The University of Kansas Libraries

Electronic Resources for African Studies

Africa-Related Web Guides

• A-Z of African studies on the Internet : a directory of Africa & African Studies / prepared by Peter Limb, Africana Bibliographer, Michigan State University Libraries, and Ibra Sene, Dept. of History, Michigan State University.

  This guide/directory consists of a comprehensive compilation of Internet sites, email discussion lists, and many other electronic resources relevant to the study of Africa.  Access is alphabetical by topic and by site title.

• Africa south of the Sahara : selected Internet resources / prepared by Karen Fung, African Studies Bibliographer, Stanford University.

  This is one of the best web guides providing access to electronic resources on Africa.  Entries are well annotated and access by topic or geographically by country or region is provided.  The section by topic includes 36 categories, including art, business, email discussion groups, journals and newspapers, libraries and archives, current events, and many more. Highly recommended.

• Africa web links : an annotated resource list / comp. by Ali B. Ali-Dinar, University of Pennsylvania.

  Provides links to many Internet sites organized by topic, with very useful annotations for each site.

• African Studies Companion.  Comp. by Hans Zell.

  "A compact, timesaving, and annotated guide to print and electronic information sources, facilitating easy access to a wide range of information in the African studies field". – Pref.  Paper copy of 4^th edition is available in Watson reference;  includes a guide to using Google Scholar for conducting  web searches on Africa.  Electronic version is accessible via the University of Kansas  Information Gateway.

• African studies Internet resources / prepared by Joseph Caruso, African Studies Librarian, Columbia University.

  Another excellent Internet site, particularly for research-related resources on Africa.  Includes access to electronic resources by region, by organization (e.g. conferences, international organizations, scholarly associations, etc.) by topic, by format, and other means.  This site is especially useful for its thorough listing of Africa-related electronic journals and newspapers. Provides good coverage of electronic sources on francophone Africa.

• Web resources for the study of Africa / prepared by Gretchen Walsh, African Studies Librarian, Boston University.

  This site is especially useful for its evaluation of various web-based research strategies and for its informative annotations.  Includes notes on "What is the Web?" and criteria for evaluating a good web site.

News Reports About Africa

• AllAfrica.com

  This site claims to be the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide, with over 1,000 news stories posted per day in English and French.  Includes top headlines, latest news, country news, and topical news searches.  Boolian search strategies can be performed on the Google search engine provided on the site, enabling one to perform a search by topic AND country (e.g. books and Botswana).

• Electronic Newspapers on Africa / comp. by Joseph Caruso, African Studies Librarian, Columbia University.

  A very thorough multilingual list of approx. 150 newspapers published in Africa or with African content, all of which are available without subscription.  Includes newspapers published in English, French, and Arabic, with selected entries for newspapers in other languages.  The site can be searched by country.   

• Foreign Broadcast Information Service electronic index, 1975-1996

  An index to the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports issued by the U.S. government covering political, economic, scientific, and cultural issues and events.  Available to University of Kansas users only through the University of Kansas Information Gateway.

• United Nations IRIN Africa service

  News features available from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; searchable by region, country, or theme.

• World News Connection

  This resource is a successor to the Daily Reports from the FBIS and the reports from the Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS).  Content focuses primarily on military, political, environmental, scientific, technical, and socioeconomic issues and is compiled from non-U.S. media sources.  Available to University of Kansas users only through the University of Kansas Information Gateway.

Indexes and Databases

• AfricaBib.Org

  The site includes two databases, Africa Women’s Bibliographic Database, and African Periodical Literature Bibliographic Database.  The former has citations on English language articles, monographs, conference papers, theses, etc. published since 1986.  The latter provides access to citations to articles published in 450 English-language journals since the mid-19^th century to date.  Both databases are searchable by region, country, pre-determined subject categories, and by keyword.

• African Newspapers Union List (AFRINUL)

  A cooperative Africana library project sponsored by the Africana Librarians Council and the Center for Research Libraries.  The database includes holdings information for newspapers in all formats and languages published in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Includes input from sixteen Africana libraries. 

• African Studies Abstracts Online

  Published quarterly, providing an overview of journal articles and edited works on the social sciences and humanities.  Annotations are lengthy and very useful. Succeeds the printed abstracts journal of the African Studies Centre, Leiden, since 1968 first as Documentatieblad, then as African Studies Abstracts (Z3501 .L37 Watson Library Reference). Click on the ‘Library’ tab, then place the curser over  ‘catalogue search’ and choose “English”   This will bring up a search screen with multiple field search capability.  

• Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Catalog

  Includes extensive Africana materials collected by the Cooperative Africana Microform Project (CAMP) over the past several decades.  Includes African newspapers, government documents, research reports, African dissertations, field notes, esoteric journals, statistical sources, and rare books filmed for preservation from the Michigan State University and Northwestern University Africana collections.

• eHRAF

  A cross-cultural database that contains over 350,000 pages of information indexed to the paragraph level, including information on cultural values and behaviors of each ethnic group included in the database.  Also includes a cultural profile and list of sources indexed.  Based on the Human Relations Area Files, a non-profit project established at Yale University.  Available to University of Kansas users only through the University of Kansas Information Gateway.

• ISI Emerging Markets

  Full-text news sources, financial data, statistics and legal information.  A multilingual (Arabic, English, French) collection of news and information sources about the emerging markets of various African countries.  Coverage is best for North Africa (except Algeria) and for Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.  All other African countries are grouped together under ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’.  Available to University of Kansas users only through the University of Kansas Information Gateway.

• Lexis Nexis Academic

  Provides access to full-text news sources for current events and retrospectively for the last 20 years; full-text federal, state, and international legal materials; full-text and abstracted medical and health information, and general information sources.  Available to University of Kansas users only through the University of Kansas Information Gateway. 
  NB: The next release of this database, due in June 2007, will include the BBC Monitoring Service and the Economic Intelligence Unit country reports and profiles for all African countries.

• Quarterly index of African periodical literature

  An electronic index of over 300 selected periodicals, published in 29 African countries, that are acquired and indexed by the Nairobi Overseas Office of the Library of Congress.  Coverage includes countries in the eastern, central, and southern regions of the continent. West Africa and North Africa are excluded. This index is also available to KU patrons in microform and in paper editions.

Electronic Journal Aggregations

• African e-Journals Project

  Includes a collection of thirteen electronic journals with back and current issues available online. The user should note that these journals are not covered in the alphabetical list available on the Columbia University site.

• African magazines, journals, and newsletters on the Internet. Comp. by Karen Fung, Stanford University.

  An extensive collection of electronic resources, with annotation for each entry indicating accessibility, source, and other pertinent user information. Available as a topical search in the larger site, "Africa south of the Sahara : selected Internet resources."

• African Journals Online (AJOL)

  Brings African scientific journals to a wider audience by publishing their current contents on the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) web site.  Citations and abstracts are provided, with a document delivery service available by subscription.

• University of Kansas Libraries.  E-Journals  

  From the University of Kansas Libraries homepage, click on E-journals for list of titles, with keyword and title search capability. 

Online Library Catalogs and Research Guides

• Boston University Libraries.  African Studies Library.  Created by Gretchen Walsh. 

  Includes extensive notes on the scope of the African studies library collections, general purpose of the collection, scope of coverage for languages, geographical areas, chronological periods, and general subject boundaries. Also includes guidelines on types of materials collected or not collected.   

• Indiana University Libraries.  African Studies.  Maintained by Marion Frank-Wilson. 

  Collection description includes statement on the general purpose, subjects, African languages, and various formats collected. Also lists materials excluded. "The African Studies Program at Indiana University supports a wide spectrum of courses and research in the humanities and social sciences, with special emphasis on history, linguistics, anthropology, folklore and the arts." -- Current website.

• Library of Congress. African and Middle Eastern Reading Room.

  Includes a fine illustrated guide to the Africana collections at the Library of Congress, with substantial notes on the library's Africana holdings. Also includes information on hours, bibliographies and finding guides published by the Section, literature describing the Section and its collections, doing research at LC, and a list of FAQ's.

• Michigan State University.  Africana at MSU Library.  Comp. by Peter Limb & Joseph Lauer

  One of the largest collections of Africana in the United States, with roughly 200,000 books, pamphlets, maps, and microform units covering all relevant disciplines, languages, and regions of the continent. See note on website for further information about the collection scope, including collection development policy statement.

• Northwestern University.  Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies.

  The largest separately housed collection of Africana in the United States, including more than 260,000 bound volumes in its print collection. The Herskovits also receives more than 3,000 periodicals, journals, and newspapers, and has extensive collections of Africana archival materials, posters, conference papers, rare books, and uncataloged collections of vertical file materials and African language texts. The Africana Conference Paper Index is the premier source for conference papers on Africa, with a database of approximately 70,000 entries. Papers in the collection may be requested via interlibray loan services.To access the Africana Conference Paper Index or the Africana Vertical File Index, click on NuCat, then click on "Special NU Databases," and choose the index desired in the "databases" box.

• Stanford University. African Collection. comp. by Karen Fung, African Studies Librarian.

  Includes a guide for finding African studies information at Stanfurd University and links to other Africa-related resources on campus, new acquisitions list, and the well-known Internet guide, "Africa south of the Sahara : selected Internet Resources"

• UCLA Library Collections and Internet Resources in African Studies.  Comp. by Ruby Bell-Gam. 

  Includes extensive notes on library holdings for sub-Saharan Africa in various formats, with links to other Africana collections at UCLA. Also includes a very extensive guide to Internet resources for African studies.

• University of California at Berkeley.  Library Resources on Africa.  Comp. by Phyllis Bischof.

  Collections include approximately 180,000 books and 1,000 current periodicals and newspapers. Books, serials, national development plans, statistical and census documents are presented in depth, with extensive secondary sources for the study of African history. The site also includes an extensive guide to Internet resources for African studies.

• University of Florida.  George A. Smathers Library.  Africana Collection.  Comp. by Daniel Reboussan and Peter Malanchuk.

  Includes a very useful guide to "Resources for library research in African studies" and links to various other Africana library collections and resources.

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Center for African Studies.  Africana Reading Room.  Cite maintained by Al Kagan.  

  The UIUC library collections cover all African countries and include resources on more than 150 African languages. Notes on the collection scope include a list of priority countries and languages. Collections are interdisciplinary and include all formats, with concentration on the humanities, social sciences, and agriculture. Collections include more than 180,000 volumes.

Instructional Resources and Outreach

• African focus : sights and sounds of a continent. University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Project
  Includes research and teaching resources containing more than 3,000 slides, 500 photographs, and 50 hours of sound recordings from forty-five different countries. Brings together both primary and secondary materials in digital format.
• Afrophile : Recommended titles on Africa for children and young people / comp. by Brenda Randolph.

  "Studies have repeatedly shown that children’s collections in U.S. school and public libraries contain primarily biased, dated, and inaccurate materials on Africa. Africa Access is responding to the need for quality materials by publishing AFROPHILE. Only those materials receiving favorable recommendations from scholars on Africa are included in AFROPHILE. Entries are arranged first by grade level and then alphabetically by author". – University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center Website

• Northwestern University. Facts about African Countries.

  A clickable map of the continent. A click on any country brings up facts about the country taken from the 2006 CIA World Factbook.

• Title VI African Studies National Resource Centers

  Title VI African Studies National Resource Centers (NRC's) are charged with the responsibility of providing up-to-date and reliable educational information about Africa and its peoples to a wide audience.  These include resources for K-12 classroom use by students and teachers, community college students and teachers, company and business organizations, and community groups.  These NRC’s, listed below (current and some former), have developed many educational resources that are available to various individuals and organizations. Some have lending libraries, as indicated by the notes below.  

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Center for African Studies.  Outreach Program.

  An extensive site with K-12 instructional resources for teaching about Africa, and a list of outreach publications available from the Center.

• Boston University. African Studies Center Outreach Program.

  An extensive collection of teaching resources including a map with other contries superimposed over the continent of Africa to exemplify its comparataive size (How Big is Africa?) that is available for purchase, and many other teaching resources listed by grade level (PreK-5, 6-8, 9-12, and Adult)

• Indiana University.  African Studies Outreach Program.

  Includes a lending library of teaching resources that may be borrowed for up to two weeks by faculty, staff, and students regardless of institutional affiliation. The site includes an online video catalog and a curriculum resources catalog for searching the lending library's holdings. A very extensive and resourceful site.

• Michigan State University.  African Studies Outreach Program.

  This site has an extensive collection of outreach resources that serves a user population of students and faculty at more than 100 institutions. Includes links to various aspects of the outreach program, including outreach to teachers and educators, outreach to higher education, study abroad, and outreach to communities, government, business, and the Media Program. The Media Program has its own website, with an online catalog of films and videos. Another very useful site for outreach materials.

• University of Kansas.  Kansas African Studies Center. KASC Outreach Center.

Includes information on the teachers' institutes sponsored by the Center, K-12 resources, materials available for borrowing, and related resources.

• University of Florida.  Center for African Studies. Outreach Program.

  Includes links to teachers' workshop, community and school presentations, educational publications, cultural exchanges, outreach resource library, consultations, and Swahili language instruction program for public school teachers.

• University of Pennsylvania.  African Studies Center.  Outreach Program.

  Outreach program includes K-12 electronic guide for African resources, Business resources on Africa, Media resources on Africa, and Outreach workshops on teaching about Africa.

• Yale University.  MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.

  "For educators, . . . African Studies offers teacher training workshops and resource services, enrichment programs in schools and civic groups, intensive summer institutes, field study opportunities in Africa, curriculum development and evaluation, lesson plans on line, consulting, clearinghouse services and language enrichment opportunities for high school students." --Center Website

• University of Wisconsin-Madison.  African Studies Program. African Studies Outreach.

  Offers a range of outreach services, including consultation with teachers, a small educational resource collection, conferences and workshops for educators, audiovisual materials, and a speakers' bureau.

Links to Other Selected Sites