The Americas Library
*The Library will be moving to the Senate House Complex.
The Institute and Library will soon be preparing for their move into the Senate House complex.
ISA Library and its staff will be moving into the Senate House Library, where the collection will eventually be integrated with the Latin American Studies collection. This is due to take place sometime in July but there is no definite date yet. We aim to have as little disruption as possible. More updates will appear on this page.
There is more information about the relocation on the School of Advanced Study's website.
See www.sas.ac.uk/529.html*
This website relates to holdings and information for the Latin American Studies Library of the Institute for the Study of the Americas, our online catalogue can be accessed here: Institute for the Study of the Americas catalogue.
Useful resources are also available from the University of London Research Library Services (ULRLS) of which the Senate House Library and the Libraries of the School of Advanced Study are now a part. This brings all the relevant library holdings within ‘The Americas’ closer together.
Participating libraries hold the following collections on the Americas:
Latin American Studies Library of the Institute for the Study of the Americas (21,435 monograph volumes). The Library maintains a collection of Latin American research and reference materials including periodicals, monographs and electronic resources, with particular emphasis on humanities and related social sciences. It plays a leading role in the development of Latin American collections in the University of London, and in the European coordination of documentation on Latin America.
Latin American/Caribbean Studies Collection (60,386 volumes), Senate House Library, maintains a research level collection which covers most aspects of Latin America and the Caribbean, with particular emphasis on history, politics, economics, anthropology and literature. The geographical area covered includes all the countries and territories of Central and South America as well as the islands of the Caribbean (including the English-, Dutch- and French-speaking communities), the islands of the South Atlantic (the Falklands/Malvinas and South Georgia), the Galapagos Islands and the Antarctic territories administered by Chile and Argentina.
United States Studies collection (46,024 volumes), Senate House Library, is one of the largest general collections on the United States in the country and is unique in keeping holdings in most subjects together. It provides interdisciplinary coverage of the history, past and present institutions and culture of the United States. The collection's main strengths lie in history, where the emphasis is on secondary materials, and in literature. However it also has a good coverage of fine art, architecture, economics, film, politics and religion, Native American and African American studies. There are also small sections on the history of science, technology and medicine, law and education. The major part of the collection is available for loan. American music, philosophy and geography (and maps) are also collected but form part of those seperate subject collections in the library. There is also a substantial section of reference material consisting of bibliographies, archival guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories and biographical dictionaries.
Canadian and Caribbean Studies collections, Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, collects material relating to history and the broader social sciences, including constitutional, political, demographic, social and economic development. Canadian materials account for approximately 18,000 volumes in the collection, and include strong holdings in official publications. The Institute of Commonwealth Studies is a selective depository library for Canadian government information. There is also strong coverage of Commonwealth Caribbean countries, where holdings include the West India Committee Library and archival collections (9,000 volumes). The Library possesses an exceptional collection on the plantation period as well as later political, social and economic development. The Library also holds material relating to regional bodies Caricom and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.
History of North and South America, Institute of Historical Research Library, holds over 20,000 volumes, predominantly of printed sources, bibliographies and guides to archives, but including some periodicals. The history of all parts of the area is covered from the period of European colonisation to the twentieth century, although the chief strength of the collections lies in the period up to the mid-nineteenth century. The collection of sources for the colonial history of North America is one of the finest in the UK, and the collections covering the US Civil War are also especially noteworthy. The Latin American collection is strongest for the colonial history of New Spain, and the history of independent Mexico is also very well covered. There are also important holdings for modern US diplomatic history.
The Library Services are currently developing their holdings of electronic resources. These include journals such as Hispanic American Historical Review, Central America Report, Human Rights Quarterly, Latin American Perspectives and the Journal of Latin American Studies, to name a few.
Holdings of all these libraries are available to view via the ULRLS library catalogue. This is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection and includes links to electronic resources: http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/search~S24