This is a presentation about the African Books Collective that for some 30 years has distributed African published academic, literary and children's books around the world. The aim of the paper is to provide some insights into how books published in Africa are making their way to libraries with collections on Africa, and to discuss current and future trends; it being understood that ‘decolonising library collections’, the theme of this conference, would by rights involve acquiring and maintaining materials from outside the global North.

Upon its creation in 1990, ABC represented a large number of university presses on the continent and independent publishers, some of which are large firms still trading today. Today few university presses are trading or publishing new books. This work was largely picked-up by private independent publishers and research institutes such as CODESRIA, OSSREA, the Institute of Southern African Studies and others.