Library and Information Science

Between 1968 and the end of August 2013, I had the good fortune to have practiced as a librarian in the United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Brazil and South Africa. I have also worked with library colleagues from a wider range of countries, including the United States, Canada, Poland, India and Angola. Naturally enough, a substantial proportion of my writings has been devoted to library matters, and especially to questions of academic librarianship, as reflected in the list below, which is in chronological order with the most recent items at the top.

Decoration

Writings and Posters

♦ With William Daniels and Karin de Jager. The Research Commons: a new creature in the library? Performance Measurement and Metrics, vol.11 no.2, 2010, pages 116-130. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [179 Kb.]

Rowing Upstream, cover Northumbria VIII, cover Northumbria IX, cover

♦ With Pat Busby and Karin de Jager. Assessing the implementation of an integrated programme to enhance library research support at three universities in South Africa. Poster presented at the the 2nd Library Assessment Conference: "Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment", University of Washington, Seattle, 4-7 August 2008. Available here as a downloadable PPS file [500 Kb], or here as a high-quality JPEG file [6 Mb].

♦ With Karin de Jager. A new model for research support: integrating skills, scholarship, and technology in a South African library consortium. Poster presented at the 7th Living the Future Conference, "Transforming Libraries through Collaboration," University of Arizona, Tucson, 30 April-3 May 2008. Click here at the conference site, or here to view or download a JPEG file of this poster [1.1 Mb.]

♦ With Peter G. Underwood. Are pre-compiled citation indexes of peer-reviewed journals an adequate control for research quality? A case study of library and information science. South African Journal of Library and Information Science vol.71, no.1, 2005, pages 1-10. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [885 Kb.]

♦ The 'Alexandrian' library, digital resources and the shrinking public domain: a critique of the current model for delivering academic information in Africa. University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, vol.3, no.1-2, 2001, pages 25-39. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [1.4 Mb.]

♦ The unsustainable library: does the Internet really help us in Africa? Progressive Librarian, no.17, Summer 2000, pages 35-43. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [552 Kb.]

Jagger Library reading room

The Special Collections reading room at the University of Cape Town, which has now been restored to its original configuration. I started work in the African Studies Library, part of Special Collections, in October 2000. [Photo: Paul Weinberg]

 

♦ With Peter Underwood. Dirt road or yellow brick superhighway? Information and communication technology in academic libraries of South Africa. Library Hi Tech, vol.17, no.3, 1999, pages 285-297. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [145 Kb.]

♦ With Joan Rapp and Peter G. Underwood. Academic library consortia in contemporary South Africa. Library Consortium Management, vol. 1, no. 1/2, 1999, pages 23-32. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [60 Kb.]

♦ Problems in the training and education of LIS practitioners in Portuguese-speaking Africa: the case of Mozambique. In: Education for librarianship and information science in Africa, edited by Michael Wise (Uppsala: Uppsala University Library, 1999), pages 35-55. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [1.4 Mb.]

♦ The shrinking public domain and the unsustainable library. Paper presented to the Invitational Conference on 'The Electronic Library—Gateway to Information: Resource Sharing and User Services in the Electronic Library', Lund, Sweden, 2-7 June 1998. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [62 Kb.], which is no longer available on the Lund University website.

University Library, University of the Western Cape

The University Library at the University of the Western Cape, in Bellville, South Africa. I was University Librarian there from 1992 to 1997, when I left to head the Cape Library Cooperative (CALICO).

 

♦ With Cathy-Mae Karelse. Enhancing learning through networked information literacy development. Paper presented at the 4th Southern African Online User Group meeting, Johannesburg, 1997. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [32 Kb.]

♦ An African information clearing-house on library management and planning: report on the first phase of a needs assessment and feasibility study. Paper presented to the AAAS Workshop on ‘Collection Development in the New Electronic Era’ (Nazareth, Ethiopia: 24-27 October 1995). Unavailable. If you have a copy of this paper, please contact me.

♦ Unity before unification? South Africa’s LIS organisations and the prospects for a single structure. In: Proceedings of the Second National LIWO Conference held in Pietermaritzburg, 20-21 July 1995 (Pietermaritzburg: LIWO, 1995), pages p.4-10. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [750 Kb.]

♦ The economics of information and the information society: is social equity still on the agenda in the 1990s? Innovation, no.10, June 1995, pages 3-12. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [800 Kb.]

♦ Overnight study facilities. The Cape Librarian, April 1995, page 42. Click here to view or download a PDF file, [170 Kb.]

♦ The Western Cape Library Cooperative Project: levelling the playing field in the 1990s. In: Survival Strategies in African University Libraries: New Technologies in the Service of Information. Proceedings from a workshop, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe, 2-5 August 1993. Editors: Helga Atkinson Patrikios, Lisbeth A. Levey. (Washington DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994), pages 17-24. Not yet available.

♦ Microcomputers as tools for social science research in African countries. Paper presented to the Research Council of Zimbabwe Symposium on Science and Technology (2nd: Harare: 11-13 September 1990).

♦ [Review of] Guide to current national bibliographies in the third world. International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol.22, no.2, 1989, pages 330‑331. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [229 Kb.]

♦ Introdução a documentação. Keynote paper presented to the Ciclo de Palestras sobre Documentação e Informação (Maputo: Cedimo, December 1983). In Portuguese, not yet available.

University Library, University of Dar es Salaam

The University Library at the University of Dar es Salaam, where I worked as a subject bibliographer under Martin Mvaa from 1975 to 1979.

 

♦ With J. C. Gera and J. M. Newa. The state of contemporary library development in Tanzania in the context of NATIS. Annals of Library Science and Documentation [New Delhi], vol.30 no.3/4, 1983, pages 166-176. Not yet available.

♦ With Ophelia C. Mascarenhas. The Africa Bibliographic Centre: its development and present status. In: Libraries and information services as instruments of transition to the 21st century in Africa: proceedings of SCECSAL 2, Lusaka, October 4-9, 1976, edited by W. D. Sweeney, C. H. Chirwa and C. Lungu (Lusaka: Zambia Library Association, 1978), pages 23-29. Not yet available.

♦ The library literature of Tanzania. Someni, vol.5 no.1, January 1977, pages 91-102. Not yet available.

♦ The Africa Bibliographic Centre: its origins and immediate plans. African Research and Documentation, no.14, 1977, pages 11-14. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [400 Kb.]

♦ Indexes to Someni, 1968-1976. Someni, vol.4, no.2/3, February 1976, pages 52-75. Not yet available.

John F. Kennedy Library, Haile Sellassie I University

The John F. Kennedy Library at what was then Haile Sellassie I University (now Addis Ababa University), where I worked as acquisitions librarian and subsequently as head of readers’ services under Rita Pankhurst from 1971 to 1974.

 

♦ The status of professional librarians at Haile Sellassie I University. Ethiopian Library Association Bulletin, new series, vol.3, no.2, January 1975, pages 33-41. Not yet available.

♦ Bibliographic control in a multi-lingual situation: Africa, the Soviet Union and India. Ethiopian Library Association Bulletin, new series, vol.3, no.2, January 1975, pages 10-13. Not yet available.

♦ Towards the librarianship of scarcity: some recent trends in Ethiopia. Focus on International and Comparative Librarianship, vol. 6, no. 2, 1975, pages 15-16. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [185 Kb.]

♦ The status of professional librarians in African universities. International Library Review, vol.7, 1975, pages 497‑502. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [550 Kb.]

♦ Worker's control in Ethiopian libraries. Focus on International and Comparative Librarianship, vol. 5, no. 4, 1974, pages 30-31. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [1.0 Mb.]

♦ The basis for an acquisitions policy: two surveys of holdings in Haile Sellassie I University Libraries. Ethiopian Library Association Bulletin, new series, vol. 1, no. 3, July 1972, pages 16-18. Click here to view or download a PDF file of this article, [210 Kb.]

Holborn Central Library, Camden, London Swiss Cottage Central Library, Camden, London

My first library job was as a library assistant at Holborn Central Library in central London [pictured above left], in 1967. In 1969 I went to library school at what was then Northwestern Polytechnic, and returned to Camden Public Libraries at Swiss Cottage [pictured above right] in 1970, spending a year in the computerised cataloguing department.