Romance Studies

Opening hours

 

The Romance Studies Library is part of the Unitobler Library

Services

The Romance Studies Library is primarily intended for members of the university, students and other experts in the specialist area covered. Other interested persons are requested to register beforehand.

For general information about infrastructure, borrowing and returning, courier, information and research assistance please visit the website of the Unitobler Library.

Infrastructure

  • 41 long-term study spaces which can be rented for one semester; all of them are equipped with additional mobile file cabinets.
    Further information on renting study spaces and mobile file cabinets can be found here.
    Requests for study spaces and mobile file cabinets can be made using the following form.
    An overview map shows the layout of the study spaces in the Romance Studies Library.
  • 24 study spaces for daily use
  • 2 online catalog terminals
  • 1 self-lending terminal
  • 1 Uniprint device (on the 4th floor next to the staircase)

Interlibrary loans

The interlibrary loan service of the University Library Bern will help find any documents that are not available at the University Library or that cannot be ordered in other swisscovery-libraries. This service is liable to a fee, which will depend on the location of the available document.

Library introductions

Brief library introductions are offered at the beginning of the fall semester (one for French, one for Italian and one for Spanish students). Dates are announced at the beginning of the semester and posted on the noticeboards (third and fourth floors).

The subject librarian for Romance studies offers one-hour tutorials on how to use the catalog (fall semester) and on how to search databases (spring semester). Dates are communicated during the lectures at the beginning of the semester and posted on the noticeboards (third and fourth floors).

Please register for individual guided tours and tutorial at other times with the library staff.

Bibliothek Romanistik

Collection

The Romance Studies Library holds around 130,000 volumes, with an annual increase of approximately 1,200 volumes. The entire collection is listed in swisscovery University and PH Bern. You will also find around 250 subscribed journals in the library and at various special locations, which can also be found in swisscovery. The library's special collection of films and sound recordings can only be viewed at the inquiry terminal in the library; these non-books can only be borrowed by staff of the Institute of Romance Languages and Literatures and students of Romance Studies.

Acquisition proposals can be submitted using a form (please select the Romance Studies Library as the destination).

Collection priorities:

  • the sub-library of the two departments of the Institute of French Language and Literature focuses on works of and about French literature, French linguistics and French history.
  • works on Spanish literature as well as South American and Catalan literature and Spanish philology can be found in the sub-library of the Institute of Spanish Language and Literatures (literature department).
  • the sub-library of the Institute of Italian Language and Literature (literature department) contains both books about Italian literature as well as general works about the culture of the language area as in other sub-libraries.
  • the sub-library of the former Institute of Romance Studies and the Karl Jaberg Library that was founded from a donation by the scholar who worked in Bern until 1945 offer an overview of the Romance languages and their dialects as well as Old French and Vulgar Latin literature.

The six sub-libraries are each identifiable by their own classification:

Faculty Library Shelfmark Prefix in the Online Catalog Shelf Label
Romance philology** RO light blue
Jaberg Library JAB dark blue
French linguistics LAF yellow
French literature LIF green
Spanish literature ESP red
Italian literature IT pink

* The shelfmark prefix is NOT visible on the book shelfmark.

** Spanish and Italian linguistics form part of the Romance Philology sub-library.

Contacts

Head

Librarians

Subject librarians