MLA International Bibliography in Academic Libraries Discussion
Group  Indexing and Searching Considerations for
Interdisciplinary Studies: The Example of Women's Studies in the
MLA International Bibliography  By Natalia Sucre, MLA, 1997
Interdisciplinary studies poses several indexing and searching
challenges for a cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural bibliography
in the humanities such as the MLA International Bibliography.
First, the MLA Bibliography covers three distinct academic
fields--literary studies, linguistics, and folklore--as well as
related areas of interest that for the most part fit under the
rubric of interdisciplinary studies. Within each of these fields
and areas, the bibliography includes scholarship on a nd from
many languages and national literatures. Thus, the
bibliography's indexing vocabulary is more general than it would
be in a reference source restricted to a single discipline or
cultural context. While such generality can aid in a search on
an i nterdisciplinary topic, it also tend