More on book donations to Africa

My previous post on "Linguistic imbalance in book donations to Africa" elicited a reply from Hans Zell, who informed me of work he and Raphaël Thierry have done on a two part study under the collective title "Book donation programmes for Africa: Time for a reappraisal? Two perspectives," which is to be published later this year in African Research & Documentation (No. 127, 2015). Pre-publication versions are available on Academia.edu:

• "Part I: Book Donation Programmes in English-speaking Africa," by Hans M. Zell (107 pp.)
• "Part II: Le don de livre, mais à quel prix, et en échange de quoi? Un regard sur le don de livre en Afrique francophone," by Raphaël Thierry (in French, with abstract in English; 77 pp.)

I had not been aware of this work, which addresses a real gap in research on book donations to Africa and their impact. From a quick perusal it certainly seems that both parts go into considerable depth, including on aspects of the languages of books donated to Africa, and with reference to a large number of programs. If you are interested in the subject of book donations to Africa, add these to your reading list.

Addendum (20 July 20)

Here is the full citation for the study in Madagascar mentioned in the previous posting:

• Laurence Hugues and Marie Michèle Razafintsalama, "Quelles « nouvelles » pratiques du don de livres pour répondre au besoin des jeunes lecteurs africains dans les bibliothèques?" / "What 'new' book donation practices can meet the needs of young African readers in libraries?" Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2014 - Lyon - Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge in Session 144 - Africa with Libraries for Children and Young Adults. In: IFLA WLIC 2014, 16-22 August 2014, Lyon, France. 

In responding to my blog posting, Laurence Hugues called my attention to a recent publication on e-books to Africa:

• Matthieu Joulin, "Le don de livres numériques : quelles logiques et quels enjeux?" Alliance-Lab / Alliance Internationale des Éditeurs [website], 23 mars 2015

Both of the above mention the issue of the language(s) of publication of the books or e-books donated to Africa, and both were cited and discussed by Hans Zell and Raphaël Thierry in their respective articles.

One interesting subject touched on by all of the above is that of a new "charter" or set of agreed-upon standards and best practices for book donations (not just limited to Africa). A "Charte de Don des Livres" was created in 2005 by several organizations including UNESCO, but never translated (as far as I can find) into English. That document did not specifically mention languages at all, although it does recommend (Article 9) that book donations take into account the cultural identities of recipient communities.

In researching my original posting on the "linguistic imbalance" of book donations to Africa, I came across an article by the executive director of Books for Africa, which argues the case for donating English-language (not African language) materials:

• Patrick Plonski, "Providing Books For Schools and Libraries in Africa: What Is the Impact on Literacy?" Paper presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the African Studies Association, San Francisco, California, November 2010.

There is clearly a range of opinions and experience regarding best practices, so it does seem that the time is ripe for a broader dialogue to reappraise book donations to multilingual Africa, taking into account languages (linguistic "bibliodiversity"), the roles of national publishing and local writers, diverse community interests, evolving digital technologies, and other factors. The outcome could be some agreed upon set of guidelines for future book donations and foreign support for development of reading materials.