This large and authoritative guide to works in African studies has been published under the auspices of the International African Institute annually since 1984.
The Africa Bibliography includes a wide range of material: monographs, chapters in edited volumes, journal articles, and pamphlets. It covers all regions of Africa, including North Africa. It lists works published in English as well as a number of other languages: Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Swahili, Spanish and Afrikaans. The bibliography categorises by region, country and subject. It includes an author index and a detailed thematic index. Publications principally in the social and environmental sciences, humanities and arts, and some items from the medical, biological and natural sciences are recorded.
The bibliography includes materials on Africa published in non-specialist scholarly journals, in addition to specialist Africa publications. As an annual publication, it records the previous year's published work in its field, with provision for retrospective inclusion of earlier items.
Each volume of 400pp. contains an introductory essay relating to the state of bibliography and bibliographical matters in African studies. The opening article in the 2008 volume, 'Serving the bibliographic needs of scholars in Tanzania: a case study of the Tanzania Library Services Board' by the Director General of Tanzania Library Services Board, Alli Mcharazo, provides an authoritative and insightful survey of the state of bibliography and bibliographic needs in Tanzania, stressing the importance of bibliographies to African scholars and for the overall quality of scholarly materials.
Editorial and submissions
The editor/compiler is Terry A. Barringer, formerly custodian of the Royal Commonwealth Society Collections (now in Cambridge University Library). An experienced bibliographer, she is currently editor of African Research and Documentation, the journal of SCOLMA (the UK Africa Libraries and Archives Group) and has also published on missionary periodicals and on the British Colonial Service).
The editor welcomes suggestions and comments on the bibliography and can be contacted at TABarringe[AT]aol.com.
