American Libraries

George Eberhart: What was your highlight of the conference?

Attendee: Sherman Alexie.

George Eberhart: Sherman Alexie? Oh, that was funny, wasn't it?

Attendee: He was very funny, very funny, very entertaining.

Attendee: I'm just really curious about the thought—your ideas—about the term "American Indian."

Sherman Alexie: (Laughing) Oh, that's a great way to start. Native American is just as wildly inaccurate as Indian. So it's like a competition of the wildly inaccurate.

George Eberhart: Are international students poised to plagiarize?

Mary K. Van Ullen: Well, there are a lot of cultural differences between international students and U.S. students. And it's not a matter of being poised. It think it's a matter of expectations are different, research expectations are different, and international countries—particularly in Asian countries. For example, in Asian countries it's often considered rude to change someone else's work. So if you're an author, you're supposed to be the expert. So to paraphrase an author is considered disrespectful.

George Eberhart: This is about the research commons—

Diana Dallis: It is.

George Eberhart: —at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. And can you tell me why this is innovative?

Diana Dallis: Well, it's innovative in that it's actually bringing community space—along with services and resources—together for graduate students and faculty.

Ira Glass: I feel like the music—if every story is trying to be a fable—the music helps it be a fable. You know, the music is like the frame on the picture. Like if I'm just talking to you now, I'm just somebody talking. But if you add the music (gentle music playing), it gives it that sort of grandeur that a human being would be incapable of, you know? It's just moving things along (upbeat music playing) and the way that we do it is that we need the music to have a vamp—something underneath the person talking. And then a part when you stop talking (jazz playing loudly) can take over the space. You know what I mean?