The Penn Libraries added three useful online reference works to its African collections in Spring 2009:
- New Encyclopedia of Africa (John Middleton and Joseph C Miller, eds. 2nd ed. 2008).
- Publishing, Books, and Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa: a critical bibliography (Hans Zell. 3rd ed. 2008).
- An African Biographical Dictionary (Norbert C Brockman. 2nd ed. 2006)
The New Encyclopedia of Africa, edited by John Middleton and Joseph C Miller is the expanded and revised update to the classic Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara (1997), recipient of a Conover-Porter honorable mention and recognized as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title and Library Journal's Best Reference awardee. More than 1,200 articles with bibliographies focus on all aspects of Africa, its people and their histories and lives. Four Penn faculty have contributed articles to this major reference work: Sandra Barnes, Willy de Craemer (deceased), Igor Kopytoff, and Carol Muller. The print version of New Encyclopedia of Africa (2nd ed. 5 volumes. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2008) is available in the Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks at call number DT2 .N48 2008
Hans Zell's Publishing, Books, and Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa: a critical bibliography is a completely revised and fully updated bibliography on publishing and the book in Africa, concentrating on the period 1980-2007. This reference work provides more than 2,500 bibliographic citations with brief descriptions and evaluations on all aspects of book publishing and the "book chain" in Africa, including book marketing and distribution and the retail book trade. Specialist topics are also treated: publishing for children, journals and magazine publishing, scholarly publishing, publishing in African languages, and digital media and electronic publishing; and there are many sections on related aspects of book development, including authors and publishing, copyright, national book policies, reading culture and reading promotion, publishing by and for women, and much more. The print version of Publishing, Books, and Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa (3rd ed. Lochcarron: Hans Zell Publishing, 2008) is available in the Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks at call number Z465.2 .Z443 2008
An African Biographical Dictionary by Norbert C Brockman is a one-volume work aimed at a school and undergraduate audience. It provides brief biographical entries on more than 700 historical and contemporary Africans, including politicians, religious figures, writers, entertainers and others. The print version of An African Biographical Dictionary (2nd ed. New York: Grey House Publishing, 2006) is available in the Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks at call number DT18 .B76 2006
The New Encyclopedia of Africa and An African Biographical Dictionary are offered through the Gale Virtual Reference Library platform, which permits easy linking to individual articles.
For more information:
Lauris Olson, Social sciences bibliographer & African studies bibliographer
