Newsletter

Number 7. November 1996.

In this issue:

• University libraries on the Silk Road, the rocky drive through the nineties
• Sustainable agriculture the FACT Net multi-purpose tree network
• Progress at AHILA-5 in Brazzaville
• Book Aid International's medical programme
• Low-cost improvement of science libraries and publications in developing countries.

Newsletter Editor: Ard Jongsma

Editorial address:
INASP
27 Park End Street
Oxford OX1 1HU
UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 181 997 3274
Fax: + 44 (0) 181 810 9795
E-mail: [email protected]

About INASP

INASP is a co-operative network of donors and representatives of recipient institutions. It has three immediate objectives:

- to map, support and strengthen existing programmes involved in the distribution, local publication, exchange and donation of books, journals, and related materials (e.g. maps and charts, audio-visual materials, software and CD-ROM);

- to encourage and support new initiatives that will increase local publication and general access to quality scientific literature;

- to identify methods that will permit the ongoing and sustainable exchange and distribution of scientific publications.

INASP is a project of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) supported by the EU and UNESCO.

Chairman: Kai-Inge Hillerud
(President, ICSU-Press)
Director: Carol Priestley

Address:

INASP
27 Park End Street
Oxford OX1 1HU
UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 181 997 3274
Fax: + 44 (0) 181 810 9795
E-mail: [email protected]

Libraries on the Silk Road

A review of Mongolian academic library provision. The post-Soviet era has seen Mongolia promoting indigenous printed resources and experiencing considerable overseas investment, notably from Asia. The latter has so far had little impact on library development while the former, coupled with severe shortages of paper and printing facilities, has had a dire effect.

Martin Myhill
University of Exeter Library

Severe economic difficulties are hampering MongoliaÕs own development plans but education is seen as a key to national upturn. This was recognised in the 1993 government Master Plan and the 1994 Education Act.

This short article is based on a visit to Ulaanbaatar in March 1996 as part of an EU-funded Tempus preparatory project . In the limited time available for the visit it was not possible to view every library in Ulaanbaatar.

The libraries visited share a number of common characteristics. Russian influence is obvious in terms of stock, classification systems and more general aspects of library organisation. The recent withdrawal of library support from Moscow has resulted in the drying-up of Russian-language books journals and indexes which previously formed the majority of acquisitions.

Nevertheless, the libraries are well managed, despite the lack of professional training courses and the common problem of low budgets. However, there is little evidence of computerised information systems. In terms of modern telecom-munications, the American SPRINT-net has recently been introduced to Mongolia using satellite technology.

Case Studies

The Mongolian State Pedagogical University (MSPU) The MSPU is the main secondary-level teacher-training university for Mongolia. There are 2,100 students in eight faculties, but the MSPU also oversees teaching colleges in the provinces (aimags).

The MSPU library contains over 150,000 books (closed access) with about 10,000 on loan at any one time. The main reading room has seats for around forty students, and a second room provides space for about twenty more readers.

Over 50,000 books are shelved in rooms in the Social Science faculty building, which acts as the main university library, and are consulted via reference to the central lending desk. The library is open for 40 hours per week, extended during examination periods. Four of the ten library staff are qualified librarians, working in departments of cataloguing, classification (using the 1962 Russian ÔinternationalÕ classification), and issue / retrieval services. Students are presented with pre-prepared bundles of texts at the start of each session on a long-loan basis.

An extra facility permits the further loan of three items for one week. Unlike most Russian libraries, fines (5 togrigs per item per day) are charged on overdue returns.

Gifts, often in irrelevant subjects, are the main form of foreign acquisition. Although there are now many, small publishing houses in Mongolia, there are very few new books in the Mongolian language. Publication lists are passed by the Librarian to academic departments for consideration. Currently the library receives or purchases around 2,000 books each year, (compared to 20,000 per year before the split from Russia) and subscribes to just 33 journal titles.

Foreign Language Institute

The function of the Foreign Language Institute is to train language workers. Since 1991 there has been much overseas investment in its facilities, notably $500,000 from the Japanese government to provide two language laboratories with the latest video equipment. Library facilities are organised on a language basis with reasonably extensive and up-to-date German-language resources (donated by the German government) available in print and multimedia formats (videos and language tapes especially). The British resource room has fewer facilities.

National Pedagogical College

The National Pedagogical College has two roles, covering both kindergarten and music teaching. There are 2,700 students studying for a 4-year diploma with a bachelor degree to be introduced soon. The library is modest in size and its reading room is often used for teaching purposes, restricting library use.

State Library

The State Library is the main repository for books in Mongolian script and has a room dedicated to Mongolian archives. Considerable use is made by Ulaanbaatar-based students of this library of nearly three million volumes and 150,000 registered borrowers. There are large reading rooms (350 seats) and closed-access bookstacks. Unusually, a modest fee is charged for each item borrowed.

Other university libraries

The libraries of the State University and State Technical University were not visited. The latter institution uses internet links for electronic mail, although this facility is not utilised in the library yet. The Mongolian Centre for Scientific and Technical Information is working on plans to develop a computer-based, bibliographic network linking university libraries. This will take some years to come to fruition, even if sufficient finance is forthcoming.

The future

Increasing foreign investment and the development of mineral resources should provide the catalyst to realise the ambitious aims for the education sector and this will undoubtedly have a bearing on the development of library resources. However, recent elections have had substantial impact on the management of higher education. The Mongolian political system is such that a change of government results in a major reshuffle of all important posts, university management included. It is too soon to predict the effect of this on the countryÕs transition process.

Martin Myhill can be contacted via e-mail. The address is: [email protected]

Sustainable agriculture, more than an environmental concern

Some trees are good for fuel, other species are particularly useful as building materials. Some trees 'have it all'. The Forest, Farm, and Community Tree Network (FACT Net) offers a forum for users and suppliers of information on the identification and cultivation of 'multipurpose trees'.

Mark Powell

Farmers need to protect their land out of concern for the environment, and because it is their primary source of livelihood ... today and tomorrow. In developing countries the land must feed farm families and their livestock, provide building material and fuel for cooking, as well as earn cash to buy whatever the farmers cannot grow themselves. With increasing population pressure in many areas, all these needs must be met from smaller and smaller land holdings. And as governments are forced to drop expensive subsidy programs, farmers must maintain the productivity of their fields with very little fertiliser, or none at all.

Selected trees can provide fuel and building material, nutrient-rich green manure, high-protein live-stock fodder, as well as valuable human food and products for sale. Trees can also help prevent erosion on sloping land, reclaim infertile or degraded sites, and protect the soil from wind and sun.

Some trees have another special valueÑthey ÔfixÕ nitrogen. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for growing plants, and it is in short supply in many soils.

More than 650 tree species are known to have the capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen. These trees tend to be hardy Ôpioneer speciesÕ that grow well on poor or degraded sites, improving the soil for other plants. Multipurpose trees are grown to provide more than one significant product or service to the farmer. A multipurpose tree may fix nitrogen which will help rehabilitate degraded land and stabilise the soil on which it grows, while providing animal fodder, fuel, food and income for farm families.

FACT Net

FACT Net is an international network of community groups, development workers, tree breeders, researchers, students, and farmers. The network comprises more than 2,000 partners in 112 countries, who share an interest in the use of multipurpose trees to improve the soil, protect the environment, and enhance the well-being of farm families and other land users. FACT Net was created in 1995 with the assimilation of the Nitrogen Fixing Tree Association (NFTA) into Winrock InternationalÕs Forestry and Natural Resource Management Division. For over 15 years, NFTA provided the skills and resources necessary to use nitrogen fixing trees for sustainable agriculture and environmental protection to thousands of people world-wide.

Through extension, communi-cations, and research, FACT Net provides the skills and resources needed to introduce, improve and manage multipurpose trees successfully.

FACT Net participants and others involved in tree-planting projects have access to numerous services and activities:

• A technical advisory service through correspondence and on-site consultation with FACT Net staff who help with project design and management, species selection and training activities.
• Short technical courses and international workshops on multipurpose trees.
• A field-tested training curriculum for extension agents and development personnel.
• A directory of suppliers of high-quality tree seed to share field experience.
• Research results through regular FACT Net publications.

Communications

FACT Net members receive regular publications and can purchase special publications at discount rates. These publications include:

FACT Sheets

Six FACT Sheets a year are published for network participants and other readers. Aimed at extension agents, field researchers, community leaders, and farmers, these two-page reference sheets provide a basis for introducing new tree species into research and planting programs. FACT Sheets are available in English, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Chinese

Research Reports

One volume of Research Reports is published each year with occasional special issues. This report series is a forum for short technical reports on research, extension, and production activities involving multipurpose trees. The emphasis is on the timely reporting of practical information, observations, and experimental results that are likely to be of use to FACT Net participants

FACT Net News

Three newsletters are published each year. FACT Net News informs network participants about new publications and upcoming workshops and training courses in topics related to multipurpose tree species and natural resources management

Proceedings volumes and field manuals

FACT Net has organised more than 20 workshops bringing together leading scientists and development specialists from around the world to discuss important multipurpose tree species and related management systems. FACT Net publishes a proceedings volume and practical field manual from each workshop.

Details on how to become a FACT Net participant and more information on FACT Net publications, can be obtained from:

Mark Powell
Program Officer
FACT Net
Winrock International
38 Winrock Drive
Morrilton
AR 72110-9537
USA

Tel: + (1 501) 727-5435
Fax: + (1 501) 727-5417
E-mail: [email protected]

INASP Health

INASP-Health is a service created by health information providers, for health information providers (HIPs, see box right). It has one purpose: to assist HIPs in the pursuit of our common goal, universal access to reliable health information for health professionals in developing countries. This goal is fundamental to the sustainable improvement of health services. Furthermore, it is potentially both cost-effective and achievable.

In a series of unprecedented meetings hosted by the BMJ in 1994 and 1995, leading members of the HIP community recommended that a networking and advisory service should be established to facilitate communications among and between HIP organisations and health librarians; to promote and collate HIP research and evaluation; and to lobby for increased political and financial commitment. INASP was appointed to manage this initiative.

After several months of planning, INASP-Health was launched in April this year, thanks to a small start-up grant from the Overseas Development Administration (UK). The first 6 months have been highly active, diverse, and yet focused on our common goal. We are confident that we shall continue to mature into an increasingly valuable resource for the HIP community.

For further details on INASP-Health, please contact:

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Programme Manager
INASP-Health
P.O. Box 2564
London W5 1ZD.

Medical Literature for Developing Countries

Book Aid International's medical programme

Magda Seaton

For over 40 years Book Aid International has worked with people in developing countries, providing books and other printed materials to support literacy, education and training. Within this framework we have always had a very strong medical programme, and continue to do so. We are very committed to supporting a range of medical research centres, community health centres, district hospitals, research institutes, colleges and universities in developing countries, and we work successfully to provide the texts our overseas partners require. The programmes divide broadly into two areas: medical education - namely the International Campus Book Link (ICBL) project, and book buying for the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) - and primary health care and public health education. The latter includes the AIDS Awareness Project, sponsored by Comic Relief, through which 150,000 copies of the booklet Living with AIDS in the Community were distributed .

Medical education

International Campus Book Link (ICBL)

The ICBL project, an established programme of Book Aid International, has grown from strength to strength over the years. One full-time member of staff administers the scheme, with the help of volunteers. The projectÕs core activities enable Book Aid International to provide higher education materials, many of which are medical, to universities and research centres, consistently and on a request-led basis, for as long as necessary.

Journals
Continuity is crucial for journal collections in particular, and the ICBL project meets the need both for journal backruns and up-to-date journals. Our database matches journals requests from overseas to those donated in the UK. Additionally, our subscription support scheme asks donors in the UK to carry on giving their journal at the end of each year to the same institute, for as long as they are able. This is to ensure continuity of supply and to allow institutes to plan their research more effectively. Overall we have had 660 donations in 1996, and donors include publishers Ð Sage and Blackwell Science being the largest Ð university and public libraries, individuals, and professional associations.

There is also a journal purchase project, in pilot phase and funded by the Beit Trust, whereby Book Aid International buys current journals at a discount, and sends them to six institutes in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia each quarter.

Book selections Whilst journals are provided by title, we send out detailed book requirements forms to librarians, asking them to outline the subjects, levels and quantities of books they need. We also require information on the various departments and courses that are run to help assess their needs. From this we match appropriate titles on our shelves at Book Aid International to the subject areas requested. A pilot listing scheme for books was recently developed whereby we circulate the titles of multiple copies of books we have in stock for our partners to choose from. The lists are circulated approximately every two months.

All the books and journals in the ICBL programme are donated - excepting those used in pilot journal purchase scheme. Because we wish to provide the most up to date and relevant materials we only accept medical books less than five years old.

Tropical Health Education Trust (THET)

Book Aid International has worked with THET over a number of years to support continuing medical education. The strategy is to provide small libraries of core titles for district hospitals and sets of basic studentsÕ textbooks so that university book banks are established and the books are used again and again by medical, nursing and other students. THET supports a wide range of individual projects, identifies the beneficiaries and liaises with them over which titles they want. They raise the funds to cover book purchase, acquisitions costs and despatch. Book Aid InternationalÕs responsibility is buying the books and shipping them on THETÕs behalf.

The scheme has operated at different levels in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Titles have included Primary Childcare Book, Diseases of Children in the Subtropics and Tropics, Where there is no Dentist, Clinical Pharmacology, Practical Epidemiology, and Maurice KingÕs Primary Surgery (volumes 1 and 2).

Peter Bewes, who works in Uganda in support of continuing medical education, wrote describing the enthusiasm of one of the recipients of the books: ÔAlready we have met one hospital that has developed what is to them a new method of treatment of fractured femurs, straight out of Maurice King, and another where the nun in charge is even doing emergency brain surgery straight out of the book!Õ

Primary health care and public health education

Father Stephen Breen, Lemek Catholic Mission, Kenya, aptly states the need for primary health care materials in developing countries:
ÔMedical and basic health care is one of our priorities. We have a group of religious sisters who live in Lemek and run a small health care and a mobile clinic for the more remote parts of the mission. Our social worker mainly works with womenÕs groups. Through these groups she tries to educate the Maasai women on basic health care for their children.Õ

Book Aid International finds it particularly challenging to provide basic health care materials. They are not widely donated, which means that our projects in this area tend to be more varied, where possible using financial donations to source relevant book purchases.

GlaxoÕs donation of £40,000 to fund our medical programme, is one such example. A significant amount of this money was spent buying and distributing primary health care packs. Each pack contained 15-17 primary health care titles, e.g. Helping Mothers to Breastfeed, Primary Child Care Book I, Nutrition for Developing Countries and Helping Health Workers Learn. The scheme was very successful, identifying a real need in communities. A total of 2,572 books were sent out in all.

AIDS awareness

This project aimed to strengthen local initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, to raise AIDS awareness by making relevant material available. By selecting and distributing the title Living with AIDS in the Community, which promotes care and support instead of isolation and alienation, the project aimed to prioritise those who have AIDS, their families and carers. The booklet was originally produced by The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), Uganda, and revised and distributed more widely by WHO. A special print run was made to supply Book Aid International with 150,000 copies, with money donated by Comic Relief. We distributed the booklets as we would any case of books: large quantities were initially sent to partner organisations with whom we had an established relationship, and to whom consignments of books are sent on a regular basis to distribute locally. Copies of the booklet were also sent to organisations that requested books directly from Book Aid International. These were sent from our London warehouse.

Translations The booklet has had an extremely wide impact, and is being used in a variety of ways: as a resource for teaching and training, counselling and for individuals. It has also been used as a basis for drama and song. Perhaps one important limitation is language. As a direct result of its wide distribution, the booklet was translated by individual institutions, organisations and government departments, a.o. into Hausa, Shona, Ndebele, Swahili and Somal. Unfortunately the requests for Living with AIDS in the Community to be translated far outweigh available resources.

'AIDS be careful, Book Aid International has provided books so we can fight you more. You disfigured me because I had no knowledge, now I have strength.' Extract from a poem by Namakandwa Self Help Group, Uganda

The future ?

Book Aid InternationalÕs programmes have always been very well received in their targeted areas. However, much remains to be done and we are well aware that the solutions we offer, though urgent now, are in many cases short-term ones.

One of Book Aid InternationalÕs long-term aims is to support local publishing. This will enable the very communities with the acutest lack of books to produce their own.

We currently spend about £30,000 a year on locally produced books bought from the African Book Collective. Medical materials, whether for medical education or basic health care education, are problem areas as they are not widely produced by local publishers.

Meanwhile, Book Aid International will continue to send relevant medical and other material to meet the immediate demands that exist, supporting local publishing where possible.

For more information, please contact:

Magda Seaton
Book Aid International
39-41 Coldharbour Lane
London SE5 9NR
UK.

Telephone: +44 171 733 3577 Fax: + 44 171 978 8006
E-mail: [email protected].

AHILA-5

Regional Health Information Programme ratified.

Neil Pakenham-Walsh

Dr Claire Assambo (Nephrologist) shows the available library resources at Brazzaville University's teaching hospital. (Photograph: Neil Pakenham-Walsh)

Health librarians from all over Africa met in September at the WHO African Regional Office in Brazzaville, Congo, for the 5th international congress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa. The event attracted 85 participants, including INASP-Health and several HIP organisations, e.g. CAB International, the Dreyfus Health Foundation, Support for Analysis and Research in Africa, SatelLife, Silver Platter, and the Tropical Medicine Resource. For the first time it included delegates from South Africa and Eritrea. The feeling of solidarity was palpable, coming to a climax on the dance floor at a splendid farewell party hosted by Lucilda Hunter (Librarian, AFRO).

The last 10 years have been marked by repeated cuts in the budgets of African health libraries, yet the conference demonstrated continued commitment, enthusiasm, and individual successes. How much more would be achieved if governments and funding agencies could be persuaded to increase their commitment to health information.

One of the most significant recent developments in AHILA is the launch of AHILA-Net in April this year. This is an e-mail discussion list set up by Irene Bertrand at the WHO library (Geneva). It has allowed AHILA members - many of whom are isolated from their colleagues - to communicate directly with one another and with HIP organisations, North and South. The conference noted how the effectiveness of any network depends not only on its individual participants, but also on its contacts with other, complementary networks. The INASP-Health list server (due to be launched next year) looks forward to linking with AHILA-Net and other regional networks to form a global communications tool for all HIPs.

Throughout the conference delegates repeatedly emphasised the same three priorities - communications, HIP research and evaluation, and advocacy - that are the foci of the INASP-Health programme. The programme itself was enthusiastically received.

The congress ratified a far-reaching document, the Regional Health Information Programme, that will form the basis for AHILA/AFRO activities for the next 4 years. The document addresses a wide range of areas, including library development, training, district level health information, partnerships and networking. The first phase of the programme, for example, will include health information needs assessments at country level, with assistance from the AFRO library.

The programme proposes the identification and support of national information access centres, which would be responsible for providing access to bibliographic databases, document delivery, and production/distribution of current awareness publications, as well as the development of national health databases as part of the African Index Medicus. WHO (both headquarters and AFRO) will continue to play a central role in promoting, coordinating, and helping to realise these objectives.

Helping Hands

Modern technology is not the only way forward.

The problems in developing countries will not be solved with CD-ROMs and satellite connections. There has to be change. The new head of the Indian Science Documentation Centre not only transformed the library and its stock, but also rationalised journal subscriptions and loans. It was one of the examples strengthening Dr. Wyatt's belief that a lot can be done to improve the situation of academic libraries in developing countries without necessarily investing large amounts of money.

Dr. H.V. Wyatt

In Western libraries it is possible to cope with changing technology and requirements of users. In India this is more difficult. Many Indian libraries are dismal places, full of old and dusty books. Few new books can be bought, so old and obsolete textbooks fill the shelves. Students hide new books, staff take books out and do not return them.

Libraries could be reorganised. Old books could be retired to a corner, the really out of date ones hidden behind others if they cannot be disposed of. This would leave a small collection of useful books and journals which could be more easily monitored. Possibly, this collection should be used only in the library proper or for overnight loan, with penalties for late return. Fines are often difficult to enforce, but loss of loan rights can be effective.

Many international bodies like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Appropriate Health Resources and Technologies Action Group (AHRTAG) produce free booklets and newsletters which contain information about immunisations, child-health, AIDS, essential drugs, etc. I have only once found them in a third world library, locked up in a cupboard in the librarianÕs office, uncatalogued and never opened... Of course, newsletters are difficult to store and shelve. In Western libraries, special boxes are used for the purpose, but in India cardboard boxes could easily be collected and cut to hold these booklets.

The charity Teaching Aids at Low Cost (TALC), provides essential books and slide sets for health workers. Again, I have never found these books and instruction materials in medical schools and hospital libraries, yet they would be more suitable than many of the very expensive international journals which are bought for ornament rather than use. Instead of large scale operations such as the British ELBS programme, schemes like TALC should be devised and supported for subjects other than just health sciences.

WHO and the Wellcome Trust give grants for research which include money for the purchase of journals such as Nature, but these journals are often kept in the grantee's laboratory and are not lent out to others. Sharing would help others. Perhaps grant giving organisations could consider giving vouchers to the host institution which could be exchanged by staff for access to the journals.

India has one quarter of the worldÕs scientists, but contributes very little to scientific literature. Only 16 Indian journals are covered by Current Contents, Life Sciences.

Not many more make it to the Index Medicus although the National Medical Journal of India, and Medical Ethics, are shining examples of what can be done.

Half of the articles in the Journal of African Zoology come from outside Africa and its Advisory Board has members from all over the world. Though partly understandable, it is unfortunate that there has been less such co-operation with countries like India. Many Indian scientists have emigrated and hold important posts in Europe and America and some of them have been recruited to the boards of Indian journals. However, their input has not always been good. For Indian journals the very latest in high-tech medicine is not usually the highest priority.

An increasing amount of journal editors and referees who are from or have worked in developing countries, and have friends, colleagues, and ex-students from overseas, spend much time helping authors who send articles to them. This is a good development, but more can be done.

Journals and societies could ask for members with experience in developing countries or knowledge of their specific problems to help with a couple of papers a year. In some cases this might involve help with the writing. In others it could be with searching the literature and supplying a few photocopies, or support with the statistics.

Some might even get involved with the design of experiments. I have found many papers in which useful data must have been collected and were not included or were presented in an unusable form. In many papers there are ambiguities and unclear statistical analyses, it is often unclear which of several hypotheses has been tested or what the hypothesis was in the first place. These are also issues where we could help.

Many retired scientists would love to do some teaching, yet have not tried to visit colleagues in developing countries. There are schemes for professionals to develop industries and help with all kinds of financial and commercial advice, but teaching is not included.

However, this prohibition does not preclude giving advice about reorganising libraries, editing journals, and giving workshops on writing and teaching methods.

My retirement has been rewarded with many new friendships.

Dr. Wyatt is Honorary Research Fellow in Public Health Medicine at the University of Leeds. He works from home, mainly on poliomyelitis (polio) and has written some 250 publications. He spent five of the past ten years in the West Bank, Malta, India, and Pakistan working on polio and conducting workshops for postgraduate students and staff on writing, tables, graphs, etc.

Dr. Wyatt can be contacted at the following address:

School of Healthcare Studies
University of Leeds
18 Blenheim Terrace
Leeds LS2 9HD

Notice Board

The INASP Newsletter Notice Board is a public forum for organisations and institutions wishing to advertise their projects, activities, offers or requests.

Short contributions can be sent to the editor at INASP.

Nigerian Support Opportunity

With a year in which despatch of literature to Nigeria was virtually impossible behind us, it is indeed encouraging to receive supportive news from the former librarian of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Solomon Oyesola.

The Federal Ministry of Health library served for a number of years as a distributor for Book Aid InternationalÕs International Campus Book Link project.

Solomon Oyesola retired last year from 'his' library and now offers his expertise to individuals and organisations experiencing logistical problems with shipments to Nigeria, or needing to identify appropriate recipients in the Nigerian health sector.

Dr. Oyesola can be contacted at:

The University of Lagos
P.O. Box 103
Akoka
Lagos
Nigeria

APNET publications

From the African Publishers Network (APNET) we received the request to publicise the availability of the following publications:

African Publishing Review
APNET's bi-monthly journal with:
-news and reviews of the latest African releases;
- news of African prize winning publications;
- co-publishing, rights and translation opportunities in Africa;
- news of African book fairs;
- contact addresses of African publishers and book-related organisations.

Twenty pages free to African publishing companies, libraries and booksellers. Also available in French.

Annual subscription:
Africa:
US$25/£17 surface
US$30/£20 airmail
Elsewhere:
US$40/£27 surface
US$50/£33 airmail

African Rights 'Indaba': Edited Conference Proceedings of the Conference held in Harare, 1994
Edited by Murray McCartney.
Paperback, 56 pages.

Free to African publishers, African publishersÕ associations, and African book councils.
Others: US$10/£6

APNET Development Directory of Indigenous Publishing 1994.
Edited by Carol Priestley.
Paperback, 212 pages.
US$30/£20

APNET ChildrenÕs Catalogue 1995/1996
(Free on request.)

Towards an African Publishing Institute: An Investigation of Existing Publishing Training, a Survey of African Publishers Training Needs and a Proposed Five-Year Plan for an African Publishing Institute
By Laura Czerniewicz
Plastic spiral bound, 105 photocopied pages.

African publishers, African publishersÕ associations, African book councils: US$20
Other organisations within Africa:
US$30
Organisations outside Africa:
US$40

For any orders contact:

APNET
The Editor
P.O. Box 3773
Harare
Zimbabwe

Tel: + (263 4) 739681/ 751202
Fax: + (263 4) 751202
E-mail: [email protected]

African Periodicals Exhibit Catalogue published

The African Periodicals Exhibit (APEX) was launched in 1993 as a collective exhibit and marketing initiative for African scolarly periodicals of a scientific, technical, literal or cultural nature. It has since become an established feature of the Zimbabwe International Book Fairr (ZIBF), organised annually in Harare.

As in previous years, a bibliographical catalogue of the exhibition has been published.

Bigger than ever before, it includes details of 142 journals from 26 African countries.

To obtain a copy of the APEX96 catalogue, please write to:

Pru Watts-Russell
INASP
P.O. Box 2564
London W5 1ZD

The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications P.O. Box 2564, London W5 1ZD, UK Tel: + (44 181) 997 3274
Fax:+ (44 181) 810 9795 E-mail: [email protected]