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Subject Collection Development Guidelines

 

WRTC Subject Collection Development Policy

The School of Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication is a new and evolving academic program.  It is the product of a merger in 2008 of the Institute of Technical and Scientific  Communication, which offered bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and the Writing department, which offered a minor in writing. WRTC now offers both B.A. and B.S. degrees and M.A. and M.S. degrees in two concentrations--Technical and Scientific Communication and Writing and Rhetoric. Students are encouraged to take courses from other majors (e.g., SMAD, SCOM, history, psychology, and physics).  The School also offers minors in the two concentrations. WRTC courses focus on:

 

  • Designing print and electronic publications
  • Learning project management skills and the publication cycle
  • Writing for the medical industry, government, or scientific fields
  • Developing websites using XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript
  • Conducting surveys and usability tests
  • Learning and applying sound rhetorical principles of communication in academic and professional environments
  • Editing manuals, websites, and other documentation

 

JMU Libraries supports JMU’s School of Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication in the College of Arts and Letters with collections that facilitate instruction and research.  Collection development for WRTC focuses on both the more traditional areas of composition and rhetoric and the broader, interdisciplinary areas of technology and design. WRTC’s curricular interests overlap with those of other departments such as media arts and design, computer science, and education/instructional design. 

The following collection areas are divided into those of primary interest (included in the subject profile) and supplementary (as shown by firm order purchases outside the subject profile).

Primary Collection Areas: Subject Profile

LC Class

Description

Collecting Level

Notes

HF5718.3-5734

 

Business writing

 

 

   HF5718.3

General works

 

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

   HF5718.5

Proposal writing in business

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

   HF5719

Business report writing

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

K94

Legal composition and draftsmanship

3b. Intermediate Study Level

 

LB1575.8-1580

Teaching of language, grammar, composition, etc.

3b. Intermediate Study Level

Exclude teaching of foreign languages

PE1001-1693

Modern English (ca. 1500-) with emphasis on:

3b. Intermediate Study Level

 

   PE1402-1497

Rhetoric. Style. Composition

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

PN101-245

Authorship, with emphasis on:

 

 

   PN149.8-163

Authorship as a profession. Ethics. Relations. Social conditions

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

   PN171.4-239

Authorship; Technique. Literary composition, etc.

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

QA276.3

Graphic methods

3b. Intermediate Study Level

 

R118-119.95

Communication in medicine

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

T10.5-11.9

Communication of technical information

3c. Advanced Study Level

 

Z52-52.5

Word processing

3b. Intermediate Study Level

 

Z242.9-264.5

Practical printing, e.g., printing as a business, layout, paper & ink, type and type founding, electro-typing, desktop publishing, typesetting, press work

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

 

Z265

Reproduction of books, documents, etc., by photography, microphotography, etc.

 

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

 

Interdisciplinary Collection Areas outside the Subject Profile:

LC Class

Description

Collecting Level

Notes

GV 1469

Video games

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

HD62-69

Management, team work

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

HF 5718

Business communication

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

HF 5825

Advertising, design and layouts

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

HM851

Internet culture, information and society

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

JF 1525

Government writing

3b. Intermediate Study Level

 

LB 1028

Educational research

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

NC 845-1002

Graphic arts

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

P 90-93

Mass media

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

P 301

Style, composition, rhetoric

3b. Intermediate Study Level

 

QA 76.76

Computer software

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

TK5105.888

Web design

3a.  Basic Study Level

 

 

 

Journals (current subscriptions)

2600

American Medical Writers Association AMWA journal

Business communication quarterly : a publication of the Association for Business Communication

College composition and communication

Composition studies

Foundations and trends in technology, information, and operations management [electronic resource]

How

JAC : a journal of composition theory

Journal of technical writing and communication

Journal of the fantastic in the arts

Pre/Text : the first decade / Victor J. Vitanza, editor

Research in the teaching of English [electronic resource]

Rhetoric review

Rhetorica : a journal of the history of rhetoric / International Society for the History of Rhetoric

Science fiction film and television [electronic resource]

Step inside design

Teaching English in the two-year college [electronic resource]

Technical communication

Technical communication quarterly

TEXT technology

The Journal of business communication

The Writer

The Writer's digest

WPA, writing program administration

Writing on the edge

 

Guidelines

Materials for WRTC are considered based on their subject, curriculum relevance, authoritativeness, currency, and price.  User requests and appropriateness for the library’s entire collection are also key criteria for consideration.

 

  • Primary emphasis is on current materials, especially for materials related to technology; historic materials may be purchased as necessary.
  • Primary format is print, with the exception of technology texts and software support manuals and texts, which are preferred in electronic format when available.  Electronic formats are preferred for reference and periodical collections when available.
  • Materials are acquired primarily from the United States.
  • English-language materials only.

 

Responsibilities

The responsibility for acquiring and managing writing, rhetoric, and technical communication collections resides primarily with the WRTC librarian, working in cooperation with the WRTC faculty.  Collection management activities are monitored and administered by JMU Libraries' Collection Development Committee, with expenditures authorized by the Dean of Libraries and Educational Technologies.

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Last updated: Wednesday, August 29, 2012

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