A. Current
Awareness 
1. 
The
Americas Review. Ref. HC 121 .L2713
Annual. Covers recent economic and political trends, developments, and key events
in the region. Individual country profiles analyze the different economic sectors
of each country and provide key economic indicators over the last five years.
Includes a business guide with practical information for visitors to each country
as well as a directory
of organizations useful to visitors.
2. 
Economist
Intelligence Unit. Country Report: [Name
of Country] and Country
Profile: [Name of Country].
An annual analysis (Country Profiles) and quarterly updates (Country
Reports) of major trends in the economies of over 165 countries. Includes forecasts
for the upcoming year and evaluations of foreign trade data; supplements provide
background data on economic and political developments in each country. Check GEORGE for
call numbers of earlier years going back to 1982.
3. 
Economic
and Social Progress in Latin America. Ref. HG 3881 .I45
A31 http://www.iadb.org/oce/ipes/
Comprehensive analysis of the banking industry, financial systems, and economic
policies of countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
4. Latin
American Newstand.
Fulltext collection of Latin American newspapers and newswires.
5. Latin
American Regional Reports. Current Year on Reserve
Five separate regional reports provide monthly coverage of current
events in those regions. The reports are Andean, Brazil, Caribbean
and Central America, Mexico and NAFTA, and Southern Cone.
6. Latin
American Weekly Report. Current Year on Reserve
A weekly overview of news from Latin American countries.
7. Lexis-Nexis
Academic.
This service provides access to the full-text of thousands of magazines, newspapers,
wire services, and broadcast transcripts, including international publications,
not otherwise available in Lauinger.
8. Titulares
de los principales diarios en español. <http://www.guiaplus.com.ar/titulares.htm>
Search engine that provides access to Spanish language newspapers.
9. Worldwide
News Resources. <http://www.library.georgetown.edu/elecref/index.htm#worldnews>
Listing of websites that link to many worldwide news websites.
B. Encyclopedias/Dictionaries/Handbooks
10. Cambridge
Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean. Ref. F
1406 .C36 1992
Extensive articles on Latin America cover the economy, physical environment,
history, people, politics, and culture. Photographs, maps, tables, and
graphs. Arranged by broad subject areas (e.g., "The Peoples," "The Physical
Environment"). Indexed.
11. Cambridge
History of Latin America. Ref. and Main Stacks F 1410 .C1834
1984
Authoritative multi-volume history of the political, economic, social, intellectual,
and cultural facets of Latin American life. Emphasizes the period since
the establishment of independent states. A bibliographic essay for each
chapter is included at the end of each volume.
12. Dictionary
of Twentieth Century Culture: Hispanic Culture of South America. Ref.
F 2237 .H57 1995
Provides a ready reference for the vocabulary of culture in South America (territories
from Columbia to Tierra del Fuego). Includes entries on people, places,
terms, art forms, and organizations associated with art, music, literature,
drama, radio and television performance, movies, and dance.
13. Hispanic
Culture of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Ref.
F 1234 .H794 1996
Similar to no. 11 (above) but covering Mexico, Central
America, and the Caribbean. Includes entries on people, places, terms,
art forms, and organizations associated with art, music, literature, drama,
radio and television performance, movies, and dance.
14. Encyclopedia
of Contemporary Latin Amerian and Caribbean Cultures. Ref.
F 1406 .E515 2000
Contains more than 4,000 entries in three volumes. An initial series of articles
that survey each decade since the 1920's is followed by articles in aphabetical
order that range from brief entries to several pages long. Attempts to cover
all aspects of culture including politics, the arts, social developments, institutions,
sports, religion, and food and drink. Each country also has its own entry.
15. Encyclopedia
of Latin American History and Culture. Ref. F 1406 .E53
1996
Contains nearly 5,300 wide-ranging articles from lengthy essays on
various economic issues to short biographies of cultural figures. Includes
the history of all areas of the Western Hemisphere that had once
been part of the
Spanish Empire.
16. Encyclopedia
of Latin American Politics.Ref. F 1410 .E56 2002
Surveys the political histories of the twenty independent Latin American nations
and Puerto Rico. The country profiles include economic, political and social
information as well as entries on political figures, events, and organizations.
Includes bibliographies at the end of each chapter, a good index, and a glossary
of political and economic
terms.
17. Latin
America and the United States: A Documentary History. Ref.
F 1418 .L354 2000
A representative sample of important U.S. and Latin American documents, including
treaties, correspondence, memoirs, speeches, legislation, and doctrinal pronouncements.
18. Country
Studies (Area Handbooks). <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html>
This series, prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress
under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Department
of the Army, includes individual volumes for many countries, all with different
call numbers. The social, political, and economic conditions of the country
are described. Includes bibliographies. Also available in print.
In GEORGE, choose to do a title search for: [Name of Country]: A Country
Study. Located in Ref., Gov. Docs., and Main stacks.
19. Political
Chronology of the Americas. Ref. E 18.5 .P65 2001
Contains individual country profiles. Charts major events and memorable dates
in the political histories of the countries of Latin America.
20. Reference
Guide to Latin American History. Ref. F 1410 .R395 2000
Provides chronological information on significant events in Latin
American history. Includes a chronology, a thematic chronology and 300 biographical
essays on important individuals. A select bibliography of important resources
is also included.
21.South
America, Central America and the Caribbean. Ref. F 1406
.S68
A biennial publication, this book includes overviews of individual countries,
arranged alphabetically. Each overview provides historical, economic,
trade, and political information, much of it statistical. Current year
in Reference; earlier years in stacks.
22. U.S.
Latin American Policymaking: A Reference Handbook. Ref.
Z 1609.R4 U59 1995
This handbook examines the process of formulating and implementing U.S. policy
toward Latin America. Contains 19 original chapters providing interpretation
of the available literature on all areas of U.S.-Latin American policy. Treats
personalities, political parties, geographical area, and problems or topics
common to a number of countries. Indexed under broad headings.
23. UT-LANIC:
University of Texas-Latin American Network Information Center. <http://lanic.utexas.edu/>
"The objective of UT-LANIC is to provide Latin American users with access to
academic databases and information services throughout the Internet world, and
to provide Latin Americanists around the world with access to information on
and from Latin America."
C. Statistics
24. Economic
Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean. Ref. HC 161 .U525
Annual. Provides an assessment of the region's recent economic performance, economic
trends, and prospects for the near future. Analyzes main aspects of the economy,
including the external sector, levels of economic activity, inflation, employment,
saving, and investment. Also issued in Spanish.
25. International
Historical Statistics: The Americas 1750-2000. Ref.
HA 175 .M52 2003
Covering the countries of the Americas (North, South, and Central),
this work provides statistics on different topics, including population,
industry, trade,
finance, education, and national accounts. Arranged by broad subject
area.
26. Lexis-Nexis
Statistical.
Includes the Index to International Statistics (IIS), which since 1990 covers
statistical publications of major intergovernmental organizations, including
the UN, OAS, and development banks. The focus is on coverage of basic economic,
demographic, industrial, and social statistics.
27. Statistical
Abstract of Latin America. Ref. HA 931 .C3
Published annually, provides a wide range of data on such topics
as land use, transportation, population, labor force, industry, trade,
and government finance. Earlier
years, beginning with 1957, are shelved in the stacks.
28. Statistical
Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean. Ref. HA 755
.A68
Compiled by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, this
work gives statistical information on the region and on individual countries. Covers
population, industry, balance of payments, and social institutions.
29. Inter-American
Development Bank: Research Department. <http://www.iadb.org/res/>
This organization is one of the oldest and largest regional multilateral development
institutions. Its mission is to help accelerate economic and social development
in Latin America and the Caribbean. This page links to the Research Department's
publications on macroeconomics and trade, finance, labor, poverty and income
distribution, state and institutional reform, demographics and household economics,
and social services
A. GEORGE
Books on Latin American countries are listed by subject (as well as title and
author) in GEORGE,
the online catalog. To search by subject in GEORGE, use Library of Congress subject
headings; these headings are listed in the Library of Congress Subject Headings
(LCSH), the red volumes shelved in the dictionary stand near the Reference
Desk of Lauinger Library. Some of the types of subject headings you
can find include:
To find books on aspects of a particular country
Bolivia - Economic
Conditions
Bolivia - Foreign Relations
To find books on other specific topics related to a country
Art
- Bolivia
Education - Bolivia
To find books on several countries, an area, or a region
Latin America
Central America
Caribbean Area
To find books on organizations
Grupo de Contadora
Organization
of American States
You will probably want to search under several subject headings. If
you aren't finding what you want, try searching by keyword. This
type of search will retrieve words not only from the subject headings
section (where subject searches operate), but from the books' titles
and subtitles, their series titles, and, in some cases, a listing
of their contents. Remember to enter no more than two or three
words since keyword searches will retrieve only those records where
all these words appear.
B.
Other Libraries
30. Scholars'
Guide to Washington, D.C. for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Ref.
Z 1601 .G867 1992
One of a series of guides to doing research in the Washington, D.C. area. Descriptive
and evaluative entries for libraries, Washington-based organizations, and other
information sources which deal with Latin America and the Caribbean.
31. Library
of Congress. <http://catalog.loc.gov/>
32. WRLC
Catalog <http://catalog.wrlc.org/>
The catalog of the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC): George Washington,
American, Catholic, George Mason, Gallaudet, and Marymount Universities, the
University of the District of Columbia, and Georgetown University. Georgetown
students may borrow directly from WRLC libraries or request items via the WRLC
Catalog.
33. WorldCat
A catalog containing over 54 million records, representing
the holdings of thousands of libraries.
34. Clase and Periodica.
Clase indexes articles essays, book reviews, books,
conference proceedings, technical reports, interviews, and brief
notes published in Latin
American social sciences and humanities journals. Periodica indexes
similar documents from Latin American science and technology journals.
Includes scholarly journals published in Spanish, Portuguese, French
and English.
35. HAPI
Online - Hispanic American Periodical Index.
A subject and author index to periodicals of interest to Latin
Americanists. Most
articles are in Spanish or Portuguese, though some English language periodicals
are indexed. Also in print (Ref. Z1605 .H49). See also PRISMA (#38
below), which has full text of some titles.
36. Historical
Abstracts.
Since 1982 indexes and abstracts articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations
dealing with Latin American history (in fact, all non-U.S. world history) from
1450 to the present. For earlier years, use the printed version (Ref. D299
.H5).
37. PAIS International.
One of the best sources of current information on politics and international
affairs since 1915. Indexes not only journals, but also books and government
documents.
38. PRISMA
(Publicaciones y Revistas Sociales y Humanistica)
Mostly full-text scholarly journals in the social sciences
and humanities for the interdisciplinary academic study of Hispanic
and Latin America, and the Caribbean Basin. Offers key titles indexed
in the Hispanic
American Periodicals Index (HAPI) (#35 above).
39. Social
Sciences Index.
Since 1983 indexes the major scholarly journals in the social sciences, including
several of the Latin American Studies journals. For earlier years, see
the printed version (Ref. AI3 .R471).
40. Worldwide
Political Science Abstracts.
Indexes and abstracts articles from over 1,400 political science and
international relations journals.
41. HLAS
Online (Handbook of Latin American Studies). <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/ >
A selective annotated bibliography of scholarly works on Latin America. Works
reviewed include books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers
in the social sciences and the humanities. Also available in
print - Ref. Z 1605.H23.
42. Latin
America and the Caribbean: A Critical Guide to Research Sources. Ref.
Z 1601 .L3225 1992
Arranged by broad subject area (e.g., "Economics," "History"), this work provides
a brief annotation for each entry. Includes a subject index, plus author
and title indexes.
43. Latin
American Studies: A Basic Guide to Sources. Ref. Z
1601 .L324 1990
A basic handbook for researchers, compiled by a group of librarians. Discusses
major Latin American library collections worldwide, and describes how to use
them; also indicates major bibliographies available and notes other kinds of
reference sources.
| V. Other Indexes and Databases |
44. Political
Database of the Americas. <http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/>
A joint project of the Georgetown University Center for Latin American Studies
and the Organization of American States, includes political information on
all of the OAS members. Makes available constitutions, constitutional laws,
political parties, electoral laws, election data, and current information about
the politics of Latin America.
45. World
News Connection.
Provided by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Contains
translations of worldwide news and commentary from foreign television and radio
broadcasts, newspapers, and periodicals from July 1994 to the present. World
News Connection replaces Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). Use
the FBIS
Index for 1975-1996. Documents from 1978-mid 1990s are on microfiche
in the first floor in Government
Documents and Microforms.
46. Access
U.N.
Indexes U.N. documents back to 1944. Most U.N. documents are on microform and
are housed in the Government Documents and Microforms area on the first floor
of Lauinger. The "Readex
Year" field identifies documents included in the Readex microfiche collection
available in Government
Documents and Microforms.
| VI. U.S. & Latin American Government
Documents |
Publications of U.S. government departments and agencies, as well as Congress,
are kept in the Government Documents and Microforms collection on the first
floor. These documents are listed in GEORGE. Indexes, such as
MarciveWeb,
will help you identify relevant documents.
47.GPOAccess <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/>
Through GPOAccess the U.S. Government Printing Office provides free electronic
access to Federal Government Information. It also provides links to many government
sources, including Firstgov, the U.S.
Government's official web portal for dissemination of information.
48. Inter-American
Development Bank. <http://www.iadb.org>
One of the oldest and largest regional multilateral development institutions,
created to accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and
the Caribbean. The web page includes statistics and the full-text of
working papers and reports on a variety of topics; including agriculture, health,
education and finance. Full-text resources are located under the Research
Department and the Sustainable Development Department.
- 49. Latin
American and Caribbean Government Documents Project. <http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/ladocshome.html>
- "The Latin American Government Documents
Project, provided by David Block of the Olin Library of Cornell
University, attempts
to organize and describe the many Latin American official documents
now appearing on the Internet. The site is organized by country
and agency, within subject themes that include statistical sources,
executive documents, national legislative documents, national judicial
documents, and subnational documents."
50. Lexis-Nexis
Congressional.
Indexes and abstracts Congressional hearings, reports, and other documents.
51. MarciveWeb
- U.S. Government Documents.
Indexes publications issued by the U.S. Government Printing Office since 1976.
Can be searched by author, title, subject, and keyword.
52. UT-LANIC:
Government in Latin America. <http://lanic.utexas.edu/subject/government/>
Links to regional and country resources on Government, Human Rights, Law & Justice,
Military, Political Science, and Transparency & Corruption.
53. Andanzas
al Web Latino. http://lib.nmsu.edu/subject/bord/latino.html
Lists major gateways to Latin American economic, cultural and political information.
54. Buscopio. http://www.buscopio.net
Spanish directory of international search engines. Enables searching
by country and type of search engine.
55. CiberCentro. http://www.cibercentro.com/english/index.html
Lists country links as well as major search engines and directories from 20
Spanish-speaking countries. Particularly good for locating local information,
primarily in Spanish.
56. Latin
American and Caribbean Studies http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/lastudies/
57. UT-LANIC:
University of Texas-Latin American Network Information Center. http://lanic.utexas.edu/
58. WWW
Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources: Latin America. http://www.etown.edu/vl/latamer.html
Provides links to country-specific search engines and index pages, as well
as an annotated list of other useful Latin American web sites. Sponsored
by the Elizabethtown College and created by Professor Wayne A. Selcher.
Please
send us your comments or suggestions
Content updated: 11/07
JC
Links updated: 11/07
JC
I.
Background Sources