ASL News
In ASL
Research Tutorials
Help your students prepare for research projects. ASL staff can offer a variety of research aids, including
- Online guides and tutorials
- Course guides specific to your class (see guides for HI 494 and AN 312/712)
- Lectures or presentations in your classroom, or in the library electronic classroom in the Pickering Educational Resources Library (SED)
- Tours and orientation in ASL
- Individual consultations
Students vary greatly in their previous training in conducting academic research. Information technology is constantly changing, meaning that students need more - not less - help in finding the information and scholarship for their research projects. Let ASL staff handle this training so that you can concentrate on teaching.
Can't find that book?
If we don't have the book you need, you have several alternatives for getting it:
- Use the Virtual Catalog to borrow books held by member libraries of the Boston Library Consortium. The books will be delivered to the Mugar Memorial Library circulation desk.
- Apply for a Boston Library Consortium Card online. This gives you borrowing privileges at the member libraries of the Boston Library Consortium.
- Use interlibrary loan
- Get a letter of introduction for Harvard Libraries. This will allow in-house access to the collection (but not entry to the stacks) for six days over a one-year period.
The Guide for the Karis-Gerhart collection of documents pertaining to the struggle against apartheid is now online: http://www.crl.edu/areastudies/CAMP/collections/karisgerhart.htm
The Ambiguous Adventure Continues: Researching Africa On the Web
February 2006
Malaria Research:
Fourth MIM Pan-African Conference on Malaria, November 2005, Yaounde, Cameroon: http://www.mim.su.se/conference2005/ (MIM = Multilateral Initiative on Malaria) More coverage at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/mim/index.cfm
Additional reports on malaria in Africa can be found at Africa Focus: http://www.africafocus.org/ The link to their searchable archives is at the bottom of the page. You can search by date, place, or topic.
African Languages
The African Language Materials Archive (ALMA) is an initiative of The West African Research Association ( WARA ), the Council of American Overseas Research Centers
(CAORC), Columbia University Libraries--African Studies , and the Information Society Division of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ). This initiative aims at increasing dissemination of, and access to materials published in indigenous African languages through digital formats. http://www.aiys.org/aodl/public/access/alma_ebooks/index.phpFull text in PDF is available for works in Mandinka, Pular (Fula) and Wolof.
State Department Background Notes
Background Notes, published by the U.S. Department of State for use by Foreign Service personnel and others, are useful as an introduction to basic facts about African countries. When you pull up any specific country, you have access not only to the Background Notes, but also to USAID reports, the Library of Congress Country Studies, and other documents. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
Afrobarometer
This project compiles public opinion data in African countries on a variety of topics, including democracy, governance, market refor, social conflict, and civil society. http://www.afrobarometer.org/
Sustainable Transport
Sustainable Transport is the journal of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Most issues contain articles on transportation in African countries, bicycles, bus lines and more. http://www.itdp.org/
This column will highlight a selection of the many resources available on the Web. For a more orderly approach to resources on Africa, consult the guides and tutorials on the ASL page. For past citations, see the archive.
Electronic Journals:
African Diaspora Newsletter (No. 11, June 25, 2004)
African Journal of Legal Studies
Agora Agricultural journals online
Chimera Journal a quarterly electronic journal published by the USA/Africa Institute
Focus, the Newsletter of the Center For Research Libraries, devoted its Summer 2004 issue to CRL's activities in supporting Africa studies.
Quest an African Journal of Philosophy.
News and Activism
Environmental Issues
Sudan
Alex de Waal. Counter-Insurgency on the Cheap
Organizations
Library Collections
Gallica Digital Library (Pre-1920 African Sources at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France)
University of Pennsylvania Multimedia Archives contains digital collections of maps, flags and other images.
Bibliographies
Web Dossiers at the University of Leiden
Infomine is a virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level.
Discussion Lists
Africa Sources is a compilation of major discussion threads of H-Africa. The latest addition is a collection of postings on the topic of female genital cutting that appeared on H-Africa, H-West Africa, and H-histsex.
Data Sets
Afrobarometer survey data on Africa.
Shaheen Mozaffar has compiled a database of election results. smozaffar@bridgew.edu
African Census Analysis Project at University of Pennsylvania.
Dissertations
HIV/AIDS
The Senegalese Antiretroviral Drug Access Initiative: An Economic, Social, Behavioural and Biomedical Analysis. (230 page pdf file)
Languages
Omniglot: A guide to writing systems has links to commercial and free software for several African languages with non-Roman writing systems.
Music
Zimbabwe
Film
A Guide to African Women Cinema Studies