West Virginia State College in Institute has been awarded a $200,000 grant by the United Negro College Fund for an exchange program that will send six WVSC librarians to the National University Library of Benin and bring six African librarians to the WVSC over the next three years.
The College Fund International Development Program grant will be used to teach the American librarians about African librarianship and to introduce the Benin librarians to public and technical services, archives, and technology. At the end of the grant period in 2002, WVSC’s Drain-Jordan library will become a depository of Benin government publications.
The project “will help academic and other scholars interested in doing research on Benin to come to the WVSC library for their research needs rather than travel to Benin,” said Library Director Ravi Sharma. He plans to travel to Benin this month to set up the program.
Posted July 5, 1999.