Serving the bibliographic needs of scholars in Tanzania: a case study of the Tanzania Library Services Board

Abstract

Introduction What difference does up-to-date bibliographic information make in a poor developing country like Tanzania? The honest answer is none at all, if it is not possible to go beyond the bibliographic reference to the actual item itself. For many African scholars, browsing through a bibliography is like looking at goods in a shop window: pointless without the ability and means to acquire what is on display. That said, bibliographies are of great value to scholars in institutions with libraries that do possess the means to build up and maintain good collections. This is an overview of the bibliographic needs of Tanzania’s scholars, and of some of the issues that they and their libraries face. In particular, I discuss: the need for bibliographies, the bibliographic needs of scholars, how well their needs are addressed, the state of national bibliographies, what more can be done to make African scholarship available in Europe and America, the roles for libraries in Africa, and the way forward. The essay uses the specific case study of the Tanzania Library Services Board (TLSB). TLSB is a national-cum-public library system that, at the moment, operates a national library, and a network of nineteen regional and fifteen district libraries. This system serves quite a number of scholars, and publishes the Tanzania National Bibliography (TNB). The case study includes findings from a small survey of scholars who visit the library, and from TLSB staff. TLSB statistics and other library and documentary sources support the analysis.