African Studies Association
Africana Librarians Council
Business meeting
Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002
9:15-11:45 A.M.
Washington, D.C.

(Draft: not yet approved by membership)

Present:

Carlos Alves (F. Thorold), Phyllis Bischof (UC Berkeley), Alice Bishop (Council on Library and Information Resources), Helene Baumann (Duke), Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), Simon Bockie (UC Berkeley), David Brint (Africa Book Centre, London), Joe Caruso (Columbia), Moore Crossey (Yale), Henrietta Dax (Clarke's Bookshop), Andrew De Heere (Schomburg Center), David Easterbrook (Northwestern), Gregory Finnegan (Harvard), Robin Fryde (F. Thorold), Marion Frank-Wilson (Indiana U.), Karen Fung (Stanford), Miki Goral (UCLA), Beverly Gray (L.C.), Al Kagan (U. of Illinois), David Henige (U. of
Wisconsin), Mary Jay (African Books Collective), Patricia Kuntz, Deborah LaFond (U-Albany), Joe Lauer (Michigan State), Robert Lesh (Northwestern), Liz Levey (Partnership for Higher Education in Africa), Nancy Pressman Levy (Princeton), Peter Limb (Michigan State), Ken Lohrentz (U. of Kansas), Peter Malanchuk (U. of Florida), Mary Materu-Behitsa (AAU/DATAD), Loyd Mbabu (Ohio U.), Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol (U. of Wisconsin), Lauris Olson (U. of Pennsylvania), Afeworki Paulos (U. of Michigan), Loumona Petroff (Boston U.), Fred Protopappas (L.C.), Bernard Reilly (Center for Research Libraries), Shoshanah Seidman (Northwestern), James Simon (Center for Research Libraries), Janet Stanley (Smithsonian), Paul Steere (L.C. Nairobi), Barbara Taylor (SOAS), Gretchen Walsh (Boston U.), David Westley (Boston U.), Dorothy Woodson (Yale), Joanne Zellers (L.C.).

Agenda

1. Welcome and Introductions.
2. Additions to the Agenda.
3. Approval of minutes of Albany meeting, May 2002.
4. Alice Bishop, Council on Library and Information Resources, re Africa and Access to Learning Award of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
5. Lizbeth Levey re Partnership for Higher Education in Africa monograph series and Mary Materu-Behitsa, AAU DATAD Program Officer.
5a. Paul Steere, Judy McDermott.
6. Election of Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Member-at-Large. (Olson)
7.Committee, Task Force, and Liaison Reports.
a) ALC Cataloging Committee. (Lauer)
b) ALC Bibliography Committee. (Lohrentz)
c) Book Donations. (LaFond)
d) Conover-Porter Award.
e) Africana Librarians Newsletter. (Frank-Wilson)
f) ALC Listserv. (Fung)
g) ABPR Reference List.
h) Cooperative Projects/Title VI. (Olson)
i) ALC Website. (Zellers)
j) Archival Holdings Guide. (Simon)
k) ASA publications report. (Malanchuk)
l) Mary Jay
8. Future meetings: Spring 2003, 23-26 April, Yale. (Woodson)
9. Institutional reports, announcements, other business.
10. Thanks to officers completing terms.

Chair Greg Finnegan called the meeting to order at 9:15 and welcomed all in attendance. Introductions followed. A moment of silence was called for the passing of Dan Britz, a long-time member of ALC. Copies of the agenda were presented, with the addition of 5a Paul Steere and Judy McDermott. The minutes of the Albany Business Meeting were presented and approved, with a correction of the spelling of one name, Ruby Bell-Gam. (Items 1-3)

Item 4. Alice Bishop asked for nominations for the Africa and Access to Learning Award of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources. The key to this award is that the information must be freely accessible online. There were 160 nominations for this $1,000,000 award in the past year, and they hope to publicize the award as widely as possible. Easterbrook emphasized the importance of increasing applications from Africa. There exists a brochure in French, but applications may be made in English only.

Item 5. Lizbeth Levey drew attention to the partnership and activities brochure available from the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa monograph series. The title is Rowing Upstream: Snapshots of the Pioneers of the Information Age in Africa, and it is available online through its title. Case studies will be published, and email on it is desired. Five or six books will be coming out written by African academics. Some copies will be supplied to Africa free of charge.

Item 5. Mary Materu-Behitsa of AAU DATAD spoke about the development of a database of abstracts of theses. This database will be available in Africa and will link scholars and researchers throughout the world. Online capacity will be build with the expectation of including more institutions that do not now have wider access to this research. Provision will be made for the protection of intellectual property.

Item 5a. Paul Steere spoke about the problems of administering the Nairobi program for the 35 participating institutions and covering a collection area of 29 countries. There has been a 75% increase in the volume of publications in the program. Fulfilling the needs of the participants is a labor-intensive activity. Shipping the volumes takes place following cataloging, and there are some delays in shipping for technical reasons. The money on deposit for each participant is tracked and accounted
for. The program tries to accommodate the demands and goals of each institution.

Limb raised the concern about notification of future receipts for planning purposes. There is a need to know what is coming and when it is coming. Steere will look into this matter. Malanchuck brought up the issue of purchasing serials and monographs. He wanted to know when shipments are cut off when funding lapses from the participant. Steere replied that shipments of monographs are cut off when funding lapses occur, but serials continue to be sent. Olson stated that some materials were
sent uncataloged. McDermott, who oversees African and Asian operations for LC, mentioned that in 1988 Congress enacted legislation to operate all programs on a cost recovery basis, with a number of revolving funds. There is a yearly outside audit of the operations, and the expense for this audit is passed on to the outside programs, and, of course, the participants. She announced several changes in posting for foreign offices. Lygia Ballantyne, now in charge in India, will be returning to Washington to act as McDermott's assistant. Caroline Mitchell will be acting head of the India office. Laila Mulgaokar, former field director of the office in Cairo, will become field director of the New Delhi office. Americans have been evacuated from the Jakarta and Islamabad offices, but these offices are still in operation. The evacuated personnel are still directing the programs by email and other means. Jim Armstrong will be in charge in Jakarta, and James Gentner will be interim field director in Cairo. Openings for one or more field directors will be posted, with the expectation that Cairo will be first in line. An advisory board will be established to discuss policy issues arising from the cooperative programs. Comments are encouraged on the constitution of this board. The Quarterly index is ready for testing, and the website address will be sent out on email.

Item 6. Paulos and Olson, the Nominations Committee, proceeded to hold the ALC elections, passing out the ballot for the three open offices: Deputy Chair/Chair Elect, Secretary, and Member-at-Large. Finnegan thanked the candidates for agreeing to stand.

Item 7. Committee, Task Force and Liaison Reports.

a) Cataloging Committee (Lauer). The Cataloging Committee supported a resolution in support of the expansion of MARC character set to include Ethiopic script. See the minutes of the Cataloging Committee.

b) Bibliography Committee (Lohrentz). Plans by Vicki Evalds for a festschrift or memorial book to honor Dan Britz were brought up. We will hear more about the project directly from Evalds, and suggestions should be directed to her. Barbara Taylor gave a report on SOAS. The African Books Cooperative report was not made to the Bibliography Committee. It will be presented directly to the ALC Business Meeting. Oleg Semikhnenko reported on the transition from Hogarth to MEABOOKS and on the past and present services of MEABOOKS. Past and present projects were not mentioned in the meeting, but members should feel free to submit reports via email. After four years as chair of the Bibliography Committee, Lohrentz is stepping down. He has recommended Peter Limb for a two-year term as chair. Finnegan thanked both Lohrentz and Limb.

c) Book Donations. La Fond thanked the ASA board for its support for the Book Donations Group. The top five projects have been recommended in writing for funding. She encouraged new members to increase funding and to work on funding development. The current level of funding stands at $3,000. LaFond recommended a co-chair to help in funding development and asked for nominations. Walsh offered to help in the development of funding. Candidates are encouraged to send in proposals. The top proposals receive full funding.

d) Conover/Porter Award. Lohrentz reported seventeen nominations for the current year. In the previous year, there were only seven nominations. The winners will be announced at 5:30 at the awards assembly. The five finalists for the award are:
1.Books in African Languages in the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University by David W. Bade.
2.Maps of Africa to 1900 by Thomas J. Bassett and Yvette Scheven.
3.Nigeria by Ruby A. Bell-Gam and David Uru Iyam.
4.Traditional food plants of Kenya by Patrick M. Maundu, Grace W. Ngugi and Christine H.S. Kabuye.
5.A history of the church in Africa by Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed.
Finnegan mentioned that other awards would also be made at the awards ceremony.

Olson announced the final election results:
Deputy Chair/Chair Elect: Gretchen Walsh
Secretary: Miki Goral
Member-at-Large: Andrew de Heer
Finnegan thanked the Nominations Committee.

e) Africana Libraries Newsletter. Marion Frank-Wilson has completed her three-year term as newsletter editor and is willing to continue for another three years if funding continues. To reduce costs, notice was sent out with newsletters to see if addressees want to continue receiving the print newsletter. Limb wondered if the posting of the minutes of meetings in the newsletter was necessary since they were sent out by email. Finnegan stated that the minutes formerly appeared in the ASA News but were excluded for reasons of space. Walsh wondered if inclusion in the ALC newsletter was still necessary. Bischof argued that the minutes should be included in the newsletter for reasons of access in Africa. Goral suggested that a highlighted version of the minutes could be included in the newsletter. The abbreviated version could be left to the secretary or chair and could include action taken and points raised. Kagan asked if this version would be a report of the meeting, and Goral responded that it was the responsibility of the ALC chair and secretary to decide the report. Lauer stated that the version appearing in the newsletter could be the responsibility of the editor, and Bell-Gam asked that it include the web address for the complete minutes of the meeting in the website. Zellers added that it should also include the address to write for a full text print version of the minutes since internet access is expensive, if available, in Africa. Bell-Gam asked if this would be the responsibility of the webmaster. Walsh suggested that there could be a rotation of duty so that it would not be the responsibility of one person. Zellers said we could ask volunteers to send out the documents. LaFond opined that only those attending the meeting should be responsible for the summaries. Frank-Wilson said that this would be the policy starting with no. 110 of the newsletter. The deadline for the newsletter is the end of December, beginning of January.

f) ALC Listserv. Fung reported that there were 80 librarian members of the ALC list and 8 vendor members. In addition, there were 5 retired members (in North America and overseas) and 5 overseas members for a total of 98 members. Walsh mentioned that scams involving letters on the internet should be reported to authorities. Limb stated that one of the keywords used in an application of Spam Assassin that he had seen was "Nigeria", referring to scams. Kagan mentioned that the Spam Assassin software used at the University of Illinois may be configured by the user. Greg added that there was a free-speech issue with such filters.

g) ABPR Reference List. In Jill Coelho's absence, there was no ABPR report.

h) Cooperative Projects/Title VI. Olson said that there was a need to explain Title VI to foreign attendees. He mentioned that there was a CRL-hosted Aberdeen Woods Conference on cooperative collection development (http://wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/info/focus/XXIIv2/AWCC2002.htm) and an upcoming publication on international cooperative programs. A publication by Yale Press was mentioned: Today's past: images of Africa from 1952 to 1960: a catalog of selected photographs by David Ernest Apter.

i) ALC Website. Zellers reported that there was no problem of space on the ALC website. The updating of the website must be done by the chair or another responsible person. The pages on the website will bear the dates of the last update. Olson mentioned that the current ALC board is posted on the website and added that it would be helpful to have a list of the past board members. He asked if someone could compile a list of the past boards for posting, clearing this through the chair. Finnegan will compile the retrospective list of board members and circulate it through the ALC
list for revision before entering it on the website.

j) Archival Holdings Guide. James Simon introduced Bernard Riley, the head of the Center for Research Libraries. Simon announced that the archival holdings guide would be updated as unusual in the spring. There would not be much change. It is a resource tool for items not described in catalogs or in the national bibliographic utilities and includes much additional information. Some archival sets do not have published guides or adequate finding guides. Students are continuing work on these access tools. Bell-Gam raised the issue of mounting finding guides on a website, and Simon replied that CRL was looking into the possibility of mounting published guides in the future in cooperation with publishing houses. As a footnote, Finnegan noted that Harvard Library's homepage is now developing features for separate databases for visual and archival materials.

k) ASA publications report. Malanchuk reported that the African Studies Review is in good shape. The latest issue of African Issues is out. ASA News has experienced a glitch, and its latest issue will be late. Many ASA publications have not been received by institutions, and this problem has been reported to the committee. Henige felt that ASA must shape up and come up with different solutions to rectify the problem. The committee will chart libraries with missing issues. Part of the problem could lie in the assignment of publications duties to half-time staff. Due to problems at the ASA office at Rutgers, the securing of back issues is in doubt. It is not clear what is available. Carole Martin is the new acting person responsible for ASA publications. Lauer asked why ALC was getting involved in the business end of supplying back issues. Olson wondered if anyone had tried interlibrary loan for missing issues. Malanchuk reported that History in Africa is another review that should be included in JSTOR. We will wait until the spring meeting to lobby JSTOR on its inclusion. Caruso mentioned the need to push for an ALC member to run for the ASA board. In the past, Nancy Schmidt, Gretchen Walsh, and Joe Caruso have served on the board.

l) Mary Jay of African Books Collective (ABC) attempted without success to sponsor a roundtable or to be a presenter at the presentation on 100 best African books. The ABC partnership with Michigan State University Press comes into effect in 2003, when Michigan State University Press will act as the ABC distributor for North America. In the past it has proven difficult to conduct effective marketing reach for ABC to all interested customers from the U.K. offices. When the new plan goes into effect, ABC will focus on Europe, including the U.K. Jay noted that some places are reluctant to order without a U.S. distributor. ABC will remain the contact point for individual African publishers. Bell-Gam asked how this would effect getting information on new titles, and Jay answered that all services will remain as before, with inquiries handled by Michigan State. Kagan gave congratulations to ABC and offered Jay his thanks.

Item 8. Future meetings. Woodson will issue more complete plans for the ALC spring meeting in New Haven, and the plans will appear in the January newsletter. Woodson said that the options will include upscale and downscale accommodations. Bell-Gam asked about the schedule of the spring meetings, and Woodson replied that they would be the same schedule as at previous spring meetings, beginning Thursday after lunch. Concerning the fall meetings in Boston, Walsh said that the primary host would be Boston University and that the meetings would be at the Boston Sheraton . More information would be forthcoming. Zellers asked the group to reconsider the scheduling of the ALC meetings within ASA, suggesting that ALC could meet Thursday and Friday instead of Wednesday and Thursday. Limb suggested that a change in schedule would be a mistake as it would create problems of conflicts with other meetings.

Item 9. Institutional reports, announcements, other business. Finnegan brought up the need to clean up the ALC bylaws, formally establishing the Book Donations Group. This issue will be handled at the spring meeting, with information published in the ASA news.

Finnegan offered thanks to Kay Elsasser for the ALC reception at her home, and he will send a letter of thanks. He also thanked the ALC officers who were finishing their terms. Bell-Gam offered thanks to retiring chair Greg Finnegan.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:45. Any institutional reports or announcements may be included in the minutes after the formal adjournment of the meeting.

Institutional Report from the University of Florida:
The University of Florida Libraries have acquires the Donald Abraham Collection of Lusophone Africa. Professor Abraham was a member of the history department for more than a decade at the University of South Carolina. He was a British military officer who also taught in Rhodesia prior to his appointment at South Carolina. His Father was Professor Roy Clive Abraham, the well-known Nigerian linguist, who worked on Yoruba, Hausa and Tiv languages. Donald Abraham's collection on Lusophone Africa spans the years 1687-1990 and includes more than 7,000 volumes. It is an impressive collection and includes resources from all five of the countries comprising Lusophone Africa: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome e Principe. There is a wide array of formats including monographs, periodicals, government reports, maps and atlases, dissertations, pamphlet/gray literatures representing war protest literature from Angola and Mozambique coupled with rare Africana representatives from these regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. The subject areas for the resources are diverse and will serve our programs in African and Latin American Studies with the largest concentrations in history, anthropology, and literature for both Angola and Mozambique. The political science resources are rich in offerings from
Jonas Savimbi, Samora Machel and others, which capture the spirit and urgency of the long-term conflicts experienced in Lusophone Africa during the 1970's through the current day particularly in Angola and Mozambique. There are materials dealing with agricultural development including the plantations economies and abuses chronicled studies for Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Sao Tome e Principe. Important colonial government statistical sources for population, trade, and agriculture are well-represented along with religion and missionary materials. The collection will provide opportunities for Diaspora Studies with Africa and Brazil and the Cuban involvement in Angola.

The University of Florida Libraries has received its first book and research resources endowment fund for African Studies in December 2002. It was established by former UF Graduate Dean Madelyn M. Lockhart. Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda visited the University of Florida campus and presented a public lecture on the AIDS pandemic in Zambia. He also toured the Map Library and visited the African Bibliography course taught by Peter Malanchuk and Dan Reboussin during its joint presentation on African map resources with Dr. Helenjane Armstrong the UF Map Curator and was thoroughly impressed with the Zambian resources on exhibit.

Page Last Updated April 15, 2003.