1. Purpose of the collection

The Library collects in this field primarily to support the teaching and research needs of the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies. It collects works in language, linguistics and literary criticism and literary history, as well as works of creative literature. Resources in this area are also utilised to a varying extent by other schools in the University.

2. Primary user group served

The School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics offers an undergraduate degree, as well as a Postgraduate Research Diploma in Arts, a degree of Master of Arts and a degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Language teaching programs from beginners to Honours level make up the core activities of both the German and Russian sections. Special undergraduate teaching strengths are in the areas of business German and Russian, contrastive linguistics, translation studies and language teaching methodology.

The German literature courses and research run broadly from Goethe in the late eighteenth century to the present. Emphases include modern women writers, modern fiction writing, German Australian literature, and the German cinema. There is teaching and research on Australian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are courses on the German philosophical traditions, taken in a wide sense, from Lessing to Adorno, studied in translation.

The Russian studies area has many courses on Russian language skills and some teaching and research takes a strongly historical approach. Its literature courses and research concentrate on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Emphases are on fiction and theatre studies, the relationship of literature and politics, and the Russian media. There is teaching and research on the Russian folktale.

Postgraduate work up to and including doctoral level and academic research is done in most fields. Research interests include:

  • German/Russian-Australian relations
  • Cinema
  • Second language acquisition
  • Theory and practice of translation

3. Description of the collection

The German collection is strongest in its holdings on the German language. The literature collection has many standard editions of the major authors, and criticism both in German and English. Collecting has been increasingly constricted since the mid 70s, particularly for literature prior to Goethe.

For twentieth century literature the holdings on Brecht and related dramatic works are strong, but collecting is now much less comprehensive; the holdings on fiction writers, including perhaps particularly post-World War II women writers, have been better maintained.

There are now relatively few journals held which are solely devoted to German literature.

There is an unusual strength in German expressionist writing on literature and art, including both monographs and periodicals in reprint.

The teaching of Russian for degree purposes began in 1963. There were three early initiatives in building the collection. A collection of duplicates from the Slavonic Library of the University of Cambridge was obtained. Some major Russian collected editions in reprint were obtained (Leo Tolstoy, Dostoyevski, Chehkov, Chernyshevskii) and some standard periodicals collected in microform ( Severnaia Pchela, Russkaia mysl) or reprint (Journal of the Akademiia Nauk SSSR, Otdelenie Russkogo IAzyka i Slovesnosti, 1867-1928). A selection profile, which ran for roughly a decade to 1977, was less selective than the library would have ideally wanted.

Since that time the collection has steadily diminished, with strongest areas now Russian language and Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection has, relatively, paid increasing attention to Western editions and criticism of outstanding authors and less to publications from Russia. An unusual strength is the microfilm collection of samizdat writings.

Some reference works, editions, translations into Russian or English, of Ukrainian and Belarus material are held.

The Library subscribes to the major electronic indexing services, such as Philosopher's Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, MLA, Art Index, LLBA and Humanities Index in support of art, literature and linguistics in the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies.

4. Interdisciplinary relationships

Most schools in the humanities have some need of the aids to language study and translation that have been mentioned. Literary works, film classics and analyses of literary taste are used in relationship to more general historical studies. Discussions of literary and more general aesthetic theory also cross academic boundaries.

Several schools in the social sciences call on aspects of the collection such as language learning, sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics

5. Scope of current collecting

1. Languages collected

The School teaches German and Russian language courses as well as courses for English speakers only, hence German, Russian and English language publications are collected. The study of older Germanic languages and literature is no longer offered.

2. Geographical areas collected

The Library collects material to support teaching and research on German-Australian relations as reflected in the writings of German immigrants in Australia and perceptions of Australia by writers in Germany in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Provincial, local and colonial literature is only minimally collected.

3. Chronological periods collected

No chronological period is specifically excluded.

4. Types (forms) collected

  • First or early editions are seldom collected. No other types of material are specifically excluded. The collection includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, videos, tapes and electronic resources.
  • Language teaching schools prefer that literary texts be read in the original language and translations are often not collected.
  • The Library's multimedia services collect off-air art house feature films in German and Russian in support of film and television studies subjects, as well as some audio tapes in support of language teaching.

5. Publication dates

The emphasis is on collecting recent publications. Older publications may be purchased to support teaching and research.

6. Special considerations

None

7. Conspectus

Substantial parts of the collection were assessed as being of intermediate: augmented level in the Library's assessment of its collections by the Conspectus method in 1993-94. The greatest strength is in German language and in German literature for the period 1860/70-1960. The collection is strong in the holdings on Brecht and related dramatic works and German expressionist writing on literature and art.

The Russian collection is strongest in the area of nineteenth and twentieth centuries' individual authors and history of criticism.

The monograph collection is adequate to support all undergraduate and most postgraduate coursework.