Introduction

The Library of Congress Office, Nairobi, Kenya, regularly acquires and catalogs publications from the following African countries: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, the Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Reunion, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Beginning with volume 10, number I, four west African countries have been added: Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana and Senegal.

These activities are supported by appropriations granted to the Library of Congress by the Congress of the United States of America. Publications are acquired from a variety of sources, including commercial publishers, international, governmental and non-governmental organizations.

In 1991, the Nairobi Office initiated the publication of this Quarterly Index under the title of Quarterly index to periodical literature, Eastern and Southern Africa (1991-2000). It was later changed to Quarterly index to Africana periodical literature (2000-2001). Currently, it is the Quarterly index of African periodical literature (2002-). Over time, some 750 journal titles have been indexed which are acquired regularly from 29 African countries. On the whole, scholarly journals have been selected. However, considerations other than the scholarly nature of a journal have been taken into account. Journals have also been selected in order to cover subject areas not found in widely-available literature (e.g. prisons), to include organizations which do not frequently circulate their publications (e.g. non-governmental organizations), and in order to represent each of our countries. As of October 2006, some 40,317 articles have been indexed for the database.

Not all the selected journals are indexed exhaustively. Issues have been indexed sequentially starting with the earliest issue in hand. However, if earlier issues become available in the course of time, they will be included at a later date. Most articles are in English, however some are in French or Portuguese. If the citation is in a foreign language, then one can assume the article is in that same language.

Requests for copies of individual articles cited in the index should be addressed directly to the journal publishers or obtained via inter-library loan at your local library. The Library of Congress Office, Nairobi, Kenya does not retain copies of individual journals.

QIAPL would like to thank the volunteers who helped with indexing:

• Azenath Ateka
• Bassey Irele, Harvard University
• Robert Lesh, Northwestern University
• Henry Reguindin
• Donfer Kokoyo

All correspondence regarding the Quarterly index of African periodical literature should be addressed to: nairobi@loc.gov.