The foreign language barrier in information transfer at the University of Tasmania

Abstract

A survey of indexing and abstracting tools held at the University of Tasmania's library was conducted to determine the amount of foreign language materials available to researchers working at the University. The research workers themselves were also surveyed in order to ascertain the effects of the foreign language barrier on their ability to access information relevant to their fields of study. The data suggests that there is a considerable barrier which adversely affects information dissemination and that there exists a need for the development of library services especially designed to confront this barrier.

Information limits: definition, typology and types

“… Terminology barrier – special vocabulary, specific language (Mount, 1966 – an inquirer lacks knowledge of the vocabulary used by a particular set of tools; Engelbert, 1974; Summers et al , 1983 – understanding research reports; Buckland, 1991 – understanding: cognitive access; Schmidt and Wellems, 1992; Hall et al , 1999, 2000 – obscure legal terminology “patentees”; Spang and Baker, 2000; Marcella, 2001; Augustine and Greene, 2002; Eriksson‐Backa, 2008). Foreign language barrier – lack of sufficient knowledge of foreign language (Engelbert, 1974; Gordon and Santman, 1981; Thorp et al , 1988; Haag, 1989; Buckland, 1991 – understanding: cognitive access; Riley, 1992; Schmidt and Wellems, 1992; Marcella, 2001; REFLECT, 2002; Schaafsma et al , 2003; Eriksson‐Backa, 2008). Lack of time – for reading, searching and finding information systematically (Martyn, 1964, 1987; Summers et al , 1983; Haag, 1989; Gravois et al , 1995; Applebee et al , 1997; D'Alessandro et al , 1998; Hertzum and Pejtersen, 2000; Monopoli and Nicholas, 2000; Wales, 2000; Nicholas, 2001; Ferguson and Crawford, 2001; Hewitson, 2002; Rehman and Ramzy, 2004; Swinglehurst, 2005; Wallis, 2006; Revere et al , 2007; Shenton, 2008; Bertulis, 2008; Tonge, 2008; Khasseh et al , 2009).…”

“…Foreign language barrier – lack of sufficient knowledge of foreign language (Engelbert, 1974; Gordon and Santman, 1981; Thorp et al , 1988; Haag, 1989; Buckland, 1991 – understanding: cognitive access; Riley, 1992; Schmidt and Wellems, 1992; Marcella, 2001; REFLECT, 2002; Schaafsma et al , 2003; Eriksson‐Backa, 2008).…”

Breaking Out of the Linguistic Ghetto? The role of new media in facilitating international research

“…Edwards (1971) examined the limitations of Library and Information Science Abstracts as a source for international and comparative studies. Riley (1992) reported on a wider survey of indexing and abstracting tools held at the University of Tasmania's library to determine the amount of foreign language materials available to researchers working at the University. The research workers themselves were also surveyed in order to ascertain the effects of the foreign language barrier on their ability to access information relevant to their fields of study.…”