The Michael Baptista CERLAC Resource Centre Collection
The CERLAC Resource Centre contains extensive collections on a variety of themes. Holdings consist mostly of Spanish and English language publications and communications, with some material also in Portuguese and French, dating from the 1970s and extending up to the 1990s on some themes and up to the present on others.
Self-contained Libraries
The collection includes two unique self-contained libraries:
- The library of the Latin American Working Group/LAWG, a vast collection of
materials on human rights, popular organizations, Canadian solidarity
activities, and other issues from the 1970s to the 1990s, with particularly
extensive documentation on Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. LAWG also has a project called “The LAWG History Project/The LAWG Hay Camino History Project”. For information on that project click here. - The library of the International Commission for Coordination of Solidarity Among Sugar Workers (ICCSASW), a large collection of documents and publications on the world sugar industry, including labor organizations in the industry and much material on the Caribbean and Latin America, up to the turn of the 21st century.
Other Collections
In addition, the Resource Centre also contains:
- LAWG Corporation Files
- Collections of Major Journals (Academic and Political)
- Thematic collections, with particularly extensive sets of documents and reports on:
- Human Rights
- Church and Liberation Theology
- Solidarity with Latin America
- Latin Americans in Exile
- Women in Latin America
- Refugees/Migrants (in Spanish only)
- Indigenous Peoples
- Labour
- Trade Agreements
- Environment and Mining
The country sections of the Caribbean region, Central America, and South America include publications from the regions’ major research centers and universities.
Many of the publications of CERLAC Fellows and associated graduate students and post-graduate scholars are also available.
The collection is non-circulating but is available to students, faculty, and other researchers.
About the Michael Baptista CERLAC Resource Centre Collection naming:
Michael immigrated to Canada from South America. His drive and love of learning at York University led to his outstanding achievement as an Executive Senior VP of a Canadian Bank. We hope others find their goals and wings here. Dedicated by his family in 2024.