Sources for African language materials from the countries of anglophone Africa

Abstract

There is a general lack of information on how to acquire materials in African languages outside the countries of origin. However, there are some very well‐established mechanisms in collecting this material. Notes the standard current reference sources, blanket and approval plan dealers, bookshops and publishers, printed and online library catalogs and two microform collections. With sufficient time, energy and a reasonable hard currency budget, it is quite possible to develop an African language collection appropriate to local needs.

Africana resources in four selected US academic research libraries

“…As Alfred Kagan succinctly put it: "Collecting Africana is unlike collecting most other materials because of the lack of well-known high-profile vendors and because of the low level of organization of much of the book trade in most of the countries of Africa." (Kagan, 1996) American research libraries do not extensively collect African materials. According to a study by University have a "joint approval plan to divide responsibility for their acquisitions from Africa systematically" to support "their combined programmatic and user needs" and to ensure "no topic of common interest falls through the cracks."…”