The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the information profession. The series IFLA Publications deals with many of the means through which libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.

By balancing written history with the African oral tradition, this book conceptualizes the integrations among diverse peoples of Africa and specifically among the Songhoy people. Drawing from a number of academic disciplines and original research that documents the oral and literate traditions of the Songhoy people, Hassimi Oumarou Maiga offers a unique interpretation of indigenous Songhoy-African perspectives on African history, culture and education from antiquity to the present day and from continental Africa to the worldwide African Diaspora. In explaining the cosmology, philosophy, values and process of indigenous, non-Muslim education, this book also corrects and balances the perception of the Songhoy as a wholly Muslim society. The legacy of the Songhoy Empire, Maiga argues, is as a model of African integration through its administrative and political organization, which remains relevant even today. This book is an essential addition for scholars and students of African history.

This handbook offers the most comprehensive, analytic, and multidisciplinary study of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the African Diaspora to date. Preeminent scholars Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola assemble a team of leading and rising stars across African Studies research to retrieve and renew the scholarship of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the Diaspora just as critical concerns about their survival are pushed to the forefront of the field. With five sections on the central themes within orality and folklore – including engagement ranging from popular culture to technology, methods to pedagogy – this handbook is an indispensable resource to scholars, students, and practitioners of oral traditions and folklore preservation alike. This definitive reference is the first to provide detailed, systematic discussion, and up-to-date analysis of African oral traditions and folklore.

Open access publishing can be used as a strategic tool to avail access to information and achieve universal literacy. Open access has gained importance over the past 15 years by making knowledge available to all, without any barrier of affordability or restrictions on using this knowledge to inform and develop. Open access contributes to scientific research excellence, disseminates research results to a wider community, and promotes multi-disciplinary and collaborative research. Issues of sustainable development and open access are major concerns in librarianship and information management, particularly as the international library and information management community is focusing on how to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Open Access Implications for Sustainable Social, Political, and Economic Development is a pivotal reference source that provides an understanding of the concept of open access within the context of social, political, and economic development and deliberates the critical issues and challenges that face the implementation of open access and its impact on the global economy and sustainable development. While highlighting a broad range of topics including digital scholarship, open data, and ethics, this book is ideally designed for librarians, information science professionals, government officials, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students.