Guidelines for English

Table of Contents

1. Purpose
2. General Collection Guidelines
    A. Language
    B. Chronology
    C. Geography
    D. Publication Date
    E. Treatment of Subject
    F. Types of Materials and Formats
3. Area Resources
4. Subjects and Collecting Levels

 

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1. Purpose.

Collections in English support a research agenda consistent with research enterprise at a Carnegie Research Intensive (Very High Research) institution with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in the field.

The collection supports teaching and research in English literature, language, critical theory, digital humanities, textual and manuscript studies, and emergent forms of the literary in the digital environment.

The English Department offers opportunities for study and research in the following areas: English Literature, American Literature, Comparative Literature, Linguistics, Criticism, Composition and Rhetoric, and Creative Writing. The M.A. in English is divided into two areas of concentration: Writing and Rhetoric, and Literature. The M.F.A. in Creative Writing emphasizes primarily the writing of fiction and poetry, with some attention given to the writing of drama, nonfiction, radio and television scripts, and editing.  An interdisciplinary doctorste program in Media, Art, and Text allows students to study the interplay between word and image in new media, and combines the fields of English, Art, and Mass Communications.

The Department of English promotes interdisciplinary study by offering courses basic to several cross-disciplinary programs:  American Studies, African-American Studies (Afro-American, African, and Caribbean literatures), Environmental Studies, Women's Studies (Women in Literature and Women Writers), and the University Honors Program. In addition, the English Department offers courses in linguistics and in advanced writing.

 

2. General Collection Guidelines.

A. Language.
Primarily English. Works of criticism and historical or textual studies in a foreign language are preferred in English translation, with the usual exception of bibliographies.

B. Chronology.
No restrictions.

C. Geography.
The primary areas of collecting emphasis are the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada, but English-language literature from Africa and the Caribbean, as well as Australia and India, is also actively collected.

D. Publication Date.
No restrictions.

E. Treatment of Subject.
Material providing historical, critical, textual, or bibliographic studies of the literature is acquired, addressing all genres. Textbooks are generally excluded.

F. Types of Materials and Formats.
Monographs and reference works - including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibliographies - are actively collected.  Electronic versions of serials, and open-access online journals both scholarly and literary, are actively selected. There are few restrictions on the format of the material, particularly in the case of that which is retrospective. Of special importance is the acquisition of current and retrospective works of fiction and poetry in support of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Works by women and by Jewish authors are collected in support of the minor in Women's Studies and the Judaica collection. At faculty request, unpublished dissertations or theses may be purchased. Recordings or videos of literature (e.g. poetry readings) are acquired, as are films related to the study, performance, and enjoyment of literature and cinema. Electronic databases are actively acquired, as well as emergent online literary forms, projects, and editions.

3. Area Resources.

Special Collections in the Cabell Library holds an extensive collection of poetry from the Southeast in support of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing, as well as collections of works by and criticism of Ezra Pound, Boswell, and Samuel Johnson. Richmond Public Library holds popular materials in English, and the Union Theological Seminary has a William Blake collection.

4. Subjects and Collecting Levels.

English is collected at a research level (4).