The following summary of University of Waterloo (UW) Library’s ability to support the proposed Ph.D. in French Studies was prepared by Helena Calogeridis, Liaison Librarian for French Studies.
In 2005, as the result of a departmental serial review, the Library has begun subscribing to 11 new journal titles covering the following subjects: French-Canadian drama in Quebec, Francophone literature of Maghreb, Arts, Reformation, Humanities and Renaissance, and French literature.
In January 2006 the Library acquired on behalf of the Department of French Studies a new French language journal database Repère, which provides access to citations and full text articles published in Quebec, elsewhere in Canada, in France, in Belgium, and in Switzerland.
Material is collected to support teaching and research to the Ph.D. level in French with emphasis on these areas:
French and Francophone Cultures
French Film
French Language
French and Francophone Literatures
French Sociolinguistics
Literary and Cultural Theory
Text Editing
The decision to purchase Library materials for French is the responsibility of the Liaison Librarian in consultation with the Faculty Library Representative. Selection is guided by the Collection Development Policy and the Approval Plan Subject Profile for the department.
The collection includes some 119,000 monographs relevant to French. There are 84 current print serials supported by the French Studies Library fund and in addition 198 print serials in subject areas of interest to French Studies. The Library provides access to over 177 journals in electronic format in subject areas of interest to French Studies.
The UW Library’s print collections in French are housed in the Dana Porter Library. Access to the entire UW Library collection, as well as materials held by our TUG partners, is available through the Web accessible union catalogue TRELLIS at http://trellis1.tug-libraries.on.ca/ .
The Library's automated circulation system allows users to charge out materials during the hours that the Library is open and to renew items online anytime. With the exception of the reference materials and current issues of print journals, most of the materials in the Library’s collection circulate. Graduate students and faculty may borrow most monographs for a term at a time.
The Library also provides a service for faculty, graduate students, and staff whereby copies of print journal articles are delivered to an on-campus address. Faculty, graduate students, and staff can also place holds on UW Library books for pickup at any of the UW Libraries’ Circulation desks. Both these services are free of charge to the user.
The Library subscribes to a number of Web accessible research databases. The following are some of the databases of interest to French:
Journal Databases:
MLA International Bibliography
Repère
Humanities Full Text
Social Sciences Full Text
Web of Science
Newspaper Databases:
Factiva
LexisNexis Academic
Virtual News Library
Database of Texts:
ARTFL Project
The Library has embedded linking technology into the research databases, allowing users to link directly from the index to the UW Library full text journal articles or to the TRELLIS catalogue record for holdings and call number information.
UW faculty, students and staff may access Web accessible research databases and electronic journals from off-campus via the Library’s Proxy Server / Connect From Home feature.
The UW’s Special Collections Department is housed in Doris Lewis Rare Book Room in Dana Porter Library. Special Collections houses books and some early examples of reference tools relevant to French studies. The Department also holds an important Women's Studies archival collection.
Books and journal articles not owned by the UW Library but held by the University of Guelph or Wilfrid Laurier University may be requested through TRELLIS. Books and copies of journal articles are delivered to UW faculty, staff and students within three working days. The cost is absorbed by the Library.
The Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery (ILL/DD) service provides faculty, students, and staff with books, copies of journal articles, theses, and government documents from libraries (other than TUG) within Canada and abroad. The UW Library uses the RACER Web based interlibrary loan system at racer.scholarsportal.info/vdx/index.html to facilitate ILL access and service for users. With minor exceptions, the cost for this service is absorbed by the Library.
Canadian university libraries extend in-person borrowing privileges to students, faculty and staff from across the country. Graduate students, faculty and staff are entitled to borrowing privileges at participating libraries (http://www.coppul.ca/rb/rbindex.html ).
The Library has a well developed Web site (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca ) that organizes and provides access to Internet resources, some freely available to anyone and others, funded by the Library, which are restricted to UW faculty, staff, and students. These resources include, for example, full text electronic journals, research databases, research guides arranged by academic discipline, catalogues of libraries around the world, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and style guides. It includes a Subject Guide for French developed by the Liaison Librarian, which can be accessed at http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/french/index.html.
Reference assistance is available in person or by telephone at the Library's Information Desks, which are staffed by professional librarians and specially trained library assistants. Alternatively, UW students and faculty may choose to use the Library’s Chat Reference or E-mail Reference provided through the Ask a Librarian service at www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/comments/ or contact the Liaison Librarian for French Studies directly if a personal visit to the Library is not convenient.
The Liaison Librarian for French Studies is available for consultation with individuals or small groups of students. The Liaison Librarian also works with faculty and staff to develop course integrated library instruction in the form of lectures, hands-on instruction, Web pages, or online courseware modules.
The Library also offers general orientation programs including tours, workshops on database searching and using the Web, and seminars for graduate students.
During the past seven years, the Library has spent approximately $205,163 on materials for French Studies (see encl.). It should be noted that materials acquired for other departments such as English, Drama and Speech Communications, Film Studies, Germanic and Slavic Studies, History, Medieval Studies, Philosophy, and Sociology, as well as reference material, which includes indexes and databases, are also of interest to French Studies.
More detailed information including lists of serials purchased for French Studies, serial titles of interest to French studies researchers, and a description of the UW Library are available in the Library. We would be pleased to discuss the Library’s holdings and services with an appraiser at the time of a campus visit. We believe that the Library, both in holdings and in services, has provided a high level of support for the graduate program in French Studies.
SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURES
French Studies
YEAR |
SERIAL |
BOOK EXPEND. |
APPROVAL PLAN SUPPORT |
TOTAL EXPEND. |
1999/00 |
6,462 |
13,630 |
3,380 |
23,472 |
2000/01 |
6,582 |
15,896 |
5,998 |
28,476 |
2001/02 |
6,033 |
15,682 |
8,298 |
30,013 |
2002/03 |
7,610 |
15,380 |
5,944 |
28,934 |
2003/04 |
8,000 |
16,364 |
5,930 |
30,294 |
2004/05 |
8,072 |
13,766 |
8,213 |
30,051 |
2005/06 |
8,476 |
17,447 |
8,000 |
33,923 |
Total |
51,235 |
108,165 |
45,763 |
205,163 |
* It should be noted that, in addition to the Library fund for French Studies, there is a number of ejournals acquired through the UW Library in support of French Studies, which is paid by the Electronic Resources fund.
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