College and Research Libraries G L E N N L. SITZMAN Uganda's University Library Concentrating primarily upon the library at Makerere University Col- lege, the author describes generally the state of the academic library art in East Africa. He points to many contemporary and forward- looking developments that have occurred in recent years, and he also animadverts upon unfortunate reactionary tendencies. Although all libraries there need increased support, it appears at this time that Makerere is in greatest need of top administrative understanding and concern. Circumstances appear promising, however. T H E C O L L E G E . Makerere University College is the oldest, largest, and best reputed institution of higher learning in E a s t Africa. I t is, moreover, the big- brother college of the three constituent colleges making up the University of East Africa, the other two being Uni- versity College Dar Es Salaam and Uni- versity College Nairobi. T h e college is composed of six faculties: arts, science, social sciences, medicine, agriculture, and education. T h e three last named are designated university faculties. That is, although some basic courses in edu- cation, for example, may be taught at Nairobi and Dar E s Salaam, students wishing to take a degree in education are, at least for the present, sent to Makerere from the three East African countries. Likewise, students wishing de- grees in law are sent to Dar, whereas those wishing degrees in accountancy or engineering are sent to Nairobi. After 1970, however, it appears that the three constituent colleges will develop into three separate universities with certain coordinating ties. Thus, already Dar and Nairobi are establishing medical schools, and Makerere can be seen to b e laying the foundations for faculties of law and Mr. Sitzman is at the Library, University of Guyama, Guyama, Africa. 200/ accountancy. Meanwhile, Uganda Tech- nical College, offering courses on the secondary and junior college levels, is taking steps to upgrade its library to uni- versity standards, and some knowledge- able persons forecast its becoming the engineering and technical branch of the future Makerere University. All of these developments and possible develop- ments, of course, suggest implications bearing directly on the Makerere Uni- versity College library. In addition to the above-named facul- ties, Makerere University College is the home of its well known school of fine art, the East African school of librarian- ship, the Makerere institute of social re- search (formerly the East African insti- tute of social research), the department of extra-mural and extension studies, and the national institute of education. Al- together, the faculties, schools, and in- stitutes at Makerere provide courses of study leading to fifteen different diplo- mas and degrees, including the PhD. Total enrollment for the academic year 1967/68 was near two thousand, includ- ing some two hundred postgraduate de- gree and diploma students. Established posts for teaching staff exceeded two hundred, with another one hundred or so supporting research and technical staff. Staff and students at Makerere carry on vigorous research programs, and students Uganda's University Library / 201 and scholars come from all parts of the world to engage in research and partici- pate in its institutes and study programs. T H E L I B R A R I E S Serving t h e complex library clientele described above is a system of three re- lated libraries, consisting of the main library, the Albert Cook library (med- i c a l ) , and the National Institute of Edu- cation library, plus the autonomous In- stitute of Social Research library and numerous autonomous departmental li- braries. The main library. T h e main library building is a jewel of modern tropical architecture set centrally in a campus noted for its beauty. With floor-to-ceiling windows all round, it is light and airy. An arrangement of individual study tables placed one behind the other in a file next to the windows, with open book and periodical stacks to the inside, cre- ates an atmosphere conducive to study and quiet. Several well-placed lounge areas on each of the three floors con- tribute to the deceptively relaxed ap- pearance of the building. Altogether, seating in the building can accommodate a total of 382 readers. Facilities for read- ers do not include carrels. Several "re- search tables," however, are available for staff and postgraduate students engaged in research. These are tables consider- ably larger than the individual study tables mentioned previously which may b e reserved by individuals for periods of up to two months, the number available being somewhat limited. There is not a great demand for those research tables located in areas open to public access, but the tables in the restricted Africana section usually have a waiting list. Problems related to the building are mostly administrative and perhaps stem from inadequate planning. F o r although the building is beautiful and a lovely place in which to work, it is limited functionally. T h e r e is considerable wast- ed space, and t h e work areas are so ar- ranged that so far it has not been possi- ble to produce an entirely satisfactory and efficient flow of work. T h e size of most work areas has become inadequate. A great deal of time is wasted in moving materials up and down, and b a c k and forth, instead of in a steady forward flow. No doubt when a new extension is planned the present building will b e re- studied and many of its present de- ficiencies remedied. T h e original part of the present build- ing was new in 1958. An extension, about one-third of the present structure, was added in 1962. Planned to accommodate about two hundred thousand volumes, the building is again becoming over- crowded. Another extension is antici- pated perhaps for 1968. T h e first exten- sion was linear, and, unfortunately, the new extension will also have to b e lin- ear or lateral. Although the present building is strong enough to bear books at any point on its two upper floors, it is not strong enough to b e extended up- ward. Administratively, upward exten- sion would b e preferable to linear or lateral extension, and aesthetically it would probably b e preferable also. I f the new extension should not b e forth- coming soon, the librarian will b e faced with such choices as to whether to pro- vide more stacks at the expense of the growing demand for seating space or whether to resist the demands for more seating accommodation in order to pro- vide required additional shelving. An alternative which would give only tem- porary relief would b e to move existing shelves closer together. Such a move would sacrifice the comfortable aisles presently enjoyed by readers and library staff alike. Organization of the main library. In addition to the traditional orders and cataloging sections, the main library consists of a periodicals section, a spe- cial collections section, and a bindery and a printing press combined with photographic services. As an organiza- 202 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 tional entity a reference section is con- spicuously missing, though a ragtag collection of general reference books does exist. Bibliographies are shelved separately in an area somewhat remote from the general reference books. T h e loan desk is managed by clerical staff and gets whatever supervision harried professional staff members can spare it. Refusal of the old-school academics and the central administration to con- cede the necessity of departmentaliza- tion in a modern university library has hindered the work and the desirable de- velopment of the library. T h e attitude which prevails above all others outside the library is that the library does not have catalogers or order librarians—it just has "librarians." T h e failure to recog- nize that the library has grown into a complex organization with essential needs for both specialists and generalists on its staff has caused a fine library to deteriorate drastically. This outmoded attitude at Makerere is particularly difficult to understand in view of the fact that the question of "recognizing" departmentalization of the library has not arisen at other African libraries. Departmentalization is under- stood to be a sensible method of organi- zation in other institutions of higher learning, and both librarians and admin- istrators and other colleges and univer- sities in the area are surprised to learn that the question has even arisen at Makerere. At Dar Es Salaam the library is equated as a faculty, and the librarian has all the prerogatives of a dean except in salary and in that he does not sit on the council of deans. T h e deputy librari- an is at reader grade. T h e library system is fully departmentalized, with specialist librarians in charge, and the library is represented regularly on faculty boards. This is in sharp contrast with the situa- tion at Makerere, where the librarian is regularly by-passed in the planning of new courses. He not only does not sit in on the planning of new courses, he is not even asked whether the library has books on a subject or could get them before a new course of study is intro- duced. At the University of Zambia the li- brary is equated as a faculty, and the li- brarian has all the prerogatives of a dean except in salary, which deficiency will likely b e remedied soon. T h e librari- an is, ex officio, a member of all boards of study. Although the organizational structure of the library is being delib- erately kept fluid for the time being by the university librarian, the librarian has found no obstacles to departmentaliza- tion. Moreover, specialist librarians are recruited regularly as required. Haile Sellassie I University library has in many ways the most enviable status in all of eastern Africa. The librarian has all the prerogatives of a dean, in- cluding a seat on the council of deans and heads of administrative units, and commensurate salary. Organizationally, the central library has just been reor- ganized into two major divisions: The technical services division and the read- ers' services division. E a c h division is ad- ministered by a specialist librarian with the rank of associate librarian. T h e tech- nical services division consists of the ac- quisitions and cataloging departments, each headed b y a specialist librarian. T h e readers' services division incorpo- rates the circulation, documents, peri- odicals, and reference departments, each in charge of a specialist librarian. Services. In addition to serving the teaching needs of the college, the Make- rere library is called upon to provide materials to serious students and re- searchers all over Uganda and through its photographic services and interlibrary loans to researchers and scholars throughout E a s t Africa. In the absence of an effective public library service or national library, Makerere library finds itself obligated to assume responsibili- ties in those directions as well, though the needs of schools are left to the In- Uganda's University Library / 203 stitute of Education library. Having the greatest resources and the most com- prehensive research collections in all of eastern Africa, it can hardly refuse. Some elements outside the college, however, are dissatisfied with the services available at the Makerere main library and advo- cate the establishment of a national re- search library. T o follow this line would involve a costly and extravagant dupli- cation of library resources in a small and poor country. This would seem to be particularly so in view of the relative ease with which facilities and services at Makerere could b e expanded and de- veloped at a much lower cost. In Zambia the matter of whether the university li- brary will also b e recognized as the official national research library has al- ready gone as high as cabinet level in the government, whereas Makerere has not even got around to thinking about the matter. It is not surprising that persons re- quiring and wanting good library service should feel resentment toward an insti- tution which maintains a vast storehouse of information yet has never felt the need of developing a reference and in- formation service. In this respect, it is not far wrong to say that Makerere does Uganda and East Africa a disservice, for the prevailing attitude in the college is that old-fashioned notion that an aca- demic library is a building in which li- brary resources are stored and in which students find a quiet place to study their lecture notes. Makerere has yet to dis- cover that a library which fulfills its rightful function is a service organiza- tion. This is not to say that there are no academics at Makerere with an appre- ciation of what a library should be; it is just that their voices, when raised at all, are ignored. One surprising phe- nomenon is that foundations and other aid organizations have contented them- selves with the potentials of service from the Makerere library and have not in- sisted that the library b e adequately equipped as a service organization be- fore pouring great sums of money into the college for teaching and research programs. It would seem advisable when evalu- ating teams are sent to universities in developing countries that they include competent librarians to assess library re- sources. The collections. T h e total accessioned book collections of the main library stood at 100,100 volumes in May 1967. T h e rate of accessions is approximately six thousand volumes a year. T h e library receives currently some twenty-two hun- dred and fifty periodical titles, and in the academic year 1966/67 it added more than five thousand separate items to the documents collection. T h e com- bined collections of documents and bound volumes of periodicals total per- haps eighty to ninety thousand. T h e li- brary also has significant holdings of newspapers, microfilms, photographs, manuscripts, and archival materials. Its collection of East Africana is the envy of visiting Africanists. [Further and more precise details regarding the collections may be found in the Librarian's Annual Report for 1966/67.] Staff and staffing problems. T o man the organization thus far described the library had through the years acquired a total of six established posts for pro- fessionally trained librarians, despite the fact that the college grew steadily from an institution of sixty teaching staff and 272 students in 1956 to an institution of two hundred teaching staff and nearly two thousand students in 1966. While the library's collections have grown steadily, the college commu- nity has more than quintupled, and de- mands on the library have increased enormously along with all kinds of de- velopment in all of East Africa—the li- brary's established professional posts have remained virtually static for the entire ten-year period. Working conditions in the library de- 204 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 teriorated to the point that during a pe- riod of approximately one year ending in October 1966 the entire professional staff of the main library, some of whom had been with the library for ten or more years, resigned to accept better prospects elsewhere. T h e lone exception was an Ugandan librarian who had been with the library about two years. Be- cause of the seriously inadequate pro- vision for professional staff in the li- brary, essential work chronically went undone or was done either poorly or incorrectly by inadequately supervised clerical staff. During the academic year 1966/67 agitation began in the library for ade- quate staffing in both the main and med- ical libraries. T h e typical attitude of the central administration and its old-school academic advisors which the library faced at the beginning of its crusade (and still faces to a somewhat lesser extent) was expressed by one of the highest officers in the central administra- tion who insisted at the beginning that "all that routine work in the library, such as cataloging" can b e done by high school graduates. Fortunately, despite considerable opposition from certain academics, the campaign waged by the library resulted in considerable modi- fication of the attitudes held by the cen- tral administration and in some of the new posts so urgently required by the library. T h e library's campaign resulted in the establishment of two additional profes- sional posts from July 1967, plus one ad- ditional post in July 1968. These addi- tions bring the library's established pro- fessional posts (including medical) to nine in 1967 and ten in 1968. This com- pares with twelve established profession- al posts at D a r E s Salaam in 1967, plus two trainees overseas for professional studies who will b e added to the estab- lishment upon their return, bringing established professional posts at Dar to fourteen in 1968. Whereas Makerere ex- pects to have ten established posts in 1970, Dar E s Salaam expects to have about seventeen. T h e University of Zambia has estab- lished fifteen professional posts for 1967 and expects to establish more as de- mands on the library increase. Haile Sellassie I University has twelve estab- lished professional posts for its libraries in 1967, plus five additional to the es- tablishment. Since it has several sub- libraries, this showing of strength in numbers is not quite as impressive as it might appear at first sight. Recruitment of staff. Recruitment of nonprofessional staff presents little prob- lems. More and better qualified appli- cants for clerical positions become avail- able all the time. T h e big problem relative to nonprofessional staff is, as it is in so many other libraries, how to get rid of deadwood. T h e employees' union at Makerere is so strong that it is vir- tually impossible to get an undesirable employee dismissed. To b e successful, the librarian has to be prepared for a long and gruelling campaign of compil- ing documentary evidence in the way of written notices of unsatisfactory work sufficient to sustain dismissal charges. T h e library, like the rest of the col- lege, has through the years been de- pendent on expatriates to man its pro- fessional posts. Consequently, recruit- ment problems are more acute. Obvious- ly, selecting staff on the basis of their paper qualifications and on the results of interviews overseas which the librari- an has not attended presents difficulties. Oddly enough perhaps the big problem is not a dearth of applicants, despite the scarcity of librarians everywhere. Makerere library continually gets in- quiries about work opportunities and un- solicited applications. Probably the big- gest hindrance to succesful recruitment is the inefficient, cumbersome, and out- moded recruitment and appointment procedure followed by the college for all academic, professional librarian, and Uganda's University Library / 205 senior administrative posts. Even candi- dates strongly desired by the library or teaching departments and begging to be allowed to work at Makerere finally give up in despair and accept other posts. Another problem that the library faces is that most of the applicants are inex- perienced, whereas under present staff- ing conditions the library has not been able to take on anybody who does not have enough experience to work with a minimum of supervision. T h e library establishment, moreover, is too small to permit experimentation in shifting staff about. Ignorance of conditions in Africa in general, and of Uganda and Kampala in particular, very likely prevents some librarians who would most probably en- joy working in Africa from investigating the possibilities. But the working con- ditions at Makerere for librarians have not been inviting, either. If they were answered honestly, it would take only a very few pointed questions to let an interested librarian know that conditions at Makerere have been extraordinarily difficult. All this is bound to change for the better, however. Already the climate in the college has warmed considerably toward the library's requirements. New posts have been added to the library's establishment, and it does not now seem to b e over optimistic to expect that even- tually the library's staffing will b e some- what more commensurate with its needs. Moreover, a very hopeful note is the col- lege's willingness to inaugurate a re- cruitment program aimed at attracting local college graduates into librarian- ship by awarding them scholarships for professional training and then by bring- ing them back to a library with a new atmosphere, one in which they can hold their heads high, proud to b e a part of it. T h e library now has two Ugandan graduates with library qualifications on the staff, and from 1968 it expects to have five. The medical library. T h e Albert Cook library, named for a medical missionary to Uganda, is located in the modern Mulago Hospital complex on Mulago Hill, just across a little valley from the main Makerere campus on Makerere Hill. T h e original part of the library building was new in 1951, and a new extension was completed in 1966. T h e extension increased the floor space by some 63 per cent. T h e library now pro- vides seating accommodation for 160 readers and shelf space for approximate- ly fifty thousand volumes. T h e total ac- cessioned stock, including bound peri- odicals, stood at about 25,400 in May 1967. T h e annual rate of accessions over the past four years averaged about six- teen hundred volumes. Over the past ten years the medical school has increased from thirty-three teaching and research staff in 1956 to 145 in 1966. T h e medical student body has grown from sixty-two to 324 in the same period. T h e collection has grown from 12,621 accessioned volumes to over 25,000 in that period, and the number of paid subscriptions for periodicals in- creased from 171 in 1958 to 2 9 0 in 1966. T h e total number of periodical titles currently received in the medical li- brary exceeds four hundred. In addition to the staff and students of the medical school the library serves the staff of Mulago Hospital and pro- vides library services, including photo- copies of journal articles, to more than one hundred doctors and research work- ers throughout East Africa. Requests for medical library services from outside the medical school increase every year. Despite the tremendous demands on the medical librarian, which the above statistics make obvious, the college still has not seen fit to establish more than the one professional post which the li- brary "enjoys." One consequence is that when the medical librarian takes leave ( u p to three months' entitlement in alter- nate years) the medical library remains 206 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 without the services of a professional li- brarian if staffing conditions in the main library do not permit the sending of a relief librarian. Another consequence is that the medical librarian is continually confronted with the dilemma of choosing which professional duties to defer to the nonprofessional staff. In a way, there really is not much choice, when one considers the understandable reluctance of the medical school staff and other doctors and researchers to accept ref- erence service from clerical staff, who rarely have been above the level of high school graduates. It may be worth bring- ing out at this point that only in the professional libraries at the medical school and the institute of education have reference and information services been developed to any extent at all at Mak- erere. A few years back provision was made for a secretary/assistant to the medical librarian. Sometimes the medical li- brarian has been fortunate enough to have a college graduate filling the as- sistant's post. One grave consequence which has arisen from the circumstances described here is that, although the med- ical librarian has continued to do the classifying, the cataloging has generally been done by the secretary/assistant (more recently called "special assistant). T h e author catalog and the classified cat- alog have perhaps suffered little from this arrangement, since L C cards are used and the classifying is done by the medical librarian. But any skilled cata- loger who has ever had to edit and re- vise a subject catalog maintained for many years by catalogers poor in ex- perience does not need a detailed report to understand the deplorable state in which the subject catalog at the medical library finds itself today. He has only to draw on his own experience to con- jure up an accurate picture of all the unwise decisions, wrong choices, and inaccurate representations which have got themselves involved in that catalog. T h e medical library has a desperate need for an experienced medical cata- loger to edit and revise its subject cata- log. Moreover, it is in desperate need of at least a second post for a profession- ally trained librarian. W h a t is true of the catalogs at the medical library is true of the catalogs in the main library to a lesser extent. T h e medical library subcommittee fully supports the medical librarian and has pleaded in vain with the central ad- ministration for additional professional staff. It is an unfortunate circumstance for both the medical and the main li- braries that those with the most influ- ence in the college with regard to li- brary matters have been academics w h o do not avail themselves of the library's facilities and who do not see any real value in libraries anyway. And it is of considerable significance that the chair- man of the parent library committee m a y be numbered among that group. The institute of education library. Un- til 1965 the institute of education library was completely autonomous from t h e college librarian. In that year and through the efforts of the college li- brarian it was "brought into a relation- ship with the main library similar to t h a t of the Albert Cook library. Owing to t h e different constitution and financial sup- port of the institute the connection is not identical, but a library committee with members from the institute and the col- lege, including the librarian, has b e e n formed to decide policy matters and a subcommittee to consider book and peri- odical purchases." [cf. the Librarian's Annual Report 1965/66.] T h e library serves the faculty of edu- cation and its B E d and postgraduate D i p E d students, as wells as the institute of education, which conducts a one- year upgrading course for tutors in Uganda teacher training colleges. It also extends borrowing privileges to the staffs of training colleges and schools through- out Uganda. Altogether the institute of Uganda's University Library / 207 of education library catered to slightly more than four hundred registered bor- rowers at the end of the academic year 1966/67. As facilities increase and serv- ices can b e expanded, the demand will, of course, become greater. The library has been manned by one professional librarian, who performs all professional duties in that library, in- cluding ordering and cataloging. It is ex- pected, however, t h a t an additional pro- fessional post may b e added in the near future. T h e total stock includes over twenty thousand books, of which some seven thousand constitute a textbook col- lection. Acquisitions of books, substan- tial pamphlets, and textbooks for the year 1966/67 totaled more than twenty- five hundred. T h e library receives cur- rently some eighty periodical titles. Total loans for the year were in the vicinity of fifty-six hundred. T h e education li- brarian puts out a bulletin/accessions list called "Notes and News." About twenty issues appeared during the year 1966/67. Administratively, the institute of edu- cation library ought to b e completely under the college librarian, preferably as a service unit only, with its ordering and cataloging done in the respective de- partments of the main library, as it is done in other universities in eastern Africa. T h e divided responsibility for finances should not present insuperable obstacles, and the benefits to b e derived from the points of view of both econo- my and service recommend such realign- ment and reorganization. The Institute of Social Research Libra- ry. The institute of social research library is a small working library of some three thousand books, plus a substantial col- lection of dissertations, conference pa- pers, and unpublished manuscripts ori- ented to the needs of one of the most vigorous research programs of the col- lege. About one hundred and fifty read- ers use the library regularly. It appar- ently has never b e e n in charge of a pro- fessionally trained librarian nor of any- one who has worked full time. T h e ties between the institute and main library seem never to have been adequately and clearly defined. It appears that the college librarian at one time exercised some degree of administrative control over the institute library but that some- how this influence got lost along the way. From all points of view it would b e highly desirable that the institute of social research library b e incorporated into the main library at least adminis- tratively if not physically. Other autonomous departmental li- braries. It is a regrettable policy which permits college funds to be used to hire unqualified persons to serve as librari- ans without any responsibility whatever to the college librarian and to squander college money on the establishment of wasteful and unnecessary duplicate col- lections on campus. There is no justification for depart- mental libraries over which the college librarian is allowed to exercise neither influence nor control. If the college ac- tually needs departmental libraries, and opinion is divided as to whether it does, they would more properly b e planned in cooperation with the college librarian and placed under his administration. T h e present practice results in waste- ful expenditure of college funds through unnecessary duplication and in under- mining the main library. Ostensibly, funds are allocated to the departments for the purchase of refer- ence materials which are required so frequently that purchase for retention in the department is justified. T h e heads of some departments, however, go far beyond this intention and set themselves up in competition with the legitimate library service of the college. One such library is that of the department of mathematics, a library of some three thousand titles. Through the years the department, one of the smallest in the college, has acquired unto itself one of 208 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 the largest allocations of college funds for the purchase of so-called reference books and periodicals. Why, one may well ask, does the department of mathe- matics require £ 2 0 0 per annum for books and periodicals ostensibly for of- fice use, whereas the department of sur- gery requires only £-20, and fine art, political science, and religious studies £ 4 0 each? T h e obvious answer seems to b e that in the case of mathematics the professor has set himself up as a rival to the col- lege librarian. He has managed for him- self a departmental book allocation larg- er than the allocation from the main library's book funds for mathematics. Thus the mathematics department li- brary is growing at a greater rate than the mathematics section of the main library's holdings. Moreover, the mathe- matics department library is a circu- lating library to students, though no ac- count of this has apparently ever been made to the college librarian. It would seem to b e a possible conclusion that the professor of mathematics cum chair- man of the library committee has been empire building at the expense of the main library. T h e case cited here is not the only one which could bear some investigation to the college's benefit. Considering cer- tain factors, however, it seemed to b e the one most worthy of pointing out. In the matter of autonomous depart- mental libraries, Makerere could well learn from the younger universities at Dar E s Salaam, Lusaka, and Addis Ababa. In all of these institutions it has been recognized that autonomous de- partmental libraries can b e wasteful and cancerous growths, and steps have been or are being taken to eradicate them. University of Zambia library makes per- manent loans to departments, but the books remain the property of the cen- tral library. Haile Sellassie I University goes even further in defining the pre- rogatives of its central library and li- brarian and in protecting the interests of its library. Everything is set forth clearly and unequivocally in the university's "Statute on the Library" of 1965, a docu- ment which merits careful study by any university or college authorities wishing to reappraise the status of their own library. Whereas other universities in the area have taken firm measures against autono- mous departmental libraries, Makerere has buried efforts to put its librarian in charge of all library materials in com- mittees. [cf. T h e Librarian's Paper on Departmental Collections, LC/65/1; Li- brary Committee Minutes Nos. 1/65- 2/65; Academic Board Minute 2 4 0 4 ( L i - brary Committee Minutes) of its 179th meeting on 2 4 March 1965.] The library committee. The composi- tion of the library committee at Mak- erere is similar to that at University Col- lege Dar Es Salaam and University of Zambia, with, however, certain signifi- cant differences. Whereas at Makerere the deputy librarian is officially present only as a nonvoting observer, at both D a r E s Salaam and Zambia the deputy librarian is, ex officio, a voting member of the committee. At Zambia the deputy librarian is also, ex officio, the secretary of the committee. This arrangement is especially good in that it relieves the li- brarian of the responsibility of taking notes and leaves him free to concentrate on the main business of the meeting. In contrast to the situation at Makerere where the librarian sits on academic board without friends, so to speak, the chairman of the library committee at Dar E s Salaam takes the library com- mittee minutes in academic board and presses the library's interests, with the librarian sitting as his advisor. This, of course, requires a chairman who is fun- damentally concerned about the quality of the university library and the service it renders as well as one who is both in- formed and willing to b e informed on modern library practice. Uganda's University Library / 209 T h e situation at the University of Zambia is even better, in that the vice chancellor is not only genuinely inter- ested in the library and regularly avails himself of its facilities but he also chairs the library committee and takes an ac- tive interest in library affairs. This con- trasts sharply with t h e situation at Mak- erere, where the principal apparently has never even attended a library com- mittee meeting and only sets foot in the library when some important official, such as an ambassador, requests him to accept a gift to the library in the library. In fact, one of the serious shortcomings at Makerere is that neither the principal, the former vice principal, the secre- tary/registrar, nor the chairman of the library committee use the main library so they have no i d e a of what goes on inside a modern library. At Haile Sellassie I University the li- brary committee is " a standing commit- t e e consisting of one representative of each Faculty, School, College, and In- stitute of t h e University, the Librarian and, ex officio, of the Academic and Business Vice Presidents." [cf. its Stat- ute on the Library.] Thus from the point of view of its library committee the li- brary at Haile Sellassie I University is also on a par with the faculties. A view to the future. There seems to b e little reason to doubt that conditions in the libraries and library service at Makerere University College will con- tinue to improve if leadership in the li- brary remains vigorous. There is, how- ever, uncertainty as to whether Makerere library will retain its imminence. Until recently Makerere library has been the most eminent library in eastern Africa and second only to Ibadan University library in all of B l a c k Africa. In recent years the three n e w university libraries discussed above have arisen in eastern Africa to present a strong challenge to Makerere's leadership in library service and development. In fact, about the only university library in eastern Africa which does not present any challenge to Makerere, with the possible exception of the University of Malawi library, is University College Nairobi library. T h e University College Dar E s Salaam library, though much younger than the Makerere library and presently serving a college about one-third the size of Makerere University College, has been much better provided for in the way of permanently established posts at all levels. In 1967, for instance, whereas Makerere has provisions for nine pro- fessional librarians for both the main and medical libraries, Dar E s Salaam will have twelve. Dar E s Salaam as yet has no medical library, but when one is established, it will have an establish- ment additional to that of the main li- brary. I t is not surprising, then, to ob- serve that library service is much more advanced in many ways at University College D a r E s Salaam than at Mak- erere. Nor is it surprising that the com- plaint should arise that the develop- ment of library services at Dar E s Sa- laam is held back by Makerere's back- wardness in library affairs. Since the university grants committee passes on the budgets and sets the total expendi- ture on all three of the constituent col- leges of the University of East Africa, these discrepancies are noted, though not always correctly interpreted. T h e University of Zambia library, like the University College D a r E s Salaam library, is fortunate not only in having the keen and active support of the uni- versity as a whole but also in having in the country a soundly established public library service with competent and vig- orous leadership. In fact, a librarian's visit to D a r E s Salaam and Lusaka turns out to b e an exciting and stimulating adventure. At the two universities themselves the ex- isting library building at Dar and the proposed building at Zambia, planned (Continued on page 212) 212 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 being developed in the medical sciences. Finally, methods for supporting teaching and research at a growing number of coastal marine research institutes and stations, often hundreds of miles from the parent institution, either through col- lection duplication or rapid transmission of information, must be developed. While on-site research is not unique to marine science, it is, by the very nature of the subject, characteristic of it. T h e National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966 is significant legisla- tion which will probably alter the di- rection of curriculum development and research in many institutions of higher learning. T h e extent to w h i c h this is true is, of course, dependent upon the continuation of the current trend for the federal government to support de- velopment of marine resources. All indi- cations seem to b e that this trend will both continue and increase. UGANDA (Continued from page 209) as university library buildings from the start, are a far cry from the inadequately planned development of the physical plant at Makerere, which remains noth- ing more than a small residential college library. Moreover, one cannot help con- trasting the enthusiasm and high morale in these two libraries with the cloud which has hung over the Makerere li- brary during the last year or two. If one accepts as fundamentally sound the following statement made by the university grants committee in England as far back as 1924, he can make his own deductions accordingly from the in- formation adduced herein. Commenting on the condition of university libraries in England, the committee expressed itself thus: " T h e character and efficiency of a University may b e gauged by its treat- ment of its central organ—the Library. W e regard the fullest provision for li- brary maintenance as the primary and most vital need in the equipment of a University. An adequate L i b r a r y is not only the basis of all teaching and study; it is the essential condition of research, without which additions cannot be made to the sum of human knowledge." I t seems hardly worth pointing out that the University Grants Committee was not composed of librarians. However one looks at it, t h e future of Makerere University College is integral- ly tied to what it does with its library. In this respect, it would hardly seem unfair to conclude that the B i g Brother of universities in eastern Africa has b e - come a doddering reactionary, sitting at a fork in the road, looking backward over the way he has come and muttering foolishly about his own supposed great- ness, while his more vigorous and pro- gressive younger brothers overtake and stream past him up both forks of the road.