DGABD

Overview

The Direction Générale des Archives Nationales, de la Bibliothèque Nationale et de la Documentation Gabonaise (DGABD) is Gabon's central national archive, library, and documentation authority, based at Batterie IV on the Libreville seafront. It is charged with constituting, preserving, and disseminating the memory of the Gabonese nation and operates under the Secretary General of the Government.

History

Decree N°00866/PR of November 11, 1969 created a joint Directorate of National Archives and National Library, though the decree's provisions were notably general and left the two services' organizational structure undefined; a 1972 UNESCO assessment found that, in practice, no functioning archival service yet existed in Gabon. Decree N°791/PR of June 30, 1980 reorganized the institution into its current form as the DGABD, initially with interministerial authority. On November 7, 1992, the DGABD was placed under the Prime Minister's office as a service attached to the Secretary General of the Government, and the National Library became a full directorate in its own right (decree N°1939/PR/PM). A further reorganization by decree N°670/PR/PM of May 16, 2011 established the National Library's four constituent services. The institution marked its fiftieth anniversary in 2019 with public exhibitions and events in Libreville.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The DGABD's holdings derive from public and private administrations and from colonial- and post-colonial-era private individuals, alongside official and scientific publications and monographs about Gabon. The National Library has held free legal deposit rights since 1971 (decree N°48/PR) and serves as Gabon's ISBN/ISSN registration authority. The National Archives reading room seats 18 researchers and the National Library reading room 32.

Access and Usage

The DGABD remains open to the public; visitors need only present identification and state their research topic to gain free access to the reading rooms. Digitizing the documentary collection remains a significant ongoing challenge for the institution.