Locating Original Book Reviews
Book reviews for literary works (printed at the time of publication or shortly thereafter) may be found by consulting one of several print sources: Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature or Humanities Index and its predecessors Social Sciences and Humanities Index and International Index to Periodicals.Book Review Digest (1905 - present date) Ref Z 1219 .C95
Other Specialized Print Indexes to Book Reviews Include:This ongoing publication indexes book reviews and reprints summaries of those reviews along with the citation information to locate the complete review. Several cumulative indexes to the set can be used to locate the summaries if the actual date of publication is unknown. These indexes contain a single alphabetical listing including both authors and titles. A search under the author's name yields a list of works reviewed during the period of time covered by the index along with the year the work was reviewed.
For example: Hemingway, Ernest
Across the river and into the trees 1950
By-line: Ernest Hemingway 1967-1968
Death in the Afternoon 1932
The enduring Hemingway 1974
Ernest Hemingway, Cub Reporter 1970
A Farewell to Arms 1929To locate the summaries of the reviews for A Farewell to Arms, pull the 1929 volume and locate Hemingway's name.
Book Review Index (1965 - present date) Ref Z 1035 .A1 B6
This index provides citations to reviewed books only. It provides a title/author index.
Magill's Literary Annual (1993 - present date) Ref PN 44 .M325
Provides essays and reviews for outstanding books published during the year.
Book Reviews in Databases
Book reviews are also available electronically. In some databases, researchers can limit document type to 'Book review'; otherwise enter book review in the search box along with the title and author's name.
To find articles from a particular magazine or journal in RLC:
- Use the pull-down menu to select 'Guided Search' under search methods
- On the search form, choose publication name from the pull down menu and enter name of publication such as 'New York Times Book Review'
- Use the pull-down menus to select article, title, or subject and enter terms in the remaining search boxes
- Choose 'book review' as article type