foreign language collectionsThe UCSB Library collects materials in a variety of languages, with an emphasis on collecting materials in languages that are taught at the university. See our guide to Finding Materials in Foreign Languages for tips on how to locate these materials.

East Asian Languages

We have extensive holdings in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. These include monographs, serials, and videos.  The books and journals are shelved in the East Asian Collections on the 5th floor, Ocean Side of the UCSB Library, while videos are shelved in the Media Collection on the 2nd floor, Ocean Side. In addition, we have a significant collection of online books, journals, and newspapers in these languages. 

The Library also has a small collection of books in Tibetan which are shelved in the Tibetan Studies Room on the 2nd floor, Ocean Side of the UCSB Library. These materials are available by special permission from the Religious Studies Librarian.

European Languages

Our largest European language collections are in Spanish, French, German, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, ancient Greek, and ancient Latin.  We also have materials in Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Yiddish, and other European languages. Materials in these languages are shelved in the main collections.

Middle Eastern Languages

The emphasis of our Middle Eastern language collections is on materials in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. We also have small collections in Aramaic/Syriac, Armenian, and Turkish. Materials in these languages are shelved in the main collection.