The national bibliography of Ethiopia: Current status

Intl. Inform. & Libr. Rev. (1992) 24, 45-56

The National Bibliography of Ethiopia: Current Status SUSHMA

GUPTA*

The importance of a national bibliography can not be overemphasized. It may be published by any body in the country, though, usually the national library ofthe country is the body responsible for its publication. National deposit is necessary for its comprehensiveness. This paper deals with the state of the national bibliography in Ethiopia, its origin, establishment o f the National Library of Ethiopia and law of deposit. Ethiopia is one of the three countries in Africa where lists of their publications from the 19th century are found. Two organizations were identified which were engaged in publishing the national bibliography in Ethiopia: one is the National Library and Archives of Ethiopia by the virtue of the power invested through legal deposit and another is the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, to enable it to provide documentation services to its users. It seems uneconomical and irrational. It is recommended that all the three organizations, the National Library, the Institute of Ethiopian Studies and the National Archives of Ethiopia, should be separated to look after their own specific functions and perform their own specialized duties.

INTRODUGTION As we all know, a national bibliography is an organized list of all the materials, published in a particular country. N o r m a l l y tile national library of a c o u n t r y is responsible for publishing such a list, b u t a n y other b o d y m a y do so. T h e purposes of producing the national bibliography are manifold, (1) it lists all the d o c u m e n t s published in a certain c o u n t r y d u r i n g a certain period; (2) its publication leads to publicity of the d o c u m e n t ; and (3) it provides information on publications little known within a n d outside the country. It can be exhaustive only w h e n there is a law of deposit t h a t is strictly followed. T h u s to produce an exhaustive national bibliography, two factors are necess-

* Assistant Librarian, AddisAbaba University,PO Box 33945, AddisAbaba, Ethiopia. 1037-23171921010045 + 12 S03.00/0

9 1992AcademicPress Limited

46

s. GUPTA

ary, (1) a responsible body to publish it, and (2) the law of deposit to make it exhaustive. National libraries, law ofdcposit and national bibliographics arc not new phcnomcna in thc world. The first national library of thc world was the Biblioth~que Nationale, Paris, France (1343). Up to the end of 1970s there were 100 national libraries in the world and of these 23 were in Africa (see Appendix I). Twenty-seven countries were publishing their bibliographies in Africa in some way or other; either their national library was publishing it or some other body was responsible for its publication, for example in Ethiopia the Institute of Ethiopian Studies was publishing it; while in Ghana other libraries were performing this function. 1 T h e first nations to use a deposit law to fill its national library with free automatically forwarded books are thought to be Austria in 1575, Sweden in 1661, Denmark in 1697, Spain in 1716 and Library of Congress , USA, in 1846. 2 It has been suggested that France was tim first to apply a deposit law for the Biblioth~que Nationale under tim Ordonnance de Montpellier on 28th September 1537. 3 The term "national bibliography" is relatively new, appearing first in print in 1858, 4 but the earliest known bibliography, based on national origins dates from 1548: J o h n Bale's Illustrium Majoris Brittanniae scripforum hoe est Angliae, Cambriae ac Scotiae summarium. The next one was in 1564, the German .41esskataloge, catalogues of publications offered for sale at the annual book fairs, first at Frankfurt. 5 The first truly national type bibliography was the Catalogue of English Printed Books published by Andrew Maunsell 1 5 9 5 . 6

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ETIIIOPIA Libraries of printed books did not appear in Ethiopia until 1930, when its Emperor, Halle Selassie I, on the occasion of his coronation, established a beautifully furnished public reading room in a museum opposite his palace] When, after a few weeks, a Belgian anarchist Eugene Gaspard Marin visited it, tie found one cupboard of Geez and Amtlaric manuscripts, and another of printed books in French, English, Italian and Russian. 8 He also found a catalogue Of those books in tile form of an exercise book. 8 Soon after tiffs, in 1936, Italians invaded the country and Halle Selassie had to escape. Tile country was under Italian Occupation for 5 years. All development, halted during this period, was started afresh after Haile Selassie returned from exile in the U K in 1941. During their occupation, the Italians established one Central Government Library in Addis Ababa for Italian East Africa. When it was opened to the public in 1940, it contained some 10000 volumes

TtIE NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPIIY OF ETtIIOPIA

47

and had considerable collections on Eastern Africa9 though it mainly collectcd matcrials on laws and regulations. 1~ O f these two libraries, thc onc cstablished by Hailc Sclassie in 1930 and the other established by Italians in 1936, only one library, the Italian Government Library, survived the Italian occupation. From this library, Haile Selassie opened the National Library on 3rd November 1944J ~ At tiffs time the National Library inherited a collection of 50 000 volumes from the Italian library. Thus libraries as a public service began to make some impact only largely through the establishment of the National Library after 1944.

EMERGENGE

OF ITS

INSTITUTE COLLEGTION

OF

ETItIOPIAN

STUDIES

AND

DEVELOPMENT

Since Halle Selassie was very enthusiastic about all kinds of development in his country, that period was a period of general development in the country. Higher education was started with the establishment of a University College* in Addis Ababa in 1950, and between then and 1961 five more colleges were opened in different disciplines.l" The Halle Selassie I University came into existence by the merging of all the six colleges in 1961. Its library and its branch libraries were given prime importance. Soon afterwards research institutes were established all over file country in order to conduct research on different national issues. Some were established outside the university system and some were within the university system. O f those within tile university system, the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, established in 1963, was especially established in order to (1) collect books, pamphlets, articles, archival material, maps, manuscripts and other documents on Ethiopia produced within or outside Ethiopia; (2) run the University's Museum of ethnographic and historical interest including music and other tape recordings; and (3) encourage, co-ordinate and conduct research on Etlfiopia. In this regard Chojnacki's statement+ is worth mentioning here. * University College ofAddis Ababa was converted into Haile Selassie I University in 1961 and Haile Sclassie I University was renamed as Addis Ababa University after the ! 974 Revolution, thus they arc the same institutions and the names are used intcrchangcably according to the years. "["University College ofAddis Ababa, 1950; College of Engineering, 1952; Imperial Ethiopian " College of Agricuhure and Mechanical Arts, 1952; Haile Sclassie I Public Hcahh College and Training Centre , 1954; Building College and Theological College. Their libraries and other libraries were treated as branch libraries of the University Library. .+Stanislaw Chojnacki was the first librarian of the Library of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies from 1963 to 1974.

48

s. GUPTA "Wc attcmpt to gathcr cvcrything produced sincc thc introduction of thc print in Ethiopia and tbc Institutc's collectionwhich can claim somc complctcncssoflocally printcd matcrial. In other words, thc library of the Institute is defacto a dcpository library."* 12

Thus this Institutc comprises thrcc parts, thc Library, the Muscum and thc Rcsearch and Publications Unit. Its Library is a unique collcction of books, pamphlets, rcports, thcscs, manuscripts, microfilms, maps and audio and video tapcs ctc. produccd in various languagcs of Ethiopia and thc world. This is thc best equipped library in thc country for Ethiopian studics and rescarch. This Library was cstablishcd on the rccommcndation of Dr R. K. P. Pankhurst in J u n e 196313 through thc transfer of books and cthnological collections from thc former University Collcgc ofAddis Ababa's Ethiopic scction. T h e main aim of the Institute, at that timc, was to create a centre of documentation and rcscarch in Ethiopian cuhure. Prcscntly this Library contains some 90 000 volumcs ofbooks and printcd matcrials, 2140 manuscripts, 6750 microfilms microfilmcd by Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library ( E M M L ) , 1230 microfilm recls from other countries' librarics, 7400 official and personal lcttcrs and m a n y othcr matcrials. Thc Museum houscs a collcction of rcpresentativc cultural artefacts from almost all nationalitics of Ethiopia and invaluable pieces of Ethiopian traditional art. Thc coIlcction by thc Institutc of objects illustrating traditional lifc in Ethiopia is a continuation of the programme startcd at the University College ofAddis Ababa in 1954.14 Thc Rcscarch and Publications Unit is closcly rclated to the relevant tcaching units in thc Collcgc of Social Scicnccs and thc Institutc of Languagc Studies ofAddis Ababa Univcrsity. By thc Faculty Council ruling of the Univcrsity, all profcssional rcscarch personnel at the Institutc arc rcquircd to havc thcir acadcmic home basc in any of the facultics of the University and normally thcy hold a joint rcsponsibility oftcaching and rcscarch at both Faculty and the Institute rcspcctivcly] 5 With this sct up, thc Institute has bcen conducting rcscarch since its inccption. Because of thc nature of its objectivcs, this Institute has always rcceivcd thc special attcntion of the Governmcnt.

PATON'S REPORT AND LIBRARY SYSTEM OF ETttlOPIA In 1968, the Ethiopian Government requested U N E S C O to evaluate and make suggestions about its library system. Paton came for 3 months to Ethiopia as U N E S C O expert, studied thesystem and submitted a * At that timetherewas no law ofdepositin the country.

TtIE

NATIONAL

BIBLIOGRAPIIY

49

OF E T H I O P I A

report) 6 He noticcd thc duplication of jobs which was uneconomical and unnecessary. For cxamplc, Hailc Selassie I University Library, founded in 1961, was playing thc role of a rescarch, national and rcfcrencc library; whilc the Institute of Ethiopian Studics Library was in compctition with thc National Library of Ethiopia in collecting all thc matcrials about Ethiopia. So his main recommendation was that it should lcavc to the Univcrsity Library and its branch library, and thc Institute's Library, thc rcsponsibility for national and rcfcrcnce functions which thcsc libraries werc fulfilling, to somc extent, already. and thc National Library should conccntrate its rcsources on public library functions, bccoming, in cffcct, the hcadquarters of the ccntral public library of a countrywide public library system. 17 T h e National Library has since been playing its role as the initiator and co-ordinator of public library services throughout the country. Besides this report, in tile years since 195 I, when tile U N documents began to arrive in the National Library, they were not taken care of properly: missing issues were never claimed, nor were the thousands of documents sorted out. A start was made in this direction in 1966 following the threat of losing the deposit privilege. But the National Library was too late to recognize this fact and start work on it and this privilege was lost to the University Library in the same year. ~8 After both these incidents the National Library has been overshadowed in size and importance by the Haile Selassie I University Library and its branci~ libraries, but its public library functions are still progressing.

PUBLICATIONS

OF T I I E

INSTITUTE LIBRARY

OF E T I I I O P I A N

STUDIES

To disseminate research findings and to render documentation services in the area of Ethiopian studies tile Institute's Research and Publication Unit launched some new publications, such as Journal of Ethiopian

Studies, Register of Current Research on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, museum catalogues and other research publications. It started organizing and hosting seminars and national and international conferences to encourage research, and to provide the scholars with a meeting place. Since the Institute's Library was collecting materials on Ethiopia published within and outside the country, in order to provide documentation services, in 1963 it started to publish Ethiopian Publications, a list of all documents published in Ethiopia annually. Its first volume appeared in 1965 containing the items published in 1963 and 1964 (for all the volumes see Appendix II). This list is divided into two sections, its first section lists the publications in foreign languages and the second

50

S. G U P T A

section lists thc publications in Ethiopian languages. Thc cntrics in thc foreign language section are arranged in classificd order according to the Dcwey Decimal Classification Scheme which the Institutc's Library is currently following. The entrics in the Ethiopian language section are arranged by author. An author index is provided within the forcign languagc section. As it can bc sccn from Appendix II, sincc 1979 its publication has bccn lagging behind considerably. As stated by Chojnacki this Institute has been trying to collect all printed matcrials sincc the beginning of the print in Ethiopia. Two lists have also been produccd, onc by Stcphen Wright containing publications from the cnd ofthc 19th century up to 1936 (it includes some items publishcd in Ethiopian languages published outsidc Ethiopia also) 19 and the other, by Hojer covering the publications from 1942 to 1962. 2~ Hojer does not claim it to bc comprehcnsive "sincc thc publishing activities in Asmara had not been fully explored for this pcriod and as thcrc was no lcgal dcposit provision, nonc of the existing collccfion was complctc, and no documcntation on thcsc publications was availablc. Thcrc must be omissions. ''21 This list is similar to the Institute's Ethiopian Publications (the annual list) except that it does not list any item published in Ethiopian languages. The Institute's Library published the List of Current Periodical Publications also which listed all the current and ceased periodical titles with their bibliographic details, such as title, place of publication, publisher's name, date of start, frequency and language. This list appeared biennially regularly from 1964 to 1974 a total of six numbers for 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1974.

ACTIVITIES

OF T I I E N A T I O N A L

LIBRARY

The National Library's first bibliographic publication was the catalogue of 272 Amharic language manuscripts which were in tile possession of the Library in 1970. 22Because of Paton's report, the National Library's functions were changed to public library's functions, problems of understaffing and inadequate funds prevailed and these problems prevented the development of national bibliographic and exchange services. In 1975, when through the Legal Deposit Proclamation No. 5011975 the National Library was entitled to legal deposit of three copies of each publication published in Ethiopia, it began collecting all the locally published materials in its Legal Deposit Section and felt the need to publish their list. Its first four volumes of publications on Ethiopia appeared under the title Ethiopian Publications in June 1980. Of

T I I E N A T I O N A L B I B L I O G R A P I I Y OF E T I t l O P I A

51

thcsc four volumcs, thrcc contained all the items on Ethiopia published within or outside the country and the fourth volume contained a listof only those publications which were deposited there through legal deposit. 23 It included all printed materials, irrespective of language, published in Ethiopia. Its introduction gives the reason to start such a service "to facilitate the masses tile Ethiopian Section of the National Library started producing bibliographies which are helpful for the research and study of the Ethiopian people culture, history, politics and economic basis of their development. No scholar can make research out of the blue ifhe does not know where to find the true source for his studies. Having this point in mind starting June 1980 we have started producing series ofbibliographies that show where to find and what kind ofmaterial is available for Ethiopian scholars . . . . .23

After this, it tlas been regularly publishing this list under tile same title, Ethiopian Publications (for all volumes published see Appendix C). Its latest volume appeared in J u n e 1990. But before publishing these volumes efforts were made to publish some additional volumes (see Appendix III, item no. 1). This whole publication is in the Amharic language and in its foreword it says that they were sorry for the publication of tim delayed volume and the long gap between the previous one and the present one, which shows they must have published some volume before this. This volume covers books and periodicals published in Ethiopia from 1943 to 1975. All these volumes are mimeographed. (When ALA Encyclopedia 24 listed Ethiopia among the countries producing national bibliographies in 1980, it wrote Ethiopian Publications published by tile Institute not by tile National Library.)

DISCUSSION

Thus, in Ethiopia, these two bodies, the National Library and the Institute of Etlliopian Studies Library, are actively engaged in documenting Ethiopian publications, one through the legal deposit and another to provide documentation services for the Institute. The National Library is privileged to receive three copies ofeach publication published in the country, on the other hand the Institute claims its collection to be richer than the National Library's collection because, as it again claims, it personally makes the effort to buy and collect the local documents. Both seem proud in their own ways. It is extremely commendable that Ethiopia, being one of the poorest countries of the world, has been publishing the list of its national publications regularly by collecting them in its National Library through legal deposit. It is also highly commendable that of the 27 African countries engaged in producing national bibliographies in some w a y or another, Ethiopia

52

S. GUPTA

is one of only three countries (others are Libya and Mauritius, see Appendix I) which have been publishing their national bibliographies since the 19th century. However to maintain and improve the situation it must intensify its efforts to assign all the rights and duties to one body whichever it prefers. At present both bodies seem to be in competition because of the clash in their rights and duties. RECOMMENDATIONS

Considering all the above points and the current state of affairs of tile National Library and Archives and the Institute of Etlfiopian Studies Library, it is recommended that, (1) Tile National Library should continue to play its current role. It should be provided with appropriate facilities, funds, m a n p o w e r and authority etc. to consolidate the national publications in it and should regularly publish the national bibliography of Ethiopia. (2) T h e Institute of Ethiopian Studies Library should concentrate on the functions of a research library only, by acquiring, organizing' and providing information sources and services to the researchers conducting research related to Ethiopian studies. (3) T h e archival materials, manuscripts, microfilms of tlle manuscripts and other materials should be separated from the National Library and Archives and Institute of Etlfiopian Studies to form a National Archive of Ethiopia. This National Archive should be charged with the responsibility to collect, organize, maintain and make these resources available to anyone who needs them. It is not necessary to house it separately; it may be located at the Addis Ababa University campus. A good example of these three bodies may be seen in Nigeria. In Nigeria these three functions are performed by three separate bodies, the National Library of Nigeria responsible for all national library functions, tile Institute of African Studies responsible for research, and the National Archives of Nigeria responsible for its archival functions. Incidentally both the Institute of African Studies and the National Archives of Nigeria, are located at the University of Ibadan campus, while its National Library is located at Lagos. REFERENCES

ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services (1980) Chicago. American Library Association. pp. 387-391.

TIIE

NATIONAL

BIBLIOGRAPtlY

OF

ETIIIOPIA

53

2 Ibid., p. 398. 3. Biblioth~:que Nationale de France. In A. Kent and H. Lancour (Eds)" Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science Vol. 2. New York. Marcel and Dekker. 1969, p. 436. 4 Guild, Reuben A. (1858) Librarian's manual: a treatise on bibliography. New York. Norton. p. 55. 5 National Bibliography. It/A. Kent and H. Lancour (Eds) Eno'clopedia of Library and Information Science Vol. 19. New York. Marcel and Dekker. 1976, p. 51. 6 Ibid., p. 52. 7 Pankhurst, Rita (1972) Ethiopia, Libraries in. In A. Kent and H. Laneour (Edsi Encyclopedia of Library and Information ScienceVol. 8. New York. Marcel and Dekker. 1972, p. 219. 8 Pankhurst, R. K. P. (1975) A glimpse of Ethiopia's first public library. Ethiopian Journal of Education 8(1), p. 40. 9 David, Marguerita (1973) The influence of historical, social and cultural factors on the development oflibrarianship in contemporary Ethiopia. A mimeographed unpublished paper, p. 4. 10 Pankhurst, Rita. Ibid., p. 219. 11 Libraries in Ethiopia. ContinentalDaily Mail sur le Empire of Ethiopia. 1941-1951. 12 Chojnacki, Stanislaw. The preservation of Ethiopia's cultural heritage. A lecture delivered at the Meeting of the Society of Friends, 18th December 1969. p. 15. 13 Institute of Ethiopian Studies Library (1976) Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa University, Institute of Ethiopian Studies. p. 1. 14 Taddesse Tamrat (1984) The International Congress of Ethiopian Studies (19591980): a short review. Article prepared for Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies. Institute of Ethiopian Studies. p. 1. 15 Faculty Council Legislation. 17 September 1973. Title IV (a), i (3), p. 88. 16 Paton, W. B. (1969) Ethiopia: development of public and school libraries. Paris. UNESCO. 21 pp. 17. Pankhurst, Rita. Ibid., p. 220. 18 Mould, Roslyn (1968) Tile planning of library services in Ghana, tile United Arab Republic and Ethiopia: a comparative study, leaf24. 19 Wright, Stephen Graham (1967) Ethiopian incunabula compiled from the collections in the National Library of Ethiopia and the Halle Selassie I University. Addis Ababa, Commercial Printing Press. 107 p. 20 Hojer, Christlanne (I 974) Ethiopian publications: books, pamphlets, annuals and periodical articles published in Ethiopia in foreign languages from 1942 to 1962. Addis Ababa, Haile Selassie I University, Institute of Ethiopian Studies. 146 pp. 21 Ibid., Introduction. 22 Pankhurst, Rita. Ibid., p. 220. 23 Foreword (June 1980) Ethiopian publications by legal deposit. Addis Ababa, Ministry of Culture and Sports, National Library and Archives of Ethiopia. 152 lvs. mimeographed. 24 National Bibliographies (1980) ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services. Chicago. American Library Association.

54

S. G U P T A

Countries 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. I 1. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burundi Congo Egypt Ethiopia Ghana Ivory Coast Libya Madagascar Malawi Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Nigeria Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe

APPENDIX

I

National libraries

National bibliographies

Law of deposit

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Yes (1963) No Yes (1976) Yes (1969) Yes (1972) No Yes (1956) Yes[No (1963)* Yes/No (1965) Yes (1969) Yes (1972)t Yes (1964) Yes (1965) Yes (1973) Yes (1893) Yes (1962) No Yes (1973)'~ Yes (1963) Yes (1952) Yes (1962) Yes (1959) Yes (1973) Yes (1969) Yes ? Yes (1969) Yes (e. 1961) Yes (1974, 5th no) Yes (1970) Yes (1967)

Yes No No Yes No No Yes No* Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes

Source: ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services. Chicago, American Library Association. 1980. pp. 387-391 and 399-402. * The national bibliography of Ethiopia listed in this source is not published by the National Library of Ethiopia but by the Institute of Ethiopian Studies. The law of deposit also was introduced in the country in 1975. t For Libya and Nigeria the national bibliographies are available for earlier periods also (Libya, 1866 to 1971; Nigeria 1950 to 1972).

TtIE N A T I O N A L B I B L I O G R A P I I Y OF , E T I I I O P I A APPENDIX

55

II

List of Ethiopian Publicationspublished by the Institute of Ethiopian Studies Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume

I published for 1963-1964 2 published for 1965 3 published for 1966 4 published for 1967 5 published for 1968 6 published for 1969 7 published for 1970 8 published for 1971 9 published for 1972 10 published for 1973 11 published for 1974 12 published for 1975-1976 13 published for 1977-1979

APPENDIX

published published published published published published published published published published published published published

in in in in in in in in in in in in in

1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1984 1989

III

List of Ethiopian Publicationspublished by the National Library and Archives of Ethiopia Volume 2 Volume Volume Volume Volume

1 1 2 3

Volume 4 Voloume 5 Volume Volume Volume Volume

6 7 8 9

Volume 10 Volume 11

1977 Apr Jun Jun Jun Jun

Ethiopian Publications: books and journals published in Ethiopia, 1943-1975. Ethiopian Publications (152 p.) Ethiopian Publications (144 p.) Ethiopian Publications (80 p.) Ethiopian Publications (98 p.) Ethiopian Publications by legal deposit (152 lye)

1980 1980 1980 1980 1980 ? Jun 1982 Bibliography on Geography and History in English and Amharic Jun 1983 Author Index in Amharic (277 lvs) Dec 1983 Title Index in Amharic (266 lvs) Nov 1984 English language (227 p.) Apr 1985 Foreign Language 1980-1984 in Amharic and English (101 p.) Jun 1987 Ethiopian Publications in Amharic and English (72 lvs) Dec 1989 Ethiopian Publications in Amharic and English (44 lvs)

56

s. G U P T A

List of Ethiopian Publicationspublished by the Legal Deposit and Bibliography Section Volume ? Volume Volume Volume Volume

I(1)

Apt Jun 2 (1) Dec 3 (1) Jun 11 (2) " Jun 12 (2) Jun

1982 1982 1986 1988 1989 1990

Ethiopian Ethiopian Ethiopian Ethiopian Ethiopian Ethiopian

Publications Publications Publications Publications Publications Publications

in in in in in in

English and Amharic English and Amharic Amharic (116 lvs) English (134 lvs) English and Amharic English and Amharic

(116 lvs) (122 lvs) (133 lvs) (47 Ivs)