The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries

Finding Book Reviews

Getting Started

Locating book reviews starts with information about the book being reviewed--who, what, when.

1) What is the publication date of the book? The date is found on the back of the title page. If the book is translated from another language, use the date of the first English edition. The date will help you decide whether to use an online source or a paper index to find a review.
2) What type of book is it? Is it a work of fiction or is it an academic book in a particular field? If it is a scholarly work, you may need to check an online database in that subject area (see *Note below).
3) Do you also need information about the author? If so, you will need to check biographical sources.

Finding Book Reviews Using Online Databases

Reviews can be found online or in a journal or magazine in the library, depending on the book and the book's date of publication. Reviews of older books (30+ years) will probably not be found in online databases. Here are some online databases to check for book reviews:

Book Review Digest (1983-present)	Books in Print (currently being published)
Choice Reviews (1988-present)	Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
Academic Search Premier Once in Academic Search, there are two ways to limit your search to reviews. Option 1: Limit results to a particular "Document Type" by selecting book review, entertainment review, poetry review, or product review. Option 1: In addition to the author or title, use one of the following subject terms: Books -- Reviews, Motion pictures -- Reviews, or Theater -- Reviews.
Note: Many subject-specific databases such as PsycINFO, ERIC* and America: History and Life also include book reviews. Use the keywords "book review" with the title of your book when searching. Visit our Find by Subject page to identify appropriate databases for your subject.

Finding Book Reviews Using Print Indexes

Reviews that are not found online may be located in a journal or magazine within the library. To find out what journal or magazines has a review of your book, check one of our print indexes located in Reference Services. Print indexes will not give you a book review but will tell you what journal or magazine to look in for a review.

1.) Locate one of the print indexes listed below in the Learning Commons.
2.) Find the index volume for the year your book was published (also look at volumes a year or two later since the review may have come out a year after the book was published.)
3.) Search the index by author name or title. A list of citations will appear telling you in which journals or magazines your review is located.
4.) Write the name of the journal (it will be abbreviated), volume, issue, date and page.
5.) Check the front of the index volume to see what the journal abbreviation stands for. Write the whole journal name.
6.) Search in the the library catalog to find out whether or not University Libraries subscribe to the journals you have found.

Print Indexes
Book Review Index Cook Reference Services Refrence Stacks Z1035 .A1 B6	Book Review Digest Cook Reference Services Refrence Stacks Z1219 .C96
Books in Print Cook Reference Services Refrence Stacks Z1215 .P972	Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 Cook Reference Services Refrence Stacks Z1035.A1 C65x
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974 Cook Reference Services Refrence Stacks Z1035.A1 C64	Technical Book Review Index Cook Reference Services Refrence Stacks Z7913 .T36

Finding Internet Book Review Resources

Booklist - http://www.ala.org/booklist/
American Library Association site. Includes reviews of adult and children's books, audio-visual material, and reference sources.

Bookspot - http://www.bookspot.com/reviews/
Links to magazine and newspaper sites with book reviews. Some sites are limited to current issues.

New York Review of Books - http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/
Searchable archive covers 1966-present with full text starting in 1996.

ReviewofBooks.Com - http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
Reviews and links to reviews of all types of books.