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Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the UIUC Library: Books

A guide for local teachers using the UIUC Library for Latin American and Caribbean research and study.

Finding books by subject

Finding books on a topic is easy with subject searching. Use the Catalog Quick Search and chose the Subject option. Subject searches use Library of Congress subject headings and thus are always in English. For related subject terms, scroll through the list of results.

Suggested Subject Headings:

country--history

country--history--sources

For instance

Argentina--history--sources

Tip--to find subject headings, do a keyword search in the Catalog Quick Search  using terms relating to your topic. Find a result that fit your research and consult the subject headings

Finding Books

UIUC Online Library Catalog

There are two ways to search the UIUC Library catalog. Both offer the same content but the method of searching and presentation of results varies.
 
1. Through the new VU Find Catalog. This catalog requires you to register with a login and a password. It also lets you search books in I-share (see below for more details.)
2. Through the Classic Search. This interface lets you search only the UIUC catalog. It does have the advantage of letting you search by subject headings. (see side box).
 
Getting print book:
  • Departmental Libraries: You can retrieve books yourself.
  • Main Stacks: You can requests books at the Main Stacks to be delivered to you at the Stacks desk.
 
Accessing electronic books--Patrons with UIUC Library Courtesy Cards can only view electronic books using a UIUC Library terminal.
 
Please note that patrons with Courtesy Cards cannot order books through I-share nor through Interlibrary Loan.

Find books by call number

The UIUC Library is organized primarily by the Dewey Decimal System. Thus books on a particular subject are found in the same call number range and shelved together.

900 Geography and History

970 General history of North America, Central America, Mexico

980 General history of South America

981 General history of South America; Brazil

982 General history of South America; Argentina

983 General history of South America; Chile

984 General history of South America; Bolivia

985 General history of South America; Peru

986 General history of South America; Colombia & Ecuador

987 General history of South America; Venezuela

988 General history of South America; Guiana

989 General history of South America; Paraguay & Uruguay

Library's S Collection

The School (S)-Collection in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign consists of 152,000 cataloged volumes of children's and young adult literature. In 1993, the S-Collection acquired an additional uncataloged collection of 58,000 children's books from the Center for Research Libraries, which were added to the collection. With this addition, it became one of the most comprehensive collections of children's literature in the nation, second only to the Library of Congress. A number of the books are in Spanish and some touch on Latin American and Caribbean topics.