General Humanities

General Purpose of the Collection

The General Humanities collection includes material that does not fall within the respective specific scopes of the individual humanities subject collections. Items in this category include titles such as ECCB: The Eighteenth-Century Current Bibliography and the Early English Books collections on microform. Journals acquired for the collection include interdisciplinary humanities periodicals such as Critical Inquiry.

Scope of Coverage

Languages collected (primary and selective) or excluded

Most acquisitions are in English, although major resources in foreign languages also may be acquired.

Geographical areas covered by the collections in terms of intellectual content, publication sources, or both, and specific areas excluded, as appropriate

There are no limitations on geographical areas covered with the exception of Africa. Africana is collected by selectors in the African Studies Library.

Chronological periods covered by the collection in terms of intellectual content, movements or schools, and specific periods excluded, as appropriate

There are no limitations in terms of chronological periods covered.

Chronological periods collected in terms of publication dates, and specific periods excluded, as appropriate

There are no limitations in terms of publication dates covered, although most materials collected are current.

The General Humanities collection is drawn very selectively from the following Library of Congress classifications. All are housed in or are available through Mugar Memorial Library.

General Subject Boundaries and Library Locations

Collected Very Selectively:

• A : General Works
• AP : Periodicals (General)
• CB : History of Civilization
• D-F : History
• NX : Arts in General
• P : Linguistics, English Literature, and Modern Foreign Language and Literature
• Z : Bibliography

Related subjects and Interdisciplinary Relationships

The General Humanities collection includes material of an interdisciplinary nature that does not fall within the respective scopes of the individual humanities subject collections.

Types of Materials

Collected

Books, periodicals, conference proceedings, and reference materials including bibliographies, encyclopedias, handbooks, and indexes and abstracts.

Collected Selectively

Microforms and electronic resources.

Not Collected

Textbooks, juvenile literature, and popular literature.