This research guide describes basic information on library and information resources related to African American Studies, as provided by University Libraries and/or sites on the World Wide Web.

1. To Shelf-Browse for Books (using main Library of Congress Subject Divisions)

Books on subjects associated with this field are shelved under the call number ranges listed below. Use TOPCAT to search for specific items in the collection, or more narrowly-defined subjects.

African Americans: E184.5-E185.98 ------- Education: LC2701-LC2853 ------- Music: M1670-M1671 ------- Art: N6538.N5 ------- Media: P94.5.A37, PN1992.8 .A34, PN1995.9.N4 ------- Health: HB1323.B5, RA448.5.N4, RC451.5.N4

2. To Find Journal and Magazine Articles (using indexing/abstracting/full-text services)

The following are recommended for courses for first-year students and non-majors:

• (EBSCOhost) Academic Search Premier: Covers over 1,250 journals in social science, humanities, general science, etc. Many articles in full text.
• (EBSCOhost) MasterFILE Premier: Covers over 1,830 periodicals in nearly all subjects including general reference. Many articles in full text.
• Google Scholar: A free Web-based Google service that restricts searches to the scholarly literature. Now features linking to full-text of articles held by WKU.

The following are recommended for use by advanced students and researchers:

• America: History and Life (ABC-CLIO): Since 1964, the premiere database covering the history of the United States, and Historical Abstracts (ABC-CLIO): Since 1954, the premiere database covering history since 1450 (excluding Canada and the United States). In addition to articles includes 3,000 citations annually to useful historical books reviewed by leading historical journals and citations to abstracts of dissertations.
• Art and Humanities Citation Index (AHSearch): FirstSearch database available to faculty and graduate students (and to undergraduate students by special permission) that indexes over 1,300 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, 1980 to present.
• ArticleFirst: FirstSearch database available to faculty and graduate students (and to undergraduate students by special permission). Indexes almost 13,000 journals and magazines from 1990 onward, including some ninety percent of the ones University Libraries carries in hardcopy.
• JSTOR: Provides the full text/full image web access of the complete archival collections of over 150 (and growing) core scholarly journals up to the most recent three to five years.
• Project Muse: Scholarly journals online, in full-text.

The following service is useful in locating biographical information:

• Biography and Genealogy Master Index (Gale Group): BGMI is a comprehensive index to more than 12.7 million biographical sketches in more than 3,400 volumes of current and retrospective reference books. Campus access only.

The following sources are useful in locating reviews of historical books:

• Book Review Index (Ref Z1035 A1 B6): Since 1965, BRI has been the leading general guide to reviews of thousands of books appearing in over 500 publications from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Each annual includes more than 40,000 reviews.
• Books in Print with Reviews: Lists 2.5 million books in print, out of print, or forthcoming, and provides 500,000 full text reviews from Choice, Library Journal, Booklist, and other library review media.
• See also: America: History and Life; Historical Abstracts; Arts and Humanities Search (FirstSearch); Humanities Abstracts (FirstSearch).

Special resource:  TDNet Electronic Journal Finder [use to access Libraries' electronic journals, magazines, and newspapers, as well as some indexes and databases containing full-text articles; includes a comprehensive A-Z listing of titles]
Special resource:  KenCat [A searchable catalog of the collections at the Kentucky Library & Museum. KenCat includes manuscripts, letters, sheet music, photographs, museum exhibits, images, journals, and books.]

3. Major African American-Related Reference Works in the Helm Library

The following are recommended for use:

• African American Historic Places. The Preservation Press. Ref. E 185 .A2534 1994
• Afro-American Encyclopedia. 10 vols. Educational Book Publishers. Ref. E 185. A28
• Afro USA: a Reference Work on the Black Experience. Bellwether Publishing Co. Ref. E 185 .P55 1971
• Almanac of African American Heritage. Prentice Hall Press. Ref. E 185 .A448 2001
• Contemporary Black Biography. 8 vols. Gale Research Inc. Ref. E 185.96 .C66
• Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 5 vols. Simon & Schuster. Ref. E 185 .E54 1996
• Historical Statistics of Black America. 2 vols. Gale Research Inc. Ref. E 185 .H543 1995
• Reference Library of Black America. 5 vols. Gale Research Inc. Ref E 185 .R435x 1994
• The African-American Yellow Pages. Henry Holt and Company. Ref E 185 .A2575 1996
• The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America. 3 vols. M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Ref. E 185.61 .E544 1998
• The Evolution of African American Studies. University Press of America. Ref. E 184.7 .C66 1995
• The Negro in American History. 3 vols. Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corp. Ref. E 185.N4

Education

• Black American Colleges and Universities. Gale Research Inc. Ref. LC 2781 .H54 1994
• Encyclopedia of African-American Education. Greenwood Press. Ref. LC 2717 .E53 1996
• The African American Educational Data Book. 3 vols. Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute. Ref. LC 2717 .N47x 1997

Art

• Afro-American Artists. Boston Public Library. Ref. N 6538. N5 C42
• The Black Artist in America: An Index to Reproductions. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Ref. N 6538. N5 T46 1991

• Blacks in American Films and Television. Garland Publishing, Inc. Ref PN 1995.9 .N4 B58 1988
• Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Ref. PN 1995.9 .N4S2 1995
• Black Women in Television: An Illustrated History and Bibliography. Garland Publishing, Inc. Ref. PN 1992.8 .A34 H55 1990

4. African American Studies Faculty

The African American Studies website describes the minor and details courses and requirements, lists all African American Faculty, contains links to other colleges and universities with African American Studies programs, and has a calendar of events. http://www.wku.edu/afam/bios.htm

5. Related Professional Societies (for professional news, careers/jobs, memberships, etc.)

• African National Congress http://www.anc.org.za/
• African Studies Association http://www.africanstudies.org/
• Black Caucus of the American Library Association http://www.bcala.org/
• Blacks In Government http://bignet.org/
• Congressional Black Caucus http://www.thecongressionalblackcaucus.com/
• NAACP http://www.naacp.org/
• National Association of African American Studies http://www.naaas.org/

• The Western Journal of Black Studies http://www.wsu.edu/~wjbs/
• Empower Encyclopedia http://www.empowerencyclopedia.com/
• African American History and Studies http://www.academicinfo.net/africanam.html
• Gary's Black Links Page http://www.homeworkhelppage.com/afro_american_links2.htm
• "How to Do Research Papers on African-American Studies," by Donna L. Gilton. http://www.wku.edu/~john.hardin/Guide.htm

American Politics & Public Administration:

• Bowling Green http://www.bgky.org/
• Ky Long-Term Policy Research Cntr/Legislative Research Comm. http://www.kltprc.net
• Gov. & Politics Sites (UNC-Greensboro) http://library.uncg.edu/depts/docs/us/index.asp
• Center for American Women & Politics (Rutgers) http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cawp/

University Libraries Liaison: Jack Montgomery (x6156 / jack.montgomery@wku.edu)
last updated 4/23/2008