I am very pleased to have this opportunity to explain what African Books Collective (ABC) is, our place in the so-called “book chain”, and what services we offer to librarians. The aim of the seminar, as I understand it, is to bring African publishers and UK librarians together to focus on practical issues.

ABC is a unique organization. It is not a conventional commercial distributor. It was founded in 1989 by 17 African publishers who established and own the company. They were responding to the perceived gap in the book chain: on the one hand the lack of effective distribution networks, the inability of individual publishers to afford overseas promotion, and the lack of access to foreign exchange from overseas sales; and on the other, the difficulties of librarians and other book buyers in the North in acquiring African publications, even when they knew of their existence.