COLLECTIONS:

Special Collections

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Collection Preservation

Research Collections:
English and American Literature Collection

Collection Overview
The primary purpose of the English and American literature budget is to support the teaching and research of literature. The diverse clientele served include English Department faculty and students, other B.C. faculty and students, B.C. staff, others from the B.C. community, visiting scholars and students, and other members of the general public.  It is a major goal of the collections to serve the courses taught by the English Department and the research needs of the faculty and students.

The predominant emphasis of the collection is on the literature in English of the U.S. and England.  However, there is substantial collecting in literature in the English language of other nations.  To support the study of literature, primary focus is on acquiring appropriate editions of the actual literary works of major and selected minor authors.  Collecting stress is also placed on critical studies and on materials pertaining to such areas as contemporary and past literary theories, on cultural studies and literature, on religion and literature, on race and literature, on music and literature, on psychoanalysis and literature, on feminism and literature, on gender theory and literature, on bibliography, on comparative literature, on the history of the English language, on creative writing, on the cinema and literature, on folktales, on methods of research, on the history of ideas and literature, on the pedagogy of literature, on rhetoric, on composition theory and the teaching of writing, etc.

The nature of the subject determines that most materials will be monographs.  Clearly a large number of journal subscriptions is also essential.  Several years ago O'Neill Library greatly increased its subscriptions to English journals.  Though it is anticipated that the number of journals added in the near future will not be as great, new journal subscriptions will continue to be made as appropriate.  Journals collected are primarily those of literary criticism and major literary reviews.  Some journals of creative writing are collected, though it is not the policy to acquire a comprehensive collection of literary magazines.   The increasing focus on collecting in electronic format is dealt with in Formats and Types of Materials below.
 
Sonia Ensins 
English Lang. & Lit. Bibliographer
1-617-552-2414
E-mail: ensins@bc.edu

Selected Resources

In the O'Neill Library:

• Collected works and critical editions of major writers of English and American Literature.

• Extensive holdings in English journal literature, many from the first volume through the current issue.

• Printed reference works:

  • Shakespearean Criticism

  • Year's Work in English Studies

  • British Writers

  • Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism

  • Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800

  • Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism

  • Bibliography of American Literature

  • Short Story Criticism, et. al.

• Full text CD on a terminal in O'Neill Library, 3rd floor: Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900.

• Print indexes:

  • Abstracts of English Studies

  • Communication Abstracts

  • Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)

  • MLA International Bibliography.

• Extensive microform holdings:

  • Early English Books

  • Eighteenth Century Microfilm Collection

  • American Periodical Series

  • Early American Imprints

  • Early British Periodicals

  • Library of American Civilization

  • Bronte Manuscripts: Literary Manuscripts and Correspondence

  • Charles Dickens Research Collection

  • Nineteenth Century English Drama

  • Original Manuscripts and Papers of Thomas Hardy. 

On the Web (Restricted to the BC Community):

• Subject indexes to the literature:  ABELL - The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature, LIFT - Literary Journals Index Full Text, Bibliography of American Literature, MLA Bibliography.

• General indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science), ESTC-English Short Title Catalogue (available through Quest), Expanded Academic Index ASAP (InfoTrac), FRANCIS Bulletin Signalétique, PCI-Periodical Contents Index, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, UnCover Reveal, among others. (Check the Online Databases at the Boston College Libraries page).

• Full text databases:

  • The Bible in English (990-1970)

  • Chadwyck-Healey's Literature Online (LION)

  • Contemporary Authors

  • Contemporary Literary Criticism Select

  • Dictionary of Literary Biography

  • Dictionary of Old English Corpus

  • Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare (1591-1911)

  • The Faber Poetry Library

  • The King James Bible

  • Literature Resource Center: LRC (GaleNet), Major Authors Online

  • The W.B. Yeats Collection (1885-1995)

  • Women Writers' Online, among others.

• Full text electronic journals: American Literary History, American Literature, Callaloo, Chaucer Review, ELH, Milton Quarterly, among others. Other electronic journals in English may be found at the following e-journal gateways: JSTOR and Project Muse.

• Other databases in the Humanities: Subject Indexes to Online Databases: Humanities.  This web page also has links to databases outside the Humanities.

Research Guides
More information about available resources, particularly electronic databases and print indexes, can be found in the following resource guide: Selected Resources for English Literature.

Interdisciplinary Elements of Subject Area
The English Department has connections with a number of other disciplines including American studies, black studies, theatre, Irish studies, women's studies, medieval studies, education, linguistics, and others.  Much of the material purchased from the English budget support the literary elements in these disciplines.  As there is sometimes an overlap between the needs of the English Department programs and the needs of the programs of other schools and departments, it is important that there is no duplication of major purchases.  A significant interdisciplinary element of the collection development of English concerns the selective purchase of translations into English of major literary works of other languages.  Primary texts, as well as critical treatments, of classic works in children's literature are collected to support research and courses offered by the English Department and the School of Education.  However, the great majority of the primary and critical works of contemporary children's literature are purchased by and housed in the Educational Resource Center.  (see the ERC's collection statement).  

Formats and Types of Materials
Most of the monographs, serials, and reference works of the American and English literature collection continue to be in print on paper format.  Collecting decisions regarding edition, imprint, and whether hardback or paperback depend on intellectual appropriateness, availability, durability and affordability.   However, as O'Neill Library becomes increasingly a digital library, particular focus is being placed on collecting and providing access to electronic materials, both CD-ROM and online.  Appropriate full-text electronic databases of primary and secondary works as well as periodicals continue to be acquired.  Appropriate electronic bibliographic citation databases are also obtained. When affordability and availability permit, O'Neill also purchases in either CD-ROM or tape format those full-text databases to which subscription is made on the WWW.  Retrospective collection of periodicals are increasingly in microfilm format.  The English collection also includes selected videos, films, sound recordings and other media pertaining to American and English literature.  Dissertations and theses completed at other institutions are selectively purchased depending on the particular research needs of English Department faculty and graduate students.  

Languages
Most of the material collected is in the English language.  However, important critical works on English and American literature and language in German, French, Italian, Spanish and other European languages are also added to the collection.  Preference is given to English translations, when available, of these foreign language works.   Important works on literary critical theory as well as interdisciplinary aspects of English and American literature in major foreign languages are also acquired.  Translations into English of major literary works of other languages are selectively purchased to support research, curricular, and general interest needs. 

Geographic Areas (Subject Approach)
The literature of the United States and England constitutes the primary focus of the collection.  (A major focus is also on the literature of Ireland.  This area is covered in the Irish Studies Collection Statement).  Literature in English of Scotland, Wales, and Canada are next in importance. Other areas of the English speaking world (Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, etc.) are represented by their major authors.  There is also increasing emphasis on collecting the major authors and major critical works of the Caribbean area.  Representative important authors of Anglophone Black Africa are also collected.  

Time Periods (Subject Approach)
All time periods of English and American literature are collected.  There are no limitations. 

Date of Publication
Materials published in the United States since 1860 and published elsewhere since 1800 are eligible for collection.  Earlier materials are judged for appropriateness for Burns Library.  When collecting retrospective materials or replacing missing or deteriorated materials, formats with a long expected life, such as reprints on acid-free paper or microforms, are sought.  Increasingly, appropriate retrospective materials are in electronic format. 

Subject Areas Collected by Library of Congress Classification Number
BCAT, the online catalog, can be searched by LC classification number to get a better idea of what specific titles the English and American Literature Collection contains.  For example, the command c=PR1490 will produce the beginning of a list of works on Old English literature.  This list can be browsed by pressing the F8 key or typing f and pressing the Enter/Return key.