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Aula Máxima es la biblioteca y también lugar de recreo del espíritu.   - José Vasconcelos


 

 
Signage
Send us your questions, and your own signage suggestions! We'll share them here. For more ideas, see the shelf labels in SOL 30, and Tony Lozano's excellent bilingual library science dictionary and glossary.
To maximize clarity, don't be afraid to supplement these with pictograms.  This goes for signage in any language.

A note on pronouns
Many of these signs were lifted from guides published by  library agencies in Mexico and Spain. The texts use the friendly & familiar form that corresponds to rather than the deferential & more distant usted. You'll have to decide how best to address your patrons; the ideal process would be to ask several local native Spanish speakers for guidance. If you go the more formal route, change the tus to sus and the te to le in the signs pictured below.

Hours

Many people from outside the U.S. are familiar with the (far less ambiguous) 24-hour system. Note that names of days of the week are not normally capitalized in Spanish.

Hours: 10am to 8pm


Horario:
10:00 a 20:00 horas
 

 

We're open 10am to 8pm, M-F; 10am to 6pm Saturdays

Abrimos lunes a viernes
de 10 A.M. a 8 P.M.,
sábados de 10 A.M. a 6 P.M.

 

We're waiting for you from 10am to 8pm

Te esperamos de
10:00 a 20:00

 

The Suggestion Box

If you want to put such a box in your Spanish-language sectionand why wouldn't youyou can label the box itself this way:

Buzón de Sugerencias

 

And if you'd like to add an encouraging message, try one of these:

We're interested in your suggestions

Nos interesan tus sugerencias

 

Your suggestions help us to improve

Tus sugerencias nos
ayudan a mejorar

 

Places and people in the library

Children's room

Sala Infantil

 

,,,or, this is cute: Little people's corner

Rincón de los pequeños

 

Circulation  or  checkout

Préstamo

 

Note that some parts of the Spanish-speaking world favor consulta for what we call "reference," and others prefer referencia.  You could kill all birds with one stone if you put up a reference / information desk sign like this:

Reference

Consulta, referencia, e información

 

 Spanish has a real nice word for the periodicals section of a library; it's called the hemeroteca.  But if you don't want to be a show-off, nor to befuddle people,  you might prefer to use everyday language such as Magazines and newspapers

Magazines & newspapers

Revistas y periódicos

 

By the same token, it wouldn't be wrong to use Ficción or Literatura narrativa for your fiction section.  But why not try words that everybody knows, such as "novels and stories" ?

Fiction

Novelas y cuentos

 

And here again, there are choicesyou could call them Libros de información:

Nonfiction

No ficción

 

Books on tape

Audiolibros

 

Emergency exit

Salida de emergencia

 

Bathrooms

Baños

 

Copies

Copias

 

Adults

Adultos

 

Young adults

Jóvenes

 

Kids

Niños

 

New books

Nuevos libros

 

New items, recent acquisitions

Nuevas adquisiciones

 

Hey!  Don't do that!

Keep out

Prohibido el paso

 

No smoking

Prohibido fumar

 

Please don't reshelve books

Favor de no reponer los libros en los estantes

 

Sssshhh!

Silencio

 

 


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