Traditional Book Donation in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Inquiry into Policy, Practice and Information Provision

by Hite, Margaret T.

Traditional book donation programs are a favored method for North American clubs, service groups, libraries and individuals to help rural African community and school libraries. This study draws together book gifts and donations literature of North American and African librarians to discover whether traditional book donations from North America to Africa fulfill the needs of recipients of the aid. The theories of sustainable development and appropriate technology are used to examine African information needs and donated books are considered in terms of relevance, condition, language and reading level, and cultural appropriateness. Using this lens it is found that used book donations are not useful and may in fact do damage to libraries and literacy in developing countries. Several practical alternatives are suggested as replacement for traditional book donations