English Collection Development Policy

About the Library

Policies & Guidelines

Collection Development

Subjects

English Collection Development Policy

Purpose
The collection supports present and anticipated teaching and research in the fields of American, British, Comparative, and Post-Colonial literature. At present, the central focus of the department and the chief interests of the faculty are encompassed in the following general areas of teaching and research: Literary Criticism, History of Literature, Linguistics, Creative Writing, Rhetoric and Composition, Technical and Professional Writing, and Post-Colonial Literature. A growing interest in minority literatures and cross-cultural studies is reflected in the curriculum, as is an increased attention to literary theory and multidisciplinary approaches.

The Department of English offers a four-year program leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree with six areas of specialization: literature, creative writing, professional writing, linguistics, English for pre-law students, and comparative literature.

The Department also offers graduate programs in English leading to the Master of Arts in English or the Master of Arts in Teaching English. The Master of Arts program is concerned primarily with preparing students for doctoral study, professional writing, or teaching at a variety of levels. It offers advanced study in British, American, and other literatures, Linguistics, and Rhetoric and Composition. The Master of Arts in English Teaching program is intended primarily for secondary school teachers who wish to strengthen their credentials. It combines training in British or American Literature, Linguistics, and Rhetoric with courses in Education. Also at the graduate level, the Creative Writing Workshop, an interdisciplinary M.F.A. program in imaginative writing housed in the Department of Drama and Communications, offers courses in script writing, play writing, poetry writing and fiction writing; these courses are cross-listed with the Department of English, which provides most of the program's faculty.

Other academic units whose subject areas overlap substantially with those of English include the College of Education and the Departments of Drama & Communications, Foreign Languages, and Philosophy.

Languages
The primary language of acquisition is English. Materials in European languages may be acquired on a highly selective basis. Materials in non-European languages are not acquired.

Chronological Guidelines
No limitations.

Geographical Guidelines
Primary emphasis is on Great Britain and the United States. Interest is growing in Canada, Australia, India, the Caribbean, and Far Eastern and South American nations.

Treatment of Subject
Materials are collected in the following areas: history and theory of literary criticism, history of literature and approaches to the teaching of literature. Biographical treatments and letters of individual authors are also important to the collection. Critical editions of major literary works are collected, as is textual criticism.

Juvenile materials are not collected. Textbooks at the elementary level are not collected. Textbooks at the advanced level are collected on a very selective basis.

Works of contemporary fiction (novels and short story collections) and poetry are collected, in support of courses in the English Department as well as the M.F.A. housed in Drama and Communications.

Types of Material
Monographs and serial publications form the basis for English Department acquisitions. Reference materials, including bibliographies, dictionaries, handbooks and encyclopedias, are collected. Abstracts and indexes covering English and related subjects are acquired. Theses and dissertations from other institutions are acquired on a highly selective basis. Textbooks are generally not collected, although anthologies of literature that may be used in courses are collected. CDs, DVDs, audiocassettes, and videocassettes are also collected when funds permit.

Publications of national and international organizations, societies and congresses are acquired on a highly selective basis.

Major sets and collections of material that significantly supplement existing resources are acquired when funds permit.

Date of Publication
Current and retrospective materials are collected, with emphasis in most subject areas on materials published within the last five years. Purchases of retrospective materials are made as needed with emphasis in the following areas: history of literature, literary criticism, comparative literature, and 20th-century fiction and poetry.

Other Resources
The principal collections used by the Department of English are housed within the general and reference stacks and following four areas of the library:

The Louisiana Collection contains literature, history and biographical materials pertaining to New Orleans and Louisiana.
Special Collections contains rare and delicate materials useful in the study of British and American Literature. Especially significant in the study of Southern literature is the Von der Haar Collection of materials by and about William Faulkner.

The Microfilm Room contains valuable collections for historical research, including the Early English Books I and II microfilm sets.
The Women's Center includes works of fiction and poetry, as well as critical works.

Related Policy Statements

Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Materials related to composition pedagogy and the teaching of English as a second language are purchased by Curriculum & Instruction; English purchases general materials on rhetoric and style. Grammar handbooks and citation guides are purchased with Reference funds.
Drama & Communications
Materials pertaining to journalism and mass communication theory (print and broadcast media) are the responsibility of D&C; English is responsible for general linguistics and technical writing.
Contemporary plays, screenplays, and monologues are purchased by D&C, along with works on performance aspects of theater; English is responsible for literary criticism on dramatic works studied in the English department, and for primary texts of older plays.
Though the M.F.A. degree is housed in the Department of Drama & Communications, the English department has primary responsibility for collecting works of contemporary fiction and poetry.
Foreign Languages
Linguistics is a shared interest of both departments. English is primarily responsible for materials on general linguistics and English philology. Foreign Languages has responsibility for materials on second language acquisition, comparative linguistics, and linguistics of languages other than English.
The English department's interest in comparative literature is supported in part by the materials acquired by the Foreign Languages department, particularly in the Romance languages.
Philosophy
The Philosophy Department is primarily responsible for material on the philosophy of language, and shares with the English department an interest in critical theory (particularly those texts which are cross-disciplinary in emphasis).
Classical texts which are of interest to students of both literature and philosophy (e.g., Plato) are the primary responsibility of the Philosophy Department.