Inrecentyears,teachersofintroductorycoursesinAsianAmericanstudieshavebeenfacingadilemmanonexistentafewdecadesago,whenhardlyanytextsinthatfieldwereavailable
Today,excellentanthologies(文选)andotherintroductorytextsexist,andbooksonindividualAsianAmericannationalitygroupsandongeneralissuesimportantforAsianAmericansarepublishedalmostweekly
Evenprofessorswhoareexpertsinthefieldfinditdifficulttodecidewhichofthesetoassigntostudents;nonexpertswhoteachinrelatedareasandarelookingforwritingsforandbyAsianAmericanstoincludeinsurveycoursesareinanevenworseposition
Acomplicatingfactorhasbeenthecontinuinglackofspecializedone-volumereferenceworksonAsianAmericans,suchasbiographicaldictionariesordesktopencyclopedias
SuchworkswouldenablestudentstakingAsianAmericanstudiescourses(andprofessorsinrelatedfields)toloo