In this work we study the spectral properties (3600–6800 Å) of the nuclear region of early-type galaxies at low (), intermediate (including surroundings of the Magellanic Clouds) and high (South Polar Cap) Galactic latitudes. We determine the  reddening values of the galaxies by matching their continuum distribution with respect to those of reddening-free spectral galaxy templates with similar stellar populations. We also compare the spectroscopic reddening value of each galaxy with that derived from 100 μm dust emission () in its line of sight, and we find that there is agreement up to . Beyond this limit  values are higher. Taking into account the data up to , we derive a calibration factor of 0.016 between the spectroscopic  values and Schlegel et al.'s ([CITE]) opacities. By combining this result with an A_K extinction map built within ten degrees of the Galactic centre using Bulge giants as probes (Dutra et al. [CITE]), we extended the calibration of dust emission reddening maps to low Galactic latitudes down to and (). According to this new calibration, a multiplicative factor of ≈0.75 must be applied to the COBE/IRAS dust emission reddening maps.