From time to time TWL will publish condensed versions of certain articles submitted to the Editor. In this way a greater number of discussions and investigations will be presented to readers of the journal than would otherwise be possible.
The Scientific Literature Service in TanzaniaOn 4 September 1978 the governments of the Republic of Ireland and the United Republic of Tanzania signed an agreement establishing the Tanzania Literature Service (TALIS) as a joint venture of the two nations. TALIS succeeded the East African Literature Service (EALS), which had served Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from 1967 to 1977. The purpose shared by EALS and TALIS has been to provide copies of journal articles and documents to recognized research centers without cost.
Ireland, the donor country, undertook to provide copying equipment plus consulting and technical assistance, in addition to a supply of journals. An arrangement was also made to train a counterpart Tanzanian technical officer; technician. Tanzania agreed to fund staff salaries and certain operating expenditures. Most of the journals used in the service came from the institution that is now Sokoine University of Agriculture. TALIS was initiated as a three–year joint project; at the end of the third year it was to become entirely a Tanzanian responsibility. In December 1980 the service began to function, housed in the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Science of the University of Dar–Es–Salaam at Morogoro.
As the project got under way there were 40 user centers involved. Among them were the research and training institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture and their experimental stations; the livestock research and training institutes and their investigations centers; and the research and training institutes of the Ministry of Natural Resources. A number of other agricultural organizations were also included. All the user centers were requested to choose which of the 450 journals in the TALIS library they wished to scan regularly. TALIS then sent to each center copies of the current contents pages of the selected journals. Articles to be photocopied were chosen by the user center from the contents pages.
At present there are more than 100 user centers being served by TALIS. The estimated number of scientists, researchers, and teachers in those centers is between 1,800 and 2,000. Between 1981 and 1985, a total of 4,540 articles were photocopied. The articles were chosen by users from 14,117 contents pages.
Various problems have prevented TALIS from achieving its full potential. There is only one copy machine, and it is frequently down for repairs. Stationery has not always been available. Project staff lack funds for regular visits to the user centers (for feedback) and to potential new user centers. Above all there has not been sufficient funding to maintain desired journal subscriptions. Nevertheless, TALIS has succeeded in providing a useful current awareness and document delivery service.
In addition to support by the Tanzanian government, TALIS receives important assistance from SAREC (Swedish Agency for Research), which pays for 250 journal subscriptions. Negotiations are in progress with other donor agencies in the hope of gaining supplies, copy machine parts, and technical assistance.
Kebede Gessesse is Science–Engineering Reference Librarian, University of Alabama. He was previously Senior Librarian, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
S. S. Mbwana is Chief Librarian, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
© 1992 Kebede Gessesse and S. S. Mbwana