336 College & Research Libraries July 2003

Although most of her examples fail to tional figure of 31 percent. In this arid and meet this standard, they are presented sparsely populated region, many of the “for entertainment rather than use.” I was people are nomads. Roads are poor, and so taken by some that I yearned to look the camel is a standard way of transport- up and read the texts being indexed. The ing goods. From the base at Garissa book teases the reader with a great deal Branch Library, camel caravans set out to of oddball, but fascinating, erudition. Ide- visit a number of schools and refugee ally, one would read it in a well-stocked camps within a twenty-kilometer radius. research library in order to follow up on Boxes of books, a tent, a ground mat, and its choice leads. circulation stationery are loaded onto the This witty book presents the index as camels in the early morning, after which art form. Although the topic is special- their herder-librarians lead them to their ized, it will delight bibliophiles and be- destination. Under future plans, the longs in all general libraries.—Peter herdsmen will ride the camels rather than Briscoe, University of California, Riverside trek alongside them. The camels are well looked after, being given days of rest and Tate, Thelma H. Camel Library Services in checks by veterinarians for camel pox, Kenya, July 22–28, 2001: Report on the hepatitis, anthrax, capparis poisoning, Assessment of Non-Motorized Mobile Li- ticks, and worms. braries. The Hague: International Fed- Donkey-drawn mobile libraries operate eration of Library Associations and in two locations in : Nkayi Dis- Institutions (IFLA Professional Report, trict in Matabeleland North Province and no. 73), 2002. 51p. Euro 10 (ISBN Matobo District in Matabeleland South 9070916835; ISSN 01681931). Province. The area is semiarid, roads are Tate, Thelma H. The Donkey-Drawn Mo- poor, and donkeys are used for ploughing bile Library Services in Zimbabwe, Au- and transportation. In contrast to Kenya’s gust 6–13, 2001: Report on the Assessment North Eastern Province, however, illit- of Non-Motorized Mobile Libraries. The eracy in Nkayi District is estimated as no Hague: International Federation of Li- more than 14 percent. The donkey library brary Associations and Institutions service started by the Rural Libraries and (IFLA Professional Report, no. 72), Resources Development Programme in 2002. 38p. Euro 10 (ISBN 9070916843; 1995 is credited with contributing to the ISSN 01681931). high literacy level. Cart librarians are vol- The Kenya National Library Service op- unteers, and there is a need to provide a erates the only camel library service in the training program for them. Another inno- world. It was launched at the town of vation is the Donkey-Drawn Mobile Garissa in North Eastern Province in 1996. Electro-Communication Library Cart. The Three years later, a second camel service solar unit on the roof provides the power was launched at another town, Wajir. The to run its radio, television, videocassette province is very large (126,186 square ki- recorder, telephone, fax, and Internet ser- lometers, approximately 22% of Kenya’s vice. In the rainy months of November to land area) and very underdeveloped: il- March, the carts are less practical because literacy is 85 percent, compared to the na- donkeys find wet conditions difficult. These two reports are based on brief vis- Index to advertisers its to Garissa in Kenya and Nkayi District AIAA 251 in Zimbabwe, together with discussions in Annual Reviews cover 2 Nairobi, , and . Obviously, CHOICE 255 they complement each other, but within EBSCO cover 4 each, there are repetition and data that Haworth Press 252 should have been edited out. Why do read- Library Technologies cover 3 ers need to know that Africans in Kenya fall into “three broad ethnic clusters, Book Reviews 337 namely: Bantus, Nilotes and Cushites”? The ter. But are they likely to be ever more than reports make suggestions such as the need peripheral? One advantage for their pro- for the camel service to provide more ma- viders is that people in the West see them terial in local languages. This is a valid as appropriate for Africa’s current stage of point, but the frame of reference is too nar- development. They attract publicity, and row. There are no linkages to the history of then the donor money follows. These two mobile library service in Africa, or indeed IFLA reports provide useful information to book and library development in gen- but ask no uncomfortable questions.—An- eral. The need for relevant material in Afri- thony Olden, Thames Valley University. can languages, for example, was a guiding principle of the East African Literature Bu- Wagner, Ralph D. A History of the reau, set up in Nairobi as far back as 1948. Farmington Plan. Lanham, Md.: Scare- In North Eastern Province, many of the resi- crow, 2002. 441p. alk. paper, $69.50 dents are Kenyan Somalis, and many of (ISBN 0810842599). LC 2002-17624. those living in the refugee camps are So- Cooperative efforts by libraries, especially malis from across the border. Somalis have in collection development, have a rich his- a fine oral tradition, but their language was tory in theory, but variable results in prac- only written down in the early 1970s. The tice. Most librarians would say that coop- disintegration of the Somali state in the late eration is good but in the same breath 1980s and the 1990s did nothing to help the question its achievability. The Farmington development of printed material in the lan- Plan stands as a prime example of this am- guage. bivalence. One might consider Farmington Accepting that both camels and don- of minimal relevance to current issues in keys bring books to communities that re- librarianship given a general understand- ceived none before, the sad fact is that nei- ing of its purposes and failures, but Dr. ther, as yet, do more than serve very small Wagner, through illuminating exposition, parts of very large areas. This is something exhaustive coverage of source materials, that could have been made more obvious and a fresh interpretive perspective, shows to readers. Another issue deserves more how a fair analysis of the development and extensive probing: why camels and don- life of the Farmington Plan is instructive in keys at all? For example, the author of the the twenty-first century. Those who are ac- reports was accompanied on her visit to tively engaged in cooperative work will see North Eastern Province by staff from the their own challenges reflected and may Kenya National Library Service. Did they even see elements of a solution. all leave their Garissa hotel before dawn Wagner accomplishes two primary his- and trek with the camels and herdsmen torical tasks in the book. The first is to place for up to twenty kilometers until their des- the Farmington Plan within an overall con- tination was reached? One suspects not. If text of precursor cooperative efforts by li- they were able to go by motor vehicle, braries that had an impact on Farmington could not the library books and tents be and subsequent cooperative efforts that transported in the same way? Of course, were influenced by Farmington. The sec- motor vehicles are expensive. They have ond is to show the breadth and span of pro- to be imported. They break down. But grams encompassed by the plan during its none of these factors is a concern when thirty-year active life span. In this, of course, something is rated sufficiently important. individual librarians and libraries are es- Countries under military rule in Africa, the sential protagonists. Chapters 1 through 4 Middle East, or elsewhere want the latest explore early efforts toward nationwide li- aircraft and tanks for their troops. They do brary cooperation, including calls for a na- not start donkey brigades. tional library, cooperative indexing, union This is not to say that there is no place catalogs, exchanges, and interlibrary loan for camel and donkey library services. They programs that span the period from 1842 are interesting initiatives, especially the lat- to 1942. Whether these are direct precursors