HI588/ AA588: Women, Power and Culture in Africa

Try the BU Library Search for

....Subject: Women -- Africa, Sub-Saharan.....

... Women AND Africa AND leader*...

...woman AND ruler AND Africa ... [try replacing Africa with more specific keywords for your topic]

Begin with a keyword search and try various combinations. How you search can determine the number of results:

For example:  “Winnie Mandela”

Using and narrows the search: Winnie Mandela AND apartheid

Using or broadens the search. : (Winnie OR Nelson) AND Mandela This search includes results for either Winnie or Nelson.  

Winnie AND Nelson AND Mandela is a narrower search.  It would show you results that mention both Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela.  If it mentions only Winnie Mandela, it will be excluded from the results.

The BU Library Search also has many facets that can be used to refine your search in various ways.  

For example, try searching only in the author field:  Author search for Winnie Mandela

Using the options on the left-hand column, you could further limit your results in various way, for example choosing only article or using the date slider to see only material published before 1994.

The results provide a breakdown of books and articles on that topic and other similar subject headings you might want to investigate.

**** For more details see the Power Searching Guide****

There are several ways you can obtain books or articles that we do not own. These include:

• WorldCat Discovery. WorldCat Discovery allows current BU faculty, staff, and students to borrow books directly from other Boston Library Consortium libraries. Turnaround time is approximately three working days. (How to use WorldCat Discovery)

• Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan services allow current BU faculty, staff, and students to request books, articles, book chapters, and other materials that our ILL staff will obtain from other libraries. Books generally take 2-4 weeks to arrive; articles are generally delivered electronically within 1-2 days.

  • ILL online request forms for all patrons except those affiliated with the Schools of Law and Medicine

  • Law Library's interlibrary loan page for Law School affiliates

  • Alumni Medical Library’s ILL form for Medical School affilliates

  • For general inquires to the Interlibrary Loan office, please call (617) 353-3706 or email ILLMML@bu.edu.

• BLC Cards. A Boston Library Consortium Card allows the bearer to borrow—in person—circulating material from a member library, just as you would from a BU library. Boston University faculty, staff, and students on the Charles River Campus may obtain a Consortium Card by filling out an application form. Medical Campus affiliates apply at the Alumni Medical Library.