Early Years

Established in 1959, the ECA Library has evolved, adapting to new library trends and emerging technology, engaging users through discovery, digital collections, and specialized research support, and complying with the United Nations and ECA reforms. Since its creation, the library's mission as a central catalyst for organizational effectiveness, is to continuously enrich and add value to the Commission's knowledge ecosystem, by providing reliable access to high-quality resources and services to staff members and other stakeholders, wherever they may be.

In 1977, the library was moved to the present ECA Library building (5 floors - 3000 m²) donated by the French Government and was designated as a UN Depository Library for Africa. In 2010, the Library joined the ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD) and was given additional impetus and a new appellation to become the Library and Information Management Services.

During the past decade, ECA embarked on a pursuit to spruce up the Library’s profile, from offering basic library services to becoming a modern United Nations knowledge centre. This was in line with the ECA vision of becoming a premier think tank in Africa, supported by the restructuring of the Commission in 2012, which also led to the establishment of the Knowledge and Library Services (KLSS) to provide a 360 approach to knowledge services in the twenty-first century. In 2018, KLSS was renamed as Knowledge Management Services Section (KMSS).

Driven by ECA Knowledge Management Strategy

ECA Library Collections

The ECA Library holds an extensive collection of information and knowledge resources in a variety of formats, including printed and electronic. These represent the corporate memory, providing historical evidence of its actions and decisions. The information resources include published materials such as flagship publications, journal articles, conference proceedings, technical reports, mission reports, annual reports, working papers, speeches, and other grey literature, all of which outline important research or decisions that have been made on the economic and social developmental aspects across the continent.

KMSS Adaptations and Achievements

Over the years, KMSS has adapted to evolutions in information science, appropriating ICT tools, and invested to refashion itself into a modern knowledge centre. This includes the adoption of emerging information technologies to facilitate knowledge creation and capture, organization, sharing, application, and transfer.

2009: The ECA Knowledge Repository was initiated, providing a digital online library for collecting, preserving, and disseminating all ECA knowledge products. The repository has been successful, clocking more than 40,000 unique publications, published since 1958 to date. The usage statistics show a widely accessed knowledge platform, with a monthly average of 150,000 hits and 40,000 downloads.

2012: The ECA Archives and Records Management Programme was initiated, ensuring accountability and transparency of ECA business processes and compliance with the United Nations regulations through the availability of accurate, complete, and reliable records.

The ECA Knowledge Hub

The ECA Knowledge Hub provides a centralized knowledge ecosystem in which users can discover, consult, share ECA wealth of knowledge and collaborate with peers and Member States over the ECA Discourse forum 

Featured platforms include:

• Libguides
• ASKIA federated search engine
• ECA Library Catalogue

KMSS introduced a monthly knowledge-sharing forum dubbed the “Book Talk Event” for staff to share and discuss their published publications with colleagues. The ECA Knowledge Centre has patronage of approximately 1,000 external visitors monthly.

Redesigning of Library Space

In the constant search for operational efficiency, high-quality services, and user satisfaction, the Limpopo five-storied Library building has been under review to create open and flexible spaces, in response to library trends in the twenty-first century, in which spaces are both physical and virtual, providing technology, tools, services, and expertise, that encourage new patterns of user interactions. New spaces on the ground floor include a lecture hall, new reception, renovated reference and public internet access area, gallery, bookshop, and a café.

The redesigning project has transformed the library into a more vibrant and ultra-modern knowledge centre, offering a flexible space, greater interaction, collaboration, and networking.