Digital
The collections in the archives and library of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) include digital resources on an increasing scale. These are often digital copies of physically available documents and collections although they can also include digitally-born materials or electronic link collections. These digital collections are usually integrated into the online catalogues of the BAB archives and library.
The BAB publishing house has expanded its programme and now also includes e-books. Many are available through open acess and free of charge whilst others can be purchased online.
The BAB hosts the digital exhibitions “Don’t say anything against Telephone Directories!“, “South African Soundscapes – A Century’s Popular Music History” and “Kaboom! – Focus on African Comics” on its webpage.
The emphasis of digital archive collections lies with historical sound and image collections. These are generated through on ongoing digitisation projects. Currently some 30’000 digital images, more than 1’000 digital sound documents and some 100 digitised films are available.
Several thousand digital images can be viewed by means of searching the online archive catalogue. A few selected sound- und film documents can be listen to and viewed in the section Formats and Insights.
Two digital library collections are currently accessible through the library catalogue:
The poster collection comprises more than 6’300 documents, all of them digitally available. All the relevant catalogue entries include a digital image of each poster in low resolution. Scans in high resolution can be ordered.
A link collection provides access to over 2’200 text documents. The BAB library regularly searchers for Namibia-relevant publications and documents in online repositories of African and European libraries. For each title a catalogue entry is compiled which includes the URL of the online resource.
Our academic publications on historical, cultural, political and anthropologicial themes in Southern Africa are not only available in print but also as e-books in PDF format.
A wide selection of e-books can be purchased at reduced prices via our web shop. In addition, we offer various publication series as open access publications free of charge.
“Don’t say anything against Telephone Directories!” is an exhibition on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the BAB.
The online exhibition “South African Soundscapes – A Century’s Popular Music History” examines various genres of the South African musical history with literature, picture materials and music examples. In addition to short sound snippets you will find YouTube playlists that complement the researched topics.
“Kaboom! – Focus on African Comics” is a digital adaption of the physical exhibition hosted by the BAB in 2015. It highlights various aspects of African comic art and the image of Africa in comics.
Below you find an overview on individual digital collections and how to search them.
