Spanish

Collection overview

The Spanish collection, together with the Catalan and Galician collections, forms part of the Romance Studies collections. The material collected is broadly representative, but most of it consists of 20th-century writing, particularly the post-Franco era. Critical material is also available in English, together with some English language translations of key or representative texts.

Spanish language material from Latin America and the Caribbean is shelved with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies collection.

Collection strengths include:

Emphasis on literature, with primary texts collected mainly in the original language
A focus on contemporary authors
Substantial holdings of related periodical literature and Special Collections material
Substantial holdings in Galician; and Catalan holdings among the strongest in the UK

See our latest acquisitions

Collection location

Most books are located on the 5th floor South Block
All items available on open access will display the location SPANISH, with the classmark prefix 3 eg SPANISH 6th Floor (3) XPA Alb
Spanish language material from Latin America and the Caribbean is on the 6th floor South Block
All periodicals except for current issues, are located in the Stack Service and need to be requested via the Library catalogue.
Recent issues of periodicals are on display bays in the Periodicals Reading Room – 4th floor South Block . For more information on finding journals, see our journals resources page
Some items are held in the closed access stacks. These will display the location Stack Service. Please request at the Stack Service desk on the 4th floor South Block
To locate individual titles use the online catalogue

Related collections

Film collection – books on Spanish film are with the Film and Media Studies collection, with films in the DVD collection
History collection – for Spanish history and cultural history
Latin American and Caribbean Studies collection – material on Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Caribbean, including literature and history
Music collection
Philosophy collection
Special Collections – especially the Eliot-Phelips Collection of c.3,500 items in Spanish from the early 16th to the early 20th centuries, and the Gili Catalan Collection
eg Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature (early economic history, travel), Porteus Library (French Revolution)
Dictionaries and reference works in the Goldsmiths Library, 4th floor South Block

Classmarks for Spanish

All classmarks in this collection have a numerical prefix of 3 eg SPANISH 5th floor (3) XPA Alb

Spanish language: XO

Spanish literature: XP

Medieval literature: XPJ

14th and 15 centuries: XPK

16th century: XPL

17th century: XPM

18th century: XPP

19th century: XPQ

1900-1959: XPT

1960-2010: XPU

2011- : XPV

Catalan language: XKT

Catalan literature: XKU

Spanish-language material from Latin America is shelved with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies collection:

Latin American Spanish (general): PC4001-4977

Latin American Spanish (literature): PC6001-8929

For a more detailed explanation of classmarks see the Library's leaflet 'A guide to the classification scheme' which can be downloaded here.

Other libraries

For more information about Spanish Studies holdings in other academic libraries in the London area, please consult the M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries website: www.m25lib.ac.uk. For elsewhere in the UK, consult the Consortium of University and Research Libraries catalogue: www.copac.ac.uk