South Africa's twin national libraries

Citation

(1999), "South Africa's twin national libraries", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 27 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilds.1999.12227cab.007

South Africa's twin national libraries

Keywords: Public libraries, National bibliographies, Interlending document supply, Preservation, South Africa

For historical reasons South Africa has two national libraries, the State Library in Pretoria and the South African Library in Cape Town. The national library functions have been divided between the two libraries in terms of the National Libraries Act (1985).

The State Library compiles the South African national bibliography (SANB), Index to South African periodicals and other products which provide access to information sources. It has undertaken a series of bibliographies of literature in, and about indigenous languages to promote their cultural heritage and foster their development. The most recent bibliography is the Northern Sotho Bibliography, published in 1994. Work on a Zulu language bibliography has begun.

The State Library also operates the Southern African interlending scheme for document delivery and compiles location tools to facilitate the location of information sources throughout southern Africa. It acts as a centre for building and preserving a collection of southern African material and operates the Southern African Book Exchange Centre, which promotes resource sharing by re-utilising libraries' surplus book stock.

The South African Library is the national reference library and has an extensive collection, having collected material since 1818. The library provides information, especially in southern African studies, for undergraduate and post-graduate students, teachers and lecturers, and anyone seeking further education, and as such is known as "the university of the people". It is also the national preservation library and is the only institution in South Africa that specialises in preserving paper-based material.

The State Library and the South African Library are two of the five legal deposit libraries in South Africa. They both play important roles in collecting and preserving the published cultural heritage of South Africa.

For more information visit the web-site at: http://www.southafrica.net/government/education/library.html

Source: Press release