Dartmouth College Library
Collection Management & Development Program
Collection Development Policy
GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
- COLLECTION AREA
- GENERAL PURPOSE
- DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PROGRAM
- GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES
- LANGUAGES
- GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
- TYPES OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS
- OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE
- COLLECTING INTENSITY
- CREATION DATE
- REVISION DATE
- LC CLASS
- BIBLIOGRAPHER
General and Comparative Literature
Materials are collected in support of course offerings and research in imaginative literature, literary history, criticism, theory, and practice as indicated in collecting intensity section of this policy statement. For individual literatures, see the appropriate policy statements.
The Comparative Literature Department at Dartmouth draws its faculty from the various other humanities departments on campus. These currently include the various literature departments, Drama, Film Studies, and History. In addition to concentrations in specific literatures (English, French, German, etc.), Dartmouth College offers instruction in general literature and a major in Comparative Literature. These offerings require library materials dealing with literary theory, history, criticism, and stylistics. Dartmouth College has recently added a master's degree program in Comparative Literature for a limited number of students, focused on improving language competencies for recent graduates in preparation for a PhD program in comparative literature elsewhere.
Pertinent materials are found in Baker Library throughout the P range of the Library of Congress classification and the Dewey 800's for pre-1964 acquisitions. Since, however, this policy statement describes holdings in general literature, most of the materials fall into the PN range of the Library of Congress system and the 800-809 range in Dewey. In addition, some works dealing with Literature and the Arts (e.g., Expressionism, Surrealism) are classed in NX, located in the Sherman Art Library. Collections of folklore are classed in GR. Excluded from this policy are PN1560-3307, PN4699-5650 [Performing Arts, Drama, and Journalism]. Just as the Comparative Literature Department is dependent on drawing faculty from other departments on campus, this collection policy statement is interdependent with the following other policy statements: Anthropology [Folklore], Classics, Drama and Film Studies, English Literature, French Language and Literature, Germanic Language and Literature, Hebrew and Arabic, Italian Language and Literature, Linguistics, Portuguese Language and Literature, Russian Language and Literature, and Spanish Language and Literature.
No language is excluded. Original and secondary works are acquired in all the major Western European languages and Russian. Representative works in other languages are purchased on a selective basis.
Literary works from every part of the world are represented in the collection. For areas outside of Europe, the Americas, Russia, Japan and China, most works are acquired in translation.
Original works of fiction and criticism from countries outside the established Dartmouth literature departments are purchased by the selector for the department of the same linguistic root. For instance, the Russian literature selector purchases literary works from countries with Slavic languages (Bulgaria, Poland, etc.) either in the original, or in translation. Literatures with no other "home" are purchased under this policy.
Monographs and serials dealing with world literature, comparative literature, and literary theory form the bulk of the collection. Handbooks, dictionaries, and bibliographies of general/comparative literature and literary theory are strongly represented in the collection.
No format is excluded.
(For special materials in particular literatures, see the policy statements for the pertinent languages, especially English and Spanish.)
There are no local or regional collections that effect these collection development activities. Many RLG libraries have research level collections in literature.
| Subject |
Existing |
Current |
Desirable |
| Literary Theory |
4 |
4 |
4 |
| History and Criticism |
3/4 |
3/4 |
3/4 |
| Genres |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Comparative Studies |
3/4 |
3/4 |
3/4 |
Literature and Other Disciplines
(e.g., Literature and Psychology) |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Stylistics |
3 |
4 |
4 |
| Authorship |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Biography |
4 |
4 |
4 |
October 1981 Lois Krieger
January 1996 Cynthia F. Pawlek
PN
Cynthia F. Pawlek
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Last updated February 17, 1999 by: CMDC@Dartmouth.Edu (jdh)