Study tour of London in March 2007

The first visit, the staff of the Nordic Africa Institute Library made, was to the British Library. Dr Marion Wallace, responsible for the African collections, gave a quick tour, which included the Sir John Ritblat Collection. There was an exhibition on the 200-year anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. She also showed the King's Library; a library donated by George III. Dr Marion Wallace presented the African collections at the British Library and their work with them. Finally she showed some rare examples of old books printed in Africa.

At the SOAS Library the NAI staff were received by Barbara Spina, African Studies Librarian, and her colleague Dawn Wright. It is an academic library for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Barbara Spina presented the library and its large collections and she gave a tour of the library as well. The NAI staff also met with Chief Librarian Anne Poulson. Experiences on different topics were exchanged between the two libraries.

The NAI Library was invited to host a seminar on behalf of SCOLMA (the Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa). Chief Librarian Åsa Lund Moberg, Nordic Africa Institute, gave a presentation entitled ”Africa from a Nordic Perspective : The Nordic Africa Institute Library”. She talked about the relationship between the Nordic countries and Africa and the affect this has had on the NAI Library's collections. More about the presentation.

After Åsa Lund Moberg's presentation at the SCOLMA lunchtime seminar, there was a study visit to the library of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. David Clover, Information Resources Manager, and Ian Cooke, Deputy Information Resources Manager, talked about their collections and the work at the library. The ICwS Library is specialised on the Commonwealth and its member states, in the fields of history, politics and international relations and other subjects such as agriculture, education, the environment and social questions. The NAI group was also taken around the winding ways of the library facility.

The library of the London School of Economics and Political Science is one of the largest libraries in the world devoted to the economic and social sciences. Clive Wilson received the NAI staff and showed the library meanwhile he talked about its collections. The largest African collection is the one of South Africa. There is also a special statistics collection.

A visit was made to the Victoria and Albert Museum. 2007 marks the bi-centenary of the parliamentary abolition of the slave trade. It is a landmark year, not just in British history but in human history, signalling the end of 400 years of slavery.  At the museum a series of contemporary works by 11 international artists were displayed to raise questions about the haunting and ambiguous legacies of slavery.

More pictures from the London trip for viewing.

The British Library, African Collections, http://www.bl.uk/collections/african.html

The School of Oriental and African Studies library (SOAS), http://www.soas.ac.uk/research/library/library.html

The Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa (SCOLMA), http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/scolma/

The Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science, http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/

"Uncomfortable truths", Victoria and Albert Museum, http://www.vam.ac.uk/uncomfortable_truths/index.html