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Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Jesus Alonso-Regalado, Bibliographer
jalonso@albany.edu

I. General Purpose

The collection of materials in Latin American and Caribbean Studies is intended to support the academic program of the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies as well as other departments which have parallel interests, such as the Departments of Geography and Planning, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, and Hispanic and Italian Studies. The collection is intended to support faculty research and student classwork to the level of the M.A. and graduate certificate program.

II. Subject and Language Modifiers

Languages: Materials are collected primarily in three languages, Spanish, English, and Portuguese. Materials in other European languages are acquired only upon request and on a very selective basis. When available, the library attempts to provide as much material as possible in English in order to maximize readership among students without Spanish or Portuguese language skills.

Geographical Areas: Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Hispanic populations in the U.S.

Chronological Periods: All chronological periods are included in the collection.

III. Description of Materials Collected

Types of Materials Collected: Monographs and periodicals account for the majority of materials in the collection. Materials in other formats are also acquired with increasing frequency. These materials include videotapes, videodiscs, audiotapes, CDs, computer software, and on-line databases. Newspapers are acquired on a very selective basis, the Library does not have a representative collection for all of Latin America and the Caribbean. Reference type materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and bibliographic indices are housed in the reference area and are frequently purchased from reference funds by the Reference Bibliographer at the recommendation of the Bibliographer for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Scope of Material: Because of the nature of the interdisciplinary program, it is difficult to categorize the scope of collection acquisition. Within the standard social science divisions of anthropology, history, economics, political science, geography, and sociology there are some areas of particular interest: culture; migration; development; ethnicity/race; women's issues; U.S. Hispanics.

Types of Materials Excluded: Textbooks; pamphlets; collections of articles previously published; posters; rare books.

IV. Subject and Collection Levels [Collection Level Descriptions]

V. Other Significant Collections and Resource Sharing

Because of the breadth and depth of material needed to cover the wide ranging interests of faculty, graduate students and undergraduates, the Library must depend frequently on outside resources. The University often uses the collections of the other State University Centers and other institutions, particularly in the New York City area. Resource sharing agreements with RLIN, OCLC, and CRL assist patrons in supplying their needs.

October 2003

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