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National cum public library services were set up in Tanzania and in a number of other African countries just before or shortly after independence. In addition to being the national public library service, the Tanzania Library Services Board (TLSB) is a legal deposit library and produces the national bibliography. Starting from virtually nothing, TLSB was operating purpose-built libraries in the main urban centres by the mid-1970s. It received much support from the Tanzanian government and from foreign donors up until then, but afterwards the financial situation became more difficult. However, 50 years after its introduction, TLSB operates 21 regional, 18 district, and one divisional library. It has approximately 400 staff. Like other national public library services in Africa, the main challenge has been to extend service to the rural areas where the majority of the population live. A newer challenge is to adapt a traditional service to the environment of young Tanzanians growing up with the mobile phone and the internet.

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This Opinion Paper considers the relevance for subSaharan Africa of the Western world's electronic information supply systems. It summarlzes F. W. Lancaster's forecast of a coming electronic paperless society. From the perspective of Afrlca'a economic and social ciifflculties it looks at Lancaster's recommendation that libraries In developing countries should attempt to bypass the book and leap from oral to electronic communication. It discusses who benefits from libraries at present and who would most likely benefit from electronic librarles. It cites examples of the "book famine" from which the existing libraries now suffer. It criticizes the view that supplying facts to important people via computer will help poor areas to develop. It outlines Africa's dependence and instances some of the inappropriate foreign advice and aid it receives. Most of the examples are taken from ex-British Africa, the countries that in all but one or two cases have kept on English as their official language. The conclusion is that the electronic library and indeed information science in general distract from what African librarians ought to be doing: helping the illiterate majority of their people learn to read and write."Will the paperless society be in place by the end of the century? It seems highly likely that it will," suggests Lancaster, who has written at length on the topic [ 1, 2-71. He instances the electronic systems already in operation for withdrawing money from one's bank account, reserving a seat on an airplane, and writing a paper on a word processor. He writes of the speed with which a scientist can now inform others of his work by transmitting a communication through the computer terminal on his desk. He mentions the revolution that the new technology has brought to the production of conventional printed material, the multiplication of online bibliographic databases and the increasing availability of complete texts online. He tells of the possibilities for

Describes a survey, conducted at the Open University of Tanzania and consisting of both open and closed questions, to determine the user needs of their distance education students. Due to the nature of the user survey, in which questionnaires were distributed in person and because it was often less trouble for those surveyed to have a researcher or research assistant write down responses, the questionnaire became, in a sense, an interview for which a list of questions had been drawn up in advance. A total of 54 students were interviewed: one year two, one year three and one year four students for law, education and science in each of the six regions selected from the 25 regions of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam, Pwani (Coast), Morogoro, Tanga, Kilimanjaro and Arusha). A major problem was the scattered nature of the Open University students and this was solved by having a trained local research assistant in every region. These assistants were given a day’s training in advance of the work, all were Tanzania Library Service staff and training took place in regional libraries. A substantial number of students preferred meetings to take place at their workplaces, in urban areas the majority of meetings took place in public libraries and a few meetings took place in students’ homes. It is planned to interview academic staff with responsibility for the six regions, as well as senior academics such as deans of faculties at headquarters, authors of the study material, Tanzania Library Service staff and other librarians. Full findings of the research will be presented when the investigation is complete.