LAC>>Introduction
UF's Latin American
Collection ranks among the finest
in the world. It contains approximately 500,000 volumes, 1,100 current / active
serial titles, some 50,000 microforms, and a growing amount of computer-based
information and access. The Latin American Collection itself is one of a
small number in the United States that is housed separately and that maintains
its own reading room and reference services. These quarters have been upgraded
by UF with state and private money, and these improvements have resulted in
greatly enhanced service capabilities for Latin American researchers. The Latin
American Collection is on the fourth floor of Smathers Library (East). Click here
for a campus map
Overall,
some 70% of the Collection's holdings are in Spanish, Portuguese and French;
the remainder is largely in English, with some Dutch and indigenous language
items held as well. As mentioned, the coverage is broad, and includes all
disciplines and geographical areas of Latin America. Particular emphasis is on
the Caribbean and Brazil, and to many scholars the University of Florida's
Caribbean holdings are considered the best in the field.
The
resources of the Latin American Collection are supplemented by those of the research
collections in Library West and the other branches and units of the UF
Libraries. The collections now comprise more than 4 million cataloged volumes,
4 million microforms and extensive holdings of government documents, maps,
archival material and computer files. In total, there are 16,000 current
serials.
The
staff of the UF Libraries numbers more than 300 FTE librarians, technical
support and clerical staff and student assistants. Librarians are active in state,
regional and national programs and organizations and are also leading members
of several major cooperative international efforts.
To
complement UF's Latin American Collection, a campus library staff of
bibliographers, archivists, special collectionists, support staff and reference
librarians work to develop and oversee local branch holdings and services.
These other units include the Marston
Science Library for tropical agriculture and development materials, and the
UF Map Library, which has some
500,000 maps and atlases, with approximately 55,000 of these dealing with Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Under
the Department of Special Collections
is the P.K. Yonge
Library of Florida History, which contains over 2.5 million pages of
Spanish Florida archival materials, gathered from years of microfilming in
Spain's Archivo General de Indias. Special Collections also curates the Rochambeau and Jeremie
papers on colonial Haiti, and the Braga Brothers
Sugar Collection, one of the premier archival sources on the development of
the Cuban sugar industry, comprising over 1.2 million business and social history
documents from the late 19th century and the 20th century. The Rare Books
Collection holds many unique and scarce Latin American imprints, with notable Cuban holdings.
Additionally, the Architecture
and Fine Arts Library, the Music
Library, the Health Science
Center and UF's Law School Library
coordinate with the Latin American Collection in areas of collecting and user
services.
The
Latin American Collection of the University of Florida is an institutional
member of SALALM (the Seminar on the
Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials) and LASER (Latin American
Studies Southeastern Region).
