Central Library will be closed Friday, November 1.

The International Languages Department

Located on Level One (L1) of the Tom Bradley Wing: Department Map

Phone: 213-228-7125 | Fax: 213-228-7129 | E-mail (form)

Department Staff

  • Tina Princenthal, Department Manager | 213-228-7009
  • Vi Ha, Senior Librarian | 213-228-7132

Materials & Collections

The International Languages Department is one of the largest and finest multi-language resource centers in a North American public library. Its collection is comprised of 260,000 books, audiobooks and DVDs, 250 magazines and newspapers in print and microform, 3,500 language learning CDs and DVDs, and 1,000 travel posters.

The core of the department's materials includes literature, poetry, drama, history, biography and fiction in 30 different languages.

The Language collection is current and historical in scope and is identified by a letter code as the first part of the call number:

LanguageCodeLanguageCode
ArabicArJapaneseJ
ArmenianAKoreanK
BengaliBeLatvianL
ChineseChLithuanianLi
Czech & SlovakCzNorwegianN
DanishDPersianPe
DutchDuPilipinoPil
FinnishFiPolishPol
FrenchFPortuguesePo
GermanGRussianRu
GreekGrSerbian & CroatianS-C
HebrewHSpanishS
HindiHiSwedishSw
HungarianHuVietnameseV
ItalianIYiddishY

In addition, dictionaries, phrase books and easy readers are available in over 500 languages and dialects of the world.

Selected Resources

  • Bilingual English-Spanish Material (PDF)
  • Ethnic Information
  • Linguistics
  • Literary Criticism
  • Multi-Language Magazines
  • Reader's Advisory
  • Requests for customized deposit collections of books in available languages can be made by LAPL branches.

Tours (Bilingual)

Bilingual Tours of the Central Library, which include a 30-minute architectural tour of the building and a bilingual orientation to the International Languages Department, can be arranged by calling the Docent Office at 213-228-7055. Please specify what language(s) is/are being requested.

Services

Reference inquiries can be made in person, by phone, or by fax to the department. Mail requests can be directed to:

International Languages Department
Los Angeles Public Library
630 West 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071

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