Skip to Main Content

World Languages and Cultures

Resources useful for research on world languages and cultures, including foreign languages & literature.

Research Help Desk | 256.824.6529

There are many ways that you can reach us for your research questions and general reference help:

  • LibChat is on many library web pages and databases, available  Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.
  • The best way to reach us outside of those hours is at refdesk@uah.edu
  • For in-depth help, request a 1-on-1 Research Consultation to speak with a librarian on a preferred day and time (generally in the same Mon-Fri 9am-5pm range, though exceptions might be possible). We have a variety of tools (including Zoom and Google Hangouts) for "face to face" video conferencing.

Finding World Language Books in UAH Library

The UAH Library uses Primo Pathfinder as its discovery system - meaning that Primo Pathinder provides access to books, dissertations, theses, journal articles, and many, many more different kinds of resources.

 

Within Primo Pathfinder, it is possible to use the "Library Catalog" search feature to look specifically for things that are NOT journal articles (numerically, those are the largest section of the materials included in Primo Pathfinder).

 

It is also possible to use the 'language' filter on the Advanced Search page to look for materials that are tagged with the code for a specific language.*

 

That is to say, the following links will return the materials physically in the UAH Library for each language:

You can then use the filters to narrow down your results (to materials by specific authors, or about specific subjects, or within certain dates, etc.).

 

* Please note that professional library cataloging rules say that materials should include the language that the work is in, AND - if it is a translation - the language of the original material. (Alternately, for video materials, it should include the language codes of any of the alternate languages for subtitles and/or for dubbing.) That is to say, some of the results in the links above may be for English-language translations from works in another language.

Library of Congress Classification for Language and Literature (for selected foreign languages)

  • Arabic 
    • PJ 6001 - PJ 8999 / Language and literature
  • French
    • PC 2001 - PC 3761 / French Language
    • PQ 1 - PQ 3999 / French Literature
  • German
    • PF 3001 – PF 5999 / German Language
    • PT 1- 4999 / German Literature
  • Japanese
    • PL 500 – 899 / Japanese Language and Literature
  • Russian
    • PG 2001 – PG 3999 / Russian Language and Literature
  • Spanish
    • PC 4001 - PC 4977 / Spanish Language
    • PQ 6001 - PQ 8929 / Spanish Literature

Books with these call number ranges are located on N3 (north wing, 3rd floor)

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

(Call numbers preceded with “R” are reference books and are located in S1, near the Research Help Desk & Information Arcade.)