THE JOHN MILLER BURNAM CLASSICAL LIBRARY
THE CLASSICS COLLECTION
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Subjects covered . ALL aspects of Roman and Greek
civilization, including the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean
region: history, archaeology, language and literature, numismatics,
science and technology, early Christian studies, patristics, etc.
Departments and users served . The primary users of
the collection are the Department of Classics, but because of the cross-disciplinary
nature of the field, other departments also use the collection, in particular
anthropology, history, philosophy, English, and art history. Several
courses in the DAAP college depend very much on the collection. There
is also much use of the collection by non-UC affiliates, especially
Hebrew Union college faculty and students and those from other neighboring
institutions.. Interlibrary loan and OhioLINK requests comprise a large
part of our use.
Quantitative information .
Users: The Department of Classics consists of 12 full-time faculty
members, several adjuncts and post-doc research fellows and approximately
40-45 graduate students each year. Although there are only about 25
undergraduate majors, the FTE undergraduate count is 163, driven by
the large enrollments in popular classes such as ancient history, Classical
civilization and medical terminology.
Activity level: The users are primarily graduate students followed
by faculty and then undergraduates. OhioLINK use (which exceeds local
UC undergraduate use) reflects faculty use is highest, followed by undergraduate,
and then graduate users. Regular users are assigned carrels to which
they can desk charge library materials, including non-circulating titles
such as periodicals and portfolios. Total circulation for 1999/2000
was 34,126, plus an additional 10,315 in-house recorded usage, making
it the highest circulating branch collection after the very busy Engineering,
CCM and DAAP libraries.
Degrees granted . Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts,
Doctor of Philosophy.
Special programs and accreditation requirements .
Two majors are available to undergraduates: Latin and Greek language
and literature or Classical Civilization. Graduate students may specialize
in one of the following: Greek and Latin Language and Literature, Ancient
History, Jewish and Christian Studies in the Greco-Roman Period, or
Aegean Prehistory and Classical Archaeology. Archaeology students traditionally
spend a year abroad in Greece or Italy and usually spend their summers
on archaeological excavations in order to gain first hand knowledge
of the archaeological sites and typography.
The special program in Jewish and Christian Studies in the Greco-Roman
Period is a joint program of the Department of Classics and Hebrew Union
College.
The Cincinnati Classics Department sponsors an internship at the Cincinnati
Art Museum which provides practical training under the direct supervision
of a curator in order to prepare the intern for a career in museum work.
Research focus, grants, special funding . The Burnam
Classical Library relies extensively on the Semple Fund for support
for its collections. The continued generosity of that support has made
the library a major international research collection in the area of
Classical Studies.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION
Location of collection . The Classics Library's public
areas are on the third floor of the Blegen Library building. The collection
is on stacks levels 4 and 5. Volumes printed before 1800 are shelved
in the Archives and Rare Book Department. There are several collections
which comprise the Burnam Library: the Classics Collection per se (shelved
on levels 4 and 5), the Paleography Collection (shelved in a locked
cage on stacks level 4), a reference collection (located in the main
reading room), and the Modern Greek Collection (located on stacks level
4). The entire collection comprises over 170,000 volumes, 13,500 pamphlets,
over 9,000 microforms, nearly 300 audio-materials, 30 Videos, 765 maps
and over 50 electronic titles.
Other collections supporting program .
Internal. The Burnam collection is supplemented by part of the Langsam
Library's collections (especially for general and peripheral materials
in the A, B, D, P and Z classifications) and the DAAP collection.
External. The collection of Hebrew Union College is especially useful
in providing supplemental material, especially in the area of Near Eastern
archaeology and Judaic studies. OhioLINK is helpful in providing additional
copies of Classics materials that are checked out, titles in peripheral
areas, and leisure reading.
Collection history . The John Miller Burnam Classical
Library is named after a former faculty member of the Classics Department,
whose excellent private library was willed to the University and became
the nucleus of the present library in 1921. The collection was greatly
expanded through the personal efforts and generosity of a former chairman
of the Department and his wife, William T. and Louise Taft Semple.
Entire collections were purchased and provided an in depth comprehensive
retrospective collection. Mrs. Taft later established a trust fund in
honor of her father Charles Phelps Taft that continues to be the primary
support for the collection.
General level of collecting . For most subject areas
an attempt is made to secure copies of all academic publications in
European languages. Only a few selected titles in Asian languages are
purchased. Areas that have less thorough coverage are:
- Medieval Latin language and literature: Thorough, but not exhaustive
coverage of academic level materials
- Ancient Near East: Thorough, but not exhaustive coverage of academic
level materials - primarily to support the Aegean Prehistory Program.
- Patristics: Thorough, but not exhaustive coverage of academic level
materials. The emphasis on collecting is literary, historical, and
linguistic - not materials that are purely theological.
- Latin and Greek Paleography: Thorough, but the purchase of expensive
manuscript facsimiles is now limited to those of classical texts.
SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF COLLECTION
Call numbers . Because of the interdisciplinary nature
of the field of Classical Studies, most call number ranges are represented,
but most materials are in the following classifications: B, BL, BR,
C's, DE-DG, N's, P-PA, and Z.
Current and retrospective collecting . Selection of
current materials is as exhaustive as possible. Retrospective purchasing
is actively pursued and a desiderata file is maintained and searched.
When new serials are added, backsets are usually also purchased when
feasible.
Time period collected . Strong emphasis is placed
on retrospective as well as current purchasing. The identification and
purchase of material for gaps in the monographic and journal collections
is an active process.
Levels and treatments . Most material purchased is
of an upper-division and graduate/research level, with several exceptions.
In Greek and Latin language and literature many lower-level texts are
secured. Illustrated popular guide-books are secured for archaeological
sites. Some lower-level textbooks in the general field of Classical
Studies are purchased, especially when used in classes offered by the
Department of Classics. Some materials of a popular nature are purchased
in areas popular with undergraduates and high school students to serve
the needs of less prepared UC undergraduates and to some extent the
Cincinnati community, particularly high school Latin students. All materials
are fully cataloged.
Languages . Research materials in all European languages
are purchased. Nearly 70% of the titles in the collection are not in
English. Only a few titles are in non-European languages.
Geographical areas . The Greco-Roman world and related
areas in the Near East.
Special aspects . The Classics Library consists of
three major sections: the Classics Library per se, the Paleography Collection,
and the Modern Greek Collection. (See Special Collection section for
description of the Modern Greek Collection.)
Types of resources . Journals, monographs, conference
proceedings are equally important in the field and all are collected.
Resource formats . The collection mainly consists
of book materials, but microforms are purchased when paper is not available.
Multi-media purchases are increasing as faculty continues to expand
their use of media in the classroom. The number of electronic databases
and full text resources is expanding very rapidly.
Endowed areas : The Semple Fund supports all areas
of the collection.
ACQUISITION PROCESSES
Approval plans . An approval plan with Otto Harrassowitz
for German language materials has been in existence since the 1960's.
In 1986 a plan was established with Mario Casalini for Italian materials.
English language titles are provided by Yankee, and supplemented by
slips from B.H. Blackwell. Puvill supplies materials from Spain. Plans
are underway to establish a French plan with Aux Amateurs and preliminary
steps to find a Greek vendor have been taken.
Firm orders . Approximately 75% of the titles acquired
are secured through individual orders sent to the Acquisitions Department.
Standing orders . This is a very important part of
the acquisitions program for the collection. There are approximately
1900 standing orders in effect for monographic sets, series, periodicals,
and annuals.
Document suppliers . No use is made of these directly,
though ILL/Acquisitions may use them to fill requests.
Special vendors . Because of the importance placed
on retrospective purchasing, there is much contact with out-of-print
dealers. Occasionally lists of desiderata are sent to special dealers.
Direct requests for foreign dissertations are regularly made by Classics
Library staff.
Unique sources . Exchange programs exist with approximately
twenty organizations. In exchange for their publications, copies of
Cincinnati Classical Studies or Studia Troica are sent. Most of these
exchanges are with organizations in Eastern Europe. These exchanges
are handled directly by the Classics Library.
Jean Susorney Wellington
February 2001
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