Collection Development Policy
Film, Television, and Theatre

 

PROGRAMS AND CLIENTELE SUPPORTED:

The Department of Communication and Theatre offers undergraduates a major program in either Communication or Theatre. Those who decide upon the Communication concentration choose one of two curricula: Critical Studies or Film and Video Production. The Theatre concentration offers a single curriculum. No graduate degree is given.

Whatever the course of study, the Department is committed to combining practice with theory in such a way that "hands-on" experience is as important a part of the programs as criticism, theory and history. This factor must be kept in mind in developing the collection.

The core of studies in Communication is the critical examination of the form, style and meaning of the media, especially film and television. Critical Studies focuses on the historical and cultural dimensions of mass media. Because film and video are not only the most powerful communication media of our time but also vital art forms, there is a commitment to theory and practice in the Production concentration.

The Theatre program is concerned with the theatrical artifact as an artistic vision that invites the participation of both the practitioner and the perceiver. Two of the main goals of this concentration are the education of practitioners who want to continue the study of theatre in a professional school or a graduate school and to assist the perceiver in investigating the forms of dramatic art.

SUBJECT LIAISON:

G. Margaret Porter
Reference Department
117 Hesburgh Library
(574) 631-7620
Porter.2@nd.edu
FAX:  (574) 631-6772

CONSPECTUS:  Yes; part of the Linguistics, Languages and Literatures conspectus (PN)

GENERAL COLLECTION GUIDELINES:

Languages:  English

Chronological:

Communication/Critical Studies: The emphasis is on "mass media" as they have been considered under this term from the 1950's to the present time.

Communication/Film and Video:  From their inception to the present.

Theatre:  From the beginnings in primitive rituals to the present.

Geographical:

Communication/Critical Studies:  The United States and Western Europe.

Communication/Film:  The United States, Canada, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Communication/Video:  The United States, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Theatre:  The United States, Canada, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Treatment of Subject:  Undergraduate level for course support; some materials at the research level for faculty.

Types of material:  Monographs, journals and videocassettes. Electronic formats are not currently purchased but that may change in the future.

COORDINATION INFORMATION:

The Fine Arts Bibliographer coordinates the purchase of videos of plays and films requested by faculty in the English and various Languages and Literatures Departments with the bibliographer or liaison officer for those departments. Books on film are also ordered on Languages and Literatures allocations at the request of faculty members in those departments. Many books on drama are, of course, purchased with funds allocated for English Literature.

COLLECTING LEVELS:

 

Subject	LC Class	Collecting Level
Radio Broadcasting--History, criticism,   technique	PN 1990-1991	2
Television Broadcasting--History, criticism, technique	PN 1992	3
Films--History, criticism, technique	PN 1993-1999	4
Filmscripts in the English language	PN 1997	4
Technical theatre--the stage and accessories	PN 2085-2096	4
Theatre history, management, organization	PN 2100-2219	3
Theatre--United States	PN 2220-2298	3
Theatre--Canada	PN 2300-2308	2
Theatre--Western Europe	PN 2570-2808	3
Theatre-Eastern Europe	PN 2819-2859	1
Theatre--Asia	PN 2860-2960	1
Theatre-Africa	PN 2969-2990	1

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The faculty in Communication and Theatre consider videocassettes of films and theatre productions the equivalent of print material in terms of educational value.

In order to preserve play texts and film scripts which are published on poor quality paper, a set of procedures to deacidify this material was set up in 1992. This policy was revised in January of 1994.

 

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