Mr Roger Stringer, Independent Researcher
2007 award – pilot project
£2,712 for 5 months
The African Publishers' Network (APNET) is an association of publishers' associations in Africa which was founded in 1992. More details can be found on its Web site: http://www.apnet.org, although this has not been updated since 2005.
APNET's Secretariat was initially established in Harare, Zimbabwe. However, as the political and economic climate in Zimbabwe declined rapidly, APNET's Board decided to relocate it to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in 2002. Unfortunately, soon after arriving there, the country was unexpectedly embroiled in a civil war. Partly as a result of this, APNET went through something of a crisis, particularly as regards funding.
A Task Team was appointed to address the situation urgently, and funds were obtained to move the
Secretariat to Accra, Ghana, in 2006. However, following a need to reduce costs, only one member of staff, the Membership and Trade Promotion Officer, is now employed.
The matter that concerns this proposal relates to a resource collection (called the APNET Documentation and Resource Centre) that has been maintained at the Secretariat, and specifically its core collection donated by Hans Zell. This collection is described as comprising resource materials on African publishing dating back to 1960, as well as a computerised database of the collection stored on diskettes. It is particularly the Hans Zell collection that is in need of being preserved and digitised. It is unique in many respects, containing a great deal of grey literature – original documents, reports and papers on African publishing, particularly from its early days, gathered over a period of more than three decades.
There is significant danger that this material might be lost, having been moved around in boxes for quite a few years. It is unclear what material is still remaining in the boxes and the condition it is in.
The existence of the collection only in one physical location is of little value to African publishers who are scattered throughout the continent. To serve a more useful purpose, it would be ideal if these historical documents were accessible in electronic form via the Internet – both to African publishers themselves as well as to others interested in the growth and development of African indigenous publishing.
It is APNET's wish that the Resource Centre should remain in Africa. Part of the project will involve discussion with other institutions to ascertain whether they could hold and administer the collection on a permanent basis.
The aims of this pilot project therefore are to:
1. Assess the current state of the original Hans Zell Collection.
2. Ascertain what additional material has been added.
3. Ascertain what amount of cataloguing of these materials has been done and is still needed.
4. Ascertain what electronic databases exist and in what formats.
5. Identify the number and type of materials that are in need of preservation and could be made available electronically.
6. Identify a possible permanent home for the physical collection in Africa.
