Public Library of the INEP Biblioteca Pública do Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisa (INEP) Guinea-Bissau

History and Founding

The Public Library of the INEP (Biblioteca Pública do Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisa) serves as the national library of Guinea-Bissau and is located in Bissau. It was founded in 1984 and inherited the catalogue of the colonial library from the Portuguese Guinea era. The library is affiliated with and part of the Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisa (INEP), Guinea-Bissau's national research institute. It also functions as the library of the Universidade Amílcar Cabral. In 2011, an American Corner library was opened at the INEP, representing the only significant US public presence in the country given that the nearest US Embassy is in Dakar, Senegal.

Collections and Holdings

The library holds 52,200 items, comprising the most important historical documents of Guinea-Bissau and representing the only collection of its kind in the country. Its holdings span publications from the Portuguese colonial period through the post-independence era. The collection covers broad topics in history, politics, linguistics, art, and the law and legal history of Guinea-Bissau. It also holds the National Historical Archives of Guinea-Bissau (Arquivos Históricos Nacionais da República da Guiné-Bissau), which contains court cases and administrative records dating from the 18th century through the mid-20th century. Since the 1998–1999 civil conflict, the collection has suffered from humidity and insect infestations; a preservation project funded by the Whiting Foundation and the Prince Claus Fund's Cultural Emergency Response program (€15,000; completed 2018) helped clean, restore, and catalogue portions of the collection.

Access and Usage

The library is located in Bissau and is open to researchers and the public. A digitization and training programme supported by the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) has been working to improve electronic cataloguing and document conservation. Due to the precarious state of organization and preservation, researchers are advised to contact the institute in advance of visits.