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Inclusion of Scholarly Web Sites
The MLA International Bibliography includes scholarly Web sites. To be included, they must meet the following criteria.
- Be only electronic. Sites also available in print will be indexed as such with an additional note regarding site information.
- Be examined by an indexer who applies current print criteria when appropriate and who designates it as within the scope of the bibliography.
- Identify the editor, publisher, and/or scholarly organization.
To bring Web sites to our attention for consideration in the bibliography, please send an e-mail message that includes the URL to bibliography@mla.org.
At its October 2006 annual meeting, the Advisory Committee on the MLA International Bibliography discussed the possibility of including scholarly Web sites in the index. This was not the first conversation on the topic; with the urging of the Committee on Information Technology (CIT), the advisory committee had been vigorously considering the prospect for at least five years and had already approved the inclusion of electronic journals, electronic bibliographies, and e-books. In spring 2006, the CIT had provided the advisory committee a list of 105 Web sites to review, including thematic research collections, electronic archives, portals, language maps, research tools, teaching tools, blogs, discussion list archives, and video presentations. Faced with such variant material, the advisory committee asked the bibliography staff to initiate a pilot project, beginning with electronic archives.
With the April 2007 file updates, the first group of sites became available for searching in the electronic version of the bibliography. Approximately 100 sites were introduced and are searchable as a "Web site" record type. The file will be updated in October and April of every year and will follow the same schedule as the retrospective files. They will not be cited in the print volumes.
In November 2007, the advisory committee labeled the pilot program a success and reconfirmed the need to include Web sites in the electronic version of the bibliography.
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