Study Abroad: UNM Library Services & Resources

Quick Information

• BBC News Country Profiles - brief but useful country information
• BBC Religions -- it is useful to learn about religions that may be in the country you visit

From the U.S. Government

• U.S. Dept of State Country Info & Travel Alerts and Warnings: access Alerts or Warnings for your country as well as health, security and other basic information.  This site can be very helpful for pre-trip planning. 
• CIA World Factbook (CIA) basic facts and statistics about a country. The "Introduction" and "Transnational Issues" sections can be particularly interesting.
• Human Rights Reports (US Dept of State) great way to get an understanding of the issues facing a country related to human rights.
• U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheet (US Dept of State) links to country information including facts, statistics, key officials, human rights reports, and more.

More In-depth Profiles

In addition to the links above, visit this UNM Library research guide for more links to country profiles. 

These resources can give you an idea of manners and customs in a country and can be useful for understanding how to communicate and interact in another country/culture.

Websites

• Geert Hofstede's Cultural Country Comparisons Graphs Tool -- Dr. Hofstede created a way to discuss differences in national cultures by examining six different dimensions of culture.  This online tools lets you choose two different countries and compare.  Compare your home country to the country you will be visiting to identify areas that may be different.

• Executive Planet - business etiquette guides for a number of countries

Ebooks

Print Books

For more information visit the UNM Library's research guide with resources on Business Etiquette by Region.  

Watching feature films, documentaries, and traveler's videos on YouTube are good ways to learn about your country's history and culture - and perhaps help with language learning.  In addition to searching any streaming services to which you subscribe, UNM has a nice collection of foreign films in either DVD or via streaming that you can access for FREE.

To find our DVDs and many of our streaming titles, search the library catalog...

• enter your country name in the search box (plus related keywords)
• when the results display, limit to video formats by using the limit boxes on the left side of the screen (under the FORMAT box, click on the VIDEO limit) - you will see both DVDs and streaming titles.

You may also want to search the catalogs of some of our streaming services directly:

Learn about a country by becoming familiar with its music and arts. You can find lots of music by searching for your country name in YouTube, but the UNM Library also subscribes to several streaming music services that include global music as well as a great art/architecture image database. Check them out below!

To find lists of recommended books:

• consult a guide book about your country - they often have lists of books about the country
• Google for lists such as the ones below, with recommended books (fiction and non-fiction) about different countries.  Try Googling something like: books about Cambodia and when you find books you would like to read, search for them by title in the UNM Library catalog.
  • A Year of Reading the World: The List by Ann Morgan (196 countries) (and this subset of the bigger list with 49 countries) 
  • Top 10 Books about Cambodia (The Guardian)
  • 5 Korean Novels You Should Read Now (Vanity Fair)
  • 10 Books that Will Get You Excited for Costa Rica 
• ​consult world-famous librarian, Nancy Pearl's, book of recommended travel books: