Comparative listing of 6 major indexes to Africa-related journals.

The following comparison was prepared for the Bibliography Committee of the Africana Librarians Council in the hope it would spur discussion and cooperation between the different indexing services towards a unified database, on CD-ROM or web-based, or both, to make the valuable research on Africa available more freely especially in Africa, but for researchers everywhere. The services surveyed are:

International African Bibliography. London: International African Institute, 1971-

Quarterly Index to Periodical Literature, Eastern and Southern Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: Library of Congress Office, 1991-

Africa Bibliography. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1984 -

African Studies Abstracts. London: Hans Zell Publishers, 1994 - formerly Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. Afrika-Studiecentrum: Documentatieblad.

Index of African Social Science Periodical articles. Dakar: CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa), 1989 -

A Current Bibliography on African Affairs. Washington, DC: Greenwood Periodicals for the African Bibliographic Center, 1973-

A search in OCLC found the following holdings of each of the above titles:

International African Bibliography 325 libraries

Quarterly Index to Periodical Lit. /Eastern and Southern Africa 101 libraries of which 21 have fiche edition.

Africa Bibliography 403 libraries

African Studies Abstracts 41 libraries

Index of African Social Science Periodical Articles 29 libraries

A Current Bibliography of African Affairs 341 libraries

Comparative list of periodicals with indication of place of indexing:

I: International African Bibliography L: Leyden: African Studies Abstracts

LC: Library of Congress, Nairobi C: Codesria

A: Africa Bibliography CU: Current Bibliography on African Affairs