Zambezia (1979), VII (i).ESSAY REVIEWACCESS TO RHODESIANAACCESS TO INFOKMATION contained in the literature on Rhodesia has beengreatly augmented recently by the publication of four important biblio-graphies.1 Those by Pichanick and by Hartridge show that, in the task ofcompiling bibliographies, the human effort is still of vital importance; andtheir errors are minimal. The Pollaks have used mechanization, which isquicker in bringing the task of compilation to fruition; but, as will be seen,it has its drawbacks. The purpose of this essay, however, is not to assess themerits of different methods of compiling bibliographies; the intention is toattempt an overview of the much needed tools required by bibliophiles,scholars, and library and information scientists, particularly at this point intime when the focus is on Rhodesia and its painful transition to Zimbabwe.Rhodesian Literature in English by Pichanick and her collaborators isa subject bibliography which merits serious attention, for it is a valuableaddition to the few bibliographic controls that exist for Rhodesia, and itfulfils an important need in the field of English literature. In its pioneeringrole, it is similar to Bean's earlier effort in subject bibliography.2 Themagnificent effort made by Pichanick and her collaborators has the addedquality of being a comprehensive bibliography. English scholars andcollectors of Rhodesiana are likely to benefit immensely from it as a startingpoint from which to attack the problem of searching for Rhodesian novels,short stories, verse and drama.In a lucid introductory note, the compilers state that their aim is toprovide 'a comprehensive bibliography of Rhodesian literature written inEnglish' from 1890 to 1974-5, covering all literature written with a creativeintention. They have explicitly excluded literary essays, critiques and bio-graphical publications. The exclusion of critical studies is unfortunatebecause, as a form of art in itself, a critique does elucidate textual matter forthose readers who have yet to acquire the technique of literary or practicalcriticism. I believe that the inclusion of critical works on major or obscureauthors, even of mere tyros, provides useful background information; andthis omission somewhat lessens the utility of the bibliography by reducing itto a checklist.ij. Pichanick, A. J. Ghennells and L. B. Rix, Rhodesian Literature in English : ABibliography, 1890-1974-5 (Gwelo, Mambo Press, Zambeziana Series No. 2, 1977),249 pp., Rh$5,30.O. B. Pollak and K. Pollak, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe : An International Bibliography(Boston, Mass., G. K. Hall, Bibliographies and Guides in African Studies, 1977), 621pp., US$50,00.A. Hartridge, Rhodesia National Bibliography, 1890-1930 (Salisbury, NationalArchives of Rhodesia, Bibliographical Series No. 2, 1977), 50 pp., Rh$6,00.O. B. Pollak and K. Pollak, Theses and Dissertations on Southern Africa (Boston,Mass., G. K. Hall, 1976), 236 pp., US$18,00.zE. A. Bean, Political Development in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1953 : A Biblio-graphy (Cape Town, Univ. of Gape Town Libraries, Bibliographical Series, 1969).1O5106 ESSAY REVIEWIn order to achieve their aim and maintain a 'flexible and pragmaticapproach', the compilers state that they have included all material 'containingrecognisably Rhodesian subject matter'. But, they modestly admit that therewill inevitably be omissions which hopefully will be brought to light in asubsequent edition. Omissions are to be expected in imperfect works such asbibliographies. This is even more so in a colonial situation where localpublishing was slow to develop and where for many years there was nodepot legate. As most Rhodesian manuscripts would have been publishedin Britain, the British Museum Library (now the British Library) does holdmany such publications; and so the compilers were right to comb the BritishMuseum General Catalogue and draw information from its entries. But ifsuch culled information had been matched with the author entries in theLibrary of Congress Catalogue, their work would have been a very reliablebibliographic record. In some instances it is not. For example, the very firstentry in the Pichanick bibliography is Allen's An Army Doctor's Romancespeculatively dated 1894 with 109 pages, whereas a glance at the Library ofCongress Catalogue shows that there was an earlier edition in 1893 with 93pages. This therefore supports the contention that the Library of CongressCatalogue should have been scanned, for the compilers set out to consult 'theearliest edition of a work" and ignore subsequent editions. If it was a questionof physical non-availability of the items listed that induced the compilers touse an available subsequent edition, the matter should have been clearlystated. Allen has 78 entries under his name in the Library of CongressCatalogue with no fewer than 10 novels; and the work of such a prolificwriter should have been examined more closely for any further recognizablyRhodesian subject matter.Also, there does appear to be rather unfortunate omissions, such asThe Mourned One by Stanlake Samkange (London, Heinemann, 1975); andin passing, it may be mentioned that Ndabaningi Sithole's The Polygamist isnot published personally by Joseph Okpaku but by the Third Press owned bythe Joseph Okpaku Publishing Co. Inc. in New York.The compilers say that they have omitted poems published in journalsoverseas by contemporary poets such as Phillippa Berlyn, D. E. Borrell, HughFinn and Colin Style. This is a mistake. Unless such poems are recognizablynot Rhodesian in content, there is a strong case for their inclusion, for therecord of all works by Rhodesians is what the compilers had set out toachieve. Also omitted, for example, is H. W. Chitepo's epic poem, SokoRosina Musoro, translated into English and edited with notes by HazelCarter (London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1958).Taking into account the convention adopted by the compilers, thearrangement of the bibliography seems quite sensible. Under each art form,entries have been arranged alphabetically by author in double columns. Inthe case of more than one entry under a single author, an alphabeticalsequence of titles is adopted. The use of a chronological arrangement, how-ever, would have portrayed the development of Rhodesian literature overthe years. In this way, the bibliography would have fulfilled a cardinalbibliographic principle ŠŁ that a bibliography must tell a story. In addition,it might also have been useful to include locations of works held outsideRhodesia; for this helps when inter-library loans are sought.Nevertheless, considering the paucity of bibliographical works of thisnature for Rhodesian studies, this comprehensive, though not a complete,bibliography of literature in English does fulfil an important need. Thecompilers deserve praise for their valuable and successful pioneering effortin so admirably gathering together so much source material; this is a worthyJ. .T. PHEHANE 107addition to Professor Roberts's interesting new series 'Zambeziana: Cultureand Society in Central Africa'.As in the case of the Pichanick bibliography, the Pollaks' effort is ajoint endeavour Š in this case a retrospective bibliography covering anumber of subjects, The compilers mention that a justification for compilinga retrospective African bibliography has been noted by several authors includ-ing D. H. Varley and C. Coggin who both have served in Rhodesianlibraries. Rhodesia, the compilers tell us, has 'captured an inordinate amountof printed space' in the literature coming out of institutions and societiesbecause of its 'peculiar historical and political development': hence thecompilation of their sizeable volume, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe: An InternationalBibliography.While not claiming it to be a complete retrospective bibliography, thePollaks state that the work is 'comprehensive, extensive and representative'.But a close examination of the various subjects covered reveal some short-comings. For instance, in librarianship there has been within the last decadeno fewer than a dozen librarians from Rhodesia who studied abroad. Onlytwo of their studies, however, have been entered in the bibliography. Thisreviewer himself presented in 1967 a documented special study entitled'Library Work in Rhodesia, 1896-1966' at the University of Sheffield Post-graduate School of Librarianship and Information Science. Other publishedand abstracted articles by Rhodesian librarians also seem to have escaped theattention of the compilers. But more seriously, only 8 articles (and 4 'see also'references) have been selected for citation from The Rhodesian Librarian,the quartly journal of the Rhodesia Library Association which began in1968 but was preceded by the Association's Newsletter which first appearedin 1961. Such extreme selectivity, therefore, imposes very serious limitationsupon the representative nature and usefulness of the bibliography.3On the other hand, there are numerous entries on the burning issues ofthe day listed under U.D.I, and African Nationalism Š a plethora of books,pamphlets and ephemera which has glutted the market. Close to 1 400 items(and about 220 under a 'see also' reference note) have been listed underU.D.I. But in a field which can be regarded as a reaction to U.D.I. Š U.N.economic sanctions Š only about 360 items have been listed (with about 30under a 'see also' reference note) during the same 12 year period; this seemsto indicate some imbalance of the entries in the subject fields. More entriescould have been included; to take only obvious examples such as those citedin L. T. Kapungu, The United Nations and Economic Sanctions againstRhodesia (Lexington, Mass., D. C. Heath, 1973) Š a book noted by thePollaks Š gives us B. Boczek, 'Permanent neutrality and collective security:The case of Switzerland and the United Nations sanctions against SouthernRhodesia', Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law (1969), I, andD. von Schenck, 'The problem of the participation of the Federal Republicof Germany in sanctions of the United Nations, with special regard for thecase of Rhodesia', Zeitschrift fur Auslandisches Offentliches Recht undVolkerrecht (1969), XXIX. In addition to these errors of omission, there areerrors of commision, which are partly responsible for the imbalance; viz. theerroneous classification of items such as item no. 9947, J. W. Halderman,'Some aspects of legal sanctions in the Rhodesian case . . .' (1968), which3Fortunately an index to The Rhodesian Librarian and its predecessors is currentlybeing compiled for publication by Mrs S. Phillips of the University of Rhodesia LawLibrary. This should fill the gap.108 ESSAY REVIEWought to have been placed under U.N. economic sanctions rather than underthe U.D.I, section. (Such misclassification of entries, indeed, is serious enough to cast doubton the Pollaks' overall representation of subject fields; for some entries, in >fact, do not refer at all to the subject under which they have been listed. Takefor instance the Federation, 1953-1963; entry no. 8292, The~case against ''Federation . . . (1938)' by Charles Olley, and no. 8391, 'Rhodesia and theUnion . . .' (1940). The titles and dates of these entries, let alone theircontents, prove the point; for they simply do not refer to the federal era ((1953-63) at all. Other examples are nos. 7650, 7656, 7657, 8051, 8136,8137, 8321, 8531. These entries reveal the pitfalls of machine-searching ,using key words without that physical examination of the materials, which ,in fact is a cardinal principle observed in the comilation of bibliographiesWhile on this theme of faulty entries, it must be mentioned that entry no. >172, }. T. Phehane, 'Libraries in colleges of education . . .' (1974), shouldnot be classed under Bibliographic Sources; Libraries, Archives and !*Museums is a suitable place for it because of its content, whereas entry no.2473, J. T. Phehane, Catalogue of the Godlonton Collection of Rhodesiana f... (1972), would be more accurately placed under Bibliographic Sources. '-Another disturbing feature of the Pollaks' bibliography presumably 'flows from their 'conscious exclusion of certain entries based on a definite t[but unexplained] criteria so as to meet time and cost limitations'. As aresult about 155 items were listed (and nearly 25 under a 'see also' note) ?relating to English literature. When compared with the 11 000 Pichanick >listings, the result of this conscious exclusion is a pitiful unrepresentative >minority. I must in candour say that the Pollaks have in this instance takena short-cut to the printer's mill.Such cutting of corners, it is assumed, explains why the bibliography hasyet again a rather disappointing feature in its treatment of medicine andthe physical sciences (altogether omitted in their compilation of theses anddissertations on Southern Africa dealt with below). For example, much has Ł_,been written in the past on the history of tropical diseases and their treatment fin Rhodesia; and recent research activity and its publication in local and >overseas journals can also be found in the Rhodesia Research Index (whichthe compilers say that they have consulted, but which they have not used ffully), the Proceedings of the Rhodesia Scientific Association, and theAssociation's other publication, The Rhodesia Science News. iDespite these criticisms, it must be stated that the Pollaks, bibliography -is an important addition to the bibliographic sources for Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. 'It has harnessed the flow of as many as 11 380 publications in 'monographs, Iacademic theses, essays within books as well as periodical literature in over1 100 journals' in various fields of knowledge. Therein lies its chief merit. It ?has provided, as it were, a useful store of bibliographic information fromwhich some amount of 'vicarious experience' can be drawn by scholars who ?wish to formulate judgements on Rhodesia/Zimbabwe judiciously. To facili-tate such scholarship, the Pollaks have arranged the contents of their biblio- rgraphy in a practical manner to promote the understanding of the )development of the country itself. In its span of subjects one moves from theinhabitants, their social organization, languages, production of wealth, tculture, environment to international relations. Although very useful, this isnot a common arrangement of bibliographic material; most bibliographies are 'arranged according to some accepted book-classification systems as is the ^,Rhodesia National Bibliography which is reviewed below. 'J. .T. PHEHANE IO9In the final analysis, I must candidly confess that I approached thebibliography of the Pollaks, whom I knew briefly at the University ofRhodesia, with mild jealousy. I felt the work should have been done byRhodesian librarians. But out of it I have 'acquired a permanent gain'. Hencemy proposal at the recent Annual General Meeting of the Rhodesia LibraryAssociation for the resuscitation of its Education Committee to promote,inter alia, bibliographic activity in Rhodesia. This could be done co-opera-tively or as Anne Hartridge has done, individually.Hartridge's individual effort has produced the commendable RhodesiaNational Bibliography 1890-1930. It is retrospective and national and isprimarily based on the holdings of the National Archives of Rhodesia TheArchives is the main legal deposit of all the Rhodesian publications and since1961 has issued an annual list, the Rhodesia National Bibliography, fromwhich the Hartridge bibliography takes its name.The bibliography begins in 1890 Š the beginning of Europeanadministration and modern commerce within Rhodesia Š and covers theperiod to 1930 Š a date seven years after the introduction of ResponsibleGovernment but of no obvious significance. Nevertheless, covering the firstforty years of publishing in Rhodesia as it does, it is the foremost printedbibliography of true and early Rhodesiana. In a succinct statement on itsscope, the compiler says that books, pamphlets, maps, and serials includingnewspapers have all been listed. The bibliography also lists Governmentpublications (except those covered by the Willson and Passmore Catalogueof the Parliamentary Papers of Southern Rhodesia, 1899-1953) and it thusfills the gap in the Pollak bibliography which has excluded all 'Governmentdocuments, reports and proceedings'. Hartridge also included publications ofsocieties, commercial organizations, statutory bodies, local authorities,schools and missions as well as ephemera of historical importance. There arein all 923 entries.The style of the entries follows the conventional cataloguing practice asin the other two bibliographies reviewed here. The numbered entries are-arranged in double columns by author alphabetically, and under the mainsubject classes of the Decimal Classification System of Melvil Dewey for thesake of uniformity with the annual bibliography produced by the NationalArchives. Annotations, where the title is not clear, have been made TheGovernment publications are listed under Southern Rhodesia.Since the bibliography is retrospective there is an assurance given thatthe work will be taken up from where Hartridge left off 'to provide a com-plete national bibliography ... to the present day'. It is acknowledged in theforword that, 'This present publication is a major advance to this end,. Aftercovering the years 1931-60, it will be useful to bring out a cumulative biblio-graphy from 1961 to the time when the country became Zimbabwe.While the three bibliographies that have been dealt with so far relatesolely to Rhodesia, the Pollaks' Theses and Dissertations on Southern Africais a regional bibliography in which Rhodesia is but one of the 10 countriescovered (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mocambique, South Africa,South West Africa/Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia). Expectedly, thecompilers depended on metropolitan sources for entries in their bibliography.Entries were also drawn from Southern African guides and especially SouthAfrica which 'provides one of the best national theses bibliographic services'.In selecting material for the bibliography, the compilers paid attentionto the humanities and the social sciences but ignored the pure and appliedf 10sciences: thus they only partially approached what they term 'a qualitativesociology of knowledge' in order to meet the bibliographical needs identifiedby the International Conference of African Bibliography held at Nairobi in1967.4However, as far as Rhodesia is concerned, the Pollaks' bibliography oftheses and dissertations is complementary to the above mentioned threebibliographies as it provides a record of mostly unpublished scholarlywork. In this sense it is a useful bibliographic tool. It helps to discover whatresearch has been done on Rhodesia while the locally produced RhodesiaResearch Index includes what is currently being researched in Rhodesia. Inall over 2 400 theses and dissertations accepted for higher degrees between1884 and 1974 have been listed by the Pollaks. Those that relate to Rhodesiaspecifically number 233. There are also 79 others in which Rhodesia (orRhodesian subjects) has been studied in conjunction with studies in theother countries. The latter have been put under 'see also' reference notes.Upon examination it was discovered that some items included in the biblio-graphy do not have 'see also' references to other important areas; for exampleitem no. 112 (Paul Peter Vouras, The role of economic-geographic factors inthe destiny of Rhodes . . . 1956) has no reference under Economics.It should be pointed out that the National Archives of Rhodesia as partof its collections policy does hold a number of theses and dissertations onRhodesia in different formats. Their number is substantially greater thanthe Pollaks have listed and it includes scientific productions. It is from thelist of the holdings at the National Archives that the present writer discoveredsome of the errors made by the Pollaks; for examples, item no. 90: Harper,Kenneth Eugene, 'The Changing World of the Moshona' should read:Harper, Kenneth Edward, 'The changing world of the Mashona'. Anothertype, of error discovered is in. the name of the degree as in entry no. 101 (itShould be L:tt.B. and not the M.A. degree). Although such errors do occur,and may be really transcription errors, they can be serious bibliograpbicallyarid even academically.The entries in this bibliography are numbered and are arranged first bysubject, then by country. The arrangement by country is alphabetical.Under this order, the author entries follow a chronological sequence to show'what topics were current at a particular period'. This, together with theauthor index, has unquestionably enhanced the value of the bibliography.By way of conclusion, a question can now be asked. What features havethese four bibliographies in common? The answer is in the title of thisessay. They provide an access to the sources of information relating toRhodesia. Further, the bibliographies point out clearly the direction whichsubject, regional and national retrospective bibliographic work should followin Rhodesia if it has to be of any consequence. This is not to denigrate earlierefforts on Rhodesian bibliography Š for some valuable contributions havebeen made" Š but clearly much work remains to be done.University of RhodesiaJ. T. PHEHANE*J. D. Pearson and R. Jones, 'African bibliography : A report on the internationalconference organized by the International African Institute and held at the Universi.yCollege, Nairobi, 4-8 Dec, 1967', Africa (1968), XXXVIII, 293-331.«C. Coggin, 'Rhodesian bibliography' The Rhodesian Librarian (1970), II, 81-98:(1975), VII, 15-18.