Find it guide

Find out how to use the African Library’s online catalogue, and find resources by material type, subject or country. Tips and links to other sources are also included.

General | Finding articles | Finding books | Finding journals | Finding newspapers | Finding films | Finding e-resources | Finding dissertations | Finding maps | Finding subjects | Finding primary sources

General

Access to the African Library catalogue is available via the Leiden University Libraries Catalogue. Select the African Library section to the right of the search field, by indicating Leiden Collections, and location African Studies Centre. All African Library online resources are included in the African Library section, for all LU-online resources, use the "All content"-option.

For general information on how to use the Leiden University Libraries Catalogue see:

• The LU subject guide: how to search the catalogue
• The LU tutorial: guidelines for searching academic publications

In the catalogue searches can be started in two ways:

• simple search: carry out a search action and filter the results afterwards
• advanced search: type in the search terms, and select search fields and search scope beforehand

Tip: After your search you can refine your results by location, online or physical access, material type, year, author, language, and subject. Find the available filters on the left of your screen.

Finding articles

Refine your results by selecting resource type ‘articles’ to the left after a simple search, or limit your advanced search by ‘material type’.

Tips:
Find new articles in our New Titles and Recently published journal articles lists.

More articles:
African Journals Online (AJOL, restricted access)
African Studies journals on JSTOR (restricted access)

Finding books

Refine your results by selecting resource type ‘(e)Books’ to the left after a simple search, or limit your advanced search by ‘material type’.

Tip: Check the ASCL’s New Titles and Library Highlights.

More books:
African Writers’ Series (African literature online, restricted access)

Finding journals

Refine your results by selecting resource type ‘Journals’ to the left after a simple search, or limit your advanced search by ‘material type’.

Tip: Have a look at the African Library’s current journal subscriptions and list of free e-journals.

More journals:
E-journals University Leiden (restricted access)
Black South African Magazines (restricted access) 
African Studies Journals @ Wikipedia

Finding newspapers

For all the African Library’s newspapers, click here (subject heading newspapers (form)). Find more information on the African Library’s newspaper collection here.

More newspapers:
African Newspapers (restricted access)
Electronic newspapers of Africa by country
List of newspapers in Africa

Finding films

Refine your results by selecting resource type ‘Videos’ to the left after a simple search, or limit your advanced search by ‘material type’. For all the African Library's films, click here (subject heading videos (form)). Trailers or complete films about Africa can also be found via the ASCL YouTube Channel.

Tip: Have a look at the African Library’s recently acquired films on the New Titles list.

More films:

Ethnographic Video Online (restricted access)
Docuseek2 (restricted access)
La Cinémathèque Afrique
British Film Institute
La Cinémathèque française
Moving Image Archive

Finding e-resources

Refine your results by selecting ‘Online Access’ to the left after a simple or advanced search. All African Library online resources are included in the African Library section, for all LU-available online resources, use the "All content"-option.

More e-resources:
ASCL Digital sources
Other Africa-related sources

Finding dissertations

Dutch dissertations on Africa by year of publication: 

2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 (pdf files)

Find more dissertations on Africa in the African Library catalogue (subject heading dissertations (form))
Find theses on Africa in the African Library catalogue (subject heading theses (form)). Also many dissertations are available through our Connecting-Africa database.

More dissertations:
theses.fr (French Theses on Africa)
DART-Europe E-theses Portal

Finding maps

Find maps of Africa in the African Library catalogue (subject heading maps (form)).

More maps

Current: Wikimedia | United Nations || Georeferencing: Harvard | Cartesius || Historical:
Chicago | Harvard Map Collection | University Library Amsterdam | Animated atlas of African History, 1879-2002 | African Historical Maps University of Cape Town Libraries Digital Collections || Others: Afriterra (Boston) | Perry-Castañeda Library | Ikuska (Spanish publisher, automatic translation) | Useful Africa

Finding subjects

Searching our catalogue works best if you use our standardized keywords from the African Studies Thesaurus. Use them in your simple search and then further refine results by selecting a topic filter to the left, or start in advanced search and use the field “Subjects”. Also note the Boolean options in advanced search.

The African Library regularly produces and updates web dossiers on important topics, containing literature lists and web resources.
An overview of information by country can be found in our Country Portal.
For updates on new titles on a specific country and/ or subject subscribe to our alert service.

Finding primary sources

Primary sources, such as novels, letters, diaries, photographs, interviews, audio materials, videos, newspapers, autobiographies, colonial reports, speeches et cetera, can be located by using a (form) keyword and following the same procedure as for subject search as indicated above.

All (form) keywords in the African Studies Thesaurus can be found here.