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Subject Guide — Africana Studies  
Reference Resources
Finding Books
Finding Articles
Web Resources
Maag Library, Reference Department
prepared by Annette A. Ahrens
(330)941-3680

Overview

Maag Library provides access to books, journals and data through print and online resources. The specific resources listed below are a portion of what is available through the library. Use the suggestions below to locate additional items throughout the library.

 
Reference Resources

General Sources
  • Black Americans: a statistical sourcebook Ref E185 .B57 2001
    Demographics and characteristics of the population.
  • Black firsts: 2,000 years of extraordinary achievement. Ref E185 .B574 1994
    History and miscellanea of Afro-Americans.
  • Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: the Black experience in the Americas Ref E185 .E54 2006
    This five-volume set include the people, events and institutions that shape the African-American Experience.
  • Historical statistics of Black America Ref E185 .H543 1995
  • Encyclopedia of African-American civil rights: from emancipation to the present Ref E185.61 .E54 1992
Literature, Music and the Arts
  • 250 years of Afro-American art: an annotated bibliography Ref Z5956 .A47 I38 1981
  • African-American traditions in song, sermon, tale, and dance, 1600s-1920: an annotated bibliography of literature, collections and artworks Ref Z5956 .A47 S68 1990 (Ref Annex)
  • Biographical dictionary of Afro-American and African musicians Ref ML105 .S67 1982
  • Black artists in the United States: an annotated bibliography of books, articles, and dissertations on Black artists, 1779-1979 Ref Z5956 .A47 D38 1980
  • Black poets of the United States from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes Ref PS153 .N5 W313 1973
    A study of Afro-American Poetry 1890-1940.
  • The Oxford companion to African American literature Ref PS153 .N5 O96 1997
Biography
 
Finding Books

Books can be found through MaagNet, the Maag Library online catalog or through the OhioLINK Catalog. Use MaagNet to locate items available through Maag Library. Use the OhioLINK catalog to locate items available through other OhioLINK institutions. These items can be requested and delivered to Maag Library for pickup.
For more help finding books, see Finding Books.

Browsing for books
Resources are located throughout the library: items in the Reference Room, Serials and in the circulating collection are all arranged according to the Library of Congress Classification System. Once you locate a book or journal that is useful in one of these areas, you can locate information on the same or similar topics by locating the same call number in the other areas of the library. See Call Numbers and Floor Plans for assistance. Some of the call numbers where you will find information are:
  • E184.5 - 185.98 -- History. United States. Afro-Americans
  • LC2699 - 2913 -- Education. Blacks. African Americans
  • PS1 - 3567 -- American literature
Searching For Books
See Finding Books for more information. To find books by subject, search MaagNet or the OhioLINK catalog. If you are not sure of the exact subject for the topic you are researching, begin with African Americans or Blacks and browse the list of subjects or use one of the subjects below to get started.
  • African Americans -- Biography
  • African Americans -- Civil rights
  • African Americans -- Education
  • African Americans -- Employment
  • African Americans -- History
  • African Americans -- Politics and government
  • African Americans -- Social conditions
  • African Americans in literature
 
Finding Articles

Articles are available in print and electronic sources. The information below will help you decide where to begin searching for articles.

Articles & Indexes in print

Journals that Maag Library receives in print can be located by searching MaagNet, browsing by call number or through the list of Black Studies journals received by Maag Library. These journals are located in the sixth floor of Maag Library and are arranged in call number order. Try also:
  • Index to Black periodicals Ref AI3 .O4 (Ref Annex)
    An index to articles dating from 1950.

Online Databases

Many journals are now available through online subscription databases and through the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center. Various terms can be used to search these databases, including subject, keywords and company names. Most databases allow access by current YSU faculty, students and staff from off campus, although a few are restricted to in-library use only. For more information about connecting from home, see off-campus access.

General Databases
  • Academic Search Premier
    Indexes over 4300 periodicals and contains full text for over 3400 scholarly publications.
    On campus     Off campus
  • America: History and Life
    Bibliography of articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
    On and off campus access
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
    A multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities
    On campus     Off campus.
  • Electronic Journal Center (OhioLINK)
    Full text of more than 6000 online research journals covering many subject areas.
    On and off campus access
  • JSTOR
    Supplies full text articles from the very first volume to the last 3-5 years for approximately 240 titles in the Arts & Sciences.
    On campus     Off campus
  • Social Sciences Citation Index
    A multidisciplinary database with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences.
    On campus     Off campus
  • Social Sciences Index
    Indexes articles and book reviews in a variety of social science fields
    On campus     Off campus
  • SocIndex
    Index, abstracts, and full text for publications in sociology.
    On campus     Off campus
Specialized Databases
  • African-American Poetry Database
    Contains the full text of almost 3,000 poems written between 1760 and 1900.
    On and off campus access
  • Annals of American History
    Full text of over 2000 primary documents in American history. Multimedia files include pictures, video clips, and audio of famous speeches.
    On campus     Off campus
  • National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Digital Images
    Collection of digital documents related to slavery, abolition, and emancipation.
    On and off campus access
  • National Underground Railroad Freedom Center E-Books
    Digital versions of two historical books on slavery.
    On and off campus access
These databases provide a starting point for your research. To see other available databases, visit the Research Databases page.

 
Web Resources

The links below provide access to resources on the Internet.

  • African American History and Culture (Smithsonian Institution)
    Links to different resources on the web for African American history.
  • African American Web Sites (Iowa State University)
    Selected African American web resources useful for academic research and information purposes.
  • Black History Month Resources (Tennessee Technological University)
    Listing of different Black History Month sites.
  • Black Studies (City College of New York)
    Extensive list of links organized by specific topics.
  • Black Studies (University of California, Santa Barbara)
    Links to other websites broken down into categories.
  • The Universal Black Pages
    Meta-site from Georgia Tech's Black Graduate Student Association. Collection of relevant websites on art, education the diaspora, history and organizations. (Not updated since 1999).