Sub‐Saharan Africa and the paperless society

This Opinion Paper considers the relevance for sub‐Saharan Africa of the Western world's electronic information supply systems. It summarizes F.W. Lancaster's forecast of a coming electronic paperless society. From the perspective of Africa'a economic and social difficulties it looks at Lancaster's recommendation that libraries in developing countries should attempt to bypass the book and leap from oral to electronic communication. It discusses who benefits from libraries at present and who would most likely benefit from electronic libraries. It cites examples of the “book famine” from which the existing libraries now suffer. It criticizes the view that supplying facts to important people via computer will help poor areas to develop. It outlines Africa's dependence and instances some of the inappropriate foreign advice and aid it receives. Most of the examples are taken from ex‐British Africa, the countries that in all but one or two cases have kept on English as their official language. The conclusion is that the electronic library and indeed information science in general distract from what African librarians ought to be doing: helping the illiterate majority of their people learn to read and write. © 1987 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.