Global English in the Humanities? A Longitudinal Citation Study of Foreign-Language Use by Humanities Scholars

Abstract

in order to identify trends in foreignlanguage citation behavior of humanities scholars over time.The number of foreign-language sources cited in the four subjects has not declined over time. Consistent levels of foreign-language citation from humanities scholars indicate a need for U.S. research libraries to continue to purchase foreign-language materials and to recruit catalogers and collection development specialists with foreign-language knowledge.he current study investigates whether declines in college enrollment in foreign languages are reflected in concomitant declines in the use of foreign-language sources by humanities scholars. The answer to this question has collection development implications for research libraries. With library materials budgets losing purchasing power in real terms over time, and the recent, more drastic cuts many libraries have had to make because of a difficult economic environment, it is tempting to assume that foreign books and journals receive less use and could be cut. Although this may be true for undergraduates, collecting decisions based on assumptions about lower use of foreign-language materials by scholars should be supported by data. The purpose of this study is to collect enough data over a sufficient period of time to be able to determine whether a trend of lower use of foreign-language resources has, indeed, developed.The foreign-language education community has documented a sharp decline since the 1960s in the percentage of college undergraduates studying languages, most severely in the 1980s, from a high of 16.5 per 100 students in 1965 to 7.9 in 1998. 1 Contributing to this decline was the drop in numbers of colleges with language entrance and/or graduation requirements.

Publication and Language Trends of References in Spanish and Latin American Literature

“…Specifically, the percentage of articles without citations to foreign-language materials decreased from 1962 to 2002 when they examined the aggregate data. 14 Knievel and Kellsey found similar numbers in their 2005 study of eight humanities fields. In the fields of art, classics, history, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, and religion, an average of 78.2 percent of citations were to Englishlanguage materials, with a range of 65.3 percent (art) to 99.7 percent (philosophy).…”

Use of Circulation Statistics and Interlibrary Loan Data in Collection Management

“…17 In addition, literature and history remain fields that rely very heavily on the research monograph, which may contribute to the large size of the collections. [18][19][20] In contrast, though UCB has a very strong chemistry program, the collection is more dominated by serials and electronic resources than monographs. UCB has an anthropology program.…”

A Citation Study of the Characteristics of the Linguistics Literature

“…29 In Charlene Kellsey and Jennifer E. Knievel's citation study of foreign-language use by humanities scholars, linguistics was one of the four disciplines examined. 30 Lastly, in an examination of gender and its relation to publication and citation, Bonnie McElhinny and her colleagues looked specifically at the subdisciplines of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. 31 …”