The Branch Libraries Mid-Manhattan Library > World Languages Collections

Mid Manhattan Library

World Languages
Collection

                                          4th floor
                                          212.576.0085
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About the Collection

The World Languages Collection, situated on the fourth floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library, is a unique, centrally located circulating collection of about 100,000 books in languages other than English.

What you can find here: 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. Nonfiction titles represent a wide range of topics from philosophy to current topics. Scientific and technical materials and manuals are not included. The collections are geared to the adult reader.

Magazines: Readers can choose from 74 magazine titles in 24 languages, which can be borrowed except for the current issue. However, we do not subscribe to daily newspapers from abroad.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias: 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.

We also carry films, videocassettes, and DVDs in various languages.

Note that holdings in languages written in alphabets other than Roman (e.g. Russian, Hindi, Arabic, Hebrew, etc.) are entered in the LEO (Library Entrance Online) catalog in transliterated form.

History of the Collection: Known as the Foreign Language Library when it first opened its doors in December 1956, the collection was renamed World Languages Collection in 1994 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 impact. Here, people who have come a long way from home can find books and periodicals in their own language, read the latest bestsellers, or hear their language spoken.