics about how the benefits were grossly exaggerated so that I could knowledgeably agree or disagree.Another shortcoming is that 20 percent of the citations are to the author's own works. Some of those refer to paragraphs containing primarily hard statistics such as those regarding acres of land submerged by dam projects, annual rainfall amounts, and earnings projections for Monsanto. Citations to primary sources would have bolstered the scholarship considerably.Shiva's latest work covers a worthy topic, but it is best considered only as a companion volume to others in which the scholarship is more rigorous and the organization more direct. Sue Ann Gardner http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/191 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/191 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:47:43 PDT With little formal background in this area, the authors have produced a well-researched, accessible handbook for U.S. residents who have adopted, or are considering adoption of, Chinese children. Jay Rojewski is an occupational studies professor and Jacy Rojewski is a middle school special education teacher, and their interest in the subject was piqued when they adopted a Chinese child several years ago.From a search of the literature it appears that the book fills a relative void on the topic. The authors cover a range of issues, including the philosophical issues and concerns surrounding intercountry adoption, how adoption from China takes place, attachment and adjustment issues, how and why-or whether-to impart Chinese culture and heritage to adoptees, how to deal with discrimination in the United States in mixed race families, and cultural identity and development. The issue of traditional (due to infertility) vs. preferential adopters is also addressed.The authors conducted their primary research via a survey posted on the web. They acknowledge the limitations of this method but suggest that there is still much to be learned from what they gleaned in the research, and I agree. The methods seem to be sound and rigorous and appropriate to the subject.One drawback to the book is that some of the information will soon become outdated, especially the legal aspects. Nevertheless, the book should serve as a rich source of information on intercountry adoption from China for those interested in the topic as well as those wishing to adopt a child. Sue Ann Gardner