Reference Resources

This is a multidisclipinary list of print sources such as subject encyclopedia(s), directories, handbooks, bibliographies, indexes, etc. covering the continent of Africa. Many sources in the Library's reference area overlap information on the African continent with the larger African Diaspora (peoples of African ethnicity in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Americas, and the Caribbean as well as Africa). With a few exceptions, for those sources of timeless importance, I have limited the pathfinder mainly to those sources from 1980 to the current time covering the continental African nations in general.

Most sources will be found in the Bird Library Reference area, 1st Floor. If there are other locations for reference sources such as the Library's Fine Arts Department (4th Floor, Bird), or the Martin Luther King Library (Sims Hall), those locations will be listed.

 

Encyclopedias

• Africa South of the Sahara. 2006. Call Number: DT352 .A37

• Encyclopedia of African history 2005. Location: Bird-Reference, 1st Floor Call Number: DT20 .E53 2005 Library has: v. 1 - v. 3

• Encyclopedia of African history and culture. 2001. Location: M.L. King Lib-Sims Call Number: DT3 .P27 2001 Library has: v.1-v.3

• Encyclopedia of twentieth-century African history. 2003. Call Number: DT29 .E53 2003.
  

• Encyclopedia of African peoples. 2000. Call Number: DT15 .E53 2000

• Africana : the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience. 1999. Locations: M.L. King Lib-Sims - Reference (does not circulate) Call Number: DT14 .A37435 1999

• Encyclopedia of Africa south of the Sahara. 1997. Call Number: DT351 .E53 1997 Library has: v.1-v.4.

• Encyclopedia of precolonial Africa : archaeology, history, languages, cultures, and environments. 1997. Call Number: DT2 .E53 1997.

• Encyclopedia of African nations and civilizations. 2002 Call Number: DT14 .E43 2002

• Middle East and North Africa. 2006. Call Number: DS49 .M51

Chronologies

• Pan-African chronology : a comprehensive reference to the Black quest for freedom in Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Asia. 1996 Call Number: E185.18 .J46 1996

              Library has vols. 1, 2

Guides

• Reference guide to Africa : a bibliography of sources. 1999. Locations: Bird-2nd Floor; M.L. King Lib-Sims Call Number: DT4 .K11 1999.

• Africa : a guide to reference material. 1993. Call Number: DT3 M15 1993.

• African studies companion : a guide to information sources. 2003 Call Number: DT19.8 .Z45 2003

• African studies thesaurus : subject headings for library users. Call Number: Z695.1.A37 O85 1992

Indexes/Abstracts

• Current bibliography on African affairs. Call number: Z3503 .C877

 

Reference Sources by subject areas

Anthropology

• African folklore : an encyclopedia. Call Number: GR350 .A33 2004

Geography

• African placenames : origins and meanings of the names for over 2000 natural features, towns, cities, provinces, and countries. Call Number: DT2 .R66 1994

Literature

• Bibliography of African Literatures. Call number: PN849 .A35 A38 1996

• A new bibliography of the lusophone literatures of Africa = Nova bibliografia das literaturas africanas de expressão portuguesa. Call Number: PQ9900.5 .M595 1993

• Companion to African Literatures. Call number: PR9340 .C65 2000

Media

• Directory of African film-makers and films. Location: Bird-4th Floor, Fine Arts ReferenceCall Number: PN1993.5.A35 S48 1992

 

Music

• The world of African music. Location: Bird-4th Floor, Fine Arts Reference Call Number: ML3502.5 .G73 1999

• African music : a pan-African annotated bibliography. Location: Bird-4th Floor, Fine Arts Reference Call Number: ML120.A35 L4 1991

Religion

• The Encyclopedia of African and African-American religions. 2001 Call Number: BL2462.5 .E53 2001