Finding Spanish-Language Materials In The Public Catalog

With the exception of the Chinese collection at West Windsor, ably managed by Jean Chou, most of the foreign language materials in the Mercer County Library System are spread around the different branches. These materials do not circulate as well as they deserve, perhaps because patrons are only aware of the holdings in their local library and don’t realize that they can request items from the other branches.

In order to access the full range of foreign language holdings it is necessary to use the catalog and be prepared to put holds on items in other system branches. While this blog refers to Spanish-language materials, the content applies to all the smaller language collections: French, German, Korean, Hindi, etc.

The easiest search is a title search, if the title is known. Simply choose Title from the drop-down menu, type the title in the search bar, and click on Search or press the Enter key.

Finding works by a known author is just as simple. Choose Author from the drop-down menu, type the author’s name, and press the Enter key.

The results will show Spanish-language books and books in translation. To show only books in Spanish, use the Limit Search Results feature on the left of the screen, and limit by Language. Check off the Spanish box, and then click on Include.

Searching for Spanish-language books on a particular topic requires a keyword search. Choose All Fields from the second dropdown menu; write your keyword(s) followed by the phrase Spanish language in the search bar. Press the Enter key and you should get a list of Spanish-language results on your topic.

To retrieve the almost 1100 Spanish-language and bilingual English-Spanish children’s books in the MCL system, use the keywords Spanish Language materials juvenile.

The results can be narrowed by using the Limit Search Results feature on the left of the screen. Pick a specific library, and click Include, or choose a shelf location such as Picture Books, a range of dates, or books by one of the listed authors.

For Spanish-language books on CD, choose Books on CD from the first drop-down menu, All Fields from the second drop-down menu, and type Spanish Language in the search bar. Press the Enter key and get a list of our 8 Spanish-language books on CD (number 9 is a false drop).

The Mercer County Library System has a wide selection of movies in Spanish, some by well-known directors like Pedro Almodovar, Luis Bunuel and Guillermo Del Toro, along with other lesser-known movies. In order to obtain a list of Spanish-language movies on DVD with a minimum of false drops, choose DVDs from the first drop-down menu, All Fields from the second drop-down menu, and type foreign films Spanish in the search bar. This will avoid other DVDs with Spanish-language dubbing, and most language instruction DVDs.

- Maria L.