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The book chain: African books collective & UK book buyers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Mary Jay
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Extract

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to explain what African Books Collective (ABC) is, our place in the so-called “book chain”, and what services we offer to librarians. The aim of the seminar, as I understand it, is to bring African publishers and UK librarians together to focus on practical issues.

ABC is a unique organization. It is not a conventional commercial distributor. It was founded in 1989 by 17 African publishers who established and own the company. They were responding to the perceived gap in the book chain: on the one hand the lack of effective distribution networks, the inability of individual publishers to afford overseas promotion, and the lack of access to foreign exchange from overseas sales; and on the other, the difficulties of librarians and other book buyers in the North in acquiring African publications, even when they knew of their existence.

Type
New Developments in African Publishing – Access to Libraries
Information
African Research and Documentation , Volume 69 , 1995 , pp. 30 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © African Research & Documentation 1995

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