From: SuCamBar at aol.com <SuCamBar>
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 11:28:02 EST

Please forgive me if this is posted twice. And if it is a second posting, you should note that I ran the spell-check and fixed the spelling of Marc's last name. (Sorry, Marc.)


I have been following this documentation discussion with great interest.

As a former middle-school teacher, I have never seen bibliographies turn off a student reader, but I have seen bibliographies turn on student readers and student writers--especially the sort of bibliographies that Marc Aronson describes.

I weigh in favor of those who believe that a bibliography can help readers share an author's enthusiasm and further engage her readers in her research, discoveries, and decision-making process. When I am researching, I value a good bibliography, and so, for me, when I create the bibliography, I do so for the researcher who follows me as well as the general readers who seek additional information.

Although I agree that a bibliography can take various forms, depending on the book's nature and author's inclinations, I don???t think there should be two sets of bibliography standards, one for adults and one for kids. Both audiences deserve the same passion, integrity, and the same level of quality research, writing, and documentation. Perhaps it can be argued that books for children deserve even greater standards.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Received on Fri 03 Jan 2003 10:28:02 AM CST