Recommend a New Collection Acquisition

Collection Policy Outline

General Purpose:

To serve undergraduate and graduate teaching and research programmes to the Ph.D. level in English and to provide the materials needed for independent research by the faculty.

Languages:

Medieval primary sources are acquired in any of the languages used in the British Isles. Post-medieval primary sources are mainly in English. Some secondary material in other languages is collected, especially French and German.

Geographical Areas:

There are no restrictions in geographic interests, but emphasis is on Canada, the United States and Great Britain, and post-colonial societies with Anglophone literary traditions, especially (but not limited to) those of the British Commonwealth.

Chronological Limits:

Type of Material Collected:

• Books: monographs and sets, bibliographies, proceedings of conferences, etc.;
• Serial Publications: series, periodicals and newspapers;
• indexing and abstracting services;
• statistical data;
• government and inter-governmental documents;
• non-governmental organization documents

Note 1: Queen's Archives collects literary manuscripts. Normally only Canadian manuscripts are acquired.
Note 2: Any of the above may be in print, microform, or electronic format.

Institutes:

Queen's membership in the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute supports the acquisition of recently published Indian literature in English.

Fields of Concentration

Subjects and Collecting Levels:

(Explanation of Collection Policy Levels)

Areas to be collected at level A:

• Canadian literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, with special emphasis on materials relating to Kingston and Eastern Ontario.
  This material is collected to complement related material in other disciplines such as History.

Areas to be collected at level B:

• Literature of the British Isles and the United States.
• Post-colonial literatures in English.

  As wide a range as possible of material is collected across these subjects. Comprehensiveness is sought in the acquisition of standard editions of primary texts, which are to be supplemented by the best available editions and reprints of texts of which no standard edition exists.
  The aim is to collect the essential primary texts for any subject of literary study. Comprehensiveness is also sought in "reference"-type secondary material: bibliographies, documented biographies, and critical works that have become recognised as standard. With other critical material, coverage is necessarily more selective.
  Major authors are collected more intensively than minor.
  Particular attention is given to authors who are regularly the subject of graduate courses or theses.

Areas to be collected at level C:

• English language, rhetoric, and writing.

  The collection is intended to support the work of the Strathy Language Unit, and therefore emphasizes Canadian English.

• Printing history and book arts.

  The department collects selectively in this area to support bibliographical investigations of the kind that normally form part of literary research.

Policy last revised: May 2012