LATIN AMERICAN DATABASES: AN ANALYSIS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

An interest in the identification, organisation and dissemination of local and regional information has promoted the development and production of databases in Latin America. For those Latin Americanists engaged in the study of the social sciences and humanities, these databases liave become a valuable tool, facilitating access to information unavailable by other means. However, these databases are frequently unknown to their potential users. In this paper, the results are presented of an analysis made of 476 Latin American databases in the social sciences and humanities, produced in 21 countries. The variables studied refer to country of origin, subject, type of database and access, number of records, time span, geographical coverage and language of the data, as well as the institutions involved in their production. Problems of user access and visibility are discussed. The use of the regional databases as an important support for Latin American studies is also emphasised.