LAC>>Introduction
UF's Latin American Collection ranks among the finest in the world. It contains approximately 450,000 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 80% 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).
