African and African Diaspora Studies  

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 Holdings.--Africana collections at the University of Kansas Libraries include approximately 60,000 printed volumes. The libraries receive over 350 current periodicals, including over 200 in paper format. The primary subject focus of the collections is the social sciences and humanities, with selected areas of the natural sciences including physical geography, environmental studies, and human health also collected.

Historically, the collections have been developed at a strong study level (3+ in the RLG conspectus) with primary focus on Africa south of the Sahara. Languages collected include English, French, and Portuguese, with selected purchases in the African languages taught in the curriculum, principally Swahili, Hausa, Wolof, Amharic and Arabic. In addition to the printed holdings, the Africana collections include maps, government documents, microforms, videocassettes, CD's, and digital resources.

The Thomas R. Smith Map Collection includes approximately 10,000 maps of Africa and has a thorough collection of national atlases. Map holdings include such worldwide sets as the Joint Operational Graphic Maps at a scale of 1:250,000, as well as U.S. Army maps and publications of the British Ordnance Survey.

Locations.--Africana holdings are decentralized throughout the various library locations as appropriate by subject. The main collection, including all but the exceptions noted hereafter, is housed in Watson Library. Materials on African art are located in the Spencer Art and Architecture Library.

Anschutz Library holdings include all science-related materials, as well as human health, economics and business, maps, and printed government documents. Music-related holdings, including sound recordings, are in the Gorton Music Library.

Videocassettes are found principally in the Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center, although some are located in Watson Library and accessible in the online catalog. The print collection of Onitsha Market Literature and other selected items of rare Africana are located at the Spencer Research Library.

Notable Collection Strengths.--Notable within the holdings of language-related materials is a nearly-complete collection of the writings of the 20th-century Swahili poet, Shaaban Robert. Another area of strength is the acquisition of African imprints.

Historically, the University of Kansas Libraries has placed emphasis on the acquisition of works issued by African publishers in order to build collections with a more balanced representation of African scholarly contributions. As a result of this sustained effort, the University collection compares well with other research libraries in this regard. A recent bibliometric study ranks the University of Kansas Libraries 17th among 95 North American research libraries in its holdings of imprints issued by a selected list of English-language publishers from the African continent.¹

1 See: Dilevko, Juris and Lisa Gottleib, "Book titles published in Africa held by North American university research libraries and review sources for African-published books," Library & Information Sciences Research 25 (2003) 177-206