Latin American & Caribbean Studies

Collection overview

An extensive research-level collection of material on Latin America and the Caribbean combining the collections of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and Senate House Library.

Collection strengths include:

  • Anthropology
  • Economics
  • History
  • Literature
  • Politics
  • Sociology

See our latest acquisitions>

Collection location

  • Most books are located on the 6th Floor, South Block, adjacent to the United States Studies collection and within easy reach of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies collection situated on the same floor
  • All items available on open access will display the location LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES South Block 6th Floor eg LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES South Block 6th Floor E18.83 .D86 2000
  • Large books are shelved in a separate sequence – indicated by the location LATIN AMERICAN FOLIO in front of the location code eg LATIN AMERICAN FOLIO South Block 6th Floor KG96 .J83 1995
  • Periodicals: Recent issues are located in the North Reading Room (Periodicals Room) on the 4th floor South Block. Back issues are held in the closed access stacks, display the location Stack Service, can be requested via the online catalogue and collected at the Issue desk, 4th floor, South Block.
  • Some items display the location STACK SERVICE. These are held in the closed access stacks, and can be fetched for you on request.
  • Some items display the location STACK SERVICE [Offsite Store]. These are held in the Offsite Store in Egham and will be fetched for you on request (Staff at the Issue Desk on 4th Floor South Block can help with this)
  • To locate individual titles use the online catalogue
  • Note: please be aware that the loan period for borrowable material from the Latin American collection may be 4 weeks, 2 weeks or 1 week: please check the due date on your loans!

Related Collections

  • United States Studies Collection (adjacent to the Latin American collection, 6th Floor, S Block)
  • Institute of Commonwealth Studies collection (6th Floor South Block)
  • Map collection - maps and atlases of South America, Central America and the Caribbean see http://www.shl.lon.ac.uk/subjects/maps/index.shtml
  • Music collection - 4th floor South Block . All scores and folio size books are in the Middlesex South Library Reading Room. Regular size books (octavos) are in the Goldsmiths' Reading Room.
  • Palaeography collection - Manuscripts and Archives relating to Central America and the British West Indies (4th Fl. S Block, Sterling & Seng Tee Lee Rooms)
  • History - Spanish and Portuguese empires (located on 5th Floor, S Block and in the Periodicals Gallery)
  • Special Collections including:
    • The ISA Political Pamphlets collection (please go to Special Collections, Stirling Library Reading Room, 4th Floor, South Block)
    • The Commonwealth and Latin American Political Archives collection
    • The Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature - early travel accounts, items on slavery and early economic literature (Special Collections enquiry desk)

ISA teaching collection

  • Material in the ISA Teaching Collection (or Reference Monographs Collection) is primarily for the use of ISA students and staff only
  • The ISA Teaching Collection is currently located at the start of the Latin American collections on Floor 6, South Block).
  • ONLY ISA students/staff (and some ICOMM students on the joint Human Rights course) may borrow these items. The limit is 4 items as well as the SHL book quota. Teaching Collection monographs may be borrowed overnight(from 4pm to 10am the next day) and over the weekend (Fri 4pm to Mon 10am). Fines of £1 per hour overdue apply to these loans.
  • ALL OTHER USERS may use the copier on Floor 6 to photocopy from this collection.
  • Teaching course folders (key readings for ISA courses). Material in the course folders is for the use of ISA students and staff only . Readings may be requested from staff at the main issue desk on 4th Floor, South Block. They are for use within the Library only and may not be removed from it.

ISA film collection

ISA’s film collection consists of a wide range of feature films and documentaries

It may be used by all Library users but within the Library only: material may not be borrowed

Most of the films are now on the online catalogue, but there are additional listings of earlier material available here

Feature films:

Documentaries:

  • http://americas.sas.ac.uk/library/docs/ISALibrarydocumentaries.rtf
  • Feature films are held in the closed stacks and must be requested and fetched for you to use - staff at the Enquiry Desk will help you to do this
  • Documentaries are held ain the closed STACK and must be requested and fetched for you
  • Feature films and documentaries may be in DVD or video format
  • DVDs may be viewed at workstations with headphones, or you can view them on your laptops (headphones can be provided): please ask staff for further information
  • Videos may be viewed on specially adapted workstations: please ask staff for further information

Electronic resources

  • Available on-site from workstations within the Library eg the Digital Resources Centre (4th Floor, South Block), and elsewhere (printing provided)
  • Many resources can be accessed off-site by Library members. Please check our web pages for full access information
  • Research tools marked as such are available off-site using your Senate House Libraries Library Card or SAScard number for authentication. In some cases access may be restricted to specific user groups.

Databases

For a full list see here.

Some examples of databases of particular interest to this subject area include:

  • Handbook of Latin American Studies
  • HAPI (Hispanic American Periodicals Index)
  • PRISMA (Publicaciones y Revistas Sociales y Humanísticas)
  • Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Electronic journals

  • Search for specific electronic journal titles on the online catalogue and follow the links provided

Web Resources

Links to subject -related web resources including examples such as LANIC (Latin American Network Information Centre) are to be found under the Subject Resources, Collections and Gateways tab on the SHL home page

Other libraries

For more information about Latin American and Caribbean Studies holdings in other academic libraries:

Contact details

For further help, please contact the subject librarian, Christine Anderson
Tel: 020 7862 8456
Email: Christine.Anderson@london.ac.uk

Or visit the Information Desk Circulation Hall, 4th Floor
Tel. 020 7862 8461
Email: shl.userservices@london.ac.uk

Classmarks for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

The joint ISA/SHL Latin American and Caribbean Studies collections have been reclassified to the Library of Congress (LC) classification scheme for ease of co-location: a broad outline of LC follows:

A: General works -
B: Philosophy. Psychology. Religion -
C: Auxiliary sciences of history -
D: World history and history of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
E: History of the Americas - United States
F: History of the Americas - Latin America and the Caribbean
G: Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
H: Social Sciences -
J: Political Science -
K: Law -
L: Education -
M: Music and books on music -
N: Fine Arts -
P: Language and Literature –
PN: Literature (general)
PQ: Literature: French-, Spanish-, Portuguese-Language Literature
PR: Literature: English-Language Literature (incl. Anglo-phone Caribbean)
Q: Science -
R: Medicine -
S: Agriculture -
T: Technology -
U: Military science -
V: Naval science -
Z: Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources (general)

For a more detailed breakdown, by country, of Class F, the History of the Americas, Latin America and the Caribbean, see below:

Class F
F975: Central American, West Indian, and other countries protected by and having close political affiliations with the United States
F1201-3799: Latin America. Spanish America
F1201-1392: Mexico
F1218.5-1221: Antiquities. Indians
F1401-1419: Latin America (General)
F1421-1440: Central America
F1435-1435.3: Mayas
F1441-1457: Belize
F1461-1477: Guatemala
F1481-1497: Salvador (El Salvador)
F1501-1517: Honduras
F1521-1537: Nicaragua
F1541-1557: Costa Rica
F1561-1577; Panama
F1569.C2: Canal Zone. Panama Canal
F1601-1629: West Indies
F1630-1640: Bermudas
F1650-1660: Bahamas
F1741-1991: Greater Antilles
F1751-1854.9: Cuba
F1788-1788.22: Communist regime
F1861-1896: Jamaica
F1900-1941: Haiti (Island). Hispaniola
F1912-1930: Haiti (Republic)
F1931-1941: Dominican Republic
F1951-1983: Puerto Rico
F1991: Navassa
F2001-2151: Lesser Antilles

Groups of islands, by geographical distribution
F2006: Leeward islands
F2011: Windward Islands
F2016: Islands along Venezuela coast
F2033-2129; Individual islands

Groups of islands, by political allegiance
F2131-2133: British West Indies
F2136: Virgin Islands of the United States
F2141: Netherlands West Indies. Dutch West Indies
F2151: French West Indies
F2155-2191: Caribbean area. Caribbean Sea
F2201-3799: South America
F2201-2239: General
F2251-2299: Colombia
F2301-2349: Venezuela
F2351; Guiana
F2361-2391: Guyana. British Guiana
F2401-2431: Surinam
F2441-2471: French Guiana
F2501-2659: Brazil
F2661-2699: Paraguay
F2701-2799: Uruguay
F2801-3021: Argentina
F3031-3031.5: Falkland Islands
F3051-3285: Chile
F3301-3359: Bolivia
F3401-3619: Peru
F3701-3799: Ecuador

For a more detailed breakdown, by country, of Class P, Language and Literature, see below:

P
P1 1091: Philology. Linguistics

PC
PC1-5498: Romance Languages
PC1-400: General
PC2001-3761: French
PC4001-4977: Spanish
PC5001-5498: Portuguese

Subclass PE
PE1-3729: English

PM
PM(401)-501: American languages of the United States (and Mexico)
PM3001-4566: Languages of Mexico and Central America
PM5001-7356: Languages of South America and the West Indies
PM7831-7875: Creole languages

PN
PN1-6790: Literature (General)
PN1010-1525: Poetry
PN1600-3307: Drama
PN1990-1992.92: Broadcasting
PN1991-1991.9: Radio broadcasts
PN1992-1992.92: Television broadcasts
PN1993-1999: Motion pictures
PN1997-1997.85: Plays, scenarios, etc.
PN2000-3307: Dramatic representation. The theatre
PN2219.3-3030: Special regions or countries
PN3311-3503: Prose. Prose fiction
PN3427-3448: Special kinds of fiction. Fiction genres
PN4699-5650: Journalism. The periodical press, etc.
PN4735-4748: Relation to the state. Government and the press. Liberty of the press
PN4832-4836: Magazines and other periodicals
PN4840-5648: By region or country
PN6010-6790: Collections of general literature
PN6700-6790: Comic books, strips, etc.

PQ
PQ1-3999: French literature (Francophone Caribbean)
PQ6001-8929: Spanish literature
PQ7081-8560: Spanish America
PQ 7100- : Mexico
PQ7361- : West Indies
PQ7370- : Cuba
PQ7400- : Dominican Republic
PQ7420- : Puerto Rico,
PQ7471- : Central America (General)
PQ7480- : Costa Rica
PQ7490- : Guatemala
PQ7500- : Honduras
PQ7510- : Nicaragua
PQ7520- : Panama
PQ7530- : El Salvador
PQ7551- : South America
PQ7660- : Argentina
PQ7880- : Bolivia
PQ7990- : Chile
PQ8160- : Colombia
PQ8200- : Ecuador
PQ8250- : Paraguay
PQ8300- : Peru
PQ8510- : Uruguay
PQ8530- : Venezuela
PQ9000-9999: Portuguese literature
PQ9500-9698.436: Brazil

PR
PR1-9680: English literature (Anglophone Caribbean)