Sub-Saharan Africa and the paperless society: A comment and a counterpoint
Mutawakilu Adisa Tiamiyu · Journal of the American Society for Information Science · 1989
The article considers some of the issues relating to the development of information services in Africa. The issues, which form the basis of a recent paper by Anthony Olden, include the assessment of the relevance of the notion of a paperless library to Africa, the expected role of library and information services in narrowing the gap between the information rich and poor, and the possible inappropriateness of information technology and/or advice from developed countries. The view is expressed that (i) information delivery to the poor, to be effective, must be based on a coordinated approach to programming by both libraries and public service departments, and (ii) while the concept of a paperless society is irrelevant to Africa, there is nevertheless some scope in some African countries for the exploitation of basic information technologies for such activities as the internal husbanding and sharing of decision-making data. © 1989 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.