Africa: APIC Web Bookshop

Africa Policy E-Journal

Africa: APIC Web Bookshop
Date distributed (ymd): 980308
APIC Document

APIC's Africa Web Bookshop

We are pleased to announce the debut on the Africa Policy Web Site of APIC's Africa Web Bookshop. (Yes, you can really buy books there, even if it is in cyberspace!).

On the site at http://www.africapolicy.org/books/vbooks.shtml you will find listings and recommendations for books we think you might be interested in. Some of them you can purchase at Amazon, the on-line bookstore, with a direct link from our site. Others you can order directly from the publishers (we will give you the necessary contact information) or through a book dealer such as the Africa Book Centre in London.

This bookshop is doubly virtual -- we are on-line plus you don't actually get most of these books from APIC. We don't have the staff, the storage space or the capital to invest in inventory to maintain a non-virtual bookshop. So, except for APIC's own publications, you don't send the order to us. Order from Amazon, from the Africa Book Centre, or from the publisher.

What is in it for us? We are glad to let you know about books that may help build a more informed constituency for Africa. And, for books that Amazon has in stock, we get a referral fee. We don't expect to make a lot of money, but we hope that it can provide some additional support for our educational work.

What is in it for you? Book references carefully selected for their relevance to Africa policy issues, convenience in ordering books unlikely to be available in your local bookshop, and a way to express your support and appreciation for APIC services.

Do come take a look. Our virtual bookshop is just beginning. We are in an experimental stage. How rapidly we expand from this small start will depend on your response (as measured by visits and referral fees from Amazon) and on how much staff time we find is needed to maintain and expand the shop. We hope you find it useful. Browse around and come back later.

P.S. We have not yet made a final decision on the name of the bookshop -- let us know if you have a suggestion.

SPECIAL ADDITIONAL NOTE
for Readers at U.S. Educational Institutions
(this note is going only to .edu e-mail addresses)

Among the options we are considering for the Africa Web Bookshop is to place lists of assigned books for African Studies courses so that students will have the option of ordering through our site rather than through their campus bookshop (and our web site visitors would have the advantage of knowing your book suggestions). We need information from you to evaluate whether this is a practical project.

So if you assign books to be purchased for African Studies courses, we would very much appreciate your answers to the following questions (cut and paste into an e-mail message to books@africapolicy.org). If you do not assign books for courses, we would appreciate your passing this note to teachers at your institution who do.

1. Your name 
              [                                                       ] 

2. Your institution 
              [                                                       ] 

3. Your e-mail address 
              [                                                       ] 

4. Would you consider giving your students the option of ordering
Africa course books that are in stock at Amazon.com through the Africa
Web Bookshop? 
          Yes [  ] No [  ] 

5. On average, approximately how many Africa course books do you assign
per year?
          [           ] 

6. Please specify the months in which the semesters or quarters in
which you teach Africa courses begin.
          [                                         ]


7. How many weeks in advance would you be able to submit booklists
for us to be posted on the site?
           [                                         ]

The first special feature on the bookshop site is the suggestions you sent in for airplane reading for President Clinton's trip to Africa. The site also has other key links for African books and publishing. To suggest a book for President Clinton's trip, please use the form at the Africa Web Bookshop. To suggest additional links, write to books@africapolicy.org.

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