The libraries of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill collectively possess one of the premiere collections of materials by and about African-Americans. Statistics indicate that UNC-Chapel Hill’s collections rank among the most comprehensive in the country. For African-Americana related to North Carolina in particular and the American South in general, its holdings are without peer among university libraries and contain many materials that cannot be found even in the Library of Congress. Moreover, they are supplemented and complemented by the extensive African-Americana collections at Duke University Libraries.

The African-Americana collections at UNC-Chapel Hill cover all subjects. The largest concentrations of materials are in the Davis, Wilson, and Undergraduate libraries. The Undergraduate library, in particular, holds many videos on African and African-American topics in its Media Resources Center. Important segments are also found in the Art, Music, Law, and Health Sciences libraries and in the computer files holdings of the Institute for Research in Social Science.

These collections encompass all relevant physical formats: printed volumes, microforms (including microfilm, microfiche, and microcard), computer files (including magnetic and optical disks and tapes), sound and music recordings (including wax, vinyl, cassette, and audio CD), moving images (including film, videocassette, and videodisc), photographs, maps, and manuscript and archival materials. Because these materials cover all subjects, come from all over the world, and appear in all formats, more than a score of librarians in nearly a score of library units select African-Americana.

Based on conversations with the principal selectors for African-Americana, we estimate that the minimum numbers of items involved consists of hundreds of thousands of manuscripts in the original and microform; tens of thousands of printed volumes plus tens of thousands additional publications in microform in the reference, general, special, and government documents collections; thousands of audiovisuals in over a half-dozen formats; and scores of computer files. If these materials were all brought together, they would require a major building, together with significant numbers of staff and amounts of equipment, on the scale of the Health Sciences Library to select, house, and service them.

See also: African American Resources in the Library’s General Collections