Beginning with Volume 41 (1979), the University of Texas Press became the publisher of the Handbook of Latin American Studies, the most comprehensive annual bibliography in the field. Compiled by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress and annotated by a corps of more than 140 specialists in various disciplines, theHandbook alternates from year to year between social sciences and humanities.
The Handbook annotates works on Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Guianas, Spanish South America, and Brazil, as well as materials covering Latin America as a whole. Most of the subsections are preceded by introductory essays that serve as biannual evaluations of the literature and research underway in specialized areas.
The Handbook of Latin American Studies is the oldest continuing reference work in the field. Katherine D. McCann and Tracy North, of the Library of Congress Hispanic Division, became the Humanites Editor and Social Sciences Editor respectively in 2006.
The subject categories for Volume 62 are as follows:
- Art
- History (including ethnohistory)
- Literature (including translations from the Spanish and Portuguese)
- Music
- Philosophy: Latin American Thought
- Electronic Resources for the Humanities