The Poverty of Librarianship: An Historical Critique of Public Librarianship in Anglophone Africa

The countries of Anglophone Africa, consisting of former British colonies and protectorates, almost all provide public library facilities in the form of national library services (also including traditional national library facilities). The idea is first found in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) in 1928. Evelyn Evans developed it fully in Ghana as the first Chief Librarian of the Gold Coast Library Board in 1950. The services to the public closely followed the example of the British county libraries. The idea was influential, first in West Africa, then in other parts of the continent. William Serwadda, Director of the Uganda National Library Service (1964–66) criticised it, without success, on the grounds that it did not reflect the needs of African people. Since the 1970s the national library services have failed to attract significant numbers of users and have mostly stagnated from lack of funds. Critics such as Kingo Mchombu have taken up Serwadda's theme and there has been experimentation throughout Africa with informal community-based services concentrating on the dissemination of information. It is argued that the national library services need to adopt a fresh approach based on this experimentation so as to provide effective facilities for their potential users.