|
|
Gambia
|
Directory Information
|
The Republic of Gambia, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, is the smallest country on the African continent. It lies on a
strip of land on the banks of the Gambia River; Senegal surrounds The Gambia on the north, east, and south. Population
(1990 est.) 861,000; area 11,295 sq.km. The official language is English.
National and Public Library Services. The Gambia government did not have a public or national library service of its own
until April 1962, when the British Council closed its office and handed its library in the capital city of Banjul to the government.
The British Council, which ran a subscription library service in The Gambia from 1946, had provided the only public library in
the country apart from smaller libraries in schools, government departments, mission houses, and clubs, whose materials were loaned only to members or clients. When the book stock was transferred, it numbered 25,000 volumes and a total of 500
phonograph records, films, and filmstrips.
In 1971 the name was changed from the British Council Library to The Gambia National Library. Before the change, Roy
Flood had been sent from the British Council in London to evaluate and recommend a library service suitable for The Gambia.
His recommendations for a complete reorganization of The Gambia library service were accepted.
In 1974 the British government provided 300,000 dalasis (575, 000) for the building, books, furniture, and equipment. When
the new library was opened in 1976, the collection totaled more than 54,600 volumes-it had doubled in the period 1962-76.
Books, manuscripts, films, recording; and other items added thereafter made the collection more extensive.
Under an act of Parliament, the National Library was made the legal depository library and the Bibliographic Center. More
than 2,000 volumes of archival material are stored there. its departments are the National Collection (mainly materials by and
about The Gambia and the Gambians); Adult Lending; School Library Service (bulk loans to primary schools); Children's
Lending; and Mobile and Bookbox services. The National Library, in summary, serves dual purposes-as a National
Reference and Lending Library and also as the public library of the nation.
A branch of the National Library was opened at Brikama, Western Division, in 1990. By the early 1990s the National Library
had a bookstock of 75,000 volumes and 3,000 archival items.
Statistics:
f. 1946 by British Ccl, taken over by Govt 1962, autonomous 1985; serves as a public and national library; national deposit library; 115,400 85 Periodicals; special collection of Gambiana; Chief Librarian Mary E. Fye; publs, National Bibliography, Wax Taani Xalel Yi (children's Magazine), Annual Report.
Sources:
|