Learn how you can search Library Search or specific databases for books and articles in other languages. Many non-English books, films, and audio recordings that are held by the University Libraries can be browsed in Library Search. The World Languages & Literatures guide has detailed instructions and links for browsing in particular languages.
You can use filters within Library Search or other databases to find books and articles in another language. Library Search has a language limiter built into the filter bank on the left side (or under the filter icon on a mobile device). Click on “Language” to expand the filter and see all the available options. Clicking on the box to the left of the language will search for materials in that language. Clicking the red checked box to the right of the language will exclude materials in that language.
A portion of the available filters in Library Search. “Language” is enclosed in a red box to indicate its position among the filters. A number of languages are shown below, including English, German, Portuguese, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and more.
Here are some tips to try during your search if you are having trouble finding materials. You may need to try multiple searches or combinations of filters and keywords.
- Type your search terms in the language of interest and apply the language filter for that language.
- Search in English, but limit your results to a particular language in a search field.
- Diacritics may or may not be detected in your search. Type the search word without the diacritic. Example: El Niño — type as El Nino.
- Some articles may have an abstract or title in English but the article itself may be in another language. Look at the body of the article to be sure of the language.