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Library Resources for Spanish
Finding Spanish language books is not different from finding English language books. The key is using the right keywords to search your topic. Finding ebooks is not different from finding print books. In Spanish, there are two types of books people need for their research:
- Books about authors and their work in general (such a biographies)
- Books that analyze an author's specific work or works or comparing their work with other similar authors (such as belonging to the same literary movement, e.g. Romanticism, Modernism) through a theoretical lens.
- General SearchYour one stop shop to find books, articles, and films.
- DigitaliaA selection of Spanish language's ebooks from Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean that we have access to.
- CLACSO-Argentina (Open Access ebooks)The Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO in Spanish), is a very reputable academic organization famous for their Spanish language academic books in social sciences. Now, they are offering their content free online.
In Spanish, there are two types of articles people need for their research:
- Articles that talk about authors and their work in general (such a biographical essays)
- Articles that analyze an author's specific work or works through a theoretical lens (also known as literary criticism)
Finding biographical information is quite straightforward but finding literary criticism about a particular literary piece is a little of a challenge.
Tip: Literary criticism is the analysis and evaluation of current literary works. To find article that do literary criticism, you can search some of our literature databases (see suggestions below). To narrow down your searches, you can use the following keywords:
- "literary criticism" + [author's name] or "literary criticism" + [literary works' title].
- E.g. "literary criticism" AND "Gabriel Garcia Marquez" or "literary criticism" AND "Cien Años de Soledad."
Note: Not all authors or literary works have been studied in the field so you may found that you have 0 results. You can try different databases or Google Scholars to make sure that you search all possible places. For literary works, you may want to try different titles in case other works have been analyzed.
- MLA International BibliographyThis database from the Modern Language Association is an excellent place to start your research. International in scope. Multilingual database.
- Gale Literature Resource CenterThis database includes articles about Spanish, Latin American and Caribbean authors, in addition to US-based authors. Mostly in English.
- JSTORFor this database, we recommend to narrow your search (in the Advance Search option) to an specific collection such as Language & Literature and/or Latin American Studies to limit the amount of unnecessary results that you will get if you search the whole database.
- Project MUSEAnother excellent databases to search for literary criticism. We recommend the following collections to search:
Latin American and Caribbean Literature
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Spanish and Portuguese Literature - Academic Search PremierA good multidisciplinary databases with literature journals that can be search through the main search box.
Specialized Spanish Language Databases:
- HLAS: Handbook of Latin American StudiesArticles mainly in Spanish. Useful to discover hard to find literary criticism articles produced in Latin America.
- Handbook of Latin American StudiesThis is the current version of the HLAS which coverage from 1990 to the present. This annotated bibliography of articles in the humanities and social sciences is mostly in Spanish, with some articles in English. An excellent place to do in-depth research for hard to find literary criticism published in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Teatro Español del Siglo de OroIncludes full-text of theatrical plays and other works from the Spanish Golden Age (1500-1700).
- Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collection: Series 1
Includes articles, pamphlets, and ebooks covering U.S. Hispanic history, literature and culture. Content is in both English and Spanish.
- Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collection: Series 2
Includes articles, pamphlets, and ebooks covering U.S. Hispanic history, literature and culture from the late 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on civil rights, religious thought, and the growing presence of women writers. Content is in both English and Spanish.
- Dialnet (Spain)Dialnet (Difusión de Alertas en la Red) es uno de los mayores portales bibliográficos de acceso libre y gratuito, cuyo principal cometido es dar mayor visibilidad a la literatura científica hispana.
- Portal de Portales de LatindexEl Portal de Portales Latindex (PPL) proporciona acceso a los contenidos y textos completos de revistas académicas disponibles en hemerotecas digitales de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal, adheridas al movimiento de acceso abierto. El objetivo de este portal es difundir el conocimiento científico que se publica en la región iberoamericana.
- General SearchTip to find films: use the keyword "videorecording" to narrow your search only to DVDs. Otherwise, you will get results for CDs and VHS (Not what you want!). Also, use the name of the country that you want to research on as a keyword to see only films from/about that country, e.g. Mexico AND videorecording
- Latin American and Spanish Videos Freely Available on the Internet: A Guide to Web ResourcesThis is an excellent resources created by Jesús Alonso-Regalado, librarian at SUNY Albany to help you find freely available films and videos from/about Latin America and the Caribbean on the Web
- Retina Latina"The platform, created by six national cinematographic institutions [...], pools together high quality Latin American cinema that might not have made it to movie theatres...Signing up and watching the movies is free, and you can access them in the partner countries of Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Colombia". To learn more go to teleSUR
A microfilm collection that may be of interest to those studying theater during the Golden Age in Spain is the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age. This microfilm collection has 3,200 plays of the Spanish Golden Age, in editions of the seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries. The index for the collection is located on Babbidge Microform Research Guides Table (Level B) or you can consult the files below to see the Authors' Index and Reel List for the collection. Please visit the Library's guide to finding serials on microform in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
- Golden Age Theater's Authors' IndexList of all authors present in the collection and which reel includes their work
- Golden Age Theater's Reel ListList that show which titles are available on each reel in the collection
Need a Book, a Journal Article or a Video that is not in our Library Collection?
Interlibrary Services provides materials free of charge to valid UConn users. Services provided include:
- ILLiadRequest materials not owned by UConn.
- Scan on DemandRequest the scan and electronic delivery of chapters and articles from the UConn Library's print resources.
- Request ServiceRequest circulating items from UConn's collections be held for pickup at the campus library of your choice.
Request for Purchase Form
Requests for purchase are reviewed by subject specialists using the Library's Collection Development Policy. Please note that items may take up to 8 weeks to arrive, with certain requests taking longer.
