Since independence in 1961 the Tanzania Government has recognized the important role books and libraries play in economic and social development. Indeed, education is a basic investment for development and books in turn are a basic tool of education. At the opening of the National Central Library in Dar es Salaam in 1967, President Nyerere stressed the role of books when he said “…books are a very, important way to knowledge, and to self-improvement; from them we can learn new ideas, new techniques of working and new methods. We can learn about the development of man in all its different aspects; we can broaden our understanding of other peoples and even of ourselves.”

1976 should see the coming to fruition of one of SCOLMA's major bibliographical tasks - the publication of a bibliography and union list of African periodicals.

SCOLMA's broad aims on its establishment in April 1962 were “to facilitate the acquisition and preservation of library materials needed for African studies and to assist in the recording and use of such material” and, in the early discussions, the bibliographical control and acquisition of African periodicals was identified as a major problem. The need was two-fold - for comprehensive information about what periodicals had been and were currently published, and for the locations of those which were held by UK libraries. As with other SCOLMA projects, an important consideration was the identification of gaps in holdings as a basis for further acquisition. The creation of such a list of periodicals was thus one of the first tasks SCOLMA set itself once funds were available.

The Library of the Royal Commonwealth Society, founded in 1868, has built up a very substantial collection on Nigeria over the years, and therefore had a good basis on which to undertake responsibility for that country, under the SCOLMA scheme, in 1964. A progress report was made in April 1969 and published in Conference on the Acquisition of Material from Africa, I.D.C. 1969, pp.88-90, also R.C.S. Library Notes, new series No.152, August 1969. Many of the problems described therein still apply, but the following summary outlines the position at the close of 1975.

Though the main purpose of the scheme is to acquire material published in the country concerned, the Library endeavours to obtain significant material published outside Nigeria, and this is relatively easy.

Coverage of materials published in Sierra Leone and the Gambia by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies has not been an exercise that can be described as an outstanding success. The Institute itself is a small organisation which is reflected in the size of its library and budget and acquisition of materials under the SCOLMA specialisation scheme has been limited to the range of subjects normally covered by library policy. These are the social and-political sciences, history since 1850 and bibliography, and the normal methods of selection via bibliographies and publishers' lists and purchase through local booksellers are the methods of operation. Budgets as small as ours do not offer the luxury of blanket orders through American dealers though we would probably achieve a greater measure of success if we could afford them.

In 1966 the Nuffield College Library accepted responsibility under the SCOLMA specialisation scheme for the collection of African trade union material. Mr. C. H. Allen, then one of the College's Research Fellows, was particularly interested in African unions and he was instrumental in acquiring much of the material now held in the College Library. Since 1970 however, when Mr. Allen left Nuffield College, little use has been made of this collection, and as the library does not now have a contact in Africa not much has been added in the last few years. Relevant published material is of course purchased together with any unpublished working papers of universities and institutions which come to the attention of the

The celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the International African Institute included an appropriate mixture of the academic, the religious (Islamic and Christian), and the cultural (in the form of Afro-Caribbean song and dance).

At the meeting at Kings College on 1 July, attended by a large and distinguished audience with a professional of personal interest in African Affairs, the principal speaker was Professor K. Onwuka Dike, of Nigeria, now Professor of African History at Harvard, and until last year Vice-Chairman of IAI.

Professor Dike outlined briefly the beginnings of the Institute from its foundation in 1926 under the chairmanship of Sir Frederick (later Lord) Lugard “not only a leading authority on African government and administration but a controversial figure whom, whether one liked him or not, few could afford to ignore”.