Information intermediaries in the next millennium: an agenda for action for the development of information consultancy and brokerage in Africa

Abstract

Explores and presents an agenda for action in introducing and developing information consultancy and brokerage as an alternative information service in Africa. The agenda focuses on co‐ordination and publicity of the services, research, LIS education, market, trends and problems. The author explores the results of a study he conducted in Botswana in order to compile the agenda and concludes that as long as the African communities increasingly consume post‐industrial and information society or western products and services, “ruralness”, poverty, illiteracy and underdeveloped information infrastructure, alone, cannot alienate the information consumers from exploiting and using information consultancy and brokerage services. This article, based on a paper presented by the author at the 13‐SCECSAL conference in Nairobi in July 1998, suggests a need for a conference or pre‐SCECSAL seminar, on the subject in the near future, for information specialists in Africa. A draft directory of information consultants and brokers in Botswana is appended to the paper.