Printed collections in UCL Library Services are described below. There is also information about:
The principal collection for Italian is off the North corridor of the Main Library (in the Wilkins building). See
separate pages for maps and opening hours.
Book collections
The collection contains material on political, social and economic history (shelfmark A),
language (B), Italian literature generally (C), and literature arranged chronologically (D onwards).
UCL Library has its own classification scheme for arranging books on the shelves; a typical classmark
for an open-access book 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
ITALIAN A 45 FOR for a work about Italian cultural history
ITALIAN C 19 JON for a work about Italian women writers
ITALIAN L 145 for a work by Alfieri
ITALIAN L 145 LIN for a work about Alfieri
Some of the other main sections you are likely to need are:
ART (Main Library, South, 1st floor): includes Film Studies and Design
HISTORY (Main Library, South, 2nd floor); includes a good collection of Italian political,
economic and social 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 Italian literature
translated into English.
PHONETICS & LINGUISTICS (Main Library, South, 1st floor): books and periodicals
supporting the theory and practice of language study.
Older or lesser-used books may be in closed store. Order these books via the catalogue, using the "request" button in the left-hand column on the holdings screen; they will be available from the Science Library (opposite Foster Court) after 3.00pm the next working day.
Periodicals (also called journals)
ROMANCE PERIODICALS, containing journals on Italian, French 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 known as ARTS periodicals), a collection of mainly interdisciplinary periodicals in Arts and Humanities
subjects, are shelved in the Main Library, 2nd Floor, at the far end of the Jewish Studies library.
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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.
Indexes and Abstracts
Among the bibliographic indexes which the Library offers are:
- The MLA International
Bibliography: indexes literature, languages and linguistics materials from 1926.
- The Arts and Humanities
Citation Index: coverage from 1975 onwards.
- IBSS
(International Bibliography of the Social Sciences): indexes the contents of journals, book
collections etc., from 1951 onwards. ATHENS password required.
- The International Medieval
Bibliography, which indexes over 4,000 journals, books and conference proceedings.
Via BREPOLIS, on-campus access only.
- Iter Bibliography, which offers indexes and abstracts of books, journal articles and dissertations on the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700).
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 - 2004. 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 current year's Italian papers are held in the Main Library, Photocopying Room. Older ones can be requested from Store.
Other internet resources
Click here for a list of other Web-based
material for Italian.
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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.
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If you have any problems in using the Library, come to the Enquiry Desk, or ask for the subject
librarian for Italian:
Bess Ryder
E-mail b.ryder@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone: internal: 32595; external: 020 7679 2595
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