Materials covering literatures have been collected since the founding of the University. As cultural studies developed as a field, materials to support research in those areas were acquired. The collection was housed in the Harper Library until the building of the Regenstein Library.
The collection encompasses comparative literatures and cultural studies writ large. The geographic focus of the collection is on Western Europe, Australia & New Zealand, and the Americas. Strengths of the collection reflect both the past and current curricular and research emphases of faculty. Recent interests include medicine or psychology in relation to literature, studies of popular culture, avant-garde movements, and translation studies.
Description of academic program
The Department of Comparative Literature offers a BA & PhD in English literature. In addition, the collection supports students obtaining a PhD in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies; an MA in the Humanities (MAPH); an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies; an MA in Middle Eastern Studies; or a BA, MA or PhD in any field of literary studies.
Audience/purpose
The collection supports instruction
and student research through the PhD level, as well as faculty research.
Students and faculty members in the Comparative Literature department are the
primary users of the collection. However,
users from other departments (e.g., Linguistics, Music, and English) and from
other programs (e.g., the MA in the Humanities, the MA in Latin American and
Caribbean Studies), as well as many of the interdisciplinary centers (e.g., Center
for Gender Studies, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture,
Nicholson Center for British Studies) rely on the collections.
Comprehensive, research, instructional support, basic information; for a description of these levels, see the general policy statement.
Literature (General) (PN 1-1559)
Collected at the research level in materials published in Western languages.
Literature – Performing Arts. Show Business
(PN1560-1590)
Focuses on performance and the performing arts as a profession, excludes drama. Collected at the instructional support level.
Literature – Drama (PN 16001693,
1707-1988.2)
Covers all aspects of theater, drama and the stage. Collected at the research level in materials published in Western languages.
Literature – Drama – Study and Teaching (PN1701-1701.5)
Covers the teaching of drama. Collected
at the basic information level.
Collected at the research level in
materials published in Western languages, particularly English, when material
is not language or culture-specific. The
library’s collection is supplemented by the very strong holdings at
Literature – Online Dramas, Nonbroadcast Video Recordings (PR 927-981.2)
Collected at the basic information level, when material is comparative or general (i.e. not language or culture-specific).
Literature – Dramatic Representation. The Theater – General Works, Philosophy, Æesthetics, Satire & Humor, History, Biography (PN2000-2052, 2095, 2100-2219)
Collected at the research level in materials published in Western languages, particularly English, when material is comparative or general (i.e. not language or culture-specific).
Literature – Dramatic Representation. The Theater – Management, Public Relations, Theater as a Profession, Study and Teaching, Biographies of Stage Designers (PN2053-2093, 2906-2099)
Collected at the basic information level.
Literature – Dramatic Representation. The Theater – Amateur Theater (PN 3151-3307)
Collected at the basic information
level.
Literature – Prose (PN 3311-3353, 3401-3503.2)
Collected at the research level in materials published in Western languages, particularly English, when material is comparative or general (i.e. not language or culture-specific).
Literature – Prose – Technique, Study and Teaching (PN 3355-3385.2)
Collected at the basic information level.
Literature – Oratory (PN 4001-4500.2)
Collected at the basic information level.
Journalism (PN 4699-5650)
Collected at the instructional
support level. The library’s collection is supplemented by the very strong
holdings at
Literature – Collections (PN 6010-6525)
Anthologies and other collections of literature are collected at the instructional support level.
Literature – Comic Books & Graphic
Novels ((PN 6700-6720)
Collected at the instructional support level in materials published in Western languages, particularly English, when material is comparative or general (i.e. not language or culture-specific).
Spoken word recordings and performances are acquired on a very selective basis.
Artist’s books are acquired on an extremely selective basis, in consultation with the Art Bibliographer and Special Collections. The library purchases facsimiles very selectively, as funds allow, and based on faculty recommendation or to build on established special collections.
Unrevised dissertations available online through the Library’s subscription to Proquest Digital Theses and Dissertations are excluded
CD-ROMs are acquired extremely selectively. CDs and DVDs are collected; however, LPs and videocassettes are not acquired.
Emphasis is given to the acquisition of current titles, but appropriate earlier imprints are acquired, when possible, to fill gaps in the collection. Titles published before 1800 are selected in collaboration with the Head of Rare Books.
Titles are chosen for their importance regardless of language;
however, English is preferred. Critical literature in German, French, Italian,
and Spanish is also collected, although more selectively. English translations
of important works are purchased selectively; French, Spanish, German or
Italian translations of works originally published in languages likely to be
less familiar to patrons are also considered selectively. The Romance
Literatures Bibliographer relies on several Area Studies selectors for
non-English and non-French language materials published in Africa, China and Japan, and for most titles published in South Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East
and Africa.
The emphasis is on titles published in Western Europe, North
America and Latin America, with a more limited acquisition of bilingual and
English-language works from China and Japan. Materials from Africa
Titles from the medieval period to the present are collected. Selection of materials published prior to that period is the responsibility of the Classics Bibliographer.
Increasingly, aspects of other subjects, e.g., psychology, law, medicine, film, are important to literary scholarship. Students in comparative literatures use many of the other subject collections depending on their areas of interest.
Other libraries in Chicago complement the University of Chicago's collections in language and literature. These include Northwestern University (Broadcasts, Journalism) and the Newberry Library (illuminated manuscripts, dialectology). We rely on the Center for Research Libraries for newspapers, foreign dissertations, and some large microform sets.