African Library and Information Associations and Institutions

History

It is a fact that continuous educational, economic and socio-political disruptions hamper the delivery of library and information services in Africa whereas the role and impact of the African Library and Information Science (LIS) sector and its position in a developmental agenda is underestimated.

The disposition of governments and major stakeholders have consequently resulted in a seeming neglect of the library sector birthing many challenges including; budget cuts and inadequate funding for libraries. Given that national and global development imperatives are often advocated through the United Nations Agenda 2030, AU Agenda 2063 and National Developmental Agendas, there was the need for a continental Library Association to undertake high level strategic advocacy on behalf of the African LIS sector.

Continental library associations serve as growth and high-level advocacy bodies for the library and information profession. They represent important platforms to discuss issues and further the cause of the library and information sector, at the continental level. In Africa, the idea of having such an Association had been nursed and widely discussed by many prominent African library and information professionals for many years but it was not until 2013 that one was finally created.

In May 2011, a continental library conference for Africa was held in Muldersdrift, South Africa, with the theme; The Future of African Librarianship. This was the first African Library Summit and it brought under the same roof prominent African library and information professionals. Following a presentation by Dr. Helena Asamoah-Hassan at the Summit, a discussion ensued towards the need to form a continent-wide African Library Association which will provide a platform to discuss issues and further the cause of the library and information sector in Africa.

Upon consensus, the IFLA Africa Section was tasked to set up an Exploratory Committee whose mandate was to conduct a feasibility study, extensively consult key LIS stakeholders on the continent and to report findings back to the IFLA Africa Section. The Exploratory Committee, as mandated, submitted their report to the IFLA African Section during the Mid-Term Meeting of the IFLA Africa Section in February 2013 in Abuja, Nigeria. Results of the work done by the Exploratory Committee included but not limited to; a draft of AfLIA's constitution, proposal of the name of the Association, Vision, Mission, Governance Structure, Membership and membership criteria, proposed committees and working groups as well as funding sources for the sustenance of the Association.

Membership

AfLIA is an Association largely characterized by institutional membership. Membership is open to any organization, in Africa and the diaspora, with interest in the African library and information sector. Presently, members include; National Library Associations, National Libraries, Academic Libraries, Public Libraries, Community Libraries, Special Libraries, School Libraries, National Library Consortia, Information and Documentation Centres, Library and Information Education/Training Institutions, Library and Information-related Businesses, Friends of AfLIA/Libraries, Libraries and library Institutions in the Diaspora as well as Institutions/Organisations related to libraries and information services.

Presently, the Association has 141 member institutions and associations spanning across all the five regions of Africa and covering 32 out of the 54 African countries. There is also evidence of diaspora and international member institutions however, that category of members constitutes less than 2% of total membership.

On the other hand, AfLIA is also a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), another international body representing the interests of people who rely on libraries and information professionals.

Governance

AfLIA is managed under the general guidelines of the Constitution and the Bye-Laws. The Association is governed and managed by an elected Governing Council, consisting of a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Immediate Past-President, regional representatives and chairpersons of existing Sections, and a Secretariat headed by an Executive Director. The Annual General Meeting is the highest governance and decision making level of the Association. Members of the Governing Council have a tenure of two years and the outdooring new Governing Council often coincides with the biennial AfLIA Conference and African Library Summits.

The current president of the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions is Sarah Negumbo (2025–2027). She took over from Prof. Rosemary Shafack who was elected into the position after Alim Garga. Mr. Garga took over from Mr. Mandla Ntombela as President of AfLIA in July 2021. Dr. John Tsebe served as the first elected President of the Association from 2015 to 2019 and served as a member of the Governing Council as the immediate Past President of the Association from 2019 to 2021. Since July 2015, Dr. Helena Asamoah-Hassan has been the Executive Director of AfLIA.

Library type sections

Currently there are seven sections in AfLIA. Executives of the Sections are elected by the sectional members every two years. Chairpersons of Sections become automatic members of the Governing Council.

Strategic programmes and activities

The official purpose, according to the organization is “to empower the library and information community to actively promote the African development agenda through dynamic services that transform livelihoods". The organization's programs and activities are administered by the Secretariat in collaboration with various (internal) sections and committees as well as strategic partners.

Conferences and Roundtable Meetings

AfLIA holds this library conference every two years. The conferences are usually dubbed; the nth AfLIA Conference and the nth African Library Summit and often held between May – July in member countries in an alternating fashion. The most recent conference was the 3rd AfLIA Conference and 5th African Library Summit, was held from 21 to 24 May 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. It is expected that the next conference, 4th AfLIA Conference and 6th African Library Summit, will be held in 2019 in Accra, Ghana, according to the organization. The conference typically involves activities such as pre-conference workshops and seminars, paper, poster and ignite talk presentations, exhibitions, awards and honours sessions, cultural nights and other breakout sessions for Sections of the Association to meet. The Deputy President of Kenya, Mr. William Samoei Ruto, was the special guest of honour at the Cultural Night of the 2019 conference. The Association also holds its General Meeting and Governing Council Meetings during these conferences. AfLIA's conferences are notable for being one of the largest professional conferences organized on the continent, typically drawing library and information professionals, including exhibitors mainly from Africa, and other parts of the world.

African Public Library Summits is continent-wide convening of public library leaders and policymakers in Africa. Unlike the AfLIA Conference and African Library Summits which targets all categories of LIS professionals, the African Public Library Summits are organized with focus on librarians and managers from the public library space across Africa. The conferences were held with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Global Libraries Initiative, to serve as a platform to discuss the opportunities for creating successful, 21st century libraries that contribute to the development priorities of African communities, countries and continent.

The first African Public Library Summit took place in Johannesburg in 2012, hosted by the University of South Africa Evidence show that the maiden Summit was not organized under the auspices of AfLIA, as the Association had not been established as at then but the second and third African Public Library Summits which took place in Ezulwini, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), in 2016 and Durban, South Africa, in 2018 respectively, were organized by AfLIA. Since the Global Libraries Initiative came to a close at the end of 2018, it is unknown when and where the next African Public Library Summit will be held.

Leadership and Continuous Professional Development Programmes

Leadership is an integral part of the success of every organization. AfLIA executes three major leadership and continuous professional development programs namely INELI-SSAf, AfLAc and IYALI.

INELI is a blended learning program initially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Global Libraries Initiative. The program was established to facilitate the transformation of public libraries into engines of development by supporting upcoming public librarians to develop innovative services for the benefit of their communities. AfLIA manages the implementation of the INELI program for Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme emphasizes fostering strong networks of emerging library leaders in Africa who have developed their knowledge, attitude and skills for leadership through a variety of learning environments and networking. The program provides e-learning courses via a Moodle platform to participants.

In addition, participants convene for training workshops during AfLIA pre-conferences and are expected to successfully carry out community-based projects before graduating. Two cohorts have been trained so far. The first cohort is reported to have been enrolled in 2016 and passed out of the program in 2018. The first cohort constituted 32 participants from 14 African countries. According to AfLIA, the second cohort is made up 34 participants from 10 African countries.

This programme provides in-service training to build capacity of mid-level managers of libraries to effectively manage libraries in this dynamic era of technology and information. The AfLAc programme was developed in partnership with the Public Library Association (PLA), USA, and modelled on the PLA Leadership Academy. Training is provided through a blending learning approach, and is intended to bridge the gap between management of collections and link them, on one hand, to communities and, on the other hand, make libraries vibrant centres of communities, combining people, information and services. The academy enables library leaders to discover how they can contribute towards building their communities, form partnerships with non-library organisations, and develop comprehensive services that impact everyday lives of library users and communities.

Aside online training, participants of the programme periodically convene for training workshops during the Association's pre-conferences and are expected to embark community-based projects, based on an identified local problem. Towards the end of the program, participants embark on a professional exchange program to the United States of America (Chicago in 2019 and Nashville in 2020).

Short courses

Early Literacy Development course

The course which was developed in partnership with Neil Butcher & Associates is a 5 weeks online training which teaches the staff of African public and community libraries how to drive early literacy skills development through exposing children in their communities to libraries as literacy-rich environments and story hours as windows of opportunities for gaining print and phonemic awareness in English language and their mother tongues. Importantly, the course introduces the concept and practice of open licensing as a means of increasing age-appropriate reading resources in mother tongues through the translation of openly licensed storybooks. This course runs for 5 weeks, is free and is facilitated by AfLIA.

Openness course

This course's main objective is to provide a grounded understanding of the openness spectrum in research and scholarship to African academic and research libraries staff. Participants in the course are also taught how to advocate for openness in their respective institutions in pertinent areas e.g., how to promote awareness about Open access, open data, open licensing, OERs as well as lead advocacy for institutional policies and possible adoption in these areas. The course which runs for 5 weeks is free, facilitated by AfLIA and was developed in partnership with OER Africa of Saide.

Partners

AfLIA is in partnership with several organisations some of which are listed below.

African Union

Bibliotheca Alexandrina of The Arab Republic of Egypt

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)

European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA)

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

Saide and OER Africa

Public Library Association (PLA) of the American Library Association

The Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA), University of Washington

Wikipedia Library

Wikimedia Foundation

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition – SPARC Africa

Neil Butcher and Associates (NBA)

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

DataCite

Publications

AfLIA Statements Declarations and Communiques – includes Statements about International Literacy for Development; Freedom of Information; Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression, Cape Town Declaration, Durban Communique and Accra Declaration, EIFL, AfLIA & IFLA Joint Call for Malawi to embrace spirit of Marrakesh Treaty .

AfLIA Professional Reports – includes publication such as How African Libraries Contribute to the African Union Agenda 2063.