Balme Library

Balme Library
Name	Balme Library
Established	1948
Location	University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
Type	Academic library
Director	John Teye-Mensah
Collection size	over 400,000 volumes
Website	Official website

Balme Library Balme Library serves as the principal academic library at the University of Ghana in Legon, Accra, Ghana. Founded in the mid-20th century during the late colonial and early independence era, the library supports teaching, learning, and research across the university's faculties and links with national and international partners such as the Ghana Library Authority, British Council, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the World Bank. Its operations intersect with regional networks including the Association of African Universities, the African Studies Association, and bilateral collaborations with institutions like the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Harvard University, and the University of Toronto.

History

The library's origins trace to post-World War II expansion and the establishment of the University College of the Gold Coast in 1948 alongside colonial educational reforms championed by figures connected to the Gold Coast executive. Early benefactors and academics such as Edward Akufo-Addo-era educational planners and alumni tied to the Convention People's Party influenced initial acquisitions and governance alignments with the Ministry of Education (Ghana). Growth accelerated during the tenure of vice-chancellors connected to networks spanning the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, the Fulbright Program, and the Carnegie Corporation. During the 1960s and 1970s the library expanded holdings under influence from donors associated with the British Council, the US Agency for International Development, and the Ford Foundation. Subsequent modernization phases engaged consultants from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions, and the International Development Research Centre.

Architecture and Facilities

The primary structure at Legon combines mid-20th-century academic design influenced by planners familiar with projects at Makerere University, University of Ibadan, and University of Nairobi. Architectural phases involved collaborations with Ghanaian firms and references to campus master plans linked to the Ghana Institute of Architects and urban design precedents on the Gold Coast coast. Facilities include reading rooms, seminar spaces used by faculties such as Faculty of Social Sciences, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, and the Business School, as well as preservation spaces for rare materials. Infrastructure upgrades have been funded through partnerships with organizations like the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and bilateral aid agencies including DFID and CIDA.

Collections and Special Holdings

Collections span monographs, serials, theses, government documents, and archival materials related to West African history and Pan-African movements. Special holdings include manuscript collections linked to personalities and institutions such as Kwame Nkrumah, Kofi Abrefa Busia, W. E. B. Du Bois, J. B. Danquah, and the papers of regional bodies including the Organization of African Unity. The library houses newspaper archives covering publications like the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times, and holds government gazettes from the Gold Coast colonial period. Academic repositories include theses from the Institute of African Studies, maps used by the Ghana Survey Department, and audiovisual archives relevant to projects with the United Nations Development Programme and the Economic Community of West African States.

Services and Technology

Services include circulation, interlibrary loan with partners such as the British Library, digital repositories modeled after initiatives by the Open Society Foundations and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, and user instruction programs connected to the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Technology infrastructure supports institutional repositories, digitization projects inspired by collaborations with the Digital Public Library of America and the HathiTrust, and access to electronic databases subscribed through consortia including the African Journals Online, JSTOR, EBSCO, and ProQuest. Training and outreach have been conducted with support from the Library of Congress, the International Development Research Centre, and the World Health Organization for health information services.

Administration and Staff

Library governance is overseen by university administration and liaises with university bodies such as the Academic Board, the Chancellor, and the Vice-Chancellor. Professional staff include subject librarians with affiliations to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, alumni who pursued postgraduate training at institutions like the University of Cape Town, University of Ibadan, University of Pretoria, and the University of Birmingham. Staff development has benefited from fellowships and training via the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, the Fulbright Program, and collaborative exchanges with the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley.

Role in Education and Research

The library supports curricula across departments such as the Department of History, Department of Political Science, School of Law, School of Public Health, and the Department of Geography. It is a hub for doctoral and master's research tied to supervisors in centers like the African Studies Centre, the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research, and the Population Studies Department. Research outputs deposited in the institutional repository include work on themes connected to the Ghanaian Independence Movement, Pan-Africanism, Economic Community of West African States policy studies, and public health research in collaboration with entities like the Ghana Health Service and the World Health Organization.

Notable Events and Incidents

Notable events include digitization initiatives funded through grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, temporary closures during campus-wide protests tied to national strikes involving unions such as the University Teachers Association of Ghana, and visits by delegations from institutions such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the African Union for collaborative projects. Incidents recorded in institutional histories reference collections rescue efforts during extreme weather events affecting the Legon campus and coordinated conservation responses aligned with protocols from the International Council on Archives and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

Category:Libraries in Ghana Category:University of Ghana