A TWL special issue on Nigerian librarianship is planned for 1996. We are pleased to have the participation of two Nigerian specialists as co–editors of the issue: John Agada and Raphael U. Ononogbo. The co–editors will welcome articles from Nigerians or others on any aspect of the library and information scene. Literature reviews—such as the one on Ethiopia in the present issue— would be of special interest, since the writing on Nigerian libraries is now very extensive; such reviews might address such topics as library education, the profession, university libraries, etc. But a literature review is only one kind of article desired. All kinds of research are welcome. Articles may be sent to either editor:
Prof. John Agada
School of Library and Information Management
Emporia State University
Emporia, Kansas, USA 66801
Dr. Raphael U.
Ononogbo University
Librarian Imo State
University Owerri, Nigeria
Michael Wise has advised us a publication that should be of great interest: Library Education in Nigeria: the Way Forward. It presents the proceedings of the seventh national conference of the Nigerian Association of library and Information Science Educators (NALISE), 1994. Twenty papers are included in the 170–page volume, reflecting the impact of prlonged financial constraints on Nigeria’s university sector; quality of education; recruitment of personnel, and the place of librareis in the education process. Orders may be sent to the Department of Library Science, Bayero University, PMB 3011, Kano, Nigeria (naira 200; US $20).
The report of the IFLA workshop on access to Third World journals and conference proceedings, summarized by Michael Wise in TWL 5–1, is now published in full as Survival under Adverse Conditions: Proceedings of the African Library Science Journals Workshop, edited by Michael Wise (Hague: IFLA, 1994), 193 p. Interested persons may ask for IFLA Professional Report No. 38. Address: Theresa Stanton, Publications Assistant, IFLA, POB 95312, The Hague 2509 CH, The Netherlands.
Sara Gould at IFLA has sent the following announcement on the new voucher scheme:
The IFLA Office for Universal Availability of Publications (UAP) is delighted to announce the launch of the IFLA Voucher Scheme.
The Voucher Scheme, an alternative payment system for international interlibrary transactions, is based on a reusable plastic voucher available for purchase from the UAP Office.
The Scheme has been developed in response to the difficulties regularly experienced by those libraries paying small amounts of money for interlibrary loan transactions with libraries in other countries. Problems include lack of access to hard currency, high banking charges for both the supplying and requesting library, currency exchange difficulties, and high administration costs for issuing and processing invoices. Most current payment mechanisms (International Reply Coupons, cheque payment of invoices, bank transfer) are hindered by at least one of these problems. Even a library’s own prepaid coupons must be purchased.
By removing nearly all the financial elements from transactions, the IFLA Voucher Scheme overcomes many of these difficulties. Libraries participating in the Scheme purchase a supply of vouchers from the UAP Office for US$8 each, and then use them to pay for transactions with other participating libraries. The vouchers are valid indefinitely, and can be reused over and over again by many different libraries.
A net–supplying library receiving a regular supply of vouchers in payment for its services can simply redeem the accumulated vouchers with the Office for a refund equal to the purchase value of the vouchers. There is no administration fee for either purchasing or redeeming libraries.
The UAP Office recommends that insofar as it is possible, one voucher (worth $8) should pay for one transaction—one loan or a photocopy of up to 15 pages. A half–voucher is also available (for $4 each) to pay for larger photocopies, or to apply towards costs higher than the recommended rate. The IFLA Office can only recommend these charges; libraries will still be free to set their own rates. In fact, once the vouchers have left the issuing office, they can be used in whatever way best suits a given library’s needs.
A number of pilot schemes have been established to test the system before the Scheme is launched on a worldwide basis. The largest of these pilots is a general trial involving up to 50 libraries, in which participants are invited to purchase a supply of vouchers, then use them to pay for transactions with other participating libraries. Those libraries will also accept the vouchers as payment for supplying items on ILL.
The British Library Document Supply Centre has agreed to accept the vouchers, on a trial basis, from overseas customers wishing to use vouchers as payment for packs of forms and coupons. Many other libraries from around the world have contacted us in order to participate. (While the IFLA Office for UAP is based at Boston Spa, and BLDSC is supporting the Voucher Scheme, the Scheme itself is solely an IFLA venture and should not be confused with the services of BLDSC.) The pilot will last two years, the plan being to increase the number of participants during that time so that the Scheme will continue to develop even as it is monitored and refined. The hope is that at the end of the two–year period, the Scheme will have a sufficient foundation, and the UAP Office will no longer need to maintain close control over its development.
A further project, in which a number of libraries in less developed countries will test the Scheme, has the support of UNESCO. The libraries, from Francophone West Africa and Latin America, will use the vouchers amongst themselves, but also to pay for requests directed to larger libraries in developed countries. While the Voucher Scheme does not claim to answer every problem associated with the payment of charges for international ILL (it cannot, for example, subsidize libraries unable to afford ILL services under normal circumstances), it can overcome many of the difficulties.
The opportunity still exists for more libraries to participate in the Scheme; indeed, we will not refuse any library wishing to take part. Vouchers must be paid for in U.S. dollars, and pre–payment is required. The development of the Voucher Scheme is a milestone in the world of ILL and Document Delivery; it is expected to significantly address problems associated with international ILL payments.
Further information is available from:
The IFLA Voucher Scheme
IFLA Office for UAP c/o
The British Library Boston Spa,
Wetherby West Yorkshire LS23
7BQ United Kingdom
Telephone ++44 1937 546254
Fax ++44 1937 546478
E–mail: sara.gould@bl.uk
The first and second issues of a new quarterly journal have been received: Journal of Information, Communication and Library Science (Taipei, Taiwan: World College of Journalism and Communications Library, 1994– ); ISSN 1024–1302. It is bilingual, with material in English or Chinese; all articles have English abstracts. Among the topics in the first two issues are discussions of library automation in mainland China and in Taiwan. The annual subscription rate is US $40.
Vol. 1, no. 2 (1994) of University of Dares Salaam Library Journal has also come to us (we did not see the first number). It is published at the University, FOB 35092, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; ISSN 0856–1818. Annual subscriptions are US$10 within Africa, and US$20 elsewhere, plus postage. Among the scholarly articles in the second number are studies of inter–lending in the Third World, AIDS information, and CD–ROM in developing countries.
A number of readers have volunteered to write “Pioneers” articles about distinguished librarians from their countries. We welcome these offers, and encourage more of them. The only restriction we have for a Pioneer is that living persons are not included. These librarians have been recognized as Pioneers in the first 10 issues of TWL: Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo, Asa Dickinson, Robert B. Downs, William John Harris, Harold Lancour, Abdul Moid, A.S. Nasution, Francis Pala, S.R. Ranganathan, and Marietta Daniels Shepard.