The Internet Library Sub-saharan Africa (ilissAfrica) is a German Internet portal that offers an integrated access to relevant scientific information resources (conventional and digital) in the field of African Studies and the region

Africa South of the Sahara Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African co ...

. ilissAfrica covers

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

, ethnology and

cultural studies Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...

. The website is presented in German, English and French. With ilissAfrica users can search databases and library catalogues. They can also look for websites that are relevant for their research interests. The main modules of ilissAfrica are: The General Search
A meta search that searches through several databases and library catalogues simultaneously. At present, the following catalogues are integrated: * the Africa part of the catalogue of the University Library

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

which is in charge of the Special Collection

of the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

* the Africa part of the catalogue of the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

which is in charge of the Special Collection

(

grey literature Grey literature (or gray literature) is materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. Common grey literature publication types include reports (annual, rese ...

) of the

* the catalogue of the library of the

African Studies Centre Leiden The African Studies Centre (Afrika-Studiecentrum) is a scientific institute in the Netherlands that undertakes social-science research on Africa with the aim of promoting a better understanding of historical, current and future social developments ...

(the biggest library for scientific Africa literature in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) * the catalogue of the

Nordic Africa Institute Nordic Africa Institute ( sv, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) serves as a research, documentation and information centre on modern Africa for the Nordic countries. The Institute also encourages research and studies on Africa. The institute was founded ...

library in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

/Sweden (joint library for the

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n countries) * the catalogue of the library of the Department of Anthropology and African Studies

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

/Germany (incl. the Jahn Library for African Literatures) * the Retro Catalogue of the University Library Frankfurt (literature that was acquired before 1986) * the OLC-SSG section “Africa South of the Sahara” (reference to articles of 170 African Studies journals) * the Internet Database of ilissAfrica * the Africa section of Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) * the Colonial Picture Archive with 50.000 digitized historical pictures of Frankfurt University Library, Germany, and of the Sam Cohen Library, Swakopmund, Namibia. The Internet Database
So far it contains more than 4500 selected Africa-related Internet links. Built up by the ilissAfrica staff this pool of websites is searchable as the sites are classified, categorised, keyword indexed and provided with an abstract. The Database for Junior Researchers (at present in German only)
A persons database for junior researchers in the African Studies in Germany. Interested junior researchers can register on the ilissAfrica website. The profiles are globally visible. The Open Access Guide
A guide for researchers based in Africa with projects offering cheap or free access to databases and e-journals. It has a section on ''Books for Africa'', e.g. where libraries can get book donations or other support. The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE)
The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) is a multidisciplinary search engine for open access academic publications. In ilissAfrica a special sub-section of OAI-repositories on and from Africa has been selected: AJOL, 30 institutional repositories in Africa like SUNScholar, European projects like Cairn, HAL, Gallica and Persée and important digital libraries of SOAS, LSE, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Harvard Universities. 75% of the indexed documents are on

Open Access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

. BASE is an example of the potential of the linked web via standardized interfaces. And it helps to increase the visibility of academic knowledge produced and stored in the South. German and European Collaboration
ilissAfrica is a project of the Africa section of the University Library Frankfurt and the

GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies The German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) is a German research institute. It analyses political, economic and social developments in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, and combines this analysis with comparative rese ...

in Hamburg. Both are in charge of the German Special Collection "Africa south of the Sahara". It is financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG). ilissAfrica is closely related to the association "European Librarians in African Studies" (ELIAS) as a European network aiming to promote professional exchange and cooperation among its members. The "Africa Section" of the Electronic Journals Library (EZB) was one source for the Wikipedia-article African Studies Journals. ilissAfrica allows the coordinated acquisition of free electronic documents of the partner libraries.Bergenthum, Hartmut/Thomas Siebold: African Studies - Striving for Integrated Information Services: Recent Developments in Germany and Europe, in:
Africa Spectrum 45 (2010), 2
': 109-121.

Related digital libraries

* MENALIB * EVIFA * cibera * ViFaRom * Vlib-AAC: History * Vlib-AAC: Literature * IREON

References

External links

* * * * * {{cite web , url=http://www.base-search.net/?l=en , title=Bielefeld Academic Search Engine, access-date=2011-11-22 Discipline-oriented digital libraries African studies