the holocaust: learning from the past
The 20th century Spanish philosopher, George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This sentiment underscores the importance of learning about and teaching history - those defining events that have shaped the course of nations and generations of people. This digital library is meant to provide students and teachers with a small collection of resources to help us begin to understand one of the darkest events in human history: the Holocaust. The creators of this digital library chose the topic of the Holocaust for two reasons: first, we felt it was a highly worthwhile subject to dedicate to building a digital library; secondly, we wanted to focus on a topic of educational relevance to BC senior secondary students. The BC Ministry of Education's IRP Curriculum for History 12 (2006, p. 19; http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/social_studies/2006history12.pdf) mandates the teaching of World War II (Turmoil and Tragedy: 1933-1945) and the issues pertaining to it (Prescribed Learning Outcome D4: Analyze the significance of the Holocaust). Thus the subject of the Holocaust meets the provincial curriculum's presribed learning outcomes for History 12.
The purpose of this digital library is to provide a selection of Holocaust resources in a variety of formats in order to help students gain a deeper appreciation for, and understanding of the topic. We have included historical fiction, memoirs, non-fiction information books, a teacher's guide, and websites that provide a greater source of archival primary source materials, and a greater scope of the Holocaust. We have also included both visual and audio resources, such as a book of photographs from a Jewish ghetto and oral histories from Holocaust survivors and their families. We were mindful of the importance of including a variety of types of resources as it meets one of the outcomes for CASL's (The Canadian Association for School Libraries) "Framework for the Information Literacy Program" (2006): Uses traditional and digital tools effectively and efficiently to access all information and media formats (Outcome 8, Indicator 1, p. 17). In assessing and evaluating the websites, we looked for reputable and credible sources of information that we felt provide accurate information. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website is one such example of a reputable site with authority. Our standards for Holocaust-related websites also required a diversity of information features and formats, such as video, audio, interactivity, maps, and timelines.
For the creation of this digital library, we employed a number of tools to assist us in our search for resources. We searched the
online library catalogue of the Vancouver Public Library (www.vpl.ca), and used various search engines, such as Google and Bing. To help us navigate the complex process of creating MARC records for our resources, we consulted the Library of Congress Introduction of MARC document (http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um01to06.html; http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um07to10.html#part7; http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um11to12.html), the VPL’s MARC records for our selected resources, and the 19th edition of the Sears List of Subject Headings (2007) (http://support.ebsco.com/uploads/kb/sears_19th_edition.pdf). We chose to use the Sears List rather than the Library of Congress Subject Headings List because the Sears List is the "most common standardized list used in school libraries in BC" (LIBE 465, Lesson 8: Subject Cataloguing; Assignment of Subject Headings; https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/tp0.lc5116011/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct).
We hope the small selection of resources in this digital library will be a starting point for teachers to help guide students towards a more comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust. It is our hope that through this collection, George Santayana's words will be appreciated and heeded, that even though we and our students may not have lived those terrible times, the Holocaust and its deeper undercurrents of hate and racism will not be forgotten from the collective memory of human history.
~ Kathy Tran and Nicole Sauer
The purpose of this digital library is to provide a selection of Holocaust resources in a variety of formats in order to help students gain a deeper appreciation for, and understanding of the topic. We have included historical fiction, memoirs, non-fiction information books, a teacher's guide, and websites that provide a greater source of archival primary source materials, and a greater scope of the Holocaust. We have also included both visual and audio resources, such as a book of photographs from a Jewish ghetto and oral histories from Holocaust survivors and their families. We were mindful of the importance of including a variety of types of resources as it meets one of the outcomes for CASL's (The Canadian Association for School Libraries) "Framework for the Information Literacy Program" (2006): Uses traditional and digital tools effectively and efficiently to access all information and media formats (Outcome 8, Indicator 1, p. 17). In assessing and evaluating the websites, we looked for reputable and credible sources of information that we felt provide accurate information. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website is one such example of a reputable site with authority. Our standards for Holocaust-related websites also required a diversity of information features and formats, such as video, audio, interactivity, maps, and timelines.
For the creation of this digital library, we employed a number of tools to assist us in our search for resources. We searched the
online library catalogue of the Vancouver Public Library (www.vpl.ca), and used various search engines, such as Google and Bing. To help us navigate the complex process of creating MARC records for our resources, we consulted the Library of Congress Introduction of MARC document (http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um01to06.html; http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um07to10.html#part7; http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um11to12.html), the VPL’s MARC records for our selected resources, and the 19th edition of the Sears List of Subject Headings (2007) (http://support.ebsco.com/uploads/kb/sears_19th_edition.pdf). We chose to use the Sears List rather than the Library of Congress Subject Headings List because the Sears List is the "most common standardized list used in school libraries in BC" (LIBE 465, Lesson 8: Subject Cataloguing; Assignment of Subject Headings; https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/tp0.lc5116011/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct).
We hope the small selection of resources in this digital library will be a starting point for teachers to help guide students towards a more comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust. It is our hope that through this collection, George Santayana's words will be appreciated and heeded, that even though we and our students may not have lived those terrible times, the Holocaust and its deeper undercurrents of hate and racism will not be forgotten from the collective memory of human history.
~ Kathy Tran and Nicole Sauer