Exploring the Collection | Newspapers | DSSC, Data, & Print Maps
Government Documents | Rare Books, Manuscripts, & Electronic Texts
Beyond Columbia | Research Assistance

The Latin American collection encompasses over 400,000 volumes and 1,500 serial titles, along with manuscripts, oral histories, maps, prints, microform materials, music CDs, DVDs, and a variety of electronic resources. Holdings of titles published in Spain and Portugal exceed 75,000 volumes, in addition to comprehensive collections of works about these countries published in other Western European languages.

The Library collects materials published in or about Latin America, Spain and Portugal across many disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. The collection is strong in coverage of Mexico, Brazil, the Spanish Caribbean, and the countries of the Southern Cone. Subject strengths include architecture, economic development, history, languages and literature, political science, sociology, and anthropology. Materials are acquired in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and in other European and indigenous Latin American languages.

The Latin American print collection is distributed throughout the many Libraries at Columbia  University. Most materials can be found in the following locations:

Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Architecture, urban planning, archaeology, and fine arts

Butler Library
History, literature, philosophy, and religion

Herbert H. Lehman Library
Social sciences and journalism

Thomas J. Watson Library of Business and Economics
Business, economics, economic development

Other libraries on campus hold significant Latin American collections, including the Law School Library, The Burke Library (Union Theological Seminary), and the Health Sciences Library. 

Use the online catalog, CLIO, to search across all libraries except Columbia Law School and Teachers College Library, which each have their own catalogs.

Research Guides provide a curated introduction to researching at Columbia, in addition to the resources available on Columbia University Libraries. 

Although increasingly available in digital format, Columbia maintains subscriptions to select print newspapers, which are shelved in Lehman Library. Columbia holds a large number of titles on microform; consult CLIO for holdings. The Butler Library Periodicals & Microforms Reading Room has equipment that allows you to view, print and/or scan microform images. Consult the Research Guides for more information.

The Digital Social Science Center (DSSC) (Lehman Library) has individual and collaborative workstations to support high-end computing and data analysis, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications. Group study space and a presentation practice room are also available. DSSC subject specialists can assist with numeric and spatial data resource and software questions. A print map collection is available in the Map Room and large format scanners are available in Lehman Library.

Columbia has been a depository for US federal government documents since 1882. Records for most documents are available in CLIO. Refer to US Government Documents for information on locating these materials.

Documents of Latin American governments are held throughout the departmental libraries, according to subject, with general censuses at Butler Library. Use CLIO to locate these items. Many government publications are also available online. For assistance, ask Reference staff or contact the Latin American Studies Librarian.

Documents of the Organization of American States and United Nations are held at the Law Library. Selected items from these and other organizations are also held in other libraries on campus. Search CLIO for holdings and location information.

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library, located on the sixth floor of Butler, houses collections of original papers, manuscripts, letters, documents and other rare and valuable research materials. It houses several collections on colonial and modern Latin America. Search CLIO and the Archival Collections Portal to identify holdings. For assistance, contact RBML Reference or the Latin American Studies Librarian. The Digital Humanities Center on 3rd Floor of Butler Library can help you access machine-readable primary source texts along with software and other tools for textual analysis. Several Spanish-language materials are available, online and in CD-ROM. These materials are cataloged in CLIO.

Columbia's membership in LAMP and the Center for Research Libraries allows readers access to microforms of retrospective and hard-to-obtain journals, newspapers, and other research materials, which may be borrowed via Interlibrary Loan. Consult CRL's catalog. Borrow Direct allows Columbia affiliates to borrow books from several major Northeastern academic libraries within four working days. Interlibrary Loan provides access to materials held at libraries throughout the country and provides electronic delivery of journal articles for journals not available at Columbia.

The Latin American and Iberian Studies Librarian is available for individual consultations and library instruction for your courses. Suggestions for purchases and other feedback about the collection are most welcome.