In each issue of Keywords, we profile a faculty member who makes innovative use of the library and/or academic technology. This issue features Oz Aloni, Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern Hebrew.
Where are you from and what’s your academic specialty?
I’m from Jerusalem, Israel. I teach at the Modern Hebrew program at Middlebury. I’m a Semitic linguist, which means I research languages of the Semitic family, which includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Amharic, and many more. My research is focused on a language called the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) – in fact only on one dialect of that language: the Jewish dialect of Zakho, Kurdistan.
What do you like about Middlebury?
The beautiful nature surrounding us; the college’s great facilities; the friendliness of Vermonters.
How do you use the library?
For my own research I use the library mainly through its online databases and resources, and also its efficient interlibrary loan service. Two of the databases that were recently added to the library’s collection are particularly valuable for me: the Responsa Project and the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. They are also very useful for my students, as research tools for the assignments I give.
How can the library better serve you?
The library is doing a pretty good job as it is. One thing that can be an improvement is expanding the Hebrew collection, and I’m happy to help with that.