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Partnership as a New Paradigm for Reference Librariansin African StudiesPeter Limb aa Africana Library , Michigan State University Library , East Lansing, MI, 48824-1048 E-mail:Published online: 17 Oct 2008.

To cite this article: Peter Limb (2004) Partnership as a New Paradigm for Reference Librarians in African Studies, TheReference Librarian, 42:87-88, 151-162, DOI: 10.1300/J120v42n87_05

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PART II:COLLABORATION AND INNOVATIONIN AFRICA AND THE UNITED STATES

Partnership as a New Paradigmfor Reference Librarians in African Studies

Peter Limb

SUMMARY. This article examines the changing paradigms of refer-ence librarianship as they relate to the study of Africa. It discusses im-portant issues to do with the role of the reference librarian in assistingfuture scholarly research. Particular attention is given to how electronicresources are influencing the nature of Africana reference services andcollection development. Given the problems faced in accessing informa-tion from Africa, emphasis is also placed on how partnerships between

Peter Limb is Assistant Professor, Africana Library, Michigan State University Li-brary, East Lansing, MI 48824-1048 (E-mail: [email protected]).

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Partnership as a New Paradigm for Reference Librarians in AfricanStudies.” Limb, Peter. Co-published simultaneously in The Reference Librarian (The Haworth InformationPress, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) No. 87/88, 2004, pp.151-162; and: Research, Reference Service,and Resources for the Study of Africa (ed: Deborah M. LaFond, and Gretchen Walsh) The Haworth Informa-tion Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2004, pp. 151-162. Single or multiple copies of this articleare available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00p.m. (EST). E-mail address: [email protected]].

http://www.haworthpress.com/web/REF 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J120v42n87_05 151

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U.S. and African libraries and scholarly institutions can help improve in-formation access in and about Africa. [Article copies available for a feefrom The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail ad-dress: <[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Africa, libraries, reference, electronic resources, part-nerships

THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

The role of the reference librarian, in African studies as in other fieldsof study, is changing under the influence of persistent technological de-velopments and new learning patterns.1 One can speak of a new para-digm of reference work, not only in terms of new tools requiring newskills but also in that the very nature of the library and the librarian ischanging.2 Information users are modifying their conceptions of librar-ies, requiring reference librarians to master new tasks such as teachinginformation skills, providing effective interfaces to burgeoning e-re-sources, and responding to electronic queries.3 Librarians must effi-ciently interact with library clients to better understand their informationrequirements and develop appropriate services.4 While predictions ofthe imminent triumph of the virtual library have been premature, recenttrends indicate that scholars increasingly expect information, includingadvice traditionally associated with the reference query, to be deliveredto their desktops. Because clients can now more easily access informa-tion themselves, the role of the reference librarian has shifted from re-vealing “hidden” data and search strategies to one of providing qualitycontext and metadata.

These changes are evident in specific reference tasks. Electronictools facilitate collection building, book selection and compilation ofbibliographies. Reference queries increasingly arrive electronically ande-mail and scholarly electronic discussion lists offer scholars the oppor-tunity of asking such queries of a much broader range of librarians orpeers.5 Rapid growth of Web-based collections of primary and second-ary sources (such as NetLibrary and digitized dissertations) and of cata-logs and searching aids requires reference librarians to be fully conversantwith existing Web resources or even to compile their own online guidesto such resources after evaluating their utility and quality.

152 Research, Reference Service, and Resources for the Study of Africa

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Reference librarians have always been concerned with the quality ofbibliographic resources and have employed such media as bibliographicinstruction classes, printed guides, and book reviews to impress upon li-brary patrons the importance of using the best sources. However, thedisorganized nature of the Internet and the speed of technologicalchange are inducing new patterns or paradigms of best practice refer-ence that often involve working out qualitative and quantitative ap-proaches to new sources of data as they emerge. The technical andintellectual content of new electronic resources often requires closeconsultation or coordination with faculty or other librarians in referenceand technical services to competently assess quality. Librarians canhelp overcome the current misgivings by some faculty about electronicresources by explaining their use, by designing user-friendly interfacesto such sources of data, and by lobbying for higher quality e-products.6

These developments signal important new trends among reference li-brarians. The librarian increasingly needs to provide context for, or me-diate between, rapidly expanding quantities and formats of information,and to have a more patron-focused approach. There is a growing em-phasis on partnerships.

THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN IN AFRICAN STUDIES

The rapid growth of electronic databases and Web-based sources ofinformation on Africa has made the evaluation of these resources byAfricana reference librarians more complex, immediate, and vital. Theexplosion of information sources has made the organization of timelyand efficient reference guides to the literature more necessary than ever.Africana reference librarians increasingly are asked to evaluate thequality and relevance of African studies databases and select appropri-ate Web sites for inclusion on library or university Web pages dealingwith Africa.

The effect on users of these developments is profound. Johnsen ob-serves, “Today the graduate student enters the library with 50 referenceson the same subject that she has found on the Internet, and just wantshelp to get hold of copies.” He argues that it is inadequate for Africanalibrarians to keep doing the same tasks if with new tools: “These changedcircumstances represent a challenge to our thinking and to . . . our wayof working and our priorities. . . . We have to start by looking at what ourpatrons need from us, that is not provided by other professions . . . [suchas]. . . . inputting of information into the databases. . . . [and] quality.”7

Part II: Collaboration and Innovation in Africa and the United States 153

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Africana reference librarians in the United States, drawing on theirbibliographic expertise of Africa and their technological skills, have re-sponded creatively to these challenges. They have compiled a wholenew generation of online subject guides to Africa-related Web sites aswell as tutorials to facilitate the use of electronic resources on Africanstudies.8 If at times there has been duplication of effort in these Internet-based projects, the new reference tools initiated by librarians haveproven popular among Africanists and encouraged publishers belatedlyto enter this emergent field of African reference information. Librari-ans, interestingly, have thus been able to secure a niche for themselveson library servers in a world otherwise dominated by commercial pub-lishers.

Over the last decade, Africana reference librarians also have been ac-tive in scholarly and professional e-mail discussion networks wherethey have adapted to new, interactive online reference scenarios. Refer-ence queries and their answers now can be provided by distinguishedscholars, as well as librarians, and in a global context. This “internation-alization” of the reference query can be daunting to some, as is the pros-pect of local students opting to route queries to a remote librarian orprofessor. However, this trend also allows librarians to measure theirreference competencies against expert and international yardsticks.This is apparent with the most successful African studies e-mail discus-sion lists in the humanities and social sciences, the “H-Africana” familyof networks. This group of seven moderated networks includes amongits editorial staff eight Africana reference librarians who have been in-volved not only in fielding reference queries but have also acted as bookreview editors, online and Web editors, planners, and compilers of se-lective dissemination of information services such as tables of contentsof journals.9

Little published research has yet appeared on the attitudes to, and ef-fects of, these new Africana media and the role of reference librarians inthem. However, the active role of librarians in these areas should help toraise the profile of the profession at the very time when fewer patronsfind it necessary to visit the physical library. Moreover, while non-li-brarians nowadays have access to many of the same electronic tools, thelibrary skills and subject knowledge of Africana librarians continue tomake them well placed to take the lead in these new arenas of referenceprovision.

In the field of collection development, Africana librarians now canuse a host of electronic tools to identify and select Western imprints onAfrica in a fraction of the time it once took to consult a plethora of


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printed bibliographies. U.S. librarians also have developed highly suc-cessful co-operative Africana acquisition and preservation schemes,such as the Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project and the Coopera-tive Acquisitions Program of the Library of Congress Nairobi Office.However, the chronic problems facing publishers and libraries in Africaand the growing technology gap continue to make it difficult to acquireAfrican imprints. Moreover, with much African information still pro-duced in printed format, the aim of Africana librarians should be toachieve a judicious balance between traditional and electronic sourcesof information, between “access” and “ownership,” however much thismay appear to depart from recent Western library preferences for theformer. Many African publications, particularly journals, simply do notfind their way into large Western commercial databases, and the Africanareference librarian must therefore continue to monitor and access printmaterials.

It is important that librarians appreciate the substantial differencesbetween the African library and publishing worlds and their Westerncounterparts and do not try to reproduce solutions to collection develop-ment problems more appropriate in an American setting. To understandthese issues and their implication for reference services, it is necessaryto outline these African problems.

AFRICA TODAY:THE CRISIS IN INFORMATION RESOURCES

AND THE RESPONSE OF LIBRARIES

A crisis in information resources has intensified across Africa in re-cent years. Scholarly communication continues to face enormous prob-lems. In many African societies, the fragility of publishing and theinability of governments, educational systems, and libraries to maintainbasic services reflect the state of crisis. An African “book famine” con-tinues unabated. In 1991, Africa, with 10 percent of world population,produced only one per cent of the global output of books, with 70 percent of its book needs imported. In this context there is an urgent need,argues Sturges, for a new African library paradigm more relevant tocommunity needs, for forms of information delivery appropriate for Af-rican conditions. African publishing today continues to face severeproblems such as weak distribution networks, low incomes, low literacyrates, weak infrastructures of libraries and bookshops, and the difficul-ties of marketing publications in African languages.10 These problemsdeleteriously affect African librarianship in general and collection de-


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velopment in particular. Journals cease or become dormant for years.Manuscripts remain unpublished. The acquisition of African disserta-tions remains very difficult, even in neighboring countries. Keepingtrack of this uneven pattern of publication is part of the Africana refer-ence librarian’s tasks.

Despite such problems, significant institutions have emerged to en-courage African publishing, including the Noma Award for Publishingin Africa (established 1978), the Zimbabwe International Book Fair(1983), African Books Collective (1989) and African Publishing Net-work (1992). Efforts have begun to overcome the drawbacks of Africanpublishing through digitization initiatives. Thus, projects employingEncoded Archival Description hold possibilities for overcoming theenormous difficulties facing preservation of paper archives in many Af-rican countries, notably the rigors of a tropical climate and political in-stability, the latter graphically witnessed in the recent Guinea-Bissaucivil war, when the National Archives were decimated. More recently,the growth of the Internet has raised expectations of Africans “leapfrog-ging” problems to make use of technological advances.

The application of new technologies to many African countries, es-pecially in rural areas, has been limited by structural problems such aslimited telephone lines, high start-up and telecommunications costs,and irregular electricity supplies. Nevertheless, in Africa e-publishinghas the potential to achieve savings in subscription costs and greatly in-crease the speed of delivery of information. African governments, uni-versities, and librarians increasingly perceive the potential benefits ofinformation and communications technologies and are developing elec-tronic resources and skills and forging new international partnerships tooptimize their use of tools such as the Internet.11

Considerable progress in connecting Africa to the Internet has beenachieved. Statistics are imprecise but by 2000 all 54 African countrieshad some kind of Net access in their capital cities. The use of the Net byAfrican libraries and scholars continues to grow. Access outside thecapitals remains limited and there are strong regional imbalances. Thenumber of African dial-up Internet subscribers was estimated in May2001 at about 1,300,000 of which South Africa comprised 750,000 andNorth Africa 250,000. Web-based information services are well estab-lished in South Africa.12

Today there are a wide range of Internet sites and other e-services inAfrica. These include, for example, online newspapers, Web- andCD-ROM-based databases, e-mail discussion lists, and home pages ofuniversity departments. Online newspapers are proving popular in Af-


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rica among those of the elite with an Internet connection. E-mail andCD-ROMs, requiring less expensive hardware, have been particularlypopular in Africa. Many e-mail networks link Africa-based and West-ern scholars and librarians. However, in many cases, Africans remainpoorly represented in international e-mail networks. For instance, theH-Africa network, which has achieved substantial interaction with Af-rica, remains essentially Western in its subscriber base.13 Africa is alsopoorly represented in the developing field of e-books and e-disserta-tions, though Rhodes University has joined the Networked Digital Li-brary of Theses and Dissertations.

Despite these obstacles, investors and governments are encouraginggreater connectivity. This trend will be facilitated by international part-nerships but these need to be mutually beneficial if Africans are to bene-fit from sustainable long-term development of e-information resources.Reference librarians in both Africa and the U.S. have an important roleto play in mediating these changes.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIPS

The random and exploding nature of the Internet and the increasinginternationalization of publishing has made librarians more consciousof the usefulness of networking as a means of making information moreaccessible to library patrons.14 This trend is seen in co-operative initia-tives, such as those for systems of quality information distribution inwhich each partner offers specific expert coverage (for instance by ref-erence librarians) and in efforts by librarians and scholars to challengethe hegemony of publishers through partnerships such as the ScholarlyPublishing and Research Coalition (SPARC). Co-operative trends arealso evident in efforts to better organize Web resources, such as theCo-operative Online Resource Catalog (CORC), which enlists the elec-tronic input of catalogers, reference librarians, and faculty to catalogWeb sites, helping to break down divides between reference and techni-cal services.

THE NEED FOR MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL PARTNERSHIPSWITH AFRICA AND THE ROLE OF AFRICANA LIBRARIANS

Partnerships will be crucial in the expansion of the Internet and otherforms of new information technology in Africa. Among the major ini-


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tiatives at government level in this regard are the UN System-Wide Ini-tiative on Africa, USAID/Leland Initiative, the World Bank’s AfricanVirtual University, and UNDP’s Internet Initiative for Africa. Cogburnand Adeya recently analysed the challenges of globalization and the in-formation economy for Africa. They concluded that countries that failto pursue the information revolution would fall further behind and argueit is thus imperative for Africans to form strategic partnerships.15

Effective partnerships are likely to be crucial for funding future de-velopments in Africana information resources in both Africa and theWest. In the face of continuing sharp rises in the cost of commerciallyprovided information, librarians and scholarly associations involved inthe study of Africa are seeking to create viable alternatives and developco-operative projects to improve the quality, quantity, and usage of doc-umentation on Africa. These projects include joint publishing ventures,exchanges, and co-publication agreements between African and West-ern universities, scholarly societies, publishers, and libraries. Recipro-cal exchanges between American and African universities such as theAfrican Internet Connectivity Project have increased hands-on learningand collaborative teaching for both reference librarians and faculty.16 Inthe new globalized environment, institutions of learning increasinglywill want to promote awareness of their collections on the Web. This inturn will provide new resources for reference librarians to meet the que-ries of their clients.

However alluring this emerging scenario might appear, the situationon the ground in Africa is more complex. It is important that co-opera-tive e-ventures are undertaken in consultation with experienced advi-sors and in tandem with ongoing technical assistance so that gains arenot merely transitory. The mere shipment of computer hardware to Af-rica without investing in ongoing training for its maintenance has beentypical of past foreign aid. Digitization should not be seen as a merepanacea, particularly given the current continued reliance of many Afri-can publishers on the print format. Still, aspects of the digital revolutionseem appropriate in some African settings: oral traditions and perfor-mance occupy an important place in African societies and may offer ex-citing possibilities in the field of audio and video digitization to enrichAfrican studies. Africana reference librarians have the expertise to ad-vise Western donors or partners on all such matters.

Africana reference librarians have a long tradition of forging co-op-erative projects both among themselves and with African partners insuch areas as collection development and archives and newspaper pres-ervation. They have been prominent in several recent projects aimed at


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improving access to scholarly resources in and from Africa and helpingovercome the “digital divide.” The following examples represent asmall, if significant, sample of their current projects.

Africana librarians at Michigan State University (MSU) and Colum-bia University are involved in the Multi-Lingual Digital Library forWest African Sources, a project to repatriate in a digital format docu-ments and archives originally taken from West Africa to the U.S. MSUlibrarians also are playing a leading role in the African e-Journals Proj-ect to develop a sustainable online delivery system for African jour-nals in the social sciences and humanities. These two projects involve awide range of partnerships between, on the one hand, American institu-tions such as the MSU African Studies Center, MSU Press, MATRIX/H-Net, MSU Libraries and American scholarly bodies and, on the otherhand, African scholarly bodies and publishers such as the InstitutFondemental d’Afrique Noire, the West African Research Center andCODESRIA in Senegal. To take a South African example, librariansfrom the National Library of South Africa, the University of the Wit-watersrand, the University of Natal, and the University of Durban-Westville joined with South African archivists and faculty and Ameri-can advisors from Cornell University in the Digital Imaging South Af-rica (DISA) project to provide electronic access to material of highsocio-political interest.

The role of librarians in these projects has included the provision ofadvice on the quality and regularity of African publications, on Africanconnectivity, and on other issues to do with scholarly communicationsand the whole context of information resources in Africa. In these andother projects, librarians are helping to develop viable new models forinternational cooperation and strategies for making African researchmaterials accessible to scholars worldwide. They are taking part notonly in the evaluation, but also the creation, of scholarly resources, asgenuine partners and not passive custodians of information. The finalproducts will enhance information resources in their fields, and providereference librarians with further easily navigable tools for their work.

These projects have the potential to link up with other informationand publishing ventures in other parts of the world and in other disci-plines, such as African Journals Online of the International Network forthe Availability of Scientific Publications, based in Oxford. Such widerinternational collaboration may be necessary to effectively mitigate theinformation crisis in Africa. However, long-term solutions to this deep-seated crisis will also require the development of Africa-based re-sources and competencies.17 Such development, if it is to succeed, will


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have to be based, not on short-term charity, but on mutually beneficialpartnerships. In this regard, both Africana and African librarians canplay an important role. U.S. Africana librarians can act as mentors to li-brarians in Africa to impart the lessons learned by reference librariansof digitization in the West. Reference librarians in Africa can help edu-cate their Northern library colleagues on the specific nature of the refer-ence interview in African settings and on the particular combination ofinformation resources that emerges in African libraries in the next fewdecades.

There also are ethical and political dimensions to these trends. Eco-nomic and cultural domination of Africa by the West is likely to inten-sify with the spread of the Internet, reinforcing the need for genuinelymutually beneficial partnerships. Africans are developing skills in em-ploying electronic resources as tools in the educational and politicalspheres and are likely to forge new partnerships to secure a measure ofcontrol over their own lives. Africana librarians, with their traditionalconcern for the free spread of information and their experience of ad-dressing ethical dilemmas to do with unequal information resources, arewell able to mediate in this contest.

CONCLUSION

Africana reference librarians have an increasingly important role toplay in twenty-first century scholarly endeavors on Africa. This takesthree forms. They must help explain to patrons the new services and op-portunities that will flow from constantly changing developments inelectronic resources on Africa. They should help to design and imple-ment quality interfaces to these resources. Finally, they can be part ofcrucial new partnerships that will benefit both African and Western li-braries and scholars. Future reference strategies must incorporate thesechanging paradigms.

NOTES

1. Gary M. Pitkin. (Editor) The Impact of Emerging Technologies on ReferenceService and Bibliographic Instruction. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995); Sam-uel T. Huang (editor) Modern Library Technology and Reference Services. (NewYork: The Haworth Press, Inc. 1993); Anne Grodzins Lipow (editor). Rethinking Ref-erence in Academic Libraries. (Berkeley, CA: Library Solutions, 1993).


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2. John V. Richardson, Knowledge-Based Systems for General Reference Work:Applications, Problems, and Progress. (San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1995);Darlene Weingand, “Competence and the New Paradigm: Continuing Education of theReference Staff,” The Reference Librarian, 43 (1994): 173-182.

3. Hannelore B. Rader, “Information Literacy in the Reference Environment: Pre-paring for the Future,” The Reference Librarian, 71 (2000): 25-33.

4. Lorene Sisson and Donna Pontau, “The Changing Instructional Paradigm andEmerging Technologies: New Opportunities for Reference Librarians and Educators,”The Reference Librarian 49/50 (1995) pp. 205-216.

5. Marc Meola and Sam Stormont, “Real-Time Reference Service for the RemoteUser: From the Telephone and Electronic Mail to Internet Chat, Instant Messaging, andCollaborative Software,” The Reference Librarian 67/68 (1999): 29-40.

6. A. Kasowitz, B. Bennett, and R.D. Lankes, “Quality Standards for Digital Ref-erence Consortia,” Reference & User Services Quarterly, 39 (2000): 355-63; D.Greenstein. “Creating Digital Library Services: Key Challenges,” CLIR Issues 14 (2000).See also the current study to test and refine quality standards to describe digital refer-ence services: http://quartz.syr.edu/quality/.

7. T. Johnsen, “Africana Librarians on the Information Highway: Do We Need toReconsider Our Directions?” in Nancy J. Schmidt (editor), Africana Librarianship inthe 21st Century: Treasuring the Past and Building the Future: Proceedings of the40th Anniversary Conference of the Africana Librarians Council. (Bloomington, IN:African Studies Program, Indiana University, 1998): 66-68.

8. See, inter alia, Karen Fung, “Africa South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Re-sources” http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/; Joe Caruso, “African StudiesInternet Resources” http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/area/Africa/; GretchenWalsh, “Web Resources for the Study of Africa,” http://www.bu.edu/library/training/aslclass.html.

9. P. Limb, “H-Africa and the Wider H-Net Family of African Studies: Problemsand Prospects of the Electronic Future” paper to “The Electronic Future: Africa on theNet” SCOLMA Conference, University of London, June 2000. See http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~africa/.

10. E. Rathgeber, “African Book Publishing: Lessons from the 1980s,” in P.Altbach (ed.), Publishing and Development in the Third World (London: Zell, 1992):77-100; Paul Sturges, and Richard Neill. The Quiet Struggle: Information and Librar-ies for the People of Africa. 2nd ed. (London: Mansell, 1998); P. Altbach and DamtewTeferra (editors), Publishing in African Languages: Challenges and Prospects (Chest-nut Hill, Ma.: Bellagio, 1999).

11. “Africa in the Age of Information Technology,” Africa Recovery 13, 4 (1999):13-27; G. Nulens and L. Van Audenhove, “An Information Society in Africa?: AnAnalysis of the Information Society Policy of the World Bank, ITU and ECA,” Ga-zette: International Journal for Communication Studies 61 (1999). For one instance ofhow African librarians are creatively employing e-resources see: A. Mutshewa andK.N. Rao, “Enhancing Access through Electronic Resources: The University of Bot-swana Experience,” Library Hi-Tech 18 (2000).

12. Africa on the Internet (New York: APIC, 2000) http://www.africapolicy.org/inet.htm; Mike Jensen, “African Internet Status May 2001,” http://www3.sn.apc.org/


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africa/afstat.htm; Z. Nyiira, “Information and Communication Technologies: Experiencewith Rural Community Telecentres,” paper to INET 2000, http://www.bamako2000.org;P. Limb, “New Scenarios on Africa, African Studies, and the Internet” (Mots pluriels,forthcoming, 2001). Even in South Africa the picture is very uneven: see Yusuf Sayed,The Segregated Information Highway: Information Literacy in Higher Education.(Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 1998).

13. Limb, “H-Africa and the Wider H-Net Family of African Studies.”14. M. Gardner, J. DeVries and C. Kaag, “How Many Trees in a Forest: Creating

Digital Reference Services in Agriculture” in A. Kasowitz and J. Stahl (editors) Facetsof Digital Reference: The Virtual Reference Desk, 2nd Annual Digital Reference Con-ference, Oct 16-17 2000 http://www.vrd.org/conferences/VRD2000/proceedings/.

15. D. Cogburn and N. Adeya, “Globalization and the Information Economy: Chal-lenges and Opportunities for Africa,” paper to African Development Forum, 1999http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/adf/infoeconomy.htm#exploring.

16. See: http://www.matrix.msu.edu/connect/.17. http://www.inasp.org.uk/ajol/index.html; K. Nwalo, “Managing Information

for Development in the 21st Century: Prospects for African Libraries, Challenges tothe World,” paper to 66th IFLA Council, Jerusalem, August 2000. On problems of li-brary consortia in South Africa see C. Darch and P. Underwood, “Dirt Road or YellowBrick Superhighway? Information and Communication Technology in Academic Li-braries of South Africa,” Library Hi Tech, 17 (1999): 285-297.


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