much of the research into the history of the book is driven by, directed toward, or drawn by resources that are available for use in libraries, archives, and other institutional research collections. It is librarians, one way or another, who decide what will be preserved and at hand for use in those research collections, and they are no less influenced by attitudes about cultural value than other members of society. (214)
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the romance novel, [is] a valuable, endangered species of research material, and a class of book that constitutes a major portion of the contemporary bibliographic marketplace in North America. [...] Series romance novels are almost universally scorned by the academic, literary, bibliographic, and library establishments, as well as by broad segments of the general public, and they have been almost universally scorned by academic and research libraries for reasons that have little to do with their potential to reward serious inquiry. (214)
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Despite the growing prominence of popular culture studies in American universities, academic and research libraries have, with a very few exceptions, [...] failed to incorporate romance novels into their research collections, even as other popular genres with equally formulaic reputations (though with more prestige), such as mysteries and science fiction, have been integrated into research collections and have generated an extensive and active body of research.
One of the few exceptions to the rule of the exclusion of popular culture materials from academic research libraries is the Popular Culture Library of Bowling Green State University, which was founded in 1969 to support curricular work and research in popular culture. (218)
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As a rare book librarian by training, I am not ordinarily alarmed by rarity. I am, however, alarmed at the apparent rarity of series romance novels, which were and are so widely popular and available, and so widely read, and which are so poorly represented in the research libraries of North America. We are seeing an extension of what Joanna Russ described in How to Suppress Women's Writing, because libraries are implicated in, and supporters of, cultural hierarchies of value and prestige. (221)
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The multitudinous challenges facing future historians and critics as they attempt to understand the culture of late-twentieth-century North America will be increased unless scholars and librarians recognize the value of preserving the full range of contemporary publications. (222)
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