The Oral History unit has a grad student volunteer, Erin, who has been working with us these past two weeks, digitizing some of our reel-to-reel tapes and making summaries for them so that we can catalog them. Whenever she runs across Alaskan names or terminology, she looks them up to be sure that they are spelled correctly. As a youngster (defined as someone at least twenty years younger than myself), Erin Googles these references. As an oldster, my first inclination to head toward print references because I remember a time–not that long ago–when the Internet was the proverbial vast wasteland where Alaskan materials were concerned. What a difference a few years makes. I continue to be surprised at what (accurate) information Erin is able to find on the web. Two examples: check out the Bowhead whale songs here at Cornell and this book on Koyukon verb classification here at Google Books.
Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks
