Blegen Library Acquisitions Policy

Revised as of July 2024

 

Summary

The mission of the Blegen Library is to develop and maintain a first rank research collection in support of the academic programs, membership, and cooperating institutions of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

The collection supports research into the art, archaeology, philology, history, literature and philosophy of ancient Greece, including the area comprised by the modern state, as well as areas that formed part of the Greek world in ancient times. The periods covered include prehistoric through late Roman.

Collection Overview

The Blegen Library collects almost all scholarly books relating to the archaeology, art, culture, literature, society, thought, etc. of Greece and the Greeks, including those outside the boundaries of the modern state, from prehistory to late antiquity. The library endeavors, so far as is reasonably possible, to include all significant works of recorded knowledge in all applicable languages.

The Blegen Library collects many or most scholarly books relating to the archaeology, art, culture, literature, society, thought, etc. of Roman, pre-Roman, and Greco-Roman societies throughout the larger Mediterranean region from prehistory to late antiquity.

The Blegen Library collects all periodicals related to the art, archaeology, philology, history, literature and philosophy of ancient Greece, including the area comprised by the modern state, as well as areas that formed part of the Greek world in ancient times. The library also collects many periodicals related to ancient Rome and a limited number related to other regions and cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world and its environs.

Guidelines for Acquisitions

The Blegen Library collects in all currently significant formats including print and electronic media. In the case of the same information being available in more than one format, print is given priority, unless a different format is deemed more appropriate for use by the majority of the School’s members.

The Blegen Library establishes and maintains subscription to journals and selected reference works in both print and electronic format whenever possible. Access to electronic versions of monographs, either previously acquired in print or not, is provided to expand the range of options available to the School’s members.

The Blegen Library also gathers and disseminates information on electronic open access resources in the research areas covered by its physical collection.

The Blegen Library’s Collection Development Librarian is responsible for the selection of materials. Suggestions from members and readers are welcome while ultimate responsibility for the content of the collection rests with the Head Librarian.

The Blegen Library pursues its acquisition policy independently of the collecting practices of other research libraries in Athens. However, in order to optimize the School’s resources, the library refrains from purchasing materials already available or expected to arrive at the Gennadius Library, with a few exceptions such as important reference works.

The Blegen Library seeks the least expensive means to acquire materials. We negotiate discounts with preferred vendors. We seek to reduce administrative costs by establishing notification or approval plans and by consolidating periodical subscriptions and standing orders with select vendors who can provide us with competitive pricing and value-added services such as the provision of MARC records.

The Blegen Library has never actively collected American doctoral dissertations.  Copies of dissertations are often deposited in the Blegen if substantial parts of the research were conducted here.

The Blegen Library has made no effort to collect auction or other sale catalogues for any category of antiquities.

Donation Policy

The Blegen Library welcomes gifts of books, journals, or offprints which may be appropriate for its collection as defined by this policy. Gifts are accepted with the understanding that the library will make all decisions regarding their retention, location, cataloging, or any other consideration relating to their use. A letter from the library will be sent to acknowledge all gifts. Gifts may be added to the collection, donated to another library, or sold with the proceeds to benefit the Blegen Library.

Withdrawal Policy

The Blegen Library does not generally withdraw items, with the exception of clearly outdated and/or irrelevant resources. Scholarly materials that receive little or no use, as indicated by circulation statistics, are periodically reviewed for possible removal to the compact shelving section of the library.

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The presentation of the Acquisitions Policy follows the Library of Congress classification system, adopted by the Blegen Library in 2019. The level of acquisition is indicated in descending order by “all” or “almost all”, “most”, “many”, “limited” or “very limited”. All the entries refer to scholarly and reference works, unless otherwise specified.

Collected works of individual scholars, conference proceedings, and honorary collections of studies (Festschrift) are classified by subject and are acquired according to the policy for the respective LC classes. Periodicals are shelved separately from monographs and edited collections, but they are otherwise treated following the same principles.

The Blegen Library collects most dictionaries of ancient Greek and Latin, as well as a limited number of dictionaries of other ancient languages. The library also maintains a selection of dictionaries for the languages employed in scholarly research on the ancient world. Dictionaries are shelved in dedicated sections of the library, with copies of the most frequently used works made available on each floor of the building.

A – General works

            AE – Encyclopedias

                        Very limited, except on specific subjects (see respective classes)

            AM – Museums. Collectors and collecting

                        Limited within the subject parameters of this policy (see classes N-NK)

            AS – Academies and learned societies (Publications from and about)

                        All within the subject parameters of this policy

            AZ – History of scholarship and learning. The humanities

                        Limited within the subject parameters of this policy

B – Philosophy and religion

            B-BJ – Philosophy and psychology (including magic)

                        Almost all on ancient Greek philosophy

                        Many on Latin philosophy

            BL – Ancient religion (except Judaism and Christianity)

                        All on Greek religion and representation in art

                        Many on Roman religion

                        Very limited on other religions, except cults found in ancient Greece or comparative religion

            BM – Judaism

                        Many on Jewish society and culture within the wider Greco-Roman world

            BR – Christianity

                        Limited on Christianity within the wider Greco-Roman world (see also Gennadius Library)

            BS – The Bible

                        Limited on the Bible within ancient Mediterranean culture

            BT-BV – Theology

                        Limited on Christian theology in relation to Greco-Roman culture (see also Gennadius Library)

            BX – Christian denominations

                        Very limited within the subject parameters of this policy

C – Disciplines related to the study of the past (except History)

            CB – History of civilization and cultural evolution

                        Very limited within the subject parameters of this policy

            CC – Archaeology

                        Limited on history of archaeology

                        Many on archaeological theory and method

                        Very limited on archaeological science (see Wiener Laboratory)

            CD – Seals and sealing

                        All on ancient Greek seals and sealing

                        Many on ancient Roman seals and sealing

                        Very limited to limited on seals and sealing in other ancient cultures

            CE – Chronology

                        All on ancient Greek chronology

                        Many on ancient Roman chronology

            CJ – Numismatics

                        All on Greek and Roman coins of Greece, Italy and Asia Minor

                        Limited on coins of other civilizations, if pertaining to material from Greece

            CN – Epigraphy

                        All on Greek epigraphy

                        Many on Latin epigraphy

                        Very limited to many on epigraphy in other ancient languages

            CS – Prosopography and genealogy

                        All Greek prosopography

                        Most Roman prosopography

D – History (except History of the Americas)

            D – History (General). Theory and history of historiography

                        All within the subject parameters of this policy

            DA – History of Great Britain

                        Very limited on Roman Britain

            DB – History of Austria and former Austro-Hungarian territories

                        Very limited on Roman archaeology and culture in the area

            DC – History of France

                        All on Greek archaeology and culture in the area

                        Very limited on Gaul and on Roman archaeology and culture in the area

            DD – History of Germany

                        Very limited on Roman archaeology and culture in the area

            DE-DF-DG – History of Greco-Roman world. History of Greece. History of Italy

                        All on the history of ancient Greece, Magna Graecia and related areas

                        All excavation reports on ancient Greek sites

                        Many on the history of ancient Rome and Italy

                        Many to most excavation reports on ancient Roman, Etruscan, Italic and Phoenician sites

            DJK-DK – History of Eastern Europe. History of Russia

                        All on Greek archaeology and culture in the Black Sea area

                        Limited on the history and archaeology of related areas and populations

            DP – History of Spain. History of Portugal

                        Limited on Phoenician and Roman archaeology and culture in the area

            DQ – History of Switzerland

                        Very limited on Roman archaeology and culture in the area

            DR – History of Balkan Peninsula (including Thrace and European Turkey)

                        All on Greek archaeology and culture in the region

                        Limited to many on Roman archaeology and culture in the region

                        Limited on the history and archaeology of related populations

            DS – History of Asia (including Cyprus)

                        Most on the history and archaeology of Cyprus and Asia Minor

                        Many on the history and archaeology of the Levant, Syria-Palestine, and ancient Persia

                        Very limited on the history and archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia, central Asia, and India, except Alexander the Great, Asiatic Hellenism, and the Hellenistic kingdoms

            DT – History of Africa

                        Most on the history and archaeology of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt

                        Very limited to limited on Egyptian history and culture in other periods

                        All on Greek archaeology and culture in North Africa

                        Limited to many on Phoenician and Roman archaeology and culture in North Africa

                        Very limited on the history and archaeology of related areas

E-F – History of the Americas

                        Very limited within the subject parameters of this policy

G – Geography and anthropology

            GN – Anthropology, ethnology, ethnography, prehistoric archaeology

                        All on the prehistoric culture of Greece (see also class DF)

                        Limited on other prehistoric cultures in relation to Greek archaeology

                        Limited on anthropological theory (see also class CC)

                        Very limited on ethnology and ethnography

            GT – Manners and customs

                        All on ancient Greek manners and customs

                        Many on Roman manners and customs

                        Very limited to limited on manners and customs in related cultures

            GV – Recreation and leisure (including games, dance, sports and festivals)

                        All on ancient Greek games, sports and festivals

                        Many on Roman games, sports and festivals

                        Very limited to limited on games, sports and festivals in related cultures

H – Social sciences

            HB-HC – Economics and demography

                        All on ancient Greek economic history

                        Many on Roman economic history

                        Very limited to limited on economic history of related cultures

            HD – Agriculture and industry. Labor management

                        All on ancient Greek agriculture and industry

                        Many on Roman agriculture and industry

                        Very limited to limited on agriculture and industry in related cultures

            HE-HF – Transportation and communication. Commerce

                        All on ancient Greek transportation and commerce

                        Many on Roman transportation and commerce

                        Very limited to limited on transportation and commerce in related cultures

            HG-HJ – Private and public finance

                        All on ancient Greek private and public finance

                        Many on Roman private and public finance

                        Very limited to limited on private and public finance in related cultures

            HQ – Gender. Age. Sexuality. Personal and family relationships

                        All on gender, age, sexuality, and relationships in ancient Greece

                        Many on gender, age, sexuality, and relationships in Roman culture

                        Very limited to limited on gender, age, sexuality, and relationships in related cultures

            HT – Communities and settlements. Social classes

                        All on ancient Greek urbanism, settlement patterns, and social classes

                        Many on Roman urbanism, settlement patterns, and social classes

                        Very limited to limited on urbanism, settlement patterns, and social classes in related cultures

            HV – Social welfare. Crimes and punishments

                        All on social welfare, crimes, and punishments in ancient Greece

                        Many on social welfare, crimes, and punishments in Roman culture

                        Very limited to limited on social welfare, crimes, and punishments in related cultures

J – Political science

            JC – Political theory. Theories of the state

                        All on theoretical and practical state organization in ancient Greece

                        Many on theoretical and practical state organization in Roman culture

                        Very limited to limited on theoretical and practical state organization in related cultures

K – Law

            KJA – Roman law

                        Many within the subject parameters of this policy

            KL – Ancient law (except Roman law)

                        All on ancient Greek law and legal history

                        Very limited to limited on law and legal history of related cultures

L – Education

                        All within the subject parameters of this policy

M – Music

            ML – History of music

                        All on music in ancient Greek culture

                        Many on music in Roman culture

                        Very limited to limited on music in related cultures

N – Fine arts

            N – Visual arts (General). Special subjects of art

                        Most on ancient Greek and Roman art and iconography

                        All museum catalogues and guides dealing primarily with Greek and/or Roman art

            NA – Architecture. Architectural decoration (including mosaics)

                        All on ancient Greek architecture and architectural decoration

                        Most on Roman architecture and architectural decoration

                        Limited on architecture and architectural decoration in related cultures

            NB – Sculpture (including terracottas)

                        All on Greek sculpture

                        Most on Roman sculpture related to ancient Greek art

                        Limited on other Roman sculpture and sculpture of related cultures

            ND – Painting

                        All on ancient Greek painting (see also class NK for painted pottery)

                        Most on Roman wall painting in Italy and Greece

                        Limited on other Roman wall painting and painting of related cultures

            NK – Decorative arts (including pottery, lamps, glass, glyptic, ivories, metalwork, textiles)

                        All on Greek painted pottery

                        All on Greek and Roman pottery found in Greece, Italy and Asia Minor

                        Limited on Greek and Roman pottery found in other areas

                        All on ancient Greek metalwork and other decorative arts

                        Many on Roman metalwork and other decorative arts

                        Limited on metalwork and other decorative arts of related cultures

P – Language and literature

            P – Philology and linguistics (General). Indo-European philology. Ancient languages and scripts (including Minoan and Mycenaean)

                        Very limited on general linguistics

                        Limited on Indo-European philology as it pertains to Greek and Latin

                        All on Aegean scripts

                        Limited on other ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern scripts

            PA – Classical philology and literature

                        Most on ancient Greek grammar and etymology

                        All texts and commentaries on ancient Greek authors

                        Almost all on ancient Greek philology

                        Many on Latin grammar and etymology

                        Many texts and commentaries on Latin authors

                        Many on Latin philology

            PJ – Near Eastern philology and literature

                        Very limited to limited within the subject parameters of this policy

            PN – Literature (General). Literary genres

                        Almost all on ancient Greek literature

                        Many on Latin literature

                        Very limited to limited on literature of related cultures

                

Q – Science

                        Almost all on ancient Greek and Roman science and its history

                        Very limited on history of science in related cultures

R – Medicine

                        Almost all on ancient Greek and Roman medicine and its history

                        Very limited on history of medicine in related cultures

S – Agricultural science. Animal handling and breeding. Fishing and hunting

                        All within the subject parameters of this policy

T – Technology

                        Almost all on ancient Greek and Roman technology

                        Very limited to limited on technology in related cultures

U-V – Military and naval science

                        Almost all on ancient Greek and Roman military and naval science

                        Very limited to limited on military and naval science in related cultures

Z – Bibliography. Library science

                        Many to most on books and libraries in the Greco-Roman world

                        Most bibliographies on the subjects covered by this policy

Other LC classes

                        All within the subject parameters of this policy