There are many ways to find book reviews in our library.

• Try searching the Academic Search Premier database, using the title of the book and the word "review" as your search terms.
• Also try the Proquest Newsstand database, using the same search terms.
• If you're looking for a review of a scholarly book in a particular discipline, consider searching for reviews in one of the databases covering your subject. (To determine which databases to use, click here.)
• One of the best resources is the New York Times Historical (1851-2003), which contains the full text of the New York Times back to its first issue.

With the exception fo the New York Times Historical (1951-2003) database, most databases don't go back before the 1980s. To locate reviews of older books, try the following indexes, all of which are located in the reference section.

• Book Review Digest. New York: Wilson, 1905-- (Ref Z1219.B72)
  Contains references to book reviews in popular magazines and book trade periodicals such as Publishers Weekly, including a note about the length of the review and brief excerpts. Because it was first published in 1905, it can yield interesting insights into how a twentieth century book was received when published. To find the full review, search the Journal Locator, using the name of the periodical publishing the review. This will tell you if Gustavus owns or has access to the full text of the review.

• Book Review Index. Detroit: Gale, 1965-- (Ref Z1035.A1 B7)
  Indexes book reviews for some 50,000 books annually appearing in around 450 popular and scholarly publications. It covers more scholarly books than those indexed in Book Review Digest, but does not provide any excerpts from reviews. Search the volumes by title or author.  The review citation will give an abbreviated form of the magazine that published the actual review. Use the key at the front of each volume to determine the full title of the publication, and then search the Journal Locator by journal title to see if Gustavus owns or has access to the magazine publishing the review.

• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974. Arlington, VA: Carrollton Press, 1979. (Ref Z1035.A1 C6)
  An author and title index to reviews published in the complete runs of 459 scholarly journals. Because of its focus, it doesn't overlap the Book Review Digest, but covers more specialized journals. The review citation will give an abbreviated form of the magazine that published the actual review. Use the key at the front of each volume to determine the full title of the publication, and then search the Journal Locator by journal title to see if Gustavus owns or has access to the magazine publishing the review.

• Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. New York: Wilson, 1900-- (A13. R28)
  Indexes articles and reviews from a range of magazines. Volumes are arranged chronologically. A separate book review index is located after the general index. Once you find a review, search the Journal Locator with the name of the magazine title to determine if Gustavus owns or has online access to the review. *Note: this series is shelved near the Interlibrary Loan office on the main floor of the library.

Also see our Database Guide to Finding Book Reviews.

Last updated October 13, 2006