Science Fiction Collections in ARL Academic Libraries
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Science Fiction Collections in ARL Academic Libraries Kevin P. Mulcahy This study assesses the extent to which ARL academic libraries collect science fiction novels. A core list of 200 novels, published between 1950 and 2000, that have either won science fiction awards or been cited on “best” lists were checked against the holdings of 112 ARL libraries. Findings suggest that science fiction is not extensively collected at most libraries studied. The study also assesses differences in how novels are collected by date and by nationality and gender of author. To support in-depth and serious research in a field of increasing scholarly interest, libraries may need to reconsider their collecting practices. ike a number of popular lit- Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction erature genres, science fiction and Fantasy from Greenwood Press and has a�racted increasing a�en- Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies tion from academic scholars from Liverpool University Press) and and critics over the past three decades. a number of scholarly series reprinting Academic interest in science fiction has classics of science fiction literature (for increased because of a general interest in example, Wesleyan Early Classics of Sci- popular culture, but also because of the ence Fiction from Wesleyan University enormous popularity of science fiction Press and Bison Frontiers of Imagination films and the pervasive impact on our from the University of Nebraska Press). society of technological advances once The Science Fiction Research Association restricted to the imagination of science fic- (founded in 1970) is just one of several tion writers, including personal comput- scholarly associations with a specific in- ers, the Internet, cloning, and high-tech terest in the field. weapons systems. Scholarly a�ention is However, many science fiction writ- reflected in the number of science fiction ers and scholars fear that the field is still courses offered at colleges and universi- relegated to the margins of the accepted ties (more than 400 according to a 1996 literary canon, especially as manifested study1) and the emergence of several in academic teaching, criticism, and academic journals dedicated to the critical publishing. Both a collection of essays study of science fiction, including Extrapo- entitled Science Fiction, Canonization, lation, Science Fiction Studies, and Founda- Marginalization, and the Academy and the tion. A�ention is further manifested by the introduction to a May 2004 special issue of proliferation of science fiction scholarship PMLA titled “Science Fiction and Literary and history published by presses catering Studies: The Next Millennium” argue for to the academic market (for example, the importance of science fiction but also Kevin P. Mulcahy is the English and American Literature Librarian in Alexander Library at Rutgers University; e-mail: Mulcahy@rci.rutgers.edu. 15 16 College & Research Libraries January 2006 express anxiety and frustration over what The author decided to focus on aca- many science fiction scholars perceive demic members of the ARL rather than as continuing academic neglect.2 And a�empt to study all academic libraries or almost any academic involved in science develop a random sample, so the present fiction teaching or scholarship will have study (along with any conclusions drawn firsthand experience of colleagues’ scorn from it) is limited to larger academic for science fiction: “Why are you bother- libraries, a group that includes a high ing to teach that stuff?” Science fiction has proportion of the most prestigious aca- achieved a place in the academic canon, demic libraries in the United States and but its adherents worry about being rel- Canada. All ARL academic libraries were egated to a second-class berth. included, except for two Canadian librar- Evidence for either the canonization or ies whose French-language catalog inter- continued marginalization of science fic- face posed too great a linguistic challenge, tion might be found in the collecting prac- for a total of 112 libraries.5 To assess how tices of academic libraries. Indeed, one ARL academic libraries collect science could argue that the support given science fiction, a core list of 200 science fiction fiction scholars by academic libraries—in novels was developed and then checked the form of collections of primary and sec- against WorldCat, the RLG (Research ondary works—is an indicator of just how Libraries Group) Union Catalog, and accepted science fiction is by the broader individual library catalogs. The science scholarly community. However, a search fiction novels selected were published of the library literature suggests that there from 1950 to 2000. Before 1950, science have been few studies of the extent to fiction, at least in the United States, was which academic libraries acquire science published predominantly in the form fiction primary texts—novels, magazines, of short stories and serialized novels or short fiction collections. Most mentions in pulp magazines, but the subsequent of science fiction in library literature are half-century witnessed a proliferation reviews, discussions of recommended of novels published in hardcover and reading lists, announcements of major paperback editions.6 The focus on novels gi�s, or descriptions of special collections. is admi�edly a limitation because short Hal W. Hall’s collection of essays, Science stories—published in magazines, author Fiction Collections: Fantasy, Supernatural collections, and anthologies—remain and Weird Tales, for example, profiles a a vital part of the output of science fic- few major research collections rather than tion. Thus, a future study might usefully assessing a large number of collections.3 complement the present one by finding Hall’s chapter, “Research Library Collec- an appropriate methodology for assessing tions of Science Fiction,” in the new fi�h short fiction holdings. edition of Anatomy of Wonder (which ap- The core list of novels was developed peared as this essay was being revised for by collating lists of major science fiction publication) offers additional profiles and awards. (See table 1.) The list then was statistical data about the best collections supplemented with a number of novels of science fiction among academic, public, that were not award winners but had and national libraries but does not a�empt attained classic status in the field, as to assess a wider range of collections.4 manifested by their presence in lists of the This study complements Hall’s work by best or most frequently taught novels (by examining the collecting practices of a Neil Barron, David Pringle, Arthur Evans, specific population of academic libraries. and R. D. Mullen7) and/or the amount To what extent has science fiction been in- of critical a�ention they have a�racted. cluded in the canon of literature collected Relying on multiple awards and critical by academic libraries? This study a�empts reputation provides a more truly repre- to begin to answer that question. sentative list of top science fiction novels Science Fiction Collections in ARL Academic Libraries 17 TABLE 1 Science Fiction Awards Selection Award Abb. Organization Time Period Method Arthur C. Clarke Award A Science Fiction 1987+ Panel of judges (novels published in U.K.) Foundation British Science Fiction B British Science 1969+ Member vote Award Fiction Association John W. Campbell C 1972+ Selected judges Memorial Award (novels published in U.S.) Philip K. Dick Award D Philadelphia 1982+ Selected judges (best original paperback) Science Fiction Society (sponsors) Hugo Award H World Science 1953+ Fans registered Fiction Convention for convention Locus Award L Locus Magazine 1970+ Locus readers Nebula Award N Science Fiction 1965+ Professional and Fantasy science fiction and Writers of America fantasy writers James Tiptree Jr. Award T James Tiptree Jr. 1991+ (with Selected judges (for “gender-bending” Literary Award “retrospective fiction) Council awards”) than selecting winners of a single award of the twentieth century in the English- or relying on the choices of a single critic. speaking world. It should be noted that although a couple It should be noted that at least two of award-winning novels that were clearly other approaches would yield valuable fantasy (for example, Ursula K. Le Guin’s insights into how science fiction is col- Tehanu) were excluded and the list of lected at academic libraries. One could award winners was not supplemented count (or estimate) the number of science with any additional fantasy novels, no rig- fiction titles owned by each library, as orous effort was made to limit the study Hall did for a small number of libraries to novels that met any narrow definition with very strong science fiction collec- of science fiction. In almost all cases, the tions.8 Useful as such information is, a award was accepted simply as proof of the purely statistical approach would not by work’s belonging to the genre. Certainly it itself identify the comparative strengths could be argued that some of the novels and weaknesses of collections or offer on the list, such as Neal Stephenson’s a detailed assessment of their scope or Cryptonomicon and Molly Gloss’s Wild Life, quality. One also could select a few major are not “really” science fiction, but they authors (for example, Heinlein, Le Guin, are nonetheless included as winners of Clarke, or Dick) and study how those science fiction awards. Although no one authors are collected: the proportion of list could please all students of science their entire published output owned by fiction, this selection includes a significant a library, including multiple editions; proportion of the most popular, most holdings of secondary works such as influential, and most highly regarded criticism, bibliography, and biography; science fiction novels of the second half and holdings of primary materials such 18 College & Research Libraries January 2006 as manuscripts and correspondence. This being selected. Searching was carried out approach would yield a highly focused between May 2002 and February 2003.