Department Houses Special Reference Collection
by Ann Ronchetti
In the heart of the department's administrative area, you'll find a small, cozy room lined with bookshelves housing all manner of material, from copies of the department's masters and doctoral theses to recent issues of journals and magazines. Also available are selected ready reference titles designed to provide basic information in English Studies and the humanities.
Named to honor Professor Charles Crow who taught in the department for many years, the room continues to serve a number of functions for the department's faculty, students, staff, and visitors. Here you can review department course offerings and syllabi, read reserve materials, browse literary reviews, and read contemporary poetry published in current magazines. You can also look up the dates of an author, the etymology of a word, or the definition of a term used by today's critical theorists.
Over the years, the department's library committee has solicited monetary contributions from alumni/ae and friends of the department, as well as current faculty, students, and staff to help keep the Crow Room's reference collection up to date. These funds have been used to purchase the latest editions of standard reference works, such as the Oxford Companion to American Literature, as well as new reference titles in critical theory, composition and rhetoric, Film Studies and Cultural Studies.
If you would like to contribute to the maintenance of the Crow Room's ready reference collection, consider designating your Annual Giving donation for the Crow Room by marking "English Department Library" on your donor card. All contributions, great and small, are most welcome!