Cultural studies collection development policy

Since scholarship in cultural studies -- the analysis of the connections between different forms of culture, culture and politics, and culture and historical forces -- is by now a feature of every academic department in Penn's humanities program, the collections in support of this widely interdisciplinary area are virtually indistinguishable from the humanities collections as a whole. Its concentration at Penn, however, is found in the areas of English, European Languages, Area Studies and Comparative Literature. The Library's collections in scholarship and belles lettres relevant to cultural studies have traditionally been strong, although popular, non-elite forms of publication have not traditionally been a priority. Historical material of this type is collected retrospectively in print and as digital facsimiles in databases. Special collections of cookbooks, children's literature, and comic books provide historical heft to what is in our general collections.