Africana Librarians Council Business Meeting
Minutes – DRAFT
November 17th 2005
Washington, DC

Present:Carlos Alves (Thorolds), Helene Baumann (Duke U), Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), Elizabeth Darocha Berenz (CRL), Terry Barringer (SCOLMA), Phyllis Bischof (UC Berkeley), Simon Bockie (U Berkely), Phil Cannon (LC), Joseph Caruso (Columbia), Jill Coehlo (Harvard), Henrietta Dax (Clarke’s), Sesan Dipeolu (SEDLIC, Nigeria), David Easterbrook (Northwestern), Victoria K.Evalds (Phil.PA), Gregory Finnegan (Harvard), Robin Fryde (Thorolds), Karen Fung (Stanford), Miki Goral (UCLA), Marieta Harper (LC), Andrew de Heer (Schomberg Center), Pamela Howard-Reguindin (LC Nairobi), Alfred Kagan (U of Illinois), Esmeralda Kale (Northwestern), Zbigniew Kantorosinski (LC), Deborah LaFond (U of Albany), Joe Lauer (Michigan State U), Bob Lesh (Northwestern U), Peter Limb (Michigan State U), Ken Lohrentz ( U of Kansas), Peter Malanchuk (U of Florida), Loyd Mbabu (Ohio U), Edward Miner (Iowa ), Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol (U Wisconsin, Madison), Afeworki Paulos (U of Michigan), Lauris Olson (U of Pennsylvania), Patricia Ogedengbe (Northwestern), Laverne Page (LC), Loumona Petroff (Boston U), Nancy Pressman Levy (Princton), Jason Schultz (Georgia State), James T. Simon (CRL), Shoshanah Seidman (Northwestern), Gretchen Walsh (Boston U), David Westley (Boston U), Marion Frank-Wilson (Indiana U), Dorothy Woodson (Yale).

Opening The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm. by the Chair, Marieta Harper

Library of Congress Nairobi – Pamela Howard – Reguindin, Field Director LC Office
Howard – Reguindin worked with LC in Rio for 9yrs and has been in Nairobi for the past 2 months. Her email address is pamelahr@loc.gov. Howard – Reguindin introduced Fehl Cannon and Ahmed Mustapha (LC Cairo). Howard – Reguindin will be responsible for reorganizing improving the organization in Nairobi. Internet access has been less than desirable (64 baud rate). They are working to upgrade inadequate software in order to manage and administer the Participants Program.

There are several challenges.
a. There are many things LC Nairobi would like to include but they do not have enough copies. LC Nairobi does try to order enough copies but they only get a few. Typically the older institutions have always been the first to receive items, but the newer institutions are complaining. Do members have any ideas?
b. Cataloging has a backlog of approximately 4000 items. Statistics show that productivity with regards to quantity is low, but quality is very high.
c. Of all the Field Offices, administrative overhead is the highest in Nairobi. Over the next few months LC Nairobi will be working on increasing output. LC Nairobi has traditionally used a Pitney Bowes franking machine that costs $10,000. They will switch to stamps.com or pitney.com for $200. LC Nairobi will no longer use boxes, shipments will be made in envelopes, this will allow for easy storage and handling of packages. There will be a move from frequent small shipments to fewer large shipments that should allow for an overall savings in postage.
d. The webpage has not been updated since 2001. The new one is being approved at LC and should be up in about a week.
e. There has been some confusion over legal / human rights / statistics examples will be placed on the web page. They will be updated before each meeting.
f. The National Agricultural Library has pulled out of all programs. We could circulate a list of titles they no longer want to have? Land granted institutions might want to know what we have so they can pick up a few periodical issues.
g. LC Nairobi takes claims seriously (2nd and 3rd even more so), we hope to have answers to your queries.
h. LC has newspapers from 1997- present. There are also smaller runs of 2yrs and even 2 issues. They are waiting to be filmed at the LC office in India, but there have been delays due to the scarcity of camera time and personnel. The newspapers will be discussed this further at CAMP

Index to Periodical Literature is still in production despite staffing issues, would like to increase coverage. LC Nairobi is working with the SABRE Foundation to get other government agencies to bring a container of new books to Kenyan schools.

Africa Research and Documentation -Terry Barringer, Cambridge
Barringer was a librarian for many years at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London. Barringer is now the secretary of SCOLMA and editor of Africa Research and Documentation. SCOLMA is made up of a group of academics and librarians in the UK.

In the UK they are increasingly finding out that area studies specialists positions do not exist anymore. Help and assistance for this type of work now comes from Oxfam, Book Aid and possibly some public libraries. Olson mentioned that if all the interest is from NGO’s then there will be very little interest in ethnographic materials and more of an interest in development studies. Barringer agreed with him and went on to say that development agencies are now interested in looking for a historical foundation to support their projects; they have no interest in anthropology. Limb said recently institutions have started to produce digital sources of information on Africa. Is it possible to bring together some of these digital initiatives? Barringer said the communication is poor and therefore the links between projects are not made.

Barringer asked for feedback on Africa Bibliography. Malanchuk said that he used it to teach, students like it and it has a very good index. Limb said it was very useful and enquired about a cumulative index and online access. Barringer said that this might be a good time now that they had a new Publications Officer. Barringer encouraged the ALC to write a letter for her to take to the International African Institute when she returns and reports back to them. Harper said the suggestion for a letter would be discussed at the executive meeting.

Elections – Karen Fung and Daniel A. Reboussin. (LaFond assisted in Reboussin’s absence.)
Olsen congratulated the newly-elected members of the Africana Librarians Council Executive Board:
Vice-Chair / Chair Elect – Limb,
Members-at-Large - Caruso and Mbabu.
Immediate Past Chairperson - Harper

Members applauded the rest of the slate: Vice-Chair / Chair Elect - Paulos, Members-at-Large - Kuntz and Seidman. Olson acknowledged with sadness the departure from the Executive of Walsh (now former Immediate Past Chairperson), Fung and LaFond (now former Members-at-Large), as their terms have expired. Members thanked the Nominations Committee

Committee Reports

Africana Libraries Newsletter - Co-editors, Marion Frank Wilson and Bassey Irele (absent). Frank Wilson reported that they are on schedule with the move to an online edition. The final print issue has been posted. It is hoped that the new online version will be available before Christmas.

Title VI – Marion Frank Wilson
Frank Wilson reported that Verlon Stone gave an update of the project in Liberia. He asked to relocate funds left over from shipping to use on the Bai Moore papers. Olson and Frank –Wilson attended the Directors meeting where it was suggested that it might be worth while to coordinate microfilm project with colleagues in Europe.

Publications – Peter Malanchuk
Malanchuck mentioned that Henige was unable to attend the meeting and confirmed that History in Africa would be available at the regular time. Mitzi Goheen submitted the latest issue of African Studies Review in May and it is now ready to be sent off for printing. ASA is looking for a book review editor. ASA would like to appoint someone from the 5 colleges in the area.
Routledge would like to take over publication and marketing of all 3 publications. Our institutions will be charged $375 for shipping and would get the print edition for free. Routledge would market it world wide and send 3 journals sets to an institution in Africa. African Studies Review would go into ISI Web of Knowledge.
What if we want to publish through the ASA who has the rights? The ASA is interested in our input. We have not received a copy of the proposal yet. Walsh mentioned that originally History in Africa was not part of the bundle. Malanchuk said they would allow us to pick 1 journal from the Routledge cohort. Easterbrook asked if this was a proposal or a decision. Malanchuk said that we could recommend other publishers and are looking at Sage and Blackwells. MELA have been using Cambridge. Malanchuk went on to say that ASA receives $5000 in revenue from JSTOR.
Miner said JSTOR does not want to give its pdf files to African universities. ASA wants to give their archives to WiderNet for free distribution to African universities. Olson said we understand that ASA wants to make their publications available to a wider audience, but they are concerned about their rights. Easterbrook said that it might mean a higher increase in funds from our institutions. Malanchuk asked wider access but at what cost? Miner said it sounds very much like what happens with scholarly associations. The benefits are increased, but the costs are bourn by a few. This model has not worked well. Malanchuk reported that it would allow ASA editors to work online, to keep track of articles and make things easier.
Caruso said we had a similar discussion 5yrs ago. On one hand ASA has a membership crisis and there are not enough funds on the other hand, ASA is looking to outsourcing. Perhaps ASA should be looking at other sources. Paulos asked if the ASA Board comes to an agreement with a publisher, could the ASA Board include the following “African universities will have free online access”, since some African universities can not afford to subscribe to electronic resources. Bell-Gam asked if the ASA Board could also include “if Routledge collapses, their issues would revert back to the ASA in perpetuity”. There have been many journals that once acquired by publishers (e.g. Baker and Taylor), have increased their prices. Caruso said the ASA can not ask us for input if we do not have a copy of the proposal. Kagan asked if institutional membership prices would increase. If they increase the price, we will pay more for it? Caruso said the ASA Book Review Index is no longer available; they only have an index of publishers.

Cataloging – Joe Lauer
Had a lengthy discussion supporting the use of subject headings with works of fiction. Discussed progress with new and revised subject headings. Heard reports on activities at LC, ALA and Northwestern University.

Book Donations – Jason Schultz
Went over the 2005 submissions. We had 21 applicants of which 7 were funded. Discussed ways of streamlining the selection process and increasing funding. Bischof and Nosakhere are working on an article that they hope to publish in American Libraries. It will advertise the Committee and its successes. We would also like to include success stories on the ALC webpage and information for US partners

Bibliography – Peter Limb
Numerous reports were made on acquisition. Discussion with Mary Jay from ABC and a report by Barringer from SCOLMA. Olson will introduce blog on the ALC website .

Conover-Porter - Peter Limb
We should consider making recommendations for Conover-Porter, not only for materials in print, but also digital items.

Operations Handbook - Gretchen Walsh
Walsh encouraged members to read the draft document and provide feedback regarding, changes, ideas, etc. It is not prescriptive but it does provide members with the deadlines we should be aware of. The draft handbook is linked to Boston University’s Africana webpage. Eventually it will be moved to the ALC website.

Upcoming Meetings

Spring 2006 May 4-6 Boston University - Gretchen Walsh
Walsh announced that there is a website linked to the Boston University African Studies Page. The url will be sent to the listserve. A possible Round table for Thursday May 4th is “The future of African Studies”. Pearl Robinson’s wrote a chapter on this in The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines. David Szanton, ed. Possible speakers are Diana Wiley and James Pritchett.
There will be a reception, the ASA Centre will host the lunch on Thursday and on Friday David Westley and his wife will host dinner.

Fall 2006 - San Francisco
Walsh asked if we want to propose to have a panel and not include it in the program. Is it possible to ask for a specific time? At the last 2 annuals we had very good panels, but they were buried in our time slot and some attendees might not have been aware of them If we want to have a panel, the deadline for submission of panel proposals is March 15th. We must start to plan now. We might want to think about funding and support. Do we want to use our time more wisely? Kagan said that ideas from the Boston round table could lead to further discussion about African Studies in the Fall. It might be interesting to find out what is going on at other institutions. We are facing a crisis. Lauer said that a vendor round table had worked well, but most of them want to be at their booths. Miner suggested the crisis of scholarly communications or the unstable pricing in the serial market. Giving up publishing to a vendor is a very interesting topic. Maybe ASA would like to talk about open access. There is a great deal of pressure on scholarly communications to move in this direction.

Other
Walsh asked about Spring 2007. Page said that the Cape Verdean Ambassador is very keen on increasing tourism in his country. It should cost about $500 to travel there and could be the location of a meeting.

Institutional Reports

Library of Congress – Laverne Page
Page announced that there were three handouts for members to read. (LC, Africana at the Library of Congress, and Remarks by James H. Billington)

Vendors

Thorolds (South Africa) - Carlos Alves
Alves said that the government of South Africa has launched an initiative to improve literacy among the youth. In order to encourage reading they are publishing monographs about the lives of famous people. A book about the life of Nelson Mandela is the first in the series. Contact Thorolds if you would like to order individual titles or the entire set. Contact Thorolds if you would like to be included in the antiquarian mailing list.

Clarke’s (South Africa) – Henrietta Dax
Dax recently returned from an acquisition trips to Namibia and Mozambique. Clarkes has a variety of items in the exhibit hall.

SEDLIC (Nigeria) - Sesan Dipeolu
Dipeolu has been a book dealer for 15yrs and is capable of providing monographs, newspapers and serials from Nigeria.

Announcements

Mozambique microfilming - Ruby Bell-Gam
Bell-Gam reminded members to check with their institutions and find out if they might help. Bell-Gam said the old list of items to be microfilmed would be circulated