Using grey literature in Informal Information Services in Africa

There are increasing numbers of experiments (in countries as diverse as Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Benin, Senegal, Botswana and Zimbabwe) with informal community information services dealing with health, hygiene, child care, cultivation, stock‐rearing, trades, crafts and repair work, in the way in which surveys show that citizens require. Conventionally published material is in very short supply and seldom has relevant content. Extension services, and sometimes libraries, in local communities make use of such materials as are available, whether printed in leaflet, pamphlet, newspaper, poster or flipchart form, or deliver information orally, on tape, filmstrip, or in the form of song, story or dramatic presentation. Preliminary investigations show that the mechanisms for obtaining appropriate information to repackage for this type of use, and the capacity to carry out the repackaging exercise, are poorly developed in most of Africa. The official publications, reports, planning and policy documents from non‐governmental organisations, development agencies, aid and charitable organisations and research centres, which contain this information, are poorly represented in the holdings of national library systems, research collections or government agencies. Equally significantly, such institutions are not oriented in the dynamic way required to permit an effective repackaging exercise. There are, however, a few examples of appropriate arrangements for the acquisition, repackaging and distribution process which are cited as partial models of the way this work might be done.