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World Languages & Literatures

This guide will help you find articles, books, and websites related to the study of foreign languages.

New Books in the World Languages Collections

Finding Books at SJSU

To find a specific work of foreign literature, look it up by author or title in the SJSU Library Catalog.

Most works of foreign language and literature are found in the P Library of Congress call number range, located on the 7th Floor (university collection books).  For example, PC includes the Romance languages, PD includes Germanic languages, PL includes languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and PQ includes Romance literatures. Check out this online reference guide for more detailed information about the P call number range.  In addition, the public library collection has a selection of language and literature books found in the 800 Dewey call number range, located on the 3rd Floor. The SJSU Special Collections has special collections of many first editions and rare books.

To find works related to foreign language and literature, search the SJSU Library Catalog by subject, using the name of an author or a topic. These are some examples of Library of Congress subject headings:

If you don't know the Library of Congress subject heading, search by keyword using a variety of terms that are relevant to your topic.

Finding Books at Other Libraries

CSU+  is a borrowing program between CSU campuses.  CSU+ lets you request items from another library that are not available at the King Library or San José Public Library (SJPL) Branches.

Interlibrary Services  Request books from libraries all over the world. Use Interlibrary Services when material is not owned by the King Library or SJPL Branches. Requests can be made by filling out an ILLiad online request form. This service is free to all card holders -- late fees still apply -- and may take 7 to 10 days for the request to be filled.   

San Jose Public Library  The SJPL catalog includes materials in many languages available from the MLK Public Library and SJPL's branches.   

WorldCat  contains millions records from libraries worldwide for books, articles, sound recordings, musical scores, maps, and thesis/dissertations.  WorldCat is useful for identifying items not available at King Library.