Online records for more than 17,000 Portuguese and Brazilian books and pamphlets are available in the WRLC Catalog, the online catalog of the Washington Research Libraries Consortium (SearchBox), and in the WorldCat database of the Online Computer Library Center. The library’s collections are non-circulating. Finding aids to the Oliveira Lima Family Papers and to the manuscripts, art, and photograph collections are available in the library.

Researchers may also refer to the two-volume Catalog of the Oliveira Lima Library (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1970), which reproduces 30,000 entries from the library's card catalog, and the Bibliographical and Historical Description of the Rarest Books in the Oliveira Lima Collection at the Catholic University of America, compiled by Ruth E.V. Holmes (Washington: Catholic University of America, 1926), comprising 209 entries. These publications provide a glimpse of the collection but do not encompass all of the library's holdings.

There are restrictions, imposed by the wills of Manoel de Oliveira Lima and of Mrs. Lima, on the use of the library's materials. The most important restriction prohibits the removal of any item from the premises. Under the circumstances, the library does not participate in the interlibrary loan program but will supply, at the Curator's discretion, photographic reproductions of any requested work.

From 2022, over 6,000 digital copies of most of the Oliveira Lima Library’s 19th- and 20th-century pamphlets as well as monographs and rare books in the Oliveira Lima Library are open to public via OLL Digital Portal.

Location

The Oliveira Lima Library is located on the garden level of Mullen Library, the university's main library, 1.5 blocks from the Brookland/Catholic University of America station on the Metro's Red Line.

Metro Directions

  1. Take the Red Line train to Brookland-CUA.
  2. Follow the signs for Catholic University to exit via the left (west) side of the station.
  3. At top of the escalator, follow the path to the entrance for the university.
  4. Cross John McCormack Road and continue up the hill; John K. Mullen Memorial Library is the large building at the top of the hill.
  5. Go left around the building to the main entrance.
  6. As you enter you will be asked to present a photo I.D.

Driving Directions

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