Ipsissima Verba: The Future of Newspaper Preservation In an Age of Epidemic URLitis.

African newspapers are among the most permanent and enduring publications recording political events on the continent. Although these materials are notoriously difficult to collect and preserve, they are all-the-more vital if the historical record of Africa is to survive. As library budgets become increasingly inadequate, similarly increasing pressure is being placed on librarians to cancel expensive print editions of newspapers in favor of relying on internet access, whether free or provided by commercial aggregators. No doubt this is cost- and space-effective in the short run, but an unavoidable consequence is that a major primary source-the print newspaper (for electronic access is only partial) is threatened with slow extinction. The Africana Librarians Council (ALC) of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), Cooperative Africana Microform Program (CAMP), formed a sub-committee to examine this dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]