University Libraries
The Bodleian Latin American Centre Library is part of Oxford University's extensive collection of Latin American material which can be found in the following libraries.
Bodleian Library
This is the second largest library in the United Kingdom. As the principal library for Latin American studies in the University of Oxford, the Bodleian has a collection of over 120,000 volumes covering the history, geography, politics, sociology and economics of the area, together with some 1,000 periodicals, both currently-published and those that have ceased publication.
This is one of the half-dozen major collections in Europe. While the Bodleian's holdings cover the whole sub-continent, they are particularly strong on the Andean nations, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. The library has an extensive programme of purchase and exchange, and suggestions are always welcomed from researchers. There is an open-shelf section of Latin American books, bibliographies, and periodicals in the Radcliffe Camera.
Taylor Institution Library
The Taylor Institution Library has some 17,000 books in the field of Latin American language and literature with particularly strong holdings in the literatures of Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Cuba. It currently subscribes to over 60 periodicals relating to Latin America, and has part-holdings of at least 100 others.
The library aims at comprehensive coverage of newly-published texts and criticism of principal authors, as well as the major reference works in the above fields, and is constantly attempting to acquire older and out-of-print texts. The Taylorian probably has the largest specialist Latin American language and literature collection in the country.
The Bodleian Social Science Library
This has a collection of some 10,000 titles in the Latin American field (including a very high proportion of pamphlets), and of Latin American interest. The scope of the collection is essentially the modern economics of Latin America and the library does not generally provide historical material prior to the 1930s. There is a strong bias towards factual statistical data rather than discursive treatises.
The Social and Cultural Anthropology Library and the Balfour Library of the Pitt Rivers Museum
Go to Balfour Library website »
Both these libraries have considerable holdings of material on Latin America. The main emphasis in the former is on social anthropological works, while in the latter both archaeology and material culture are covered. Both libraries have large collections of general and theoretical literature, and both hold runs of Latin American journals.
The Geography and the Environment Library
The School of Geography Library has a substantial collection of books, official publications, pamphlets and maps in the Latin American sections. There are also considerable holdings of general works and periodicals. Accessions are mainly confined to economic development and urban studies, but the library holds work on exploration and settlement as well as information on climate and weather.
There are retrospective and current bibliographies and all countries have feature cards in the library's optical co-incidence retrieval system.
Please note that from September 2007 this library is housed in the Radcliffe Science Library.
The Library of Queen Elizabeth House
This library covers economics, history, rural statistics, population, regional planning and sociology. Periodicals as well as books, pamphlets and government publications are included in the library's collection on Latin America which covers all countries and embraces foreign-language publications as well as those in English.
Other Oxford libraries contain material on Latin America. For example: The Library of the Department of Forestry.
Related links
- Oxford University Libraries
A-Z list of libraries