In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available. Today, excellent anthologies and other introductory texts exist, and books on general issues important for Asian American are published almost weekly. Even professors who are experts in the field find it difficult to decide which of these to assign to students; nonexperts who teach in related areas and are looking for writings for and by Asian American to include in survey courses are in an even worse position.
A complicating factor has been the continuing lack of specialized one-volume reference works on Asian American, such as biographical dictionaries or desktop encyclopedias. Such works would enable students taking Asian American studies courses (and professors in related fields) to look up basic information on Asian American Asian American individuals, institutions, history, and culture without having to wade through mountains of primary source material. In addition, given such works, Asian American studies professors might feel more free to include more challenging Asian American material in their introductory reading lists, since good reference works allow students to acquire on their own the background information necessary to interpret difficult or unfamiliar material.
近年来，教授“亚裔美国人研究”基础课程的老师正处于进退两难的境地，这在几十年前是不存在的，那时，几乎还没有有关这一领域文章;现在，有优秀的作品集和其它入门性文章，几乎每周都有关于个别亚裔美国人团体和关于亚裔美国人普遍问题的书出版。然而即便专门研究这一领域的教授也觉得很难决定给学生指定阅读哪些文章。对于那些不从事这一领域研究却教授与此相关领域的教师或是为了做调查来查阅相关文章的人，这种境况就更糟了。
其中一个复杂的因素就是一直缺少有关亚裔美国人一卷式的专业性参考文献，例如生物学辞典或电子百科全书。有了这类文献，修“亚裔美国人研究”课程的学生(或相关专业的教师)就可以从中查找有关亚裔美国人个体、机构、历史和文化的信息，而不用去翻阅一堆堆山也似的入门资料。此外，有了这些文献，从事亚裔美国人研究的教授可能更乐于在入门书单中加入更富挑战性的书目。因为好的参考书可以帮助学生在遇到难度大或不熟悉的资料时自己查阅所需的背景知识。
