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Guinea-Bissau
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Directory Information
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Guinea-Bissau, an independent republic of West Africa, is bounded by Senegal on the north, Guinea on the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. Population (1990 est.) 965,000; area 36,125 sq.km. The official language is Portuguese.
Long governed as an overseas province of Portugal (Portuguese Guinea), Guinea-Bissau gained its independence in 1975. At that time the Museum and Public Library of Bissau was the only significant library. Its restricted schedule of hours and out-of-date collections limited use. The Center of Scientific Investigation, under the Ministry of Culture, was founded after independence; it received the collections previously held by the Museum and Public Library. It then entered a period of reorganization. The Biblioteca National da Guine-Bissau holds 25,000 volumes and 4,000 current periodicals.
Three secondary and eight primary schools operate libraries in the capital of Bissau.
Two special libraries are the Library of Legal Sciences, which planned to become part of a new university, and the library of the Statistics Service, under the Ministry of State for Planning. However, the only significant special libraries to date are the Centro de Estudos da Guine-Bissau (14,000 volumes) and the library at the Museu da Guine-Bissau (10,000 volumes). The most important library activities center in Bissau.
f. 1970; 25000 vols; 4000 curr per 14340;
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