The focus of my discussion will be on Sub-Saharan Africa, since this has been the scope of my work. I will discuss issues related to compiling bibliographies and filrhographies in the past and present – from the 1960s to 1990s. The focus will be on a few of the major challenges which I often think about, but do not know how to resolve.

What is a Sub-Saharan African film, and who is a Sub-Saharan African filmmaker? There is no more agreement on a definition of African film than of a definition of African literature. However, there is much less discussion of definitions of African film than of African literature.

Bibliographies and filmographies are compiled and many generalizations are made about African film without definitions being provided. Compilers and authors seem to assume that others understand their point of reference.

Database publishing is an important element in the flow of information.

With its introduction in 1972 (Gurnsey, 1985), online database publishing offered a technical solution to the problem of keeping up with the massive increase in literature, and of providing online access and retrieval of information for a mainly technical user market. In most developed countries, online database publishing now forms a fundamental part of the information infrastructure. Unfortunately, the lack of such infrastructure in developing countries is increasing the gap in information flow between the information rich and information poor.

Today CD-ROM, with its potential for high density storage, user friendly interface and versatile application, is regarded as an appropriate solution for database publishing in support of cost-effective online access, and also for facilitating wider exposure to databases to reach an extended user market.

The greatest challenge facing Africana acquisitions Librarians in Africa is the lack of ready access to information on published Africana material in general, and those materials published in Africa in particular. Where Africana material is published abroad (in developed countries) it is traceable through regular publishers’ catalogues, bibliographies and review sources. African published materials, however, do not have as many well established sources since small publishers form a large number of producers who not only have limitations such as paucity of qualified staff in the essential activities of publishing, marketing and distribution, but also have a poor financial base, compounded by local currencies whose buying power is being eroded steadily.

In assessing the acquisition of Africana at the University of Botswana, issues which will be considered briefly are policy on collection development of Africana, budgetary allocations, and a detailed analysis of sources for selection of Africana materials published in Africa.

The starting point for this paper is the circular written by Mary Jay of African Books Collective shortly after the seminar held at the 1995 London International Book Fair. In this she said ‘We do not really know how much is spent by librarians on purchasing books from Africa, nor do we have a clear idea of how they find out what is available’. This paper is an attempt by one librarian working in an academic library to start the process of finding the answers to those questions, but it should be stressed that what follows represents the experience of one, possibly atypical library, and that to know the full picture, we shall have to wait for the results of the research project currently being undertaken by Doris Matovelo at Loughborough University.