The principal collection for French is in the Main Library (in the Wilkins building); but there is
also relevant material in the Science Library (in the DMS Watson building), and in the Environmental
Studies Library (in the Bartlett School). See separate pages for
maps and opening hours.
Book collections
The collection contains material on cultural, social and political history (shelfmark A), language
(B), French literature generally (C) and literature arranged chronologically (E onwards), then W (on
the colonial and post-colonial experience) and X (Provençal). UCL Library has its own
classification scheme for arranging books on the shelves; a typical classmark for a book on open access
will consist of the name of a subject (indicating a section of the library) followed by letters and
numbers denoting its classified position on the shelves in that section; for example
FRENCH A 45 FOR for a book on French cultural history
FRENCH K 110 for a work by Molière
FRENCH K 110 CAL for a work about Molière
Some of the main sections you are likely to need are:
ART (Main Library, South, 1st floor): includes Film Studies
ECONOMICS (Main Library, South, 1st floor): books and periodicals on economic theory and
practice.
HISTORY (Main Library, South, 2nd floor): includes a good collection on French political, social
and economic history.
LITERATURE (Main Library, North Corridor): books on literary topics not specific to any one
language, literary theory, translation theory etc., and a small collection of French literature
translated into English.
PHONETICS & LINGUISTICS (Main Library, South, 1st floor): books and periodicals supporting
the theory and practice of language study.
ANTHROPOLOGY (Science Library, 1st Floor): includes Gender Studies.
GEOGRAPHY (Science Library, 1st Floor): includes a good collection on French social history.
Older or lesser-used books may be in closed store. Order these books via the catalogue; they will be available from the Science Library after 3.00pm the next working day.
Click here for instructions on how to find a book.
Periodicals (also called journals)
ROMANCE PERIODICALS, containing journals on French, Italian and Spanish studies, are shelved in the
North Corridor of the building. Periodicals are usually available for loan, although this may be restricted to overnight access. For
electronic journals, see below.
The HUMANITIES PERIODICALS (formerly called ARTS periodicals), a collection of mainly interdisciplinary titles in Arts and Humanities
subjects, are shelved in the Main Library, 2nd Floor, at the far end of the Jewish Studies library.
Click here for instructions on how to find printed and electronic journals and journal articles.
Films
Films are shelved at the Issue Desk and can be taken home or watched in the viewing room off the Main Library Reference Room. Headsets and remote controls can be borrowed from the Issue Desk. To find a film on the catalogue, use the "audiovisual" option from the home screen; type your search term - GODARD or JULES JIM, plus the word DVD or VIDEO if you want to specify the format.
Top of page
Material held in electronic form is available to registered members of UCL: you will usually need
your user id/password for computing services in order to gain access to them.
Databases
Full-text databases available for French include:
Indexes and Abstracts
Among the bibliographic indexes which the Library offers are:
Click here for a complete list of
databases available at UCL.
Electronic journals
A range of electronic versions of journal titles is available. Start from the
list of electronic journals on the
Library's web pages where you will find details of access arrangements for each title.
Of interest in language and literature is the range of titles available in JSTOR -
a project to store long back runs of selected journals in electronic form, e.g. Modern Language Journal
1916 - 2000. Access to JSTOR is available on
the Web from this link.
Exam papers
Copies of College examination papers for
undergraduate courses (from 2002 onwards) are available on the Web.
Printed copies of the French papers are held in the Main Library, Photocopying Room. Older ones can be requested from Store.
Other internet resources
Click here for links to other Web-based
material for French.
Top of page
Senate House Library (Senate House, Malet Street) has a strong
collection in languages, the arts and social and historical sciences, and is especially strong in
periodicals holdings. Any registered member of UCL can join the library and borrow from there.
Click here for more information about the
use of other libraries.
Top of page
If you have any problems in using the Library, come to the Enquiry Desk, or ask for the subject
librarian for French:
Bess Ryder
E-mail b.ryder@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone: internal: 32595; external: 020 7679 2595
Top of page
