The Central Libraries > Donnell Library Center > World Languages World Languages Collection
Popular Chinese Titles, Summer 2007
The World Languages Collection, situated on the third floor of the Donnell Library Center, is an unique, centrally located circulating collection of about 175,000 books in languages other than English. Because of its location and the importance of its collections, the World Languages Collection attracts people from the entire metropolitan area. Our public is a cross-section of the population: immigrants and people on business and diplomatic assignments, as well as anyone fluent in more than one language. The collection had been known as the Foreign Language Library when it first opened its doors in December 1956 until 1994, when the name was changed to the World Languages Collection to better reflect the all-encompassing diversity of the population living in New York and in the surrounding areas. From a total of 19,000 books in nineteen languages, the collection has grown in size and in the impact on the lives of so many people, who have come a long way from home and who are happy to find our library to be a home away from home. This is a place where they can find books and periodicals in their own language, where they can read their latest bestsellers, or hear their language spoken. We are the kind of place where the impact of any political change in the world is felt almost as soon as it happens. Indeed, the newly arrived, be it from Russia, Asia, South America, Poland or anywhere else, lose no time in finding their way to our library and asking for books in their language. Over the years, we have heard many readers express surprise, delight and gratitude upon discovering that we do have books written in the language they can understand, while they are coping with and adjusting to their new life and environment. In 1989, the Public Library Association of the American Library Association recognized the staff of the Donnell Foreign Language Library (still known under that name) with the Leonard Wertheimer Multilingual Public Library Award for "their outstanding contributions in enhancing and promoting multilingual public library service," and in 1996 the Maher-Stern Award recognized the staff of the World Languages Collection for "exemplary leadership and excellence in community service." The individual language collections range in size from just a few books to over 39,000 volumes and contain books of general and popular appeal with strong emphasis on the literature of each country, covering both classics and contemporary fiction, as well as poetry, drama, and histories of literature. Aside from fiction - serious and light - the collections contain nonfiction titles representing a wide range of topics from philosophy to current interests which vary from country to country as well as from year to year. Scientific and technical materials and manuals are not included. The collections are kept current by constant infusion of new titles, and are geared to the adult reader. Young adults can find materials for their reading interests as well, whereas children's books in languages other than English can only be found on the 2nd floor of the Donnell Library Center, in the Central Children's Room. Hours
Highlights of the World Languages Collection at Donnell include: Readers can also choose from 74 magazine titles in 24 languages, which circulate except for the current copy. However, we do not have subscriptions to the daily newspapers from abroad. The reference collection consists of encyclopedias in French, German, Italian, Hebrew, and Russian, as well as bilingual dictionaries in over 100 languages, and histories of literature. The Spanish language collection has a separate and extensive reference collection covering a broad range of subjects. The collection consists of printed materials mainly, such as books, paperbacks and magazines, and audio-visual materials are limited to film, video cassettes, DVDs, and citizenship tapes in various languages. Extensive holdings in audio-visual materials can be found at the Donnell Media Center. The holdings of the World Languages Collection are listed in the New York Public Library online catalog LEO (Library Entrance Online). LEO can be accessed from any branch library in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, as well as on the Internet. A word of caution: the holdings in languages written in alphabets other than Roman (e.g. Russian, Hindi, Arabic, Hebrew, etc.) are entered in LEO in the transliterated form. The World Languages Collection provides the neighborhood branches in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island with books in languages other than English, by sending circulating collections of books for a three month period. |
