UQ ERA rating 2012: 5

UQ ERA rating in 2010: 4

Preamble

The University of Queensland (UQ) Library is committed to supporting the University's research, and teaching and learning agenda. UQ librarians maintain subject assessments based on the Commonwealth Government Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative's Field of Research codes. The assessments reflect current trends at UQ, and respond to changes in direction through regular updating.

Purpose of the collection

UQ Library's collection in this area supports the teaching and research activities of staff and students in the Schools of English, Media Studies and Art History; History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics; and Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, and also the Centre for the History of European Discourses. The Schools and the Centre are part of the Faculty of Arts.

Description of the collection

The Library's collection may be searched via the Web.

The Library holds print and electronic book titles in this area. Experienced librarians develop the collection, and welcome input from academic staff. The following specialist book collections are available:

• Early English Books Online
• Eighteenth-Century Collections Online
• Electronic Enlightenment
• Literature Online
• African Writers Series Online

Relevant print collections are grouped under these classification number/s: PA, PG-PT

The Library subscribes to journals in the area. Many are available in electronic format. 48% of titles in the ERA journal list are held by UQ Library.

Key titles accessible at UQ are:

• American Literary History
• Australian Journal of French Studies
• Australian Literary Studies
• Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
• Bungaku
• Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews
• Comparative Literature
• Contemporary Literature
• ELH
• French Cultural Studies
• French Studies
• German Life and Letters
• Journal of Commonwealth Literature
• Journal of Iberian and Latin-American Studies
• Latomus
• Modern Fiction Studies
• Modern Language Review
• Modern Philology
• New Literary History
• Notes and Queries
• Oxford German Studies
• Poetics
• Renaissance Studies
• Russian Literature
• Sub-Stance
• World Literature Today
• Yale French Studies

UQ Library offers online databases in this subject area. These include:

• MLA International Bibliography
• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
• AustLit
• Literature Online (LION)
• Bibliography of Asian Studies
• L'Année Philologique

Additional formats relevant to the area:

• Digitised magazine collections, e.g. Eighteenth Century Journals; 19th Century UK Periodicals; British Periodicals.
• Archival collections, e.g. various series from Adam Matthew Publications.

Scope of current collecting

1. Languages collected or excluded

Courses on the literature of the following languages are taught at UQ, sometimes as part of broader courses on cultural studies or comparative literature:

There is at least some research activity in the literatures of most of the above languages.

2. Geographical areas collected or excluded

Collection activity is based on language areas, as per previous item.

3. Chronological periods collected or excluded

In the case of the modern literatures taught at UQ (including English) there is little interest in the mediaeval period.

4. Types (formats) of material collected

Material is collected in both print and electronic format.

5. Publication dates

Current collecting focuses on material published in the last five years, but earlier material will be acquired to fill gaps in the collections as required.

6. Special considerations

Primary Texts

Acquiring the best possible editions of texts of works by significant authors is the highest collection priority in this area.

Contemporary Literature

The Brisbane City Council Library maintains an excellent collection of contemporary literature in English. Our role is to acquire only those contemporary texts which are likely to be of long-term research interest. As a rule of thumb, we should not acquire texts by contemporary authors unless there are already at least five significant publications about that author listed in the MLA International Bibliography database. Exceptions will be made when an author has won a major literary prize, such as the Booker or the Pulitzer or the Goncourt. The Fryer Library maintains a comprehensive collection of contemporary Australian literature.

Translations of Literary Texts

Normally we acquire literary texts in the original language. We do not acquire English translations of those texts until the text has achieved "classic" status. Exceptions will be made when a particular text is set for study in translation, for example in a course on comparative literature.

Updated: December 2012