INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFRICAN BIBLIOGRAFHY

Abstract

This conference paper addresses the significant challenges facing the bibliographical control of African manuscripts and archives, both within Africa and held in collections abroad. The author identifies two primary problems: the need for African archives to collect and organize local materials, and the necessity to gather copies of records of African history that are dispersed globally. The paper is structured in four parts: it first outlines the necessary three-stage operational framework for African archives (developing techniques, producing finding aids, and providing bibliographic information); second, it surveys major archival projects and finding aids for African materials in Europe and the United States; third, it reviews the state of archives and current sources of information within Africa itself, noting a significant lag compared to Western institutions due to a lack of resources and trained personnel; finally, it concludes with a series of nine concrete recommendations for an "optimum program" to improve the situation. These recommendations emphasize training African archivists, increasing the production of finding aids, publishing updated surveys and bibliographies, improving information sharing, and implementing microform programs to repatriate copies of records held overseas