National Bibliography in Nigeria: Its Growth, Development and International Dimensions
Nigeria was the first country in Black Africa to have a current national bibliography. The responsibility for the production of the national bibliography, known as Nigerian Publications from 1953, when the first issue appeared, to 1973 when it changed its name to the National Bibliography of Nigeria, was transferred from the Ibadan University Library, Nigeria's largest research library, to the National Library of Nigeria in June 1970. Although the National Library was officially opened in 1964, it was not invested with this national bibliographic responsibility until 1970. The compilation of the national bibliography by the Ibadan University Library from 1953 to 1970 was a voluntary task not backed up by any national legislation, although the enactment of the Nigeria Publications Ordinance 1950, which required two copies of every book published in the country to be deposited with the Ibadan University College Library, as it was then known, enabled the Library to assume responsibility for the preparation of the national bibliography.
National Bibliography in Ghana
Various governments of Ghana have, at least on paper, shown recognition of the need for a national library, which will undertake as one of its principal responsibilities the preparation of the national bibliography. In January 1963, for example, the Ministry of Education set up a Technical Advisory Committee to advise on the need for a national library. The Committee had several sittings and it did succeed in submitting proposals to obtain some financial support if not for the building of a national library then, at least, for developing some of its functions, including the publication of retrospective and current national bibliographies.Earlier in 1961, the George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs (GPRLAA) had been established by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, former President of Ghana, in memory of his friend, the late George Padmore, with the objective of providing a centre for the study of African affairs in Ghana.
(6) Bibliographical services in Nigeria: a study in the humanities and social sciences
The problem of bibliographic control goes back to ancient times. Babylonians kept catalogues of cuneiform tablets and Egyptians lists of papyri. For many centuries the idea of the encyclopaedic man persisted and only took wings with the invention of printing. Millions of graphic records-periodical articles, books, pamphlets, serials, conference papers, as well as private letters, theses and other forms of unpublished material are produced annually. Knowledge is proliferating and breaking down into more minute compartments and specialities. The most logical institution for the preservation of these graphic records for any country is the national library which should also be responsible for compiling the national bibliography. This should attempt to record all books, serials, official publications and theses, to say the least, published by natives of that country or written by foreigners, on that country. In short, as Hans E. Panofsky, Curator of Africana Northwestern University Library in the United States, has observed, “National libraries are usually the source of the most comprehensive bibliographies prepared in a country. Indeed, the most significant function of a national library is to prepare the national bibliography.“1 Most African countries do not have national libraries, but their university libraries tend to act in that capacity for them. In Nigeria, although the National Library was founded in 1962, but opened to the public in 1964, it did not assume its proper role until July 1970 when it assumed responsibility for issuing the National Bibliography of Nigeria (former Nigerian publications), carried out voluntarily by Ibadan University Library since 1953. The survey conducted for the International Conference on African Bibliography in Nairobi 4-8 December 1967 listed only 10 national bibliographies (for Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Rhodesia, Senegal, South Africa,