Subject Area: African-American, Africana, and African Diaspora Studies
The African American, Africana, and African Diaspora Studies collection at the Robert W. Woodruff Library supports instruction in: history in relation to Africa and the African Diaspora with a concentration on African American History, African-American Literature, African Literature, Caribbean Literature, and other literatures throughout the Diaspora, traditional Religion and Philosophy Studies, theories of Black Studies, and a variety of other discipline specific courses within the AUC programs. Within this document, the collective of African American, Africana, and African Diaspora Studies will be labeled Black Studies. The Atlanta University Center (AUC) are a consortium comprised of different HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) with each school having a different program in relation to Black Studies. The Morehouse College (MC) Department of Africana Studies (African American Studies Program) offers both undergraduate and graduate levels. Spelman College (SC) requires all students to complete a two-semester program entitled “African Diaspora & the World” and offers a minor in African Diaspora Studies. The Clark Atlanta University (CAU) Department of African American Studies, Africana Women’s Studies and History offers undergraduate degree for History and graduate degrees for Africana Women’s Studies African American Studies, and History. Finally, the Africana Studies collection at the RWWL also supports a variety of Philosophy and Theology courses offered as part of the Interdenominational Theological Center’s (ITC) graduate programs.
Languages
The majority of the Black Studies collection is in English. However, foreign language texts are also collected in areas of the African Diaspora where English is not the primary language. Examples of the aforementioned include Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Afrikaans. There are some limited texts on the study of creole languages.
Chronological Coverage
There are no chronological limits placed on the Black Studies collection; however, there are a lot of materials dealing with colonial and post-colonial time periods.
Geographical Coverage
There are no geographical limits placed on the Black Studies collection. All materials relative to Black Studies are considered. However, special emphasis is placed on materials about the African Diasporic populations of the United States and the Caribbean.
The core of the Black Studies collection is useful for all students and scholars of African, African-American, and African Diaspora Studies which includes history, culture, politics, philosophy, literature, and other related disciplines. Limited material is also available for Francophone, Lusophone, Afro- Latin, Afrikaans, and Caribbean studies. Benchmark information used as guidelines for the consideration of materials are: African American Studies Librarians Interest Group(AASLIG), National Council of Black Studies, African Studies Association, and Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Students and faculty members have access to online and print resources for African American, Africana, and African Diaspora Studies. As majority of the print resources are dedicated to African American Studies, development for Africana and African Diaspora materials are collected based off the Demand Driven Acquisitions model; however, many electronic resources are available. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the fields, related subjects are handled by collaborating with the subject librarian over the particular field. For examples, a resource on economics concerning black businesses would be a joint endeavor between the subject librarian and the Economics subject librarian. Members of the faculty are given opportunities to recommend books, journals, and electronic databases. Students and faculty are able to select electronic books appropriate to the curriculum by filling out the request form.
The collection consists of serials, audio recordings, educational videos, films, and other electronic resources. The film collection includes materials on DVD format and streaming through one of the subscribed academic platforms Kanopy and AVON (Academic Video Online). The audio collection contains materials in CD format and electronic materials through RADAR (Repository of AUC Digital collections, Archives, and Research) and various databases. The electronic resources available to faculty and students include a number of databases and electronic journals. Examples of databases include the following: Black Drama, Black Short Fiction, Black Studies Center, Black Thought and Culture, Oxford African American Studies Center, Ethnic News Watch, African American Newspapers, JSTOR, and Project Muse
RWWL does not buy course textbooks: print, electronic, or teacher’s editions. However, the subject librarian will work with teaching faculty and students to identify resources that meet the needs of their classes. Copying pages of textbooks is subject to copyright law which the Library follows. The Library acquires works authored by the AUC African-American, Africana, and African Diaspora faculties preferably through donation. AUC Faculty can request specific course reserves for electronic or print.
African American, Africana, African Diaspora Studies: https://research.auctr.edu/blackstudies