OUT IN THE COLD - ACADEMIC BOYCOTTS & THE ISOLATION OF SOUTH AFRICA

Arlington 1995 1st Information Resources Press. ISBN 0-87815-067-6. Octavo, 158pp., hardcover. Fine, no DJ.

This timely book is the first full-scale treatment of boycotts of academic institutions and intellectuals as a whole and of the boycott of South Africa (from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s) in particular. Authors Haricombe, an assistant professor at the Northern Illinois University Library, and Lancaster, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, first provide a detailed survey of international sanctions and boycotts, academic boycotts, boycotts against South Africa, and the academic boycott of South Africa. This then opens into a report of two surveys of South African scholars, including librarians, on the effects of such boycotts on their research, collaboration with non-South African scholars, attendance at international conferences, obtaining information, and other professional areas. Librarians at 22 university libraries were questioned on the boycott's effect on obtaining materials for collections. Both surveys indicated that the boycott was not a serious obstacle to either group. Many scholars commented on the unfairness of the action and the feeling of isolation from the rest of the intellectual world. However, they reported no serious trouble in obtaining information needed for research. Academic libraries indicated few problems in obtaining materials, outside some difficulties with UMI in obtaining dissertations. The authors conclude that the South African academic boycott was more effective as a symbolic gesture than as a means for political and social change. Also included are the surveys used in the study. This well-written book will interest all scholars and individuals interested in both South Africa and the overall usefulness of boycotts as political tools. For all academic libraries.
Stephen L. Hupp, Capital Univ. Lib., Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.