The General Collections and Humanities Center on the 3rd floor of the Main Library maintains a collection of international language learning books and translation dictionaries covering a broad range of languages, as well as books on linguistics and the English language.
Language Learning
The emphasis of the language learning collection is on the needs of the English-speaking adult who is interested in expanding or acquiring a new language skill, as well as travelers who need phrasebooks or translation dictionaries for the languages of the countries to which they're traveling. The language learning materials are supplemented by the Mango Languages and Rosetta Stone databases. See the Language Learning section here for more: eLearning
The following guide to where the various language learning materials are located on the shelf according to their Dewey Decimal classification can be used to help one's research.
- 430-439 German & related languages (Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, etc.)
- 440-449 French & related languages (Occitan Catalan, Franco-Provençal, etc.)
- 450-459 Italian, Romanian, & related languages (Dalmatian, Rhaetian, Sardinian, Corsican, etc.)
- 460-469 Spanish, Portuguese, Galician
- 470-479 Latin & Italic languages
- 480-489 Classical & modern Greek languages
- 491 East Indo-European & Celtic languages (Czech, Farsi, Gaelic, Hindi, Nepali, Polish, Russian, Sanskrit, Welsh, etc.)
- 492 Afro-Asiatic languages (Amharic, Arabic, Hebrew, etc.)
- 493 Egyptian and other non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic languages
- 494 Uralic, Dravidian, and miscellaneous languages of south Asia (Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Mongolian, Tamil, Turkish, etc.)
- 495 Languages of East & Southeast Asia (Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.)
- 496 African languages
- 497 North American native languages
- 498 South American native languages
- 499 Non-Austronesian languages of Oceania and Austronesian languages (Fijian, Filipino, Hawaiian, Indonesian, Malay, Samoan, etc.)
See the Language Learning Books PDF to find the locations of more languages than those listed above.
English Language and Linguistics
The English language/linguistics collection contains beginning-to-college-level materials for those learning the English language; general and specialized dictionaries; and books discussing the origins of language and the alphabet. This collection is supplemented by our subscription to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) database. The OED is the authoritative guide to English language meaning, history, usage, and pronunciation.
Dictionaries
The General Collections and Humanities Center carries the latest editions of English language dictionaries. The complete 20 volume print edition of the Oxford English Dictionary can be found near the Reference Desk. Of interest to some researchers is our collection of pre-20th-century English language dictionaries. English language dictionaries can be found under call # 428.
Books in Languages Other than English and ESL Materials
For books in languages other than English, or materials to learn English as a second language (ESL), visit or call the International Center on the 3rd floor of the Main library.
Conversation Clubs
The library hosts various conversation clubs for language learning, including ESL. Click here for upcoming meetings.
