Africa from a Nordic perspective - The Nordic Africa Institute Library

Åsa Lund Moberg at the SCOLMA lunchtime seminar in London. Photo: Katarina Hjortsäter

In September 2006, the Nordic Africa Institute Library in Uppsala was chosen as Library of the Year. The prize money made it possible for the library staff to go on a study tour of London in March 2007. During the tour, the library hosted a lunchtime seminar on behalf of SCOLMA (Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa). At the seminar, Åsa Lund Moberg, Chief Librarian, gave a presentation entitled "Africa from a Nordic Perspective: the Nordic Africa Institute Library". The presentation dealt with the relationship between the Nordic countries and Africa and the affect this has had on the library’s collections.

Åsa Lund Moberg began by introducing the Library of the Year 2006. She explained why the library was chosen and read out the motivation of the jury. She then discussed the Nordic Africa Institute in general, and the library in particular.

The institute was established in 1962, a time when there was growing interest on the part of the Nordic countries in questions of development aid. However, there was little knowledge available then, to both administrative officials and politicians, about the countries that were receiving such aid.

Although the various Nordic countries differed regarding the type of support they gave to the African independence cause, they also had much in common in this respect. In the early days, missionaries from Sweden, Norway and Finland were stationed in Africa. Moreover, numerous popular movements actively backed the African struggle for independence. While Sweden and Norway supported the liberation movements directly, Denmark provided assistance via outside organisations. 

The Nordic countries, particularly Norway and Sweden, became arenas for meetings between exiled liberation movements and their supporters. This is reflected both in the library pamphlet collection, which contains brochures, documents from meetings, etc, and also in other sources, mostly obtained by way of donations to the library. 

In the 1980’s, when there were sanctions against South Africa, the Nordic Africa Institute made an exception as far as the purchasing of literature was concerned. In this way the library was able to monitor the publication of books during this period. This also resulted in the library acquiring material in its collections that cannot be found elsewhere. There is comprehensive coverage of southern and eastern Africa in the library’s collections. This is an indication of the interest shown by the Nordic countries in Africa and also of the publishing and distribution of material in the various regions.

Åsa Lund Moberg went on to discuss Africa’s image. Library users begin by looking for a specific aspect of Africa. The topic of choice could be a possible indication of the way in which Africa is seen from a Nordic point of view. This often has to do with war, conflict, AIDS, and other problems. Library users do not show the same degree of interest in library literature that deals with economic issues, private enterprise, and similar. 

In conclusion, Åsa Lund Moberg referred to the work being carried out by Nordic Africa Institute Library in order to reach out to users in the Nordic regions. Part of this endeavour is making the library collections visible in Nordic union catalogues. The first of these was the Danish DanBib, which has already resulted in a substantial increase in interlibrary loans.

The seminar was held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Around 20 colleagues from a number of Africa-orientated libraries in London, Cambridge and Oxford participated. The seminar was much appreciated and culminated in a question-and-answer session.  Åsa Lund Moberg was asked to submit an article to the SCOLMA journal, African Research and Documentation.

In addition to the presentation given at the SCOLMA lunchtime seminar, the library staff also visited  the British Library, SOAS Library, Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Read more about the London trip.

By Katarina Hjortsäter 2007-04-24
Translated by Linda Linnarsson 2007-04-26