Q:  Can you name some shifting trends in African American literature since the 1988 edition of Books for College Libraries came out?

A:  Maturation of the discipline has resulted in a variety of literature in a myriad of subject areas. There is obvious growth of literature dealing with the historiography of African American studies and the direction it should take, now that it is firmly established in American colleges and universities. As the discipline finds acceptance in higher education, new areas of research are discovered and examined using traditional scholarly methodology. The field of African American studies has grown to include the experience of recent African and Caribbean immigrants to the United States. Specialized interests areas, such as Cape Verdean history, Jamaican American studies, and the like, are surfacing in departments across the country. Because of this expansion in scope and scholarship, the new edition of RCL for African American Studies will reflect this growth with representative titles when possible. The emphasis and creation of courses on the experience of Black males, Black women, the Black family and the various forms of familial relationships, anthropological studies of the African American community, reparations, economics of African America, and Black Popular Culture have all resulted in some very fine scholarly offerings.

Q:  What titles are at the top of your "must have" list, from a very authoritative perspective, for every academic library's African American studies section?

A:  While there is a plethora of new Black history publications to select from, the new edition of RCL will include a number of classics from the 1988 edition. Nevertheless, there are some unique contemporary treatments and new historical biographies to be included in the new 4th edition. Here are a few I would recommend for all academic libraries supporting undergraduate study in African American history:

Aldridge, Delores P. and Carlene Young. Out of the Revolution: The Development of Africana Studies. Lexington Books, 2003

Clarke, John Henrik. African People in World History: A lecture and Illustrated History. Black Classic Press, 1993

Katz, William Loren. The Black West: A Documentary and Pictorial History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States. Broadway Books, 2005

Q:  Where do you feel new titles on black history, in particular, are focused--versus the focus of titles from previous years?

A:  I think the current focus is on excellent scholarship and the production of new knowledge. Typically, historians have a preference for primary resources and Africana historians are no different. What we see today is the creation of new and unique information through oral history techniques. They are many of them under way to capture the voices of the African American WWII generation, the Civil Rights generation and those who participated in the social movements of the 1960s and 70s. There are also efforts to provide a historiography to direct the development of the field well into the 21st century.

Q:  How has this selection process altered, or re-enforced, your existing opinion of the landscape of African American Literature and current trends?

A:  The explosion of African American literature indicates a very strong market and the growing acceptance of African American studies as a legitimate field of study. I am very happy to have been a part of the RCL project. It is a great responsibility to perform this task for my colleagues and the field of Africana studies. As it is with any field of study, It is impossible capture all of the important titles. We have tried to provide a core collection representing the vast richness and vitality of the disciple. The current trends include Africana Women’s and Gay (Queer) Studies.

Q:  How has this project impacted the wisdom you bring to your role in the African American community? (as a Librarian, as an educator, as a role model?)

A:  What I have learned from this project: “The more I read the more there is to read!”
There is no way one can truly say that they are an expert in any field. The growth of information has outstripped all our human abilities to keep up. As editor of the African American studies section of this important reference work my only hope is that our selections serve as a good starting point for the creation of working collections. There is no way for bibliographers to have captured all the seminal resources and scholars in our field. We, as librarians, can only show the way it is up to the scholar to continue the journey to its conclusion.

Q:  Is there is a personal issue which has been raised by the project which I have not highlighted, which could only come to the surface through this kind of research?

A:  I am not a sports fan. In fact, I detest football and find it difficult to sit and watch basketball as I have done in the past. My own personal dislike of sports nearly led me to leave it out of the AAS section all together.... The way African Americans dominate sports in this country that would have been a terrible thing to do.

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