LIBRARY GUIDE

contact: telephone 01865 283362

MAIN COLLECTIONSEXAMINATIONSOTHER LIBRARIES

OPENING HOURS
Opening hours are the same as the Language Centre.

REGISTERING
The library is a lending library with the exception of class textbooks and reference books. All prospective members must register and go on a tour (10 am, 2 pm weekdays).

FINDING WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
All material can be searched on SOLO the university catalogue.
You can restrict your search by selecting the Language Centre Library only.
More information about SOLO on the blog
SOLO will indicate:

  • where it is– Reference in first book section, Textbooks in second, CD and DVDs in audio-visual sections
  • loan status – Available means you can borrow, a date means it has been borrowed. You can place a reservation on those by signing in. Reference books are not for lending.

The Library is on two floors:

  • The first floor where the computers are. You will need to register at first on the registration computer in room 24 in the second floor
  • The second floor where the library collection is. There are self-study rooms where you can watch television, DVDs and listen to CDs.

All library material is classified alphabetically by language and most shelfmarks start with the first two letters of the name of the language in English. For example AR for Arabic, FR for French, GE for German. EFL for English (English as a Foreign Language)

Library material is also classified by type of material, so there is an audio section, a video section and a book section in two parts: references and textbooks.

BORROWING
Once you have registered, you can borrow from the library, using the self-issue machine.
You can borrow up to 4 items at a time. Books and CDs for 4 weeks and DVDs for 2 weeks.You canrenew up to 4 times.

  • Scan the barcode of your university card
  • Place each item you want to borrow on the plastic square: their titles as well as the return date should appear on the screen.
  • Select the screen option for receipt or no receipt

RETURNING

  • Select return on the screen
  • Place each item on the plastic square: their titles should appear on the screen
  • Select the screen option for a receipt or no receipt
  • Open the drawer on the right-hand side and place your items there.

THE WEB 2.0 LIBRARY

The Language Centre Library is onFacebook, LibraryThing, Netvibes, Paper Li, Flickr, Twitterand is part of the Language CentreInstagram and theLanguage Centre blog

LIBRARY ETIQUETTE

  • All material consulted on-site must be written down in one of the two library registers which are on the magazines’ table.
  • Readers remain responsible for the material borrowed until it is returned. They should not give them to other readers unless they have been previously returned.
  • If library materials are missing or in a bad state, readers will be asked to replace the borrowed materials.
  • Food and drink should not be brought into the Library except for bottled water. Some exceptions for eating may be granted for some readers.
  • No user may engage in conduct which infringes the regulations of the University in respect of the use of its materials, facilities or copyright, including the use of computers and audio-visual resources.
  • The marking or defacing of items belonging to the Language Centre (for example, writing in workbooks) is forbidden. Readersmaybeasked to replace the materials.

MAIN COLLECTIONS

BOOKS AND AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIAL

  1. REFERENCE

1.1 REFERENCE IN PRINT

The reference collection is at the beginning of the book collection, consists of dictionaries (bilingual and monolingual), grammars in English and in the target language, grammars with exercises, vocabulary builders, subject vocabulary builders and books on writing style.

1.2 Electronic REFERENCE

e-Dictionaries will be found on Oxlip + available from SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online), the new Oxford Libraries Information Platform.

The Language Centre website also offers a selection of electronic reference material on its language links pages (Learn a Language -> Language resources).

1.3CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning)

CALLs are installed on the networked computers. Most CD-ROMs will be on the CD shelves. Some, not yet catalogued, will be in the Librarian’s Office on the second floor.

  1. TEXTBOOKS/LITERATURE/READING/PHONETICS/GENERALITIES

2.1 TEXTBOOKS

Finding what you are looking for: All books are available to search on SOLO the University catalogueand new books are also on Librarything

The second part of the book collection which is found after the reference collection, starts with textbooks which are classified alphabetically by language and then alphabetically by title. It is then followed by listening and reading material, literature (bilingual English-target language and monolingual), music, video scripts and introduction to the culture of the country.

Most textbooks will be accompanied by CDs, sometimes also video and CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning, see 1.3). The shelfmark on the textbook will indicate whether or not the textbook works alongside other material.

For example the textbook Sueños world Spanish, which you will find under the letter S in the textbooks collection, will have the following shelfmarks:

SP / / Shelfmark for Spanish
CCU
1-8 / / Shelfmark for CDs (starting with C)
SP
VBE
1-20 / / Shelfmark for Videos (starting with V)

The textbookSueños world Spanish is accompanied by 8 CDs and 20 videos.

Tapes and videos accompanying textbooks will be shelved alphabetically by shelfmark (and not by title like the textbooks). For example the tapes for Sueños will be placed at SP CCU which one would find after SP CCT, the videos will be after SP VBD.

2.2 LITERATURE & OTHER MATERIAL ON READING

After the textbook section, you will find a literature section. Most languages taught at the Language Centre will have a literature section with books in the target language, bilingual books (English-target language) and books about reading in general.

2.3 GENERALITIES

After the textbook section, you will find a generalities section. Here you will find books on the general culture of the country.

2.4 PHONETICS

The phonetics books will help you with your pronunciation. The shelfmark is going to be PH + Language shelfmark, for example SP for Spanish. Most of the books are accompanied by CDs which you will find at the end of each language CDs section.

  1. DVDs

3.1 FILMS

DVDs are shelved alphabetically by language. At the beginning of each language section you will find the film collection, classified alphabetically by director’s name, for example: SP V ALM for a film by Almodóvar.

3.2 EURECAP COLLECTION

The collection consists of same-language subtitles for French, German, Italian and Spanish. The collection is available on the carousel, next to the CD collection

3.3 DOCUMENTARIES AND TEXTBOOK DVDs

The second section will be for documentaries and DVDs linked with textbooks. The classification is alphabetical by shelfmark, for example: FR VA will be followed by FR VB etc…

NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALS

  1. Language Centre collections for newspapers and journals. In print we have:

ENGLISHSociety Now(every three months)

FRENCH Le Monde (daily during term time, week-end edition during vacation) Le Monde Diplomatique(monthly)L’Obs(weekly)Le françaisdans le monde (every two months)Le Monde Diplomatique (monthly

GERMANDer Spiegel (weekly) Deutsch perfekt! (monthly)

ITALIANL’Espresso(weekly)Oggitalia(6 times a year)TuttoItaliano(every two months)

RUSSIANРусскаяМысль/La penséerusse(weekly, term time only)

SPANISHCarta de España(monthly) El Pais(Sunday edition term time only) MuyInteresante (Monthly) Puntoycoma (every two months)

WELSH Newydd Lingo (every two months)

The Language Centre website also offers a selection of reference material on its language links pages and updates from the latest news for all the languages taught at the Language Centre

  1. Electronic newspapers (students and staff only)

They will be found on OxLIP+ (Oxford Libraries Information Platform)

Once in OxLIP+, click on Subject, then Newspapers, then click on the GO button.

By clicking on Newspapers, you will find: The Nexis® UK News Service offers news in Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Click on Sources to select non-English news. You can search using keywords in the language you have chosen, and limiting your search by date. The Factiva database which offers news from Bulgarian to Turkish (economical, financial) with some audio facilities (machine read) for French, Spanish.

By searching the database alphabetically you will find: The Russian central newspapers or Nikkei Telecom 21 (Japanese news)

  1. Electronic journals

They will be found on Oxlip+ (Oxford Libraries Information Platform) at

Click on Oxford University e-Journals where you can do a search by Title, or browseby Title within the Subject (Arts and Humanities and subcategory Language & Linguistics) or do a search by Citation (where you can search by article’s title or author’s name)

  1. Databases

They will be found on OxLIP+ at you can do a search by title if you know the name of your database, or do a search by Subject by browsing down the list till you find Modern Languages

There are many useful databases, such as

  • MLA (Modern Languages Association) which is a bibliographic database

Some databases will have full text available such as: BertoldBrecht orPast Masters or TeatroEspañol del Siglo de Oro

SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online) can help you determine which database would be most relevant to your needs. Go to SOLO then select the Crossearch. Do several searches and check which database offers the most relevant answers. Then go to OxLIP+ and do a search only on the database you have chosen in order to get the best results.

E-BOOKS

Perhaps the e-books most relevant to language learning will be the Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg also offers a collection of audio files mainly in English but also in many other languages such as Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Russian, Spanish. Some of them are human-read, some of them machine-read.

EXAMINATIONS

EXAMINATION PAPERS FOR MODERN LANGUAGES FINALISTS

The Library has a complete set of

  • Listening Comprehension examinations in audio and print format from 1978 onwards. Those are NOT on the OXAM website.
  • Discourse Questions from 1991 onwards. While some of the recent exams are on the OXAM website, many older papers are not.
  • There is a selection of examinations online on Weblearn

OPAL EXAMINATION PAPERS

The library has the past three years available in printanda selection of OPAL examinations on Weblearn

OTHER LIBRARIES

1.1 Oxford University Libraries (for students and staff of Oxford University only)

For Modern European Languages and Literatures:

  • The Modern Language Faculty Library
  • The Slavonic and Modern Greek Library
  • The Taylor Institution Library

For Linguistics:

  • The Taylor Institution Library
  • The Bodleian Library (Upper Reading Room)

Note: this is just a small selection of available collections. For more information on other libraries, go to

1.2 Other Libraries

  • AULC (Association of University Language Centres)

A list of all the other language centres in the UK and Ireland.

  • The Oxfordshire Central Library

Very good choice of language learning material including BSL (British Sign Language) and world literature.

For any information docontact: Lucile, Librarian, telephone 01865 283362

Last updated 23/11/2017 Lucile Deslignères/ Lina Spinger