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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Bookselling in Ghana: is the informal sector the key?
Author:Dekutsey, Woeli A.ISNI
Year:1995
Periodical:The African Book Publishing Record
Volume:21
Issue:2
Pages:109-112
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:informal sector
book industry
Abstract:Bookselling through bookshops in Ghana is an ailing occupation. Publishing houses are increasingly opening their own bookshops on the premises. The booksellers themselves are in disarray. The present apathy and lack of unity of the Ghana Booksellers Association contrasts sharply with its role in the past, when it was well organized and active, evidenced in the early 1960s in its quick response to the government's free textbook scheme. Today, however, the future of bookselling in Ghana undeniably lies in the informal sector. The vitality and enterprising nature of the new generation of street booksellers such as EPP Book Services and Topman Books Ltd., which combine characteristics of the traditional bookshop, pavement bookselling and mobile book peddling, suggest that time is not on the side of the traditional booksellers. The first thing they must do is to revive the Ghana Booksellers Association, allowing those in the informal sector to join. Other steps must include tackling the government's grip on the distribution of schoolbooks, and putting more work into promoting and advertising the stockholdings of bookshops.
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