medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Dear Cate (and all who have followed this thread -- and, indeed,  
everyone on the list!),

I hope that the medieval-religion list and its individual members can  
be of assistance to you and to others who do not have ready access to  
scholarly libraries.

Might I ask everyone to bear in mind that it is extremely helpful,  
when asking for advice or assistance, not simply to state a question,  
but to tell us of the context within which you are working, and the  
materials you may have had the chance to examine already?

And might I ask those of us who reply to queries from other members  
not to say something along the lines of 'do a web search'? Please try  
instead to point people to works that might be consulted during a  
visit to a research library, or that might even be available on the  
web; it might also be a good idea to refer people to scholars who are  
specialists in the area of the query.

Let's do our best to help each other generously in a courteous and  
professional (and even -- dare I say it -- humorous) way.

George

P.S.: Many thanks to Rosemary for posting the British Library news to  
the list. It is appalling that funding to this unique resource could  
be cut, when it already is barely keeping up with demand.

--
George FERZOCO
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On 7 Feb 2007, at 18:15, Catherine Gunn wrote:
> Dear colleagues
>
> the mail about the BL made me think of an issue I’ve been  
> considering mentioning to the list for a while.  I am an  
> independent scholar, and fortunate enough to live close enough to  
> both Cambridge and London to use the CUL and BL regularly, but  
> there seem to be a number of independent scholars and other  
> outsiders on the list who often post pleas for help since they  
> don’t have access to decent academic libraries.  Advice that an  
> article is readily available through jstor doesn’t help if you are  
> not affiliated to an institution and so don’t have an Athens password.
>
> I have noticed occasional exclamations of surprise at the ignorance  
> of some of those posting questions – this is rare since members of  
> the list tend to be very supportive – but it would be good to  
> remember that not everyone has enjoyed the same educational  
> advantages and privileges.  My own ignorance of a medieval Latin  
> term was shamefully exposed once – I was fortunate enough to learn  
> classical Latin in the good old days when it was taught in Grammar  
> schools, but turned to medieval studies late in life and have had  
> to pick up medieval Latin as I go along.
>
> The BL and this list are important resources for ‘outsiders’ (yes,  
> you can be made to feel like that!) – thank you for everyone who  
> has answered my questions in the past, but I wonder whether it  
> would be possible to organise any support for independent scholars,  
> and what particular problems are encountered by those working in a  
> field like medieval religion without the support of a recognised  
> institution?
>
> with best wishes to all,
>
> Cate

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