Without the fripperies and sophisticated gear we, in our cosy hi‐tech libraries, have, life might be very hard indeed. The developing world's libraries, despite often minimal political support and scarce hard fought for resources show us just how innovative, tenacious and hard working librarians can be. This well written collection of papers from a selection of developing countries’ leading librarians demonstrate well how good dedicated librarians can cope, can develop their services and, above all, can show real, tangible leadership.
Jagdish Arora writes clearly on the problems faced in computerizing the Central Library of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, showing how inspired leadership and sheer hard graft can get a daunting task completed effectively. Messrs Chaudhury and Farooq write revealingly of their struggle to build up and manage the Library of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The novel idea of including the President of Pakistan, the Prime Minister and other senior bureaucrats on the Library's mailing list seems to have paid off quite well. Muzhgan Nazarova's interesting paper on librarianship in Aberbaijan and the leadership problems involved is well worth reading, not least for its clear account of ‘emotional intelligence’ in leadership and management. Other papers cover China, Sri Lanka and sub‐saharan Africa. A sign of the times, sadly, is the occasional observation of the deleterious effect HIV/AIDS is having upon government resources and priorities, including funding of libraries
An interesting, even challenging, book, well written and produced with a good index.
