UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: STANDARDS AND EXPECTATIONS Available to Purchase

While I can recall the establishment by the British Government of the first series of “overseas” universities in dependent territories I have close knowledge only of those to which I have been attached and then only for the periods of attachment. Others I have seen, briefly; I have assumed that they have resembled each other sufficiently for one to make certain generalisations. Three factors have to a great extent determined the kind and pace of their development — the intrinsic wealth of a country; the stage of its development; and the amount of foreign aid at its disposal. Some have developed more rapidly than others; some are physically grander than others. All began with a very high complement of expatriate staff, but all aimed at becoming local institutions in every sense as soon as possible. What I have to say concerns the broad terms of development as I see them.