Resources for Reference: Locating a Book Review - Francis A. Drexel Library @ SJU

Getting Started

Book reviews are most frequently published shortly after the book's publication. Therefore, the most important piece of information needed is the year of publication. To find the publication date of a book you can use a number of tools, including:

The Library Catalog - Descriptions of books in our SJU collection

WorldCat - Resources at Libraries worldwide -
Once you have the publication date, you can determine which indexes will be of the most help to you. Note that you may need to search across two years--the publication date and the year following since a book that is published late in a given year may actually be reviewed in the year following.
Older reviews are more often referenced in print indexes; newer reviews may show up in e-Resources. Check the date of your work against the date range of the index. Print indexes are usually in the Reference area on the Library's first floor.
Note that "academic" (scholarly) journals often contain book reviews specific to the subject area. If you are looking to find a review of a book in a particular academic area, e.g. history or sociology, you should search some subject-specific resources after you have searched the general resources.

Reviews in General Sources

Book Review Digest Coverage: 1905 - 1993

Drexel Library Reference (1st fl.) Z6514 .C47 B72(view catalog record)

Excerpts of reviews are arranged alphabetically by author. Title and subject indexes are found in the back of each annual volume.

Book Review Index Online -

Coverage: 1965 - present

Updated bimonthly. Contains citations only, not text of reviews.

Books in Print (Global) -

Coverage: N/A

Allows limiting search to those records with reviews.

LexisNexis Academic -

Coverage: ~1990 - present

Click on the "News" area of the Search tab.
Enter the title of the work as your search term in the first search block.
Hit the drop-down arrow for the "Select Sources" box and scroll down and select "Book, movie, music, play, & video reviews".
Finally, be sure to visit the "Specify Date" field and chose the date of publication for your book.

Literature Resource Center -

Coverage: ~1990 - present

Primarily biographical and critical articles, but interspersed with contemporary reviews.

The New York Review of Books Coverage: 1963 - present

Drexel Library Newspapers (1st fl.)
Drexel Library Reference (1st fl.) microfiche (view catalog record)

Provides reviews by and about major authors. Note: The Library does not subscribe to the electronic version. Use the search function on the Web site to locate the citation information for a given book. Then using that information, locate the appropriate microform to retrieve the full text of the review.

The New York Times -

Coverage: varies

via ProQuest (East Coast, Late Ed.)

coverage: June 1, 1980 - current : full text
Browsable and searchable (includes abstracts).

via LexisNexis - ( Final New York City Ed.)

coverage: June 1, 1980 - current : Searchable full text;
January 1, 1969 - May 31, 1980 : Abstracts only .

Print/Microfilm in Library (view catalog record)

coverage: 1851 - current : Entire paper cover to cover.

When searching the time period 1851-1993, traditional print New York Times Index may be consulted.
Note: An easy way to search the NYT for any time period prior to 1981 is to use their free search engine. You can search the full text, author, or headline. You can also specify a date range or include advertisements and other listings in your search.

Once you have pinpointed a particular citation, you can come into the Library and retrieve the full text from our microfilm.

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Coverage: 1900-1983

Drexel Library Reference (1st fl.) AI3 .R28 (view catalog record)

From 1905 to 1976, book reviews are indexed in the main index. After 1976, book reviews have their own section in the back of each volume, arranged alphabetically BY AUTHOR. Use the above tools for finding publication dates to find the author's name if you do not have it.

ProQuest Research Library: Humanities Module -

Coverage: varies

Full-text and abstracts of articles from over 390 journals in all areas of the Humanities including Literary journals such as The Explicator, Notes and Queries, and more.

Reviews in Subject-specific Sources

Book Review Digest Coverage: 1905 - 1993

Drexel Library Reference (1st fl.) Z6514 .C47 B72(view catalog record)

Excerpts of reviews are arranged alphabetically by author. Title and subject indexes are found in the back of each annual volume.

BookWire Reviews Coverage: January 2004 - present

"BookWire offers reviews of titles you won’t find anywhere else! We specialize in unique titles with topics ranging from alternative medicine treatments to fictional murder mysteries."