Update2007
NEW AFRICA-RELATED RESOURCES IN MSU LIBRARIES (February 2007):
An occasional newsletter produced by the Africana librarians
The Library now features two hi-tech rooms that may be booked by faculty or students. New furniture has made working in the Library more comfortable, and the building is wireless. Feel free to stop by for assistance with your research needs.
1. ONLINE PRODUCTS:
a) New Trials:
ALUKA: http://www.aluka.org/ ONLY African Botany module is now available: modules on 'African Cultural Heritage Sites & Landscapes' will be released in March; 'Liberation Movements in Southern Africa' mid-June. Searching boxes only search PLANTS.
Ebook Library: a keyword search of "Africa" gives 226 full-text books, chiefly scholarly presses, some of which might be useful textbooks e.g. (Oliver, Roland, Africa since 1800 5th ed. Cambridge University Press, 2005. http://blogpublic.lib.msu.edu/index.php?blog=34
b) New content added:
AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES ONLINE. Now includes Release Four, with 181 more volumes of fiction, poetry, drama and non-fictional prose, including works by Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Steve Biko, Buchi Emecheta, Bessie Head, Doris Lessing, Dambudzo Marechera, Christopher Okigbo, Okot p'Bitek, Tayeb Salih, etc). http://collections.chadwyck.com/home/home_aws.jsp
SA e-Publications. http://search.sabinet.co.za/saepub_search.html . MSU holds the Social Sciences/Humanities Collection, and new e-journals added in 2006 include:
African Human Rights Law Journal *
African Journal for Physical Health, Education, Recreation and Dance*
Discourse *
South African Journal of Criminal Justice *
South African Journal of Philosophy *
We can now also add individual journals from other disciplinary sets: the first added was the agricultural economics journal Agrekon.
DATAD (Database of African Theses & Dissertations, Accra) http://www.aau.org/datad/database/
JSTOR has added:
African Economic History
African Economic History Review
African Studies Companion Online 4th Edition (new edition, 2006), http://www.africanstudiescompanion.com/online/
d) News products (for regular updates of new library e-resources, see http://er.lib.msu.edu/new.cfm )
Newspaper Direct PressDisplay has full-text, full-color newspapers from around the world, including two Kenyan, one Nigerian, and three South African papers with a searchable, 60-day archive: http://library.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx
World News Connection (FBIS) http://wnc.dialog.com/
e) other new products on order include SALDRU Clippings Collection and a DVD collection on Nigerian archaeology, history, and culture.
2. COURSE WEBSITES. The Africana librarians now offer faculty course-related websites (http://blog.lib.msu.edu/libdata_pos/courses.phtml) .
3. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: New ARCHIVAL ACQUISITIONS & EPHEMERA
ETHIOPIAN MANUSCRIPT
In Nov. 2005, the Libraries received a 699-page handwritten edition of the Ethiopian Fetha Nagast. This edition was commissioned by Haile Sellassie before he became emperor and completed in 1919. The Fetha Nagast (FN) contains the codified religious and civil laws of pre-1900 Ethiopia. Written first in Arabic during the 13th century, FN was translated into Ethiopic (or Ge’ez) during the 15th century. The first translations into Amharic were done during the 19th century. There have also been translations into Italian, English and other languages. The manuscript donated to MSU goes beyond earlier Amharic translations by including both the original Ethiopic text and extended commentary on the text. It was later purchased for a church in Addis Ababa. In about 1971, it was given to an American diplomat, upon his departure from Ethiopia. Because of this now retired diplomat’s contacts with MSU faculty in Nigeria during the 1960s, this manuscript was included in a donation to the MSU Library. Because of the value of this manuscript and its interest for other scholars, the Library is arranging for its digitization.
[UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEWS]. Transcriptions of oral narratives from Senegambia.
Authorized copy of transcriptions of some 100 translated interviews (Mandinka, Wolof) conducted by Donald R. Wright Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY-Cortland, in lower Gambia and related areas of Senegal in 1974-75.
AFRICAN ACTIVIST ARCHIVE:
The African Activist Archive, directed by David Wiley at MSU and Richard Knight in New York, has facilitated the donation of several important collections to MSU Library (see African Activist Archive Project website: www.africanactivist.msu.edu ) New additions include:
* American Coordinating Committee for Equality in Sport and Society (ACCESS) papers. [ca. 1969-ca. 1991] 2 boxes (124 folders).
* Sean Gervasi Papers, (19 boxes) ( Not currently available.)
* Association of Concerned African Scholars. ( Not currently available.)
* Dutch Anti-Apartheid publications from NIZA.
OTHER MATERIALS
A large number of pamphlets, not previously in MAGIC, on diverse African countries, are being processed from storage. These include two boxes of rare Onitsha market literature.
Ephemera on Lusophone Africa.
A kind donation of a set of recent South African labor union posters was received from Professor John Beck.
A set of 19th century '3-D' postcards of Africa.
Two photo-albums, one of "Nigeria-Uganda-Iraq" from the 1920s, and another of soccer in South Africa in the 1910s have been acquired.
Photographs of Victoria Falls bridge.
Photographs of the Bhambhata Rebellion, 1906 (about which numerous contemporary reports also were received)
Photographs (on backing) of the Siliva the Zulu Exhibition.
Unpublished video interview with Winnie Mandela.
Comics, cookbooks, African sport, and other niche areas continue to be added to: one interesting set was of South African "Westerns."
4. MAJOR BOOK SETS
British documents on foreign affairs--reports and papers from the Foreign Office confidential print. Part I, From the mid- nineteenth century to the First World War. Series G, Africa, 1848-1914. UPA, 1995-1997. 25 volumes ; MSU OVERSIZE COLL., BAS JZ632 .B747 1995
5. SELECTION OF RECENT VIDEO/DVD ACQUISITIONS
[see full list at http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/africana/spcv.htm recently received films are marked with a red "NEW"). From 2007, the Library will have a standing order for all new films released in the Library of African Cinema series. Some interesting newly acquired films include:
Adwa - an African victory DT387.3 .A393 1999
Arts of Ghana NX589.6.G5 A78 2003 VideoDVD
Borders = Frontieres. HD5856.A356 F76 2002
Christine: Lawyer in the Slums (Nairobi) KF373.B63 C47 2005
Congo: white king, red rubber, black death DT657 .C6646 2006 VideoDVD
Darfur destroyed. DT159.6.D27 D37 2004
Darwin's nightmare QH195.V5 D378 2004 VideoDVD
Gardiens de la memoire = Keepers of memory [Rwanda] DT450.44 .K44 2005 VideoDVD
Geldof in Africa DT12.25 .G45 2005 VideoDVD
Hausar Baka: "Gani ya kori ji". PL8231 .H384 1998
O Heroi = the hero. PN1995.9.F67 O3 2005 VideoDVD
Histories of the hanged: Kenya and the end of empire DT433.577 .A533 2005
HIV AID (Nairobi/Somalia), RA644.A25 H5833 2000
Hotel Rwanda PN1997.2 .H68 2005 VideoDVD
The Ink Road: Teaching methods of Timbuktu, LG561.T6 I55 2006 VideoDVD
Kiswahili : lugha na utamaduni : preview tape. PL8701 .K586 1996
Little Senegal. PN1995.9.F67 L577 2001 VideoDVd (PAL)
Maangamizi: the ancient one [Tanzania] PN1995.9.A43 M3365 2000 VideoDVD
Making of a president [Malawi] JQ2941.A95 M35 2004. PAL
Le malentendu colonial BV3625.N42 M25 2004 VideoDVD
Morena Moshoeshoe, 1786-1870. DT787.4 .M66 2004 VideoDVD PAL
The right to be Nuba DT157.5 .R65 1993
Shake Hands with the Devil [Rwanda] DT450.432 .D35 2005 VideoDVD
Sometimes in April [Rwanda]. DT450.435 .S66 2005 VideoDVD
Thunderbolt = Magun. (Nigeria) PN1995.9.A43 T47 2000 Video NEW
Timbuktu: The Untold Story DT553.T6 T56 2004
Touki-bouki PN1995.9.A43 T68 1996
Udju azul di Yonta = The blue eyes of Yonta. [Guinea-Bissau] PN1995.9.A43 U277 1991
Witches in exile (Ghana) BF1566 .W754 2005 VideoDVD
Yeelen DT551.45.B35 Y33 2002 VideoDVD
Yesterday [South Africa] PN1997.2 .Y478 2006 VideoDVD
A wide selection of Uganda and Kenyan popular music CDs recently was received, but is not yet cataloged.
6. NOTABLE NEW MICROFILMS ADDED
note: the new digital microform readers on 2-West enable scholars to download pages to CR-ROM (RW).
Liberian newspapers: Monrovia daily news (1992-1996), New patriot journal (1994-1996), New democrat weekly (1995-1996).
Ilanga lase Natal (1929-1940).
7. DONATIONS OF COLLECTIONS OF BOOKS, REPORTS, etc.
Kind donations were gratefully received, inter alia, from Professors Bingen, Dwyer, and Wiley, and the African Studies Center.
8. AFRICAN LANGUAGES IN MP3
Previously announced: we hope to soon present various African language teaching resources via the Web. Igbo has now been released. http://www.multilingualbooks.com/igbo.html
9. MAPS
Recent acquisitions include: a good set of maps of Liberian counties from Humanitarian Information Centre for Liberia (2005); historic maps of Cape Verde, Senegal, Congo, and Mozambique; and a map of diamond concessions in Botswana.
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This occasional newsletter is produced by the Africana librarians. We
welcome queries on your Africa-related needs and research. We also encourage faculty
to donate library research materials that are no longer needed.
Africana Reference (2nd floor, East Wing) Librarians:
http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/africana/
Joseph Lauer, Africana Librarian, phone 432-6123 ext.237 email: lauer@msu.edu
Peter Limb, Africana Bibliographer, phone 432-6123 ext.239 email: limb@msu.edu
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Peter Limb, Ph.D.
Africana Bibliographer
Michigan State University
100 Library (Room E224B)
East Lansing, MI, 48824-1048
phone: (517) 432 6123 extension 239
fax: (517) 432-3532 email: limb@msu.edu
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