The first ever regional conference on library and information services’, to take place in south Africa, was held in Pretoria at the Human Resources Research Council Conference Centre (7,-8 May, 1992). The Conference, organised by Info Africa Nova, was attended by over 200 people from a cross-section of occupations. About 50 papers were presented by participants who were mainly drawn from the Anglophone SADCC zone, namely; Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, including ‘Homelands’.

In attendance were information professionals, librarians, archivists, information officers and the like. Members of the teaching staff in library schools were well represented. Also present were researchers from other disciplines, peripheral to librarianship. Other participants included practitioners such as administrators from government departments and other individuals serving in various capacities in non-governmental organizations.