University College London Library

Title: University College London Library

Description: UCL Library was first opened in 1829 and now contains over one million bound volumes and pamphlets, 160 collections of manuscripts and receives over 8000 current journals, all covering a broad range of subjects across science, medicine, technology and the humanities.
The principal collection relevant to Caribbean studies is that on Latin American History, which contains about 500 items on the English-speaking Caribbean, most of which are on the open shelves. There are also approximately 100 relevant books on the shelves in each of the Anthropology and Geography collections. The principal literature collections with material relating to the Caribbean are those for Spanish and French. The French library contains about 300 open-shelf items in its African and Caribbean literature section. The amount of material in the English Language and Literature library related to the Caribbean is significantly less, as is that in our Phonetics and Linguistics collections. A number of special collections kept in store will contain items on the Caribbean. The Hume Tracts, for example, comprise some 5,000 pamphlets assembled by the radical politician Joseph Hume in the early nineteenth century. The Library also has a set of British Parliamentary Papers covering the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. Among the special collections of more recent material, the Poetry Store contains a number of items from the English-speaking Caribbean.
With regard to the history of Black and Asian people in Britain, some material on this topic will be found in a large number of subject collections throughout the Library, but in none is the quantity substantial. Geography and Anthropology for example both contain relevant items, but the classification schemes used make it difficult to give even approximate figures. The London History collection includes a number of items on the history of ethnic minority communities.

Strengths: The most significant collection relating to Caribbean studies is that on Latin American History, containing c.500 relevant items on the history of the English-speaking Caribbean.

Size: c.800 items relevant to Caribbean studies; Over 500 items relevant to the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain (including c.200 titles on race relations, racism and anti-racism in Britain).

Catalogue: Library Services eUCLid Online Catalogue (Aleph)

Catalogue URL: http://library.ucl.ac.uk:80/ALEPH/

Main URL: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/

Access: The Library welcomes researchers who can demonstrate a genuine need to consult material which is held at UCL and not readily available elsewhere. However, application should be made, in advance, to the Assistant Librarian for Membership Services. Your application should outline the nature of your research, which items or collections you wish to consult and the length of time you are likely to need. In some cases a fee will be charged, on the basis of your application. External users are not allowed to borrow books. Further information about how to join UCL Library, and the categories of membership for staff and students of UCL, the University of London and other universities, is available on the UCL Library web page at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/joining.htm.

Acquisition dates: 1829 - present.

Note: All items acquired after 1982 are entered in the online catalogue, accessible from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library - most of the older open-access material is also now included, together with a growing number of items from the stores. Most material in store is currently recorded only in the card catalogue, which comprises a main sequence with entry generally under author or editor (with some proper-name subject entries) and an incomplete classified sequence.

Interest: Asian, Black, Caribbean

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Sociology

Politics

Literature

Interethnic relations

History

Geography

Economic history

Anthropology

Personal/Corporate names

Hume, Joseph, 1777-1855

Places

London, United Kingdom

Caribbean