Abstract:Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent of visibility of researchers in African countries, in the Open Access (OA) arena and aims to identify main causes of reduced uptake in OA in Africa.Design/methodology/approach -Extent of visibility is explored by quantitative analysis of institutional repository and OA journals data sets followed by qualitative analysis of OA foundation documents and literature on OA in Africa published mainly between 2003 and 2013.Findings -Visibility in institutional repositories or OA journals for African researchers remains low. Causes include insufficient educational support for librarians and administrators in required new roles; inability of national, organisational and technological infrastructures to support OA; impracticality of western-based and costly publishing models; and disincentives relating to intellectual property and researcher perceptions. Complex language and literacy issues also inhibit engagement. Recommendations include strong OA advocacy, development of support initiatives, integration of international knowledge for local conditions and vice versa, sensitive preservation of indigenous knowledge and development of mechanisms of funding and research assessment mechanisms, which are economically and technically viable.Originality/value -Earlier attempts were made to raise awareness about the lack of uptake of OA in Africa. This paper shows that the situation has hardly changed and now requires urgent attention. Otherwise OA will not "become the default method for distributing new peer-reviewed research in every field and country" by 2022 (BOAI, 2012).

Introduction. This paper explores information behaviour in the underrepresented but increasingly important area of informal conversations and their influence on learning within political parties. The application of an extended model on information behaviour in conversation, which arose from the initial research analysis, enabled more granulated interpretation of results. This facilitated greater understanding, through the information behaviour lens, of informal conversations and how they contribute to learning. Method. Qualitative case-study of a political party. Analysis. Template analysis was used, followed by the application of the emergent extended model of human information behaviour in conversation. Results. Characteristics of informal conversation reflected the unique nature of the organisation. The extended model provided additional insights into context, information seeking and knowledge sharing during the conversations including motivations and affective factors, and outcomes from the conversations. Conclusions. A key reason for engaging in informal conversation was the need to strengthen capacity to influence. Self-efficacy was increased through mutual support and engaging in information behaviours. Application of the extended information behaviour model confirmed that learning occurred during informal conversations at individual and group level. Additional research is needed to test the model further with political parties and their members before extending it to wider applications.

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