Collection Development Policy Statement: English and American Literature

A. Anticipated Future Trends

Especially because of the creation of WRAC, and the expansion of the base of graduate students who study Rhetoric while simultaneously taking courses in English, Rhetoric was moved from the purview of the Linguistics to the area of English and American Literature in 2005. The teaching of Composition, as a research area and as a practice, have therefore become of greater importance. The Residential College in Arts and Humanities also now adds 450 new freshmen every year who will study texts in the areas of English and American Literature.

B. Relationships with Other Sources

1. James Madison has it’s own library to supplement what is in Main for the study of English and American Literature.
2. Interlibrary lending policies of the CIC and of libraries participating in MEL make the book collection at MSU that much greater, but simultaneously open the MSU collection for greater use.
3. The willingness of the MSU Library to work on projects and to give monies to such as the Text Creation Partnership for EEBO have given MSUgreater access to such products, with less expense.

C. Relationships to Resources Treated in Other Policy Statements

1. Language. There are limits to this collection by language: Texts in the area collected within English and American Literature are limited to those written in the English, with the exception of languages of the British Isles and certain patois that are indigenous to the United States.
2. Geography. There are limits to this collection by geography: Texts in the area of English and American Literature are limited to the territories of the United States for American Literature, and to the British Isles for English Literature. Exceptions to geographies of texts collected with the English Literature fund may be to those created in areas of British Empire (such as India).
3. Chronology. Because the Library has currently a selector for the Medieval period, the collection of English and American Literature begins with the Renaissance in England.
4. There are other many areas of collection within this one that may overlap into other collector’s (such as Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies), so it is the job of the bibliographer for this subject area to consult and refer titles to other collectors.