I. USES OF AND ACCESS TO BOOK REVIEWS
Book reviews can be very useful in a number of ways during the research
process. They may often give information about the author, a summary of
the book's contents, comparisons to other works in the field, and of
course evaluative comments. Surveying many reviews can provide an
overview of the critical reception of a book. Reviews themselves can
range from one paragraph to several pages, from popular to scholarly.
Here, then, is a list of sources to use to find citations to book reviews
in periodicals and newspapers. The contents of almost all the indexes are
arranged alphabetically by the authors of the books being reviewed.
Since most are cumulated only annually, you need to know the date of
publication of the book in which you are interested. If you don't know
this, a reference librarian can find the information for you. Unless
otherwise noted, all are located on the Abstracts and Indexes section of
the Reference shelves, in alphabetical order by title.
II. INDEXES TO BOOK REVIEWS
A. INDEXES FOR GENERAL AND POPULAR WORKS
- Book Review Digest
Goes back to 1905; usually provides a short summary of the book and brief
excerpts from some of the cited reviews.
- Book Review Index
Starts in 1965; citations only, but includes more titles than Book
Review Digest.
- Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
There is a seperate section in the back of each volume which lists book
reviews.
-
Academic Search Premier
An online periodicals index that includes citations to many recent (c.1985-)
reviews.
- Newspaper Indexes
Most major newspapers carry book reviews, and have their own indexes which
include them. We have the print index to the New York Times
(1851-). We also have the Times
Literary Supplement Index from 1940 to 1980 (Ref. AP 4 .T45 Suppl.
2).
You can find many other newspapers in full text online on
LexisNexis Academic.
Coverage usually starts about 1980 or so
(although the New York Times goes back to 1969). Once
connected to Lexis-Nexis, choose the News area.
There is an option for "Arts & Sports" which allows you to search
only reviews; or, you may choose the "General News" category. There,
keeping "Major Newspapers" in the Source box and putting the
author's
name or the book title in the first keyword term and the words book
review in the space for additional terms should retrieve some relevant
articles.
B. INDEXES IN BROAD SUBJECT AREAS
- An Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities
Covers 1960-1990; uses a numerical system that takes a bit of getting used
to.
- Humanities Index (1974-1985) and Social Sciences Index
(1974-1985)
These general indexes, like the Reader's Guide published by H.W.
Wislon Co., have sections at the end listing book reviews appearing in the
journals indexed. For more recent citations, use
Academic Search Premier.
- Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals
(1802-1974)
Ref. Z 6265 .C65 1982; volume 10 is a title index.
C. INDEXES FOR SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREAS
- From the mid-to-late 1970's on, the H.W. Wilson Co. indexes all have
seperate book review lists at the end of the issues. Titles we own in
print include Art Index.
- Other indexes and abstracts in subject areas have seperate indexes to
book reviews (e.g.,
America:
History and Life, Religious Index One, etc.). Check the Subject
Guide in the area in which you are interested to find out what the
basic abstracts and indexes are for the field.
- Annual bibliographies in specific areas sometimes list book reviews
when they cite the work itself (e.g., French XX Bibliography,
L'Annee Philologique, etc.). Most of these are in the Z section of
the Reference shelves.
- Journals which do a lot of reviewing sometimes have their own annual
indexes that list the reviews. These would be located with the journal
itself in the Periodical stacks.
- Bibliographies devoted to works by and/or about a single person (Ref.
Z 8000-8999) will often cite reviews of the primary sources.
