i n o x f o r d libraries (Language, Literature and Culture)

L I B R FRENCH STUDIES COLLECTIONS IN OXFORD LIBRARIES f r e n c h studies collections i n o x f o r d libraries (Language, Literature and Culture)

1. introduction This guide offers information on the French Studies collections in the Central Bodleian and the Taylor Institution (St Giles) and other Oxford libraries and describes the range of finding aids which readers may use to access them. There are two other libraries which are particularly relevant to French Studies at Oxford the library of the Maison Française (2-10 Norham Rd) and the Language Centre Library (12 Woodstock Rd). Staff in all of these libraries will be happy to give further information and assistance. Some college libraries have collections with French material but special permission must be obtained to use them. The Voltaire Foundation (99 Banbury Rd) although it has no library is an important centre of French 18th- century studies in Oxford. 2. subject specialist staff Mr Nick Hearn (Subject consultant for French Language, Literature and Culture) Tel; (2)78159 (Taylor Institution Library) nick.hearn@taylib.ox.ac.uk Ms Lucile Deslignères (Librarian of the Language Centre) Tel. (2)83360 lucile.desligneres@lang.ox.ac.uk Ms Anna Rosenschild-Paulin (Librarian of the Maison Française) Tel. (2)74224 mflib@herald.ox.ac.uk 3. FRENCH STUDIES LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE COLLECTIONS IN OXFORD The Taylor Institution was founded in 1847 and material in French has been acquired since the beginning. The profile of the Taylor Institution Library s French collections is quite narrow and focused primarily on French language, literature and bibliography. The Library is particularly strong in the 17th and 18th centuries and there are also a good number of earlier printed books. The Library has benefited from a number of donations of whole collections. There are over 1,000 books formerly owned by Gustave Rudler (1872-1957), Professor of French Literature (1920-1949), including rare 18th-century editions and Benjamin Constant material and a number of autographed works by 20th- century authors. To get a flavour of the Rudler collection, you can do a search by shelfmark on OLIS Telnet (c=rudler). Margaret Grey Skipworth s bequest contains 18th- century literature as well as some 16th- and 17th-century editions. The Library also holds the major collection of 18th-century French novels bequeathed by Prof. Vivienne Mylne. This material is now mostly held out at the Repository and must be ordered to the Taylorian using the Automated Stack Request system (ASR). For guidance in the use of ASR go to http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/olis/asr. Material held by the Bodleian can also be ordered to the Taylorian using ASR. Translations into English, works of criticism and biographical works are received by the Bodleian as a legal deposit library. Books requested from the Bodleian may only be consulted in the Reading Room. The Taylorian does not usually acquire translations but may acquire a second borrowable copy of works of criticism or biographies on a case-by-case basis. Location of open-shelf collections: The main open-access research and teaching collections in French Studies (language, literature and culture) at Oxford are in the Taylor Institution Library. There are two collections in the Taylor Institution building: the Research Collection in the Main Library and the collection of the Modern Languages Faculty Library (or MLFL), which is primarily for the use of undergraduates following a prescribed course of study at Oxford. The MLFL collection will tend to have texts and secondary works directly relevant to courses which are taught at Oxford. The Research Collection located down a corridor immediately behind the Enquiry Desk and in the Basement is openaccess for graduate and academic members of the Library. Undergraduates may order books from the Research Collection by filling in a slip and returning it to the Enquiry Desk. There is also a Reading Room just off the Main Reading Room (on the Beaumont Street or southern side of the building) where the French and

German Reference collection is located (open to all readers). The Reference Collection contains a number of French-related bibliographies which are of value for research in this subject area. Periodicals can be found either in the Periodicals Room, on your left as you come out of the Main Reading Room (Shelfmark: P.R.R. on OLIS) or in the Periodicals section in the Basement (B. Per.). Books on cinema are on open-access in the MLFL while the films themselves are behind the MLFL Issue Desk and may be borrowed with certain restrictions by members of the Modern Languages Faculty. The collections of the Maison Française (films and a wide range of Frenchlanguage books, all borrowable) and the Language Centre (language course material, non-borrowable) are open-access subject to joining each library separately. Summary of collection strengths by subject French Studies material at the Taylor Institution encompasses the following areas: linguistics, literature, bibliography, reference and some background material on history, religion and philosophy. We acquire material in all branches of linguistics in specific relation to French. For books on general linguistics you will need to go to the Linguistics Room off the Main Reading Room Gallery. The MLFL also has an extensive linguistics section. See the separate Linguistics Guide. We acquire as comprehensively as possible in the area of French literature but for French fiction the Maison Française will sometimes have titles, particularly modern titles, which we lack. Our policy is to acquire in as much depth as our budget allows in the subject areas of language and literature but we have holdings in other areas too. Our holdings in French bibliography are particularly strong. We acquire more selectively in philosophy and very little in history and religion. Although the Taylorian has small collections relating to French art, history, music, religion and philosophy, these subject areas are covered more extensively by other libraries within the Oxford Library system. The first port of call will always be the Bodleian which has reference-only collections in all of these subject areas. In addition, holdings relating to French history can also be found in the History Faculty Library (34 Broad St), French art holdings in the Sackler Library (1 St John St), French music holdings in the Music Faculty Library (St Aldates), holdings relating to French theology and the history of religion in France in the Theology Faculty Library (41, St Giles), French philosophy holdings in the Philosophy Faculty Library (10 Merton St). The Maison Française has holdings in the following subject areas: the fine arts, philosophy, literature, linguistics, cinema, theatre, music and sport. The MLFL has a good collection of French and Francophone films (usually with sub-titles) and a similarly extensive collection of books and periodicals on French film. See the dedicated Guide to Oxford s film collections. Both the Maison Française and the Language Centre have film collections although films may not be borrowed from the Language Centre. The Language Centre has a comprehensive range of language-learning materials for all languages including French. Holdings Oxford s French Studies collections are among the best in the UK. The Taylorian offers a wide range of current periodicals relevant to the area some of which are available on-line. It also has a small but important manuscript collection (http://www.taylib.ox.ac.uk/mshome.htm) and a substantial collection of microforms. The Bodleian Library too has rich French collections (although after the foundation of the Taylor Institution, acquisition of French literature was scaled down) and these collections include books, periodicals and some important French manuscripts http:// www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/online.htm including Digby 23, pt 2, the oldest extant manuscript of the Chanson de Roland and the manuscripts of the Douce collection. Colleges with significant French holdings include Harris Manchester, Lady Margaret Hall, Magdalen, St Hugh s and Somerville (but non-members of the colleges require special permission to use these). The Voltaire Room collection makes the Taylorian a world centre for the study of Voltaire and the Enlightenment.

Electronic resources The Taylorian subscribes to several major on-line bibliographic databases relevant to French including Modern Language Association (MLA) International Biography, FRANTEXT, International Medieval Bibliography. The Library also subscribes to several e-book collections including Corpus de littérature médiévale: des origines à la fin du 15e siècle and Bibliothèque littéraire de la Renaissance. There is also a wealth of material available on-line which can be found through a portal such as Intute: Arts and Humanities French Studies. Examples would be Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales and Gallica. French Collections in the Taylorian by language area and period The Main Library research collection: For material on French publishing, bibliography and libraries go to the Gallery in the main Reading Room (Shelfmark: ZA). You may use the spiral staircase or gain access to the Gallery using the door opposite the Enquiry Desk and going up the stairs. There is much older French material on the upper shelves in the main Reading Room but these volumes will be fetched for you by library staff. Some selected high-demand French material can be found behind the Enquiry Desk in the main Reading Room with similar material for other languages. Most of the French Research Collection is in the stacks which can be accessed via a corridor behind the Enquiry Desk. Francophone literature which consists of non-european and non-canadian French language and literature is in the Basement. There are currently two classifications for French: the old in-house classification consisting of two letters separated by a slash and followed by a number and the new Library of Congress (LC) classification which is in a separate sequence immediately on your right as you enter the Lower Stack. All material acquired since January 2007 will be in this new LC sequence. A guide to LC can be found on the counter nearby. Most French material is still in the old classification. The French section follows on immediately from the Spanish section in the Lower Stack. However, you will almost certainly at some point need material from the General sequence which comes at the beginning of the old classification sequence and has shelf-marks beginning G. (i.e. G Aest = General Aesthetics, G Lit. = General Literature, G Soc. = General Social Studies). The following can be found in the Lower Stack: general anthologies and criticism, French language (including regional varieties such as Belgian and Canadian French), Medieval French, 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century French literature. There is a very large 19th-century section consisting of 19thcentury Romanticism, 19th-century non-romantic writers 1800-1850, 19thcentury Realism, 19th-century Parnassians, Symbolism and Decadence. Many literary texts can be found in the Textes littéraires français series shelved separately on the west side of the aisle. In the Upper Stack the collection continues with 1850-1900 Philosophy, Politics etc, 20th-century non-literary subjects, History and Criticism, Surrealism &c, followed by the 20th-century Novel, Verse and Drama. Note that the final part of the French 20th century (Right-wing literature, Left-wing literature and Miscellaneous continues along the wall on the west side of the aisle. The Voltaire Room is located on the Ground Floor and may be accessed through the doorway opposite the Enquiry Desk and down the south staircase. It houses a unique collection of French books published in the 18th-century as well as books and periodicals which relate to this period of French literature and thought. All Voltaire Room holdings are catalogued on OLIS. The Modern Language Faculty Library (MLFL) The MLFL also has a French reference section at the far end of the Reference Room. It is located in the alcove of the MLFL Reference Room near the video. It has a good selection of dictionaries but is nowhere near as comprehensive as the Reference collection in the Main Taylor French and German Reading Room.

Periodical articles on reading-lists are kept behind the Issue Desk. All material acquired since January 2007 is shelved in a new LC classified sequence on the main level of the MLFL. Older material classified to an in-house system is shelved on the lower floor and this collection contains some 20,000 volumes. The old classification of MLFL typically has the following form: FM-LAB7 5CAR G5. There are signs in the Library which provide useful information about how to find your way round the old classification scheme. Some French-related books will be found in the outsize sequence. The classmark for these books begins ZA and the sequence begins in the shelves immediately opposite you as you come down the stairs to the Ground Floor and continues into the main Ground-Floor area. Publications describing or relating to the collections Directory of rare book and special collections London, 1997 pp537-539 REF.M.45 French subject page http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/libraries/subjects/french Photographs, microforms and facsimiles of medieval manuscripts in the Taylor Institution Library and the Bodleian Library (French) MSS. CAT. STAND v1 Taylor Institution web-site http://www.taylib.ox.ac.uk/ Barber, Giles The Taylor Institution Library The book collector 42: 3, Autumn 1998 Hughes, Jill Taylor Institution Library: history of the library and its collections 1999 http://www.b2i.de/fabian?taylor_institution_library Morgan, Paul Oxford libraries outside the Bodleian: a guide Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1980 Ref M 45 Thomas, D.H. A checklist of editions of major French authors in Oxford libraries 1526-1800 Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, Taylor Institution, 1986 Ref. F. 18 Thomas, D.H. Readers guide: bibliographical and reference sources: French [Oxford]: 198-? No shelfmark 4. LOCATING BOOKS The on-line catalogue OLIS (Oxford Libraries Information System) is a union catalogue which contains entries for all books and many electronic resources in roughly a hundred Oxford libraries, including college libraries. Workstations for consulting OLIS are available in all reading rooms; it is also accessible at http:// www.lib.ox.ac.uk/olis. Pocket reference guides on using OLIS are available by workstations and can be printed off from the OULS website. Specialist staff are available at the Taylor Institution Library for additional help with searching the on-line catalogue. Most material in the Main Taylor is open-access for graduates. 5. LOCATING PERIODICALS Full records for almost all French periodicals and other serials are now available on OLIS. Readers with an enquiry about periodicals should contact rachel.holt@taylib.ox.ac.uk. 6. LOCATING ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Electronic databases relating to French language and literature can be accessed via OxLIP+ (Oxford Libraries Information Platform). Go to the SOLO screen (http://solo.ouls.ox.ac.uk/ ). Then go to the top of the screen and click on OxLIP+. Click on Subject and scroll down through the menu until you come to Modern Languages. Then click on the Go button on the right-hand side and select French in the central menu. A list of electronic resources for French language and literature is available here. A more extensive list including resources freely available on the web but not on OxLIP+ is available via the French subject web-page at http://www.ouls. ox.ac.uk/libraries/subjects/french.

7. DISSERTATIONS, THESES AND RESEARCH IN PROGRESS Two electronic resources may be helpful: Proquest s Dissertations and theses and Index to theses. To keep up-to-date with recent conferences go to ZETOC (British Library s Electronic Table of Contents) on OxLIP+. 8. MICROFORMS The microfilm collection is to be found at the far end of the Lower Stack. There is a microform reader and printer which library staff will be happy to assist readers with. A listing of microfilms (and facsimiles) held by the Main Taylor can be found in the hand-list Photographs, microfilms and facsimiles of medieval manuscripts in the Taylor Institution and the Bodleian Library 2: French. The Bodleian Library s publication A guide to microform holdings in the Bodleian Library lists major works, journals and series held in microform in the Bodleian. 9. RECENT ACQUISITIONS Recommendations for the OULS collections can be made by e-mailing the French language and literature subject specialist: nick.hearn@taylib.ox.ac. uk or by going to the following web-page: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/ collections/recommendations Requests for specialist help can be made through the Ask-A-Librarian service at http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/readerserv/ask/. 10. INTER-LIBRARY LOANS AND DOCUMENT SUPPLY If books required are not held in any Oxford library, application can be made to borrow (or to order photocopies) from other libraries by inter-library loan. A charge is made for this service. Enquiries should be made at the Enquiry Desk in the Taylorian Library or by contacting helen.buchanan@ taylib.ox.ac.uk. 11. COPYING AND PHOTOGRAPHY There are currently two self-service photocopiers in the Main Taylorian. One is located in the Periodicals Room and the other is in the Basement. There are also two self-service photocopiers in the MLFL. Materials can be photocopied subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. Special permission must be requested for books or pamphlets which are fragile. Items published before 1900 may not be photocopied. When material is fragile we would ask readers to take copies using a digital camera. Material can be scanned to professional standards by the Bodleian s imaging services: http://www.ouls. ox.ac.uk/bodley/services/copy/imaging_services. 12. RESOURCES OF OTHER LIBRARIES Published catalogues and guides to collections in libraries and archives elsewhere are shelved at REF. M. 45 (French and German Reading Room) and further information on library resources can be obtained from the staff at the Enquiry Desk. 13. ASSISTANCE AND INSTRUCTION IN USE Induction sessions sessions are given on locating and using electronic resources to undergraduates and graduates at the beginning of the academic year. Occasional sessions are given on electronic resources as part of the WISER (Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources) series (http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training/wiser). An introduction to Oxford s French collections and an individual hands-on session on the use of electronic resources will be given to any reader on request by a specialist member of staff who will be glad to discuss any particular interests or requirements. For more information contact Nick Hearn (nick.hearn@ ouls.ox.ac.uk).

This leaflet is also available online in alternative formats (http://www.ouls. ox.ac.uk/guides). Please contact aracu@ouls.ox.ac.uk for requests for Braille and audio. 07/09/6904