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Language learning: Books & multimedia

A guide to Library resources for those learning a new language
You can access language learning books and multimedia in the Library building, and online.
  • The language learning books and multimedia are on the 3rd Floor of the Library.
  • Large sized books are shelved separately from other books, for practical reasons. You will find your key section (the 400s) in both large and normal sized sections.
  •  A large number of films in their original language are on the 3rd Floor, shelved at 791.437.
  • View the 3rd Floor plan (PDF)

To find out if a specific book is in the Library you just need to check the Enterprise catalogue (search box below). Enter the author's surname and one or two words from the title:

For example: bissar foundations french will find the location of the book Foundations French 1, edited by Dounia Bissar, Helen Phillips & Cécile Tschirhart.

You can also search Enterprise for a topic, to find related books.

Finding books

Finding printed books and e-books

Search the Enterprise catalogue to find specific books or books on a topic.

 

Finding online book chapters

To find online book chapters on a topic search the Summon discovery service:

Book locations in the Library

3rd Floor

420

General books about the English language

423

Dictionaries (most in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

425

English grammars

428.24

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

428.6

Easy readers

   

791.437

English language films on DVD

4th Floor
 

820

English literature

   
3rd Floor

430

General books about the German language

433.2

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

435

German grammars

438.24

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

438.6

Easy readers

   

791.437

German language films on DVD

4th Floor
 

830

German literature

   
3rd Floor 

440

General books about the French language

443.2

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

445

French grammars

448.24

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

448.6

Easy readers

   

791.437

French language films on DVD

4th Floor
 

840

French literature

   
3rd Floor

450

General books about the Italian language

453.2

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

455

Italian grammars

458.24

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

458.6

Easy readers

   

791.437

Italian language films on DVD

4th Floor
 

850

Italian literature

   
3rd Floor 

460

General books about the Spanish language

463.2

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

465

Spanish grammars

468.24

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

468.6

Easy readers

   

791.437

Spanish language films on DVD

4th Floor
 

860

Spanish literature

   
3rd Floor

469.32

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

469.824

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

   

791.437

Portuguese language films on DVD

   
3rd Floor

491.732

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

491.75

Russian grammars

491.7824

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

   

791.437

Russian language films on DVD

4th Floor
 

891.7

Russian literature

   
3rd Floor 

489.3

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

 

Modern Greek grammars

 

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

 

Easy readers

   

791.437

Greek language films on DVD

   
3rd Floor 

470

General books about Latin

473.2

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

475

Latin grammars

478.242

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

478.6

Easy readers

4th Floor

 

870

Latin literature

   
3rd Floor

492.732

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

492.75

Arabic grammars

492.78242

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

   

791.437

Arabic language films on DVD

   
3rd Floor

495.132

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

495.1824

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

   

791.437

Chinese language films on DVD

   
3rd Floor

495.632

Dictionaries (including in the 3rd Floor Dictionaries section)

495.65

Japanese grammars

495.6824

Textbooks for learners, including multimedia

   

791.437

 

Japanese language films on DVD

   

Getting books not held at Reading

Our Inter-Library Loans service can get books not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).

For more information see our webpages:

New books

Using e-books

You can read e-books online, through the Library catalogue Enterprise. Use the Enterprise search boxes on this page to find books on your topic.

Accessing online Library resources

If you are on campus you will be able to access most e-journals and e-books, and some databases, without entering a username and password because your IP address identifies you as being at the University of Reading.

For any that require a login, see the Off-campus tab.

Terms of Use

When you use our e-resources you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Please take a moment to look at these by following the link below:

When you are off-campus you will need to login to identify yourself as a member of the University of Reading to gain access to our protected databases, e-books and e-journals. 

Your login details

You login in the same way as for Blackboard - via Microsoft. Just enter your University username followed by @student.reading.ac.uk (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk) and your password. If this is the first time you have logged in via this method when off-campus you will be asked to complete a Multi-Factor Authentication. For more information see:

Getting to the login page...

  • For most resources, if you follow a link from our website or catalogues your login will be picked up automatically or you will be prompted to login straightaway. 
  • If you access resources via another route you will need to look for a login option once you reach the resource you are trying to access. Look for an institutional or shibboleth login option and pick 'University of Reading' from a list of institutions. This will then pick up your login or prompt you to login. For more information about institutional login, please see the link below:
Logging in to Library resources

Watch this short video on how you login to use Library resources.

If you are unable to view this video on YouTube it is also available on YuJa - view the Logging in to the Library video on YuJa (University username and password required)

Video, image and sound for all topics