From the point of view of librarians outside of the African continent, it seems that there is a general lack of information on how to acquire materials in African languages. However librarians that collect heavily in Africana have some very well established mechanisms in collecting this material. 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. Many materials are only available by making direct contact with the publishers. Exchange agreements are also potentially very useful, but please be forewarned that libraries in rich countries will likely end up sending more than they receive. Those of us with adequate collection development budgets in hard currencies should not mind helping out African libraries that are suffering from the African "book famine."
In this paper I will note the standard current reference sources, blanket and approval plan dealers, bookshops and publishers, printed and online library catalogs, and two microform collections.
Current Reference Sources
The most complete current reference source for African language material is:
This publication recently won the Conover Porter award for the best African studies reference book of the past two years (awarded by the [U.S.] African Studies Association). In addition to thousands of publications in European languages, it includes a "selective list" of about 4000 publications in over 100 African languages.
2 similar volumes exist with a smaller scope:
African Books in Print is updated by another Hans Zell publication:
The [U.S.] Library of Congress Nairobi Office has a very active program to collect and catalog materials. The Office publishes an excellent current awareness tool with cataloging records. Unfortunately these records are at minimal level cataloging:
17 of the largest African studies libraries in the U.S. contribute to a cooperatively produced list of original cataloging records for newly acquired Africana materials:
Other possible current sources are national bibliographies if they exist, and where they are reasonably current. The citations are listed below in alphabetical order by country. The most current issues that I could locate are indicated.
Blanket and Approval Plan Dealers
There are several standard blanket order / approval plan dealers for African imprints. The following dealers all supply books in African languages:
Hogarth Representation for Books from West and Equatorial Africa
Leishman & Taussig African and Caribbean Book Services Covers East & Southern Africa
Library of Congress Nairobi Office Overseas Operations Division
Embassy of the U.S.A.
Covers 7 countries of East & Southern Africa: Botswana (statistics), Ethiopia (statistics, newspaper), Kenya (monographs, serials, newspapers, non print), Tanzania (newspapers), Uganda (newspapers), Zambia (statistics, newspaper), and Zimbabwe (monographs, serials, statistics). Bookshops and Publishers
The best dealers for South Africa and other Anglophone countries of Southern Africa are:
Thorold's Africana & Legal Booksellers
The former director of the Tanzanian Publishing House, Walter Bgoya, has recently established a new publishing house for books exclusively in Swahili:
I could find no current list of Africana bookshops, but there are several good listings within more comprehensive works that are getting rather old:
Gosebrink, Jean E. Meeh. African Studies Information Resources
Directory / compiled and edited by Jean E. Meeh Gosebrink. Oxford
Zell, Hans M. The African Studies Companion : a Resource Guide &
Directory / Hans M. Zell. London ; New York : Hans Zell, 1989. x, 165
p. (Hans Zell resource guides ; no. 1). See p. 101 109 for bookstores,
book dealers and distributors in North America, Europe and Africa.
Printed Book and Audio Catalogs
There are several large book catalogs of extensive African language collections. They are listed below by currency. Only the Indiana University catalog is up to date.
African Language Materials in the Collection of Boston University's African Studies Library / compiled by Gretchen S. Walsh and Jenny Hochstadt. 2nd ed. Boston : Boston University, African Studies Center, 1988. 2, 73, [24] p. Approximately 1300 citations in 163 languages.
Catalogue of the C. M. Doke Collection on African Languages in the Library of the University of Rhodesia. Boston, G. K. Hall, 1972. xxxii, 546 p. (Bibliographical series, no. 2) Lists over 3000 books, pamphlets, and manuscripts, some are very rare.
Mann, Michael. A Bibliography of African Language Texts in the Collections of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London to 1963 / compiled by Michael Mann & Valerie Sanders. London ; New Jersey : Hans Zell Publishers, 1994. xviii, 429 p. Lists over 7750 titles (8300 counting separate editions). Excludes Arabic, Afrikaans and classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez). Arranged by language and then by title. Separate list of more than 400 original texts in non African languages that were translated into African languages. Concentrates on works for local readers, not grammars, etc. 1100 of 2500 authors, translators and illustrators are "apparently African." Includes most of Doke Collection (above).
For a catalog of oral literature in African languages, see:
The online catalogs of the largest Africana collections in the United States and the United Kingdom are available online through the Internet. It may be useful to do subject or keyword searches for African language materials. The catalogs are listed in alphabetical order with instructions. Note, for those with access to the World Wide Web through Mosaic or Netscape, all these catalogs can be accessed directly from the homepage of the University of Illinois Center for African Studies [URL: http://ux1.cso.uiuc.edu/~kagan/library.html].
Boston University
Cambridge University
Indiana University
Northwestern University
Oxford University
University of California (MELVYL)
University of Illinois (UIUC)
University of London (SOAS)
Yale University
Microform Collections
The large African studies libraries in the U.S. have established the
Cooperative Africana Microforms Project (CAMP) to acquire rare and unique
serials and collections. Membership is open to all institutions, and
special rates are available for African libraries. Many materials are in
African languages. Members pay yearly dues and democratically decide what
titles to purchase. CAMP also sometimes arranges to film collections that
are otherwise unavailable. The collections are placed at the Center for
Research Libraries in Chicago. The latest printed CAMP Catalog was issued
in 1985 but there is now also online access through the Center for Research
Libraries catalog.
The Yoruba Collection Of William And Berta Bascom From The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley. New York : Norman Ross
Publishing Inc., 1991. 470 titles, microfiche.
Conclusion
With sufficient time, energy and a reasonable hard currency budget, it is
quite possible to develop an African language collection appropriate to
local needs.
telnet address: library.bu.edu or 128.197.130.200
At the login prompt, type "library"
To exit, type "D" at the main menu
telnet address: ipgate.cam.ac.uk or 131.111.12.21
At the login prompt, type "UL"
Follow terminal and accent mark prompts
To exit, type "END"
telnet address: iuis.ucs.indiana.edu or 129.79.2.203
Then type "3"
Then type "IUCAT"
To exit, type "STOP
tn3270 address: library.ucc.nwu.edu
At LUIS screen, type "NCAT"
To exit, type "STOP"
telnet address: library.ox.ac.uk or 129.67.1.46
When prompted for terminal type, enter "VT100"
Type "E"
To exit, type "E"
telnet address: melvyl.ucop.edu or 192.35.222.222
When prompted for terminal type, enter "VT100"
Press RETURN when prompted
To exit, type "END"
telnet address: illinet.aiss.uiuc.edu or 128.174.53.54
Begin the library connection. Type "B"
Type "1"
Type "3"
To exit a menu or session, type "X"
telnet address: sun.nsf.ac.uk or 128.86.8.7
At the login prompt, type "janet"
At the password prompt, press
When prompted for hostname, type "uk.ac.lon.soas.lib"
When prompted for USERNAME, type "LIBRARY"
Then select "1" for VT100 terminal type
To exit, type "EXIT"
telnet or tn3270 address: ycc.yale.edu
At terminal prompt, type "VT100"
At ORBIS logo, press
Type OPAC
To exit, type "STOP" CAMP Catalog. 1985 cumulative ed. Chicago, Ill. : Cooperative
Africana Microform Project, Center for Research Libraries (CRL),
(1985). ii, 642 p. Available through the University
of Chicago as part of the CRL online catalog: telnet
CRLCATALOG.UCHICAGO.EDU; at login prompt type GUEST.
Africana
328 Library
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801, USA
tel. 217 333 6519
fax. 217 333 2214