Collection Development for Romance Languages and Literatures in the Boston College Libraries

Format decisions follow the General Collection Development Policy by default, but allow for considerations of requester preference, curricular needs, and other factors.  In general: 

• Journals are purchased in electronic format when possible, with perpetual access whenever possible.  Faculty and graduate student requests for journals are given high priority, and acquired when funding allows.
• Monographs are purchased in either print or electronic format.  Following the trends in much of the Humanities, the German Studies faculty members prefer most monographs in print format.  Exceptions are edited volumes, Festschriften, conference proceedings, etc., where the expected use is a single chapter (rather than cover-to-cover).  For these, e-book format is purchased when available.  
• The primary database for research in Romance languages and literatures is the Modern Languages Association International Bibliography.  
• Video and audio materials in support of the department’s curricular and research needs are purchased as requested, with a preference for streaming format whenever possible. 

Literature is purchased in French, Italian and Spanish (and as requested in Old French, Catalan, Provençal, and Italian dialects) along with some English translations of major authors with international appeal. Literary history, theory, criticism, and language learning and cultural materials are also purchased primarily in English and in French, Italian and Spanish.