SFU Library French Collections Policy

The Department of French  conducts studies which cover a broad spectrum of inter-related areas and disciplines including:
 

*training in all aspects of language use (speaking, reading, writing);
*the study and analysis of francophone literatures from cultural, historical, formal and theoretical perspectives;
*the analytical methods of modern linguistics applied to the study of the French language in its formal, historical  and sociocultural aspects.

Undergraduate courses:

Undergraduate courses lead to the following specializations:

Honors, Major and Extended minor
Joint Major in English and French Literatures
Joint Major in French, History and Political Science
Joint Major in French and Humanities
Certificate in French Language Proficiency
Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in French and Education

Courses for the non-specialist include French for reading, French for business, and French literature in translation.
Courses in the Italian language at the beginner’s level.

Graduate programs:

Graduate programs lead to a Master’s degree with a concentration in one of two areas:
French Literature, including a comprehensive genre- and period-oriented set of courses;
French and French-Canadian Linguistics,  consisting of the study of a variety of linguistic theories, both European and North American, and their specific application to the analysis of French, and including the option of the teaching of French as a Second Language.

The SFU Special Arrangements Ph.D. program enables students to focus their research in French or French-Canadian Literature or Linguistics. The Department has no PhD candidates at present.

Faculty research areas:

Language:  Canadian French, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Creole French dialects, varieties of French, foreign language teaching, second language acquisition, including theories of second language acquisition

Linguistics: experimental phonetics; French linguistics; lexicography, Creole lexicography, oral traditions in French Guiana; formal semantics; phonostylistics; phonology (synchronic and diachronic); phraseology; sociolinguistics,  especially bilingualism and code-switching; text linguistics;  transformational syntax;  morpho-syntax; discourse analysis; structuring of oral discourse in a literate culture; stylistic correspondence between oral and written texts; humorous monologue as a discourse genre

Literature:  medieval French literature and new Medievalism; Renaissance French literature and para-literature, especially travel writing and polemical literature; 16th, 17th and 18th century French literature and civilization;  women writers of the 17th and 18th centuries; 19th century novel and drama, in particular Stendahl; contemporary Quebec literature and para-literature;  French-Canadian literature from outside Quebec; contemporary French fiction, poetry, and short stories;  French war writing; comparative genre criticism, in particular the French detective novel; literary theory and narrative theory; the screenplay as literary genre;  semiotics of drama; writings of French emigres; cultural history of literature

Culture:  art and literature, French correspondence and pedagogy,  gender studies,  influence of cinema on the contemporary novel, la francophonie, psychology and literary analysis

Responsibility for the Collection

Collection development is the responsibility of the French Liaison Librarian. Liaison with the  Department is maintained through the Departmental Representative as well as with other faculty members when required.   Regular contact with other liaison librarians and teaching departments is nurtured through the sharing of relevant information.

SFU Resources

The WAC Bennett  Library is the major location for the University's French collection.

Centre d’etudes francophones Quebec-Pacifique was created within the Department of French at SFU in 1998.  The Centre promotes research on the French Speaking World (la francophonie), related to the study of the French language, linguistics, literature and culture; collects documents on sociocultural life of the French community in British Columbia, and acts as literary archives of works published by French speaking authors in British Columbia, as well as those published elsewhere in the francophonie about British Columbia.

Regional Resources

The University of British Columbia collects books and journals supporting the study of French language and literature.

Consortia and Document Delivery

SFU belongs to three consortia (Electronic Library Network; Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries; and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries). Document delivery agreements exist with all three of these consortia which allow delivery of journal articles and books from these libraries in a timely manner. Holdings and direct requesting from over 40 libraries are accessible through the Interlibrary Loan web page and from many databases, including  the MLA Bibliography, a major database for the study of French.

General Collection Guidelines

Languages: the emphasis is on the acquisition of materials in French, with selected literary works in translation
Chronological guidelines: not applicable.
Geographical guidelines:  primarily Canadian and European, works of selected literary figures from other countries in la francophonie
Treatment of subject:  scholarly
Types of materials: Collecting is split between books and journals, with a much greater emphasis on the monograph collection. There will also be a future emphasis on e-journals, electronic resources, e.g. CD-ROMs,  and web resources.
Date of Publication:   Emphasis is on current publications with occasional purchase of out-of-print items. Retrospective acquisitions are normally only for the replacement of important titles which have deteriorated or disappeared.
Coordination and cooperation with other campus resources:   Films and videos acquired for the program are housed in the Instructional Media Centre.
Other factors for consideration:  Courses in the teaching of French as a Second Language are offered by the SFU Faculty of Education.    The library holds key journals and selected monographs published in French in support of programmes of various SFU academic departments, e.g. Canadian Studies, Contemporary Arts, English, History, Philosophy, Political Science.

Subjects and Levels of Collecting

Definitions of collection levels are derived from the American Library Association's Guide for Developing Collection Policy Statements, 1989.

Basic level:

Grammars and dictionaries; works for the study of the French language.
Grammars and dictionaries; works for the study of the Italian language.

Intermediate level (supports undergraduate studies):

Reference materials (bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias) in print and electronic format.

Materials dealing with phonetics, syntax, composition, conversation and phrase books; surveys of language history.   Introduction to basic linguistic concepts as applied to the study of literature. Multiple college editions of current literary texts (readers) for language courses.

Literary histories; works on literature and culture; monographs and journals dealing with French and French-Canadian literary figures and movements.

Literary texts and critical studies related to  the mediaeval and Renaissance periods and to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Literary texts and critical studies related to the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, concentrating on the works of authors represented in Appendix A.

Studies of the novel, poetry, short stories,  film and theatre; women writers; cultural and gender studies; psychological and sociological aspects of literary criticism.

Critical editions of all major authors and their influences.   See Appendix A for author lists. Selected works of major authors in translation.

Advanced level  (supports graduate research to the Master’s level and undergraduate studies):

Language learning and teaching:  Acquisition of French as a second language.  Methodology of teaching of French in Canada and elsewhere in the French-speaking world.  Study of oral French.

Linguistics:  French semantics and lexicology, phonology, morphology, syntax, dialectology, stylistics, language history.  Sociolinguistics.   Bilingualism in the French-speaking world.

Contrastive studies of French and English, varieties of French (social, regional, stylistic), Creole French dialects, Canadian French

Literature:  Theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches to literature and para-literature, textual discourse, genre analysis, theory of literary criticism, topics in Quebec literature and French Canadian literature outside Quebec.

Research level (supports faculty research, research for dissertations, graduate research to the Master’s level):

Language and Linguistics:
Canadian French, other varieties of French
Computer-Assisted Language Learning
Creole French dialects, lexicography and Creole lexicography
foreign language teaching
second language acquisition, including theories of second language acquisition

anaphora
experimental phonetics
French linguistics
oral traditions in French Guiana
formal semantics
phonostylistics
phonology (synchronic and diachronic)
phraseology
sociolinguistics,  especially bilingualism and code-switching
text linguistics
transformational syntax, morpho-syntax
discourse analysis, structuring of oral discourse in a literate culture, humorous monologue as a discourse genre
stylistic correspondence between oral and written texts

Literature and Culture:
medieval French literature and new Medievalism
Renaissance French literature and paraliterature, especially travel writing; polemical literature; 16th, 17th and 18th century French literature and civilization
women writers of the 17th and 18th centuries
19th century novel and drama, in particular Stendahl
contemporary Quebec literature and para-literature
French-Canadian literature from outside Quebec
contemporary French fiction, poetry, and short stories
French war writing
comparative genre criticism, in particular the French detective novel
literary theory and narrative theory
the screenplay as literary genre,  influence of cinema on the contemporary novel
semiotics of drama
writings of French emigres
cultural history of literature, art and literature
gender studies
la francophonie
psychology and literary analysis

Created by PG.  Last updated by TM 09/11/00.