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Africa and African languages in the SOAS Library’s Special Collections
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2023
Abstract
SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Library is one of only five National Research Libraries in the UK and one of the most important academic libraries for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The African Language Collection at SOAS is unique in the UK and Europe in terms of its linguistic span and significance. The Library seeks to acquire material in and on all languages present on the African continent, not just those taught and researched at SOAS. The range of material within the Main Library collection and the history of the collection will be briefly evoked, before I bring the focus back to the items about African studies and/or from Africa that are held in the Special Collections of the Library. Those collections include archival collections, rare books collections (including discrete sub-collections of published material such as libraries from missionaries’ societies and/or academic scholars) and manuscripts in African languages. After briefly describing those collections, I point to ways of accessing them. I conclude this short overview by highlighting a few of the challenges of curating publications and manuscripts in African languages.
Résumé
La bibliothèque SOAS (École des études orientales et africaines, Université de Londres) est l’une des cinq bibliothèques nationales de recherche du Royaume-Uni et une des plus importantes bibliothèques universitaires pour l'étude de l’Asie, de l’Afrique et du Moyen-Orient. La collection de langues africaines de la SOAS est une collection unique au Royaume-Uni et en Europe tant en termes de diversité linguistique que de singularité. Au delà des langues enseignées et étudiées à la SOAS, la bibliothèque cherche en effet à consolider ses collections dans toutes les langues du continent africain. L'éventail et l’histoire des collections de la bibliothèque seront brièvement évoqués, avant que je ne me concentre sur les documents relatifs aux études africaines et/ou provenant d’Afrique conservés dans les collections spéciales de la bibliothèque de la SOAS. Ces collections spéciales comprennent des fonds d’archives, des collections de livres rares (y compris des sous-collections distinctes de matériel publié, telles les bibliothèques des sociétés missionnaires ou de chercheurs universitaires) ainsi que des manuscrits en langues africaines. Après avoir brièvement décrit ces collections, j’indiquerai les moyens d’y accéder. Je clôturerai ce rapide aperçu en évoquant certains défis liés à la curation et la gestion des fonds imprimés et des manuscrits en langues africaines.
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- © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute
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