Collection Development for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
From WESSWeb
Contents
Generalia
Only some aspects of this topic will be covered here. Vernacular literature & art have their own subject guides; the focus is on post-Classical Latin culture, including Christian texts.
US Academic Practice - Monographs are emphasized over articles, and editing of texts is not the route to tenure for most scholars. New PhDs are expected to have the dissertation not just done but ready to publish. Some institutions expect two published monographs for tenure. Digital projects too are not always counted toward tenure.
US Publishing Practice - Monographs are favored over collections of specialized essays; festschriften (essays honoring diginguished scholars) are even less favored. Editions are not favored. Translations are, but they may not help toward tenure. Some publishers reduce notes to mere bibliographic references, frequently placing them as endnotes. Scholars interested in editing texts or pursuing subjects not favored by US presses frequently must publish in Canada or Europe. But some of the best publishers abroad charge high prices for their books.Print Publishing
Specialized publishers
Most are non-US, including:
- Brepols (WESS Sponsor)
Some of these may not be covered by smaller approval profiles because of specialization & costs.
Standing orders for major series
Certain series and editions are hard to pick up individually. Libraries might consider placing them on Standing Order with the publisher or a reliable vendor. These series include:
- Corpus Christianorum (Brepols) - series for Greek and Latin texts, including ancient and medieval authors. The Latin texts also are available online from Brepols.
- I Tatti Renaissance Library (Harvard University Press)
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica - also available as dMGH
- Studi e testi - Vatican Library - includes editions of Renaissance texts
- Thomas Aquinas, Leonine edition [published in Rome]
- (Voice in Early Modern Europe) [University of Chicago Press] - texts by Early Modern women in translation
The Medieval Academy of America, the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, the Renaissance Society of America and TEAMS (The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) also publish specialized series of texts.
Encyclopedias and handbooks
These are multiple and vary in quality & costs. Among the bess of these are:
- Dictionary of the Middle Ages and other Scribner Historical Encyclopedias
- Routledge Medieval Encyclopedias
- Encyclopedia of the Renaissance Praeger
Monographs via Approval Plans
English-mangual monographs can be covered via Approval profiling with Blackwell & Yankee. Blackwell has medieval headings and non-subject parameters for time period. Yankee has a subject profile for Medieval Studies.
Foreign vendors are harder to profile, but note that Harrassowitz & Casalini have profiling mechanisms and online access to titles. Aux amateurs de livre and Librerie Jean Touzot have websites, and the former can send "approval forms" via Internet. It may be hard to distinguish high-value from less desired titles online, so selectors should exercise caution. Do not ignore niche vendors, e.g. Erasmus for the Netherlands.
Reviews
Note the slowness of most academic reviewing & brevity of Choice reviews. Use reviewing sources like The Medieval Review and awareness websites like Feminae. Fellow librarians share knowledge readily. See my feature Recent Titles on the Medieval Religion listserve & the lists of recent European titles edited by me in December’s issue of Choice.
Electronic products
There are Database vendors with specialized medieval or Early Modern interests:
Full-text
- Brepols (WESS Sponsor)
- ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey (WESS Sponsor)
Reference tools and bibliography
- Brepols (WESS Sponsor) - including The International Medieval Bibliography
- Iter: Gateway to the Renaissance - Iter also hosts additional electronic projects, including the digitized version of Paul Oskar Kristeller's guide to finding renaissance manuscripts, Iter Italicum.
There also are individual or small group projects. Some, like Admyte sell a product.
Others are free on the web, like Roman de la Rose and Charette.Some Society memberships include free or discounted access to Iter, including:
The Medieval Academy also can provide discounted access to the International Medieval Bibliography.
