Library Guides: ENGL 473: Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement: Finding Books

Finding Books

Catalog (Penn State University Libraries catalog) This link opens in a new window
Books and other materials including CDs, DVDS, and more, can be found using The CAT.

Use the Advanced Search for more options, including the ability to limit searches by date, a useful tool for locating primary sources (for example, look for "African-Americans" and limit to 1950-1960).
This is the online catalog of materials owned by Penn State Libraries. All formats (books, journals, audiovisuals, maps, recordings, etc.) are included. Circulation status for individual items is also provided. Coverage: Presently contains about 7 million records. Updates: Continuous up-to-the-minute as new records are added.

If Penn State does not have what you want request it through our InterLibrary Loan system

Interlibrary Loan (ILLIAD)
If you are still not finding what you need, submit a request for the title through ILLIAD, the Libraries' interlibrary loan service. First time users must register

E-Books
Many historical books have been scanned and are available online. Two significant collections are:

Google Book Search
This digital index to the contents of over 10 million books created from the contents of university libraries and others.
Hathi Trust Digital Library
a digital catalog and repository created by research libraries.

Reference Books

Reference Books
Encyclopedias provide general overviews and are good places to start your research. Many now appear prominently in Lionsearch results.

Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) This link opens in a new window
Contains the text of hundreds of online reference works including: The Encyclopedia of African American History and Culture, and the Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America as well as general works on American History.
A collection of over 2000 reference resources.
Oxford African-American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Scholarly essays from highly regard reference works produced by Oxford University Press.
The African American Studies Center features the three-volume Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895, published by Oxford in 2006; the three-volume Black Women in America, Second Edition, edited by Darlene Clark Hine in 2005, the highly acclaimed five volume Africana: the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience. The Center also includes content from much-anticipated forthcoming print publications including the African American National Biography project (estimated at 8 volumes), edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., scheduled for publication in 2008; and the Encyclopedia of African American Art and Architecture, due for publication 2007. In addition to these major reference works, AASC offers other key resources from Oxford's reference program, including the Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature and selected articles from other reference works.

Penn State University Libraries

ENGL 473: Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement

Librarian

Finding Books

Reference Books

Statistics - for data on African Americans in the United States (population, income, education,etc...) see our Statistics Research Guide