Robbins Library Notes

Good morning, readers!

Thanks to those of you who have sent in suggestions — they are greatly appreciated.  Please keep them coming in.  I’m happy to receive them.

A few days ago, I received a suggestion in which the reader asked the question: “Which feeds, mailing lists, webpages, etc. should one monitor to get ALL of the information on new publications?”  The reader, interested in early modern philosophy, and Kant in particular, wants to know if there is a way in which one can be informed of the latest publications from publishers, without having to search through publisher catalogs and Web sites.  It’s a very good question — here’s what I’ve found in answer to it.

I have not, to date, located one aggregator site or place that lists every new publication in philosophy.  Given the large number of books published every year — including philosophy — I’m not sure how feasible creating such an aggregator site or resource would be.

However, there are several resources that, used together, will likely give you a fairly robust list of new philosophy publications.  The majority of the books provided by these resources will be in English, though other languages (most notably German and French) will appear also.

• Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.  This is a great site to learn about new philosophy books.  Oftentimes, I learn about books of potential interest from reading the reviews.

• Philosopher’s Index. This database is probably the closest thing to an aggregator site at present, though it is far from complete.  The database does list books among its records, and with the CSA Illumina interface, you can view records by book, book chapter, article, book review, and so forth.

Example — You want to search for recent books on Kant listed in Philosopher’s Index.  When you login, go to the Advanced Search Screen, if this is not set as your default search option.  Enter in “Kant” for your search term in the first line, setting the limiter to “Keyword.”  (Why?  Because this will focus the search more on books that specifically deal with Kant, rather than those that merely mention him off-hand.)  Next, go down to the “Date Range” field, to limit your search to the last year or so.  I chose 2007-2009 as a range.  Below that, in the Philosopher’s Index Indexes & Limits section, click on the “Browse Publication Type” link, and in the window that opens, click on “book,” then “Add to Search.”  When that window closes, click on “Search” and you should get 329 results, which are subdivided into books, chapters/essays, and book reviews, respectively.

• Book Reviews in Journals. Many philosophy journals carry book reviews, which are worth checking out, some more extensive than others.  (The Review of Metaphysics has an especially in-depth one once a year, for example.)  For those interested in Kant, e.g., Kant-Studien offers book reviews.  Thus, I’d suggesting checking out whatever journals focus on your interests, as they may let you know about the latest and greatest books in your area(s) of interest.

• Philosophical Books. This is a great journal to read in order to learn about new books being published in philosophy.  As the blurb on the Wiley-Interscience site reads, “Philosophical Books carries extensive discussions of major new publications in all areas of analytic philosophy.  The journal includes: book symposia in which two or three writers discuss a book and the author replies; articles discussing recent work in particular fields; full-blown critical notices; and short, one-page reviews”  I’d check this journal out on a regular basis.

• Publisher Web Sites: E-mail and RSS Feeds. Many publisher Web sites now offer the option of signing up for periodic e-mails and RSS feeds of notifications of new materials.  I’ve known several scholars who have done this, who then let me know so that we can look into acquiring the book for the Robbins collection.  A quick look reveals that Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Harvard University Press, and Yale University Press all offer e-mail alerts and RSS feeds.  So these might be worth subscribing to.  Other university and academic presses will likely have them as well.

• Ask Your Friendly, Neighborhood Librarian. Seriously!  I get a number of catalogs on a regular basis, so, if you ask me to keep an eye out for certain topics, persons, and the like, I’d be very happy to let you know when something new comes out.

Are there other resources out there that my readers use which might be of help?  What about non-English philosophy books?