WISER : Information Sources for African Studies

1. WISER : Information Sources for African Studies Tuesday 31st May 2011 Sarah Rhodes and Lucy McCann

2. Structure of today’s session • How to find relevant Africa resources in Oxford: • Identifying and searching the key tools used to access resources via the African Studies LibGuide (including SOLO, OxLIP+ and e-journals) • Locating web resources for African Studies • Finding key sites useful for research eg Archives and primary sources

3. Key Starting points for African resources in Oxford • African Studies subject page • www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/subjects/african • Key information on one page • Contact information • Collection policy for African Studies • Collection overviews: principal and associated • Links to key websites • African Studies LibGuide • http://ox.libguides.com/african-studies • Gateway to different resources and formats relevant for African Studies inc. books, journal articles, theses, news resources, film and archives.

4. African collections in Oxford: Reference • Main research collections and archives are housed at BLCAS at Rhodes House www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/rhodes • Specialises in history and current affairs (political, economic and social) of sub-Saharan Africa and the Commonwealth • Houses books, journals, theses, government publications, newspapers • Circa 4,000 manuscript and archive collections • Reference only

5. African collections in Oxford: Teaching • Core teaching collections are held at Social Science Library and History Faculty Library – these can be borrowed by University members. • Other collections of interest include the Law Library, English Faculty Library and Radcliffe Science Library • All Bodleian libraries can be accessed through the homepage: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/libraries

6. African Studies LibGuide http://ox.libguides.com/african-studies

7. SOLO: Search Oxford Libraries Online • http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ • Searches OLIS, Oxford University Research Archive (ORA), Oxford University e-journals • Use to find books (both print and electronic), theses, journal titles and database titles (eg Historical Abstracts) • Search results can be saved to your e-shelf

8. OxLIP+: Oxford Libraries Information Platform • http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ • Gateway to University-subscribed subject databases and e-resources including full-text, abstracts / indexes, websites • Provides access to key abstract, journal articles and citation indexes for African Studies eg. • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts; PAIS International; ASSIA; SCOPUS; Historical Abstracts; CSA Illumina • Also facilitates connection to databases from off campus via your SSO

9. African Studies on OxLIP+ • 20 databases have been listed for African Studies • Click on subject tab and scroll down to African Studies, click on GO for full listing • Includes access to Aluka, FRANCIS, Empire On-Line (Colonial history), ELDIS etc • Information is available on each database to guide users.

10. Keyword and subject searching tips • Keyword searching • Searches for terms anywhere in the field or record • Useful as a starting place but results can be less relevant • Subject indexes • Where possible tap into the subject headings or thesauri provided by the databases • Citation searching (available in SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google Scholar)

11. Oxford e-journals • http://ejournals.bodleian.ox.ac.uk • Electronic journal titles also appear on SOLO • Journals are listed A-Z ‘by Title’, ‘by Subject’, and ‘by Citation’ • No subset for African related e-journals but, for example, a search by title for ‘Africa’ retrieves 365 titles • Clicking on individual titles will allow searching by Year, Volume, Issue, Start Page • Full-text articles will be retrieved only for e-journals to which Oxford University subscribes • LibGuide links directly to key African e-journal titles

12. Africa Web resources outside Oxford • Use the African LibGuide to access additional resources: http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/african-studies • Or try the gateways below which facilitate access to African Web information by collating and organising resources by regions, topic, or format. • British Library: http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/africa/africa/internetlinks/wwwlinks.html • Intute: http://www.intute.ac.uk/ • Nordic AfrikaInstitut: http://www.nai.uu.se/library/resources/guidetoafrica • Columbia University Libraries: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/cuvl/ • SOAS:http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/subjects/africa

13. British Library: African Collections • http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/africa/africa/aresources.html • ‘Rich resource for the study of Africa. Relevant material can be found throughout the collections, in the form of printed books and serials, newspapers, MSS, archives, sound recordings, music, prints, drawings, photographs and stamps’ • Africa pages deal mainly with sub-Saharan Africa. • Links to bibliographies; e-resources; e-journals

14. British Library: Africa web links • Internet links via the British Library Asian and African Studies: world wide web links • http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/africa/africa/internetlinks/wwwlinks.html • This is an invaluable access point to African resources, covering: • Portals • Bibliographies • Current Affairs • Official publications • Archives • Visual material • African languages • African studies and library networks

15. Intute: African Studies • Intute provides ‘Web resources for the study of the African languages, literature written in those languages, or the history and culture of Africa. Each resource has been evaluated and categorised by subject specialists based in UK universities’. • http://www.intute.ac.uk/humanities/ • http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/ • Search humanities or social sciences for African Studies • Within African Studies filter by resource type such as archives; research centre and projects; datasets; resources guide and directory etc.

16. Accessing archive materials • The main tools for accessing primary source materials and archives for Africa in and outside Oxford include: • Online catalogues of Western MSS • Databases of Foreign Office and Colonial Office Confidential Prints • Archives Hub • National Register of Archives • A2A (Access to Archives) • Mundus Gateway • Anti-Slavery International • CAMP

17. Online catalogues for Western MSS • http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/online.htm • Includes collections at Rhodes House and in the central Bodleian • Some full catalogues and some collection level descriptions • ‘Search Electronic Catalogues’ is a facility to search across the catalogues

18. Foreign Office and Colonial Office Confidential Prints • http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/official_papers/fo_prints • http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/official_papers/colonial-office-confidential-prints • databases can be searched by jurisdiciton, date, document number and keyword

19. Archives Hub • http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/ • Provides descriptions of archives in over 150 UK universities and colleges • Circa 700 archives held at BLCAS are listed

20. National Register of Archives • http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/default.asp • Provided by the UK National Archives: Historical Manuscripts Commission, the NRA consists of indexes to the records of persons, families and corporate bodies mainly held in Britain. It is an essential tool for locating manuscripts and archives in the UK • Search by corporate, personal, family or place name

21. A2A: Access to Archives • http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/ • Online catalogue for archives held locally in England and Wales

22. Mundus Gateway • http://www.mundus.ac.uk/ • The Mundus Gateway is a web-based guide to more than four hundred collections of overseas missionary materials held in the United Kingdom. • These materials, comprising the archives of British missionary societies, collections of personal papers, printed matter, photographs, other visual materials and artefacts, are held in a large number of libraries, record offices and other institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

23. Anti-Slavery International • http://www.antislavery.org.uk/english/resources/library.aspx • Houses a library of contemporary and historical material relating to slavery world wide and its related subjects

24. Co-operative Africana Microform Project: CAMP • http://www.crl.edu/areastudies/camp • CAMP is based at the Center for Research Libraries, University of Chicago • CAMP promotes the preservation through microfilming of publications and archives on and from Africa. • It then makes these available on request to students and researchers at member libraries, of which BLCAS is one. • Materials so acquired and conserved include mainly historic newspapers and journals; government publications; personal and corporate archives; personal papers of scholars, government leaders and journalists; writings in European and African languages. • Contact Rhodes House Library to borrow CAMP material.

25. Contact details: • Contact e-resources helpdesk eresources@bodleian.ox.ac.uk • Ask in your Libraryhttp://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries • Contact the African Studies Subject Librariansarah.rhodes@bodleian.ox.ac.uk • Contact the African Studies Archivist lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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