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Other Arts and Social Sciences Library staff can answer your more general library queries.
The majority of the French collections can be found in the Arts and Social Sciences Library.
Information about opening hours, borrowing limits, fines at the ASSL.
Some books on cultural theory are located in the Geographical Services Library.
Information about other branches.
See our Library collections and eResources pages for details of our more general printed and online resources.
Search the library's online catalogue to find printed books and e-books. If you cannot find books published before 1978 on the online catalogue, please consult the Card Catalogue Online.
Search our eJournals catalogue for access to online journals provided by the library. Printed journals can be found by using the library's online catalogue.
These can be found on the second floor of the Arts and Social Sciences Library. A viewing room is available. Please enquire about bookings at the attendants' desk on the ground floor.
Essential for research, the library subscribes to a to a wide range of databases for French. See the 'Subject resources' tab on these subject pages for more information.
Rare and valuable items can be found in our Special Collections Department.
The Arts and Social Sciences Library holds microfiche and microfilm collections covering a range of subjects. These, and microform readers, are located on the first floor of the Arts and Social Sciences Library.
The library has collections of theses and past examination papers.
Access to other academic libraries is often possible via the SCONUL Access scheme. The British Library may issue Reader Passes to researchers, subject to restrictions.
The Inter-Library Loans (ILL) service can be used to obtain Items not held in print in the University's branch libraries or available online. There is a charge for this service, though it may be possible to obtain an Inter-library loan voucher to pay for this:
MetaLib: your resource gateway provides access to a vast range of online resources, including databases, search engines, subject gateways, and selected Internet resources.
The following resources are available in the Arts and Social Sciences Library.
Dictionaries
Collins Robert French dictionary, 9th ed. (2010
Oxford language dictionaries online (online dictionary available via MetaLib)
Le petit Robert (2010)
Many other monolingual French dictionaries are available at PC2625; bilingual English-French dictionaries at PC2640.
Grammars
Le bon usage: grammaire française, 14th ed. (2007) [older editions also available]
A reference grammar of French (2011)
Many other grammars of French are available at PC2111.
Literature
The new Oxford companion to literature in French (1995)
Dictionnaire des littératures de langue française, updated ed. [4 vols] (1994)
Review journals can be a very good way of keeping abreast of current developments in your areas of interest. See, for example, French studies, Modern language review and The year's work in modern language studies. These titles are available via the library's online catalogue and eJournals catalogue.
Research bibliography for French (PDF, 304 KB)
Probably the most troublesome are abbreviated journal titles as they can make finding a journal difficult.
To find journal title abbreviations you could try:
If you are unable to find a title or journal title abbreviation you are looking for please ask a member of the Library staff.
EndNote is the University of Bristol's recommended bibliographical management software, which can be used to collect, store, organise and manage references, and to output them as reference lists or bibliographies. A particularly useful function is 'Cite While You Write', enabling you to format Word documents, producing bibliographies and adding references within the text.
Updated 2 September 2013 by the University Library
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