Library Support for Hebrew Language and Literature
December 7, 1998

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The Library has, historically, provided extensive support for the language and literature programs of the University, and our collections in languages and literatures form a very large part of the Library’s holdings. Measuring, alone, the portion of the collections which are classed in the Library of Congress Classification, the P classes (languages and literatures) hold more than 300,000 titles. This classification includes some disciplines (such as Classics, Egyptology, linguistics) which are not covered in this report, but most of this number is relevant. It should be noted that the title counts include books and serials on or about the particular languages, whether in that language or in English (or other languages). They do not reveal how many books we may have in the specific language (as these books may be on totally unrelated subjects, and not of interest to the program in question)

Hebrew language and literature, both ancient and modern, are taught in the Judaic Studies Department, and they are supported by the Library as part of support for the entire Department and its programs. Thus it is not possible to determine just how much we expend in support of the language and literature programs alone. I would say, however, that a significant number of the titles we order outside of our approval plan are modern Hebrew literature, both poetry and prose, in Hebrew. This is a relatively recent collecting interest here, and we have increased our collecting substantially in the past five years. The Collection Development Librarian for Judaic Studies is William s. Monroe (Box A, x2406, William_Monroe@brown.edu).

Expenditures for Judaic Studies are rather erratic, as is evident from the table below:

The variation in expenditures from one year to another is due to the existence of a large pool of "start-up" funds. These funds are carried over from one fiscal year to another, and are spent only for materials identified by the new faculty for whom they are designated. I would like to emphasize the importance of receiving such funds, which come from the Dean of the Faculty. They are essential for improving the collections in areas we had not before collected, without straining the regular materials budget.

The Library has endeavored to achieve a RESEARCH level collection in most of the major areas of interest to Judaic Studies. This represents a significant upgrade from the level of collecting ten years ago. We have certainly not attained Research Level in all areas, notably modern Jewish society and politics, and modern Hebrew literature. Until recently, we focused especially on the two areas of primary interest to the Department: Ancient Judaism and modern Jewish society and politics. These had been indicated as the doctoral programs. In most other areas the Library maintains a STUDY LEVEL collection. This is a level which is adequate to support undergraduate and graduate course work.

Ancient Hebrew literature is classed in BM (post-Biblical) and in BS (Biblical). Hebrew language and modern Hebrew literature is classed in PJ. The breakdown of our holdings for these subjects is:

• BM
• 408-523 Post-Biblical literature 1,469
• BS Hebrew Bible (various classes) 3,701
• PJ
• 4501-4937 Hebrew philology & language 456
• 5001-5060 Hebrew literature (medieval & modern) 1,946
• (5051-5060 Modern Hebrew literature 1,552)

As one can see from the numbers above, the focus of the graduate program in Ancient Judaism has dictated the strength of our collections. But the number of titles in and about modern Hebrew literature has become a significant part. It is also important to realize that the large number of titles on the Hebrew Bible is not all "literature". This class includes historical and literary criticism of Hebrew Bible as well as Jewish and Christian theology.

» William S. Monroe, Head, Collection Development