The Library was established in 1959 to meet the administrative and research information needs of the Commission and the region. Its collections include books, periodicals, pamphlets, maps, microfiche, CD-ROM databases, videotapes, bibliographic databases, and on-line database services.

Vision

To establish, maintain and operate a regional, modern, "state-of-the-art, automated" library and documentation centre. The centre will be dynamic, flexible and more service oriented, to provide access to information. It will strive to meet the information needs not only of ECA staff, but also of the research community in Africa.

Mission and Clientele

Serve the research and information needs of the Commission and its member states by providing library services to ECA organizational units, participants to conferences, seminars and workshops; and the general public;

Provide socio-economic development information to African Government Departments, visiting scholars;

Disseminate information on the Library's holdings to users through preparation of various indexes, bibliographies;

Serve as liaison for Dag Hammarskjold(UN/HQ), (the main UN secretariat library,) in the monitoring and support to UN Depository Libraries in Africa. ( http://www.un.org/depts/dhl )

Objectives

Systematically collect, and maintain comprehensive holdings and collections of information resources and publications (irrespective of format) to inform African policy makers, leaders, academics, and researchers thus facilitating policy advocacy which is at the core of ECA's mandate;

Process, provide complete bibliographic access, and serve as a bibliographic gateway/mediator to the information, publications and documents that it collects, especially ECA publications/documents; UN documents and publications; and the official reports and documents of ECA member states;

Ensure the timely dissemination of such information resources, to both its internal and external clients and partners; through appropriate networking arrangements and partnerships.

Functions:

A repository of recorded materials;
An information processing system;
An information disseminator/facilitator;
A communication system;
Activities and Services

The ECA Library offers a combination of electronic, on-line facilities and services along with the traditional core library services offered by most UN system libraries. Its print collections are large and focus on government information and official publications coming from ECA's member States, IGOs, NGOs and other research institutions.

The following constitute some of the major activities and services offered:

Collection development and acquisitions:-
Gifts and Exchanges programme,
Inter Library Loan services·

Reference and Information Services:

Internet access through the Multi-Media and Learning Centre,
Literature searches,
Current awareness services,
Document delivery services,
Bibliographic verification for users.
Library cooperation and networking:
UN System for electronic information and acquisition Consortium (UNSEIAC)

Official document system of the UN (ODS) [ http://www.ods.un.org or http://www.undocs.unog.ch ]
UN Bibliographic Information System [ http://www.un.org/departments/dhl/datab.htm ]
UN Steering Committee for the modernization and Integrated Management of UN Libraries
UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Library and Document Services (Addis Ababa);
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), [ http://www.ifla.org ] and major information systems and networks;
The African Virtual Library and Information Network, (AVLIN) , (ECA, Addis Ababa).
ECA Library On-Line Catalogue (ECALOC)

The Library now maintains an integrated library management system (ILMS). Four Modules of the new system, HORIZON namely, Acquisition, Cataloguing, Circulation and Serials Control have been installed and are fully operational since 2001.
With the introduction of the Library's on-line public access Catalogue (OPAC), library clients can now directly access the library's automated catalogue, get full bibliographic information on holdings, browse and have easy access and retrieval.

Major Outputs

Africa Index (half-yearly);
ECA in print (half-yearly);
Index to African Official Publications (half-yearly);
New Acquisitions (quartely);
Journal Contents (monthly).

For further information, visit the ECA Library website