Locating Book Reviews
Print Sources
- Book Review Digest (1905-present)
- Book Review Digest has citations to reviews of juvenile and adult fiction and non-fiction in the English language published or distributed in the U.S. and Canada. Their coverage includes many different subject areas, but the following types of books are excluded: government publications, textbooks and technical books in the sciences and law. However, books on science for general readers are included. This source mostly covers reviews for general interest books with some coverage of academic or scholarly books. Book Review Digest can be a good starting point for findingreviews of popular books and it can also be useful for tracking down reviews of older books. Many of the entries have the added advantage of providing full-text excerpts from the actual book reviews.
- Location: Reference Library, 1st Southeast Index Table, at 028.05 BOO.
- Arrangement: Alphabetical order by the author or title. A subject and title index is included. There is no cumulative index, therefore several volumes may need to be searched.
- Book Review Index (1965-present)
- Book Review Index includes citations to reviews of books, periodicals, and books-on-tape appearing in over 500 publications from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe. They have a wide subject area covering popular, academic, and professional interest publications. Most publications, except for poetry and children's books, must be 50 pages long to be included. The entries are brief and do not include excerpts or abstracts from the actual book reviews. Book Review Index is a very comprehensive reviewing source and a good starting point for both academic and non-academic books.
- Location: In print in the Reference Library, 1st Southeast Index Table at 028.05 BOR. (Also available electronically, see below.)
- Arrangement: Alphabetical order by author or title with a title index included. A cumulative index is available for 1965-1984, but after 1984 individual volumes must be searched. The periodical citations are abbreviated and the keys can be found at the beginning of the bound volumes.
- Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals (1802-1974)
- Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals includes citations to reviews of books and periodicals in the humanities that have appeared in scholarly journals. This source is fairly comprehensive and is a good place to find scholarly reviews of older books in the humanities fields.
- Location: Reference Library, 1st Southeast Index Table, at 016.0013 C733
- Arrangement: Alphabetical order by author with a title index included. The 10-volume set is cumulative, so searching by author should include all reviews by authors covered in this set.
- Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals (1886-1974)
- Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals includes citations to reviews of books and periodicals in the social sciences that have appeared in scholarly journals. This source is comprehensive across the social sciences and is good for finding reviews of older books.
- Location: Reference Library, 1st Southeast Index Table, at 016.3 C733
- Arrangement: Alphabetical order by author with a title index included. The 15-volume set is cumulative, so searching by author should include all reviews by authors covered in this set.
- Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Wissenschaftlicher Literatur = International Bibliography of Book Reviews of Scholarly Literature (1971-present)
- The International Bibliographie der Rezensionen Wizzenschaftlicher Literatur (IBR) contains reviews of scholarly literature from international sources. They define "scholarly literature" as literature in which intellectual debates can be followed, so popular literature and best sellers are not included. The IBR is a comprehensive resource to use in identifying book reviews for academic books from an international perspective.
- Location: Reference Library, 1st Southeast Index Table, at 028.05 INT
- Arrangement: Includes 5 indexes: subject, keyword, reviewed work, reviewers and periodicals. The indexes are in German, but cross-references are provided from English to German in the subject index. There is no access by title.
Online Sources
- Academic Search Premier (1975-present) (EBSCO)
- Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary database containing citations to book reviews across a number of fields. It is a good starting point for finding book reviews in core scholarly journals. This source has the added advantage of providing many of the book reviews in full text.
- Search Tips: Can search a variety of ways, including by Author, Title or Keyword. To limit to reviews, below the search bars in the "Limit your results" box, under Document Type, select one or more of the types of reviews, which include Book Review, Entertainment Review, Literature Review, Poetry Review and Product Review.
- ArticleFirst (1990-present)
- ArticleFirst contains a variety of book reviews in periodicals, newspapers and popular magazines. Coverage goes back 20 years or more, but ArticleFirst is not as comprehensive or scholarly as other reviewing sources. It is good for finding recent full text reviews.
- Search Tips: Search by the title of the book and the author's last name. You may retrieve a few things other than reviews, so read the records carefully.
- Book Review Index (1965-present)
- The electronic version of the print Book Review Index includes citations to reviews of books, periodicals and books-on-tape appearing in over 500 publications from the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe. They have a wide subject area covering popular, academic and professional interest publications. Most publications, except for poetry and children's books, must be 50 pages long to be included. The electronic version only includes citations to reviews, not the full text. Like the print version, the electronic source is comprehensive and a very good starting point for finding reviews of all types of books.
- Search Tips: Can search by Title, Author or Journal, and under "Advanced Search" can search in variety of other ways, including by Keyword or Reviewer. Under the search bars there are also a set of limiters to use when searching, including limiting by Date, Review Type and Length of Review.
- Current Contents (1993-present)
- Current Contents contains citations to reviews of academic books in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities from around the world. Current Contents is good to use in finding reviews for highly specialized and scholarly books. Current Contents also includes some full-text coverage of reviews.
- Search Tips: Can search a variety of ways, including by Keyword, Author or Title. To limit to items with reviews, below the search bar, check the box next to the words "Review Articles".
- Expanded Academic Index (1980-present) (InfoTrac)
- Expanded Academic Index is a multi-disciplinary database containing citations to book reviews of all types of books. It shares many of the features of Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) product with access to reviews in core academic publications, many of which can be accessed in full text.
- Search Tips: To limit to reviews, use the Advanced Search and type the author, title or keyword you need in the first search bar and then use the word "review." Keep in mind, when searching this way, you may get other things besides reviews.
- LexisNexis Academic (1985-present)
- LexisNexis Academic contains a variety of resources to search for book reviews in newspapers and popular magazines. Using the Guided News Search, major papers, magazines and journals can be searched, and much of the coverage goes back 10 years or more. Lexis Nexis is not as comprehensive or scholarly as other reviewing sources, but is good for finding very recent full text reviews for major publications.
- Search Tips: The best way to find reviews is to use the Guided News Search feature and search by the title of the publication along with the word "review."
- MagillOnLiterature Plus (1980-present)
- MagillOnLiterature Plus is a literary database containing plot summaries, author biographies, and reviews of fiction and non-fiction pieces of literature. It is a good database to use to find reviews of literary works, although it is not a comprehensive database of all literary works. Coverage is mostly from 1985 to present, but some reviews back to 1980 are available.
- Search Tips: The best way to find reviews is to search by book title or author and with the word "review."
Not finding what you need? This list includes the best multidisciplinary sources for book reviews, but this is not a comprehensive list of all the book review resources our library contains. If you are not finding what you need, please Ask A Librarian!
