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from the issue of April 28, 2005
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New site lists 'Great Books of the Great Plains'
BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
An online bookshelf showcasing the cultural heritage of the Great Plains has been built.
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| | | U.S. Poet Laureate and visiting UNL professor of English Ted Kooser (right) discusses the "Great Books of the Great Plains" website last Thursday. Looking on are contributors (from left) Amy Fleury and Tom Averill, both of Washburn University of Topeka, Kan. Photo by Troy Fedderson, University Communications.
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Now, members of the Plains Humanities Alliance - including Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate and visiting UNL professor of English, and Tim Mahoney, Alliance director and UNL professor of history - are looking for a way to spread the word on "Great Books of the Great Plains," a list of 500 books from Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma.
"The main goal when we started last year was to try to get this resource up and running online," Mahoney said. "Now, we've created this bookshelf with 500 or so books, and we need to find a way to market it."
The site http://libr.unl.edu:2000/plains/bibs/index.html was officially presented April 20 at the Nebraska Union. Mahoney led a panel of contributors - including Kooser, Tom Averill, associate professor of English at Washburn University of Topeka, Kan., and Amy Fleury, assistant professor of English at Washburn - in a website discussion as 17 individuals attended the event.
The original concept came from Kooser and stemmed from the book, "As Far as I Can See:Contemporary Writing of the Middle Plains," published in 1989 by Windflower Press.
"I suppose the idea for Great Books was influences in part by the earlier anthology, though they are entirely different critters" Kooser said. "I had originally planned to do a book, but there were so many new books coming out all the time that I knew it would be obsolete almost immediately."
But, with the combination of the Plains Humanities Alliance and the flexibility of the World Wide Web, allowed the concept to come together 16 years later.
Seven university officials from the five states compiled the list, with Kooser serving as the Great Books consulting editor.
Michael Tate, professor of history and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, compiled the Nebraska list. He was unable to attend the announcement due to illness.
Others establishing their respective state's lists were: Averill and Fleury for Kansas; David Martinson, English lecturer, and Thomas Isern, professor of history, both from North Dakota State University; Charles Woodard, distinguished professor of English at South Dakota State University; and Danney G. Goble, professor of classics at the University of Oklahoma.
While all believe the site is a source for scholars and researchers, the group also hopes the listing will be a place for anyone to visit and learn about the Great Plains.
"We wanted to be sure to include a murder mystery and children's literature on our list," Averill said. "We wanted a wide welcome that would reach many different audiences. Maybe we need to create sub-lists within our lists to reach a variety of interests."
Kooser agreed, outlining the possibility of trimming the bookshelf to must-have reads, with subgroups for teachers, high school students, and other individuals who peruse the website. The group also discussed rotating a short list of important books for each state's site.
While those determinations will be made at a future date, the panel believed it would be a possibility as each state list stretches the gamut of fiction and non-fiction to research and history.
Placing the list on the Internet rather than print will also prove useful as it can be edited and updated as needed in the future.
"This was a large project and we've been able to do it in such a manner that it is interactive and flexible," Mahoney said. "This is a fine resource and a fine day for the Alliance."
The Plains Humanities Alliance was established at UNL in 2002, after the university was selected as one of nine sites to house a regional humanities center by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In that time, the alliance has developed partnerships at the local, regional and national level to help with their programs.
With the "Great Books of the Great Plains" project completed, the alliance is now focusing on creating the Plains Gateway on its website . The gateway is projected to be a directory of Great Plains humanities information.
'GREAT BOOKS' ON THE WEB
To learn more about the Plains Humanities Alliance's "Great Books of the Great Plains" project, go online to http://libr.unl.edu:2000/plains/bibs/index.html. The list includes 500-plus books that celebrate the culture of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma.
GO TO: ISSUE OF APRIL 28
NEWS HEADLINES FOR APRIL 28
Childhood toys spur collection
Harrassment training goes online at UNL
New site lists 'Great Books of the Great Plains'
A Piece of University History
Hubble Images at Mueller Planetarium
Term life program outlines benefit boost
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