Scan Methodologies, Findings, and Rationale

I divided my scan of university English departments into three main categories– the University of Washington (UW), Orbis Cascade Alliance members, and Big 10 Academic Alliance (BTAA) members. In doing so, I was able to cover both geographic and academic relationships that the UW is closely involved with, seeing how the interests and key themes of study and research fit into both a regional network of universities of varying sizes and the more widespread network of larger universities across the entire United States.

Scan of English departments in spreadsheets.

University of Washington

Scan Methodology

Going into my scans, I knew that the scan of the University of Washington English department would be the most thorough and most granular. Since the students, faculty, and staff of the UW are the most immediate users of the UW libraries and the primary community being served, I thought it very important to have a thorough understanding of the interests and topics of research being done by the faculty. To do so, I created a two-part system in Google Sheets. In the first sheet, entitled ‘UW Faculty Survey,’ I named every UW faculty member in a left-hand column and listed each of their respective topics of interest in an adjacent right-hand column. To find their topics of interest, I utilized the UW Department of English webpage and the individual pages for each faculty member. Then, in the second sheet entitled ‘UW Topics Masterlist,’ I created 12 overarching topic categories: Time Period, Movements/Theories, Region, Form, Studies, Subjects, Pedagogy, Writing Studies, Library Sciences, Sciences, Individuals, and Specifics. Into these categories, I sorted each of the specific topics faculty members had noted interest in and provided a numeric value for the number of faculty interested in each topic.

Findings

At the UW, I noticed a strong interest in more contemporary/modern time periods, such as the 19th century and onwards, as well as a noted interest in race, gender, and sexuality studies. There is a significant interest in the sciences (ecocriticism, cognitive science, science writing, environmental humanities, etc) and in Indigenous literatures and cultural studies. Additionally, I noticed a significant interest in pedagogical studies and writing studies– the department is not purely literature/fiction focused, but invested in the crafts of writing and teaching.

Orbis Cascade Alliance

Scan Methodology

By scanning the Orbis Cascade Alliance member institutions, I was able to identify the interests of the academic institutions geographically near the UW, in the Pacific Northwest. This allowed me to identify common regional themes and threads of interest, while also examining how the UW fits into this regional network of universities of varying sizes. I aimed to create a comprehensive overview and understanding of the interests of each university, but was not as concerned with recording which specific faculty members were interested in which topic. To do so, I created one individual sheet for each member institution that functions similarly to the ‘UW Topics Masterlist’ sheet from the UW scan. Using English department faculty webpages as my source, I established 8 more broad topic categories: Time Period, Region, Form, Theory/Studies, Topic, Writing Studies, Pedagogy, and Individuals. Under each main category, I listed specific research topics indicated by faculty webpages and numerically recorded how many faculty members indicated interest in each specific topic/interest. I also performed my scan a bit more broadly, and focused on the most recurring themes and interests– I didn’t record every single niche interest of each faculty member, but made sure to track the bigger themes and overarching interests of each university’s English department.

Findings

Among the Orbis Cascade Alliance member institutions, I noticed a strong interest in environmental humanities and ecocriticism, as well as a heavy American literature emphasis (with particular emphasis on rural America and Pacific Northwest Indigenous studies). Notably, many of these member institutions are very small, and as such the English departments are often combined with other humanities departments or the faculty coss-teaches in several departments. As a result, I noticed that the general interests were very interdisciplinary, including subjects like philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, and critical ethnic studies.

Big 10 Academic Alliance

Scan Methodology

Since the UW only joined the Big 10 conference in August of 2024, its place in the wider BTAA and the new opportunities afforded by these academic relationships are just beginning to be known. As such, I found it important to familiarize myself with what kinds of themes and topics these universities are interested in, to see how they align with or diverge from those of the UW and of the more regionally-specific Orbis Cascade Alliance interests. I performed the Big 10 Academic Alliance scan with the same method as the Orbis Cascade Alliance scan.

Findings

Among the BTAA institutions, I noticed a more significant presence of creative writing programs and dedicated faculty than at the UW and among the Orbis Cascade Alliance members. Similarly, there is less of a focus on rhetoric, composition, and pedagogical studies, and more of a focus on literary studies and creative writing. I also noticed less of an interest in environmental humanities and Indigenous studies, but more variety in terms of time period of interest. There is a more noted interest in medieval and early modern works, as well as a stronger interest in cultural studies (primarily including film studies).

Rationale

When searching for books to buy, I focused on three primary tenants– supporting the academic alliances the UW is a part of, supporting the primary interests of the faculty and students, and supporting lesser interests that maybe don’t get as much institutional attention. As a new BTAA member, I felt it important to highlight and ensure we own books written by Big 10 English faculty members, to create a true alliance across campuses and support our own research with that being done by faculty at universities we ally with. Secondly, I feel it’s important to search for books that support and bolster some of the key topics of interest to UW faculty and students– this means books about the environment, Indigenous literature studies, pedagogical and writing studies, and contemporary cultural studies, among others. However, I also feel it’s important to support smaller, more niche areas of interest that might not have as many resources or books already bought– in this case, looking for new, exciting scholarship about early modern or medieval studies, or looking for books about the craft of creative writing.

Book Buying Methodology

Collection development and book buying spreadsheets.

BTAA Faculty Texts

I began my book search by combing through the faculty pages of every BTAA English department and building a spreadsheet with the title and author of every book written by a BTAA faculty member. I then expanded the spreadsheet to include additional organizational columns, including ISBN number, Library of Congress Classification range, Library of Congress subjects, a yes/no checkbox recording if the book is already in the UW library system, and a note box for additional information as needed. Then, I began checking to see if each book in the sheet matched two key criteria: 1) it was not already in the UW library system, and 2) that it was classified in the PE, PN, PR, or PS Library of Congress Classification range (as this is the range the UW English librarian is responsible for). I utilized the WorldCat database searching tool FirstSearch, where I input author and title information from the spreadsheet to find more detailed information. From the FirstSearch database, I recorded the ISBN, Library of Congress Classification Range, and Library of Congress subjects listed for each book. If the book in question was classified outside of the PE, PN, PR, or PS ranges, it was immediately deleted from the spreadsheet. If it met the criteria, however, I then used the “Search for this item @UW” feature available in FirstSearch to check that the book wasn’t already part of the UW collections. If it wasn’t, or if it was only available at less than 3 schools through the Orbis Cascade Alliance, I checked ‘no’ in the spreadsheet and the book remained to be bought. I ended up finding 18 books written by BTAA faculty members, supporting the growth of the Big 10 Academic Alliance and supporting the UW’s new place within it.

Small Presses

I followed a very similar process when I began looking for books to buy outside of the BTAA. The UW automatically buys books released from many larger presses, so I focused most of my efforts on smaller presses. I began by searching for Indigenous-focused presses, as that was a key area of interest within the UW that I wanted to support. I discovered Kegedonce Press, a small Indigenous publishing house based in Canada, that prioritizes poetry and new works by contemporary Indigenous writers. From Kegedonce Press, I found books like Zegaajimo, an Indigenous horror fiction anthology edited by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler and Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, and D.A. Lockhart’s Go Down Odawa Way, a poetry book that explores the spatial impacts of colonization on the Odawa, Ojibway, Huron/Wendat, and Pottawomi nations. In terms of methodology, I followed the same process detailed above after compiling lists of books published by these smaller presses. Through this process, I was able to find several exciting smaller presses like Kegedonce Press that strongly supported my key rationale. I also was able to specifically search for books that fit key themes and interests of the UW. Particularly, I made a noted effort to find books pertaining to the environmental humanities. As a result, I found titles such as Environmental Futures, edited by Caren Irr and published by Brandeis University Press, which is an anthology of contemporary global environmental literature that reckons with the harmful impacts of colonization upon both the past and future of the environment. Finally, I made a noted effort to find books in three key genres– creative writing (such as literature, short stories, and poetry), literary criticism, and nonfiction texts (mostly pertaining to English pedagogy and the craft of writing). Among literary criticism, I found texts like Stephen Deng’s Coinage and State Formation in Early Modern Literature and Edmundo Murray’s Becoming Gauchos Ingleses: Diasporic Models in Irish-Argentine Literature, while among nonfiction texts I found works like Shari Stenberg’s Composition Studies Through a Feminist Lens and Anja Wanner’s Discourse Syntax: English Grammar Beyond the Sentence. In doing so, I was able to create a diverse, well-rounded list of books to buy.

Reflection

I really enjoyed working on this capstone and getting to spend an entire quarter dedicated to researching English departments and searching for books. Even as a University of Washington studying English, I learned so much about our own English department and was able to see just how broad and far-reaching the interests of our faculty and students spread. Similarly, I found it very inspiring to really examine and learn about the incredible work being done across the United States at both the Orbis Cascade Alliance universities and the member universities of the BTAA. It reminded me how diverse and interdisciplinary the field of English and literary studies can be, and inspired me to continue pushing boundaries and thinking outside of the box in my own English studies. On a skill-level, this capstone definitely sharpened my skills of research and consolidating information. While doing the department scans, I learned how to look at large datasets and compile them into a succinct rationale, sharpening my ability to work with vast amounts of data and produce informed conclusions. Although it was frustrating at times, I felt I developed similar skills in the book searching portion of the capstone. The University of Washington libraries are already quite robust, so it was definitely a challenge to find books that we didn’t already own but were still relevant, of interest, and worth being bought. In order to successfully find books to buy, I had to immerse myself in the world of small publishers, both trade and academic, and as a result became much more knowledgeable about the publishing industry and what types of books are being published. Overall, completing this capstone was a true labor of love that taught me invaluable academic skills while also furthering my own interest in English studies.