Collection Development Policies: English

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Subject: ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

Program Description

The English Department offers a B.A. in English and American Literature, a B.A. in Creative Writing, a M.A. in English and American Literature, a M.A. in Professional Writing and Rhetoric, and a M.F.A. in Creative Writing (which is described in a separate collection development policy statement).

Description of Existing Collection
NCIP Code: 3

The collection is primarily composed of English language works, with a limited number of titles in Spanish. Following are the results of a shelflist count done in October of 1996 for the following Library of Congress classification number ranges:

GR72-79, 100-133, 550-552 (Folk literature): 497 titles

PE1097-1497, 1501-1693 (Modern English grammar, rhetoric, style, and composition; prosody, metrics, and rhythmics, lexicology; etymology and lexicography): 2,875 titles

PN1-1551, 1600-1861, 3311-3503, 6010-8998 (General literature): 7,551 titles

PR (English literature): 30,050 titles

PS (American literature): 33,800 titles

TOTAL NUMBER OF TITLES: 74,773

As demonstrated by the shelflist counts above, most of the collection consists of books and journals of general, English, and American literature. In addition, the collection contains several relatively small groups of materials on provincial literatures (literatures of areas in the British Isles and present and former British colonies and dependencies, excluding the United States): Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Trinidad, South Africa, Nigeria, India, Australia, and New Zealand. There is also a small collection of materials on Latin American folk literature.

The library has current subscriptions to 148 journals that have been identified as relating to English and American literature and creative writing. In the Current Periodicals and Microforms area, there are a small number of uncataloged microfilm reels on Charles Dickens, John Keats, Robert Burns, and the Wright American fiction collection; there is also a set of uncataloged microcards: the Shakespeare Society publications. The MLA International Bibliography is an online version of the MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literature, and is available on the Web and accessible on Nugget.  Gale's Literary Index, available on the Library LAN, is a master index to literary series published by Gale Research, Inc, (these series contain complete biographies on authors and critical essays on their writings). 

Current Collecting Intensity
NCIP Code: 3

Through the approval plan with Yankee Book Peddler, the library receives currently-published literature and literary criticism. Most of the books received through firm orders are current imprints; however, if the library has incomplete holdings of multi-volume sets of works on major literary authors, efforts are made to complete the sets (which involves acquiring retrospective imprints). It is not uncommon for books published within the last five years to be ordered if they appear to be significant works, and when damaged books cannot be repaired, they may be replaced with another copy of the same edition, when available (if a newer edition has not been published).

Last updated: 3/20/03