This is a research collection containing items on East Africa particularly Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with the emphasis on Tanzania. The items consist of books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, theses and reprints. Most of them include publications of the East African Universities and official documents. Naturally the greater part of the collection consists of the items on Tanzania including those received on Legal Deposit. There is a fair coverage of the other East African countries particularly in statistical and periodical materials, published prior to the mid- 1980's Of the manuscripts, Cory, Kiswahili and Arabic are the more significant ones.

The collection is used mostly for reference purposes. Its use is restricted to academic staff, postgraduates, final year undergraduates and researchers with research clearance. Other readers may be allowed at the Director's discretion.

Government Publications

Before official publications are catalogued they are shelved together and arranged under names of countries. Because catalogued works are shelved with other classified sequences of books, pamphlets, and periodicals, and because some are on film it is necessary to consult the library catalogues and the register for official publications.

United Nations Documents

United Nations (U.N.) documents consist of those issued by the main U.N. body such as the General Assembly, Security Council, Regional Commissions, as well as those issued by various U.N. agencies, including UNESCO, UNCTAD, WHO, UNEP, FAO, UNIDO, ILO, and the like.

Some U.N. publications are located in the East Africana Collection while others have been integrated into other collections. Publications in East Africana are kept together in the main, and are filed by their own publication numbers and not according to the library classification system used for other materials. The key to the library's holdings is the register of United Nations Documents kept in the workroom of the East Africana Section. Access to the documents is by the various United Nations Documents Indexes.

 Maps

Most maps received are East African maps from various Government Survey Departments and are located in the East Africana Collection. Atlases and gazetteer are located in the Reference section.

Theses

This collection contains theses documents from the former sister colleges of the University of East Africa. Currently, more than 2,158 theses titles have been microfilmed, jacketed and are on microfiche. However,more than 2,406 titles have been microfilmed and jacketed but are yet to be labeled, typed and microfiche. Many more theses titles have been abstracted and compiled in the Database of African Theses and Dissertations.

Manuscripts

The collection holds Corry, Kiswahili and Arabic manuscripts. Over  1180 titles of manuscripts have been microfilmed and out of these, 291 titles for Corry papers have also been microfiche. The rest, that is Kiswahili and Arabic manuscripts are yet to be labeled, typed and microfiche.

Liberation movement Materials

The collection also holds the materials on Liberation Movements in Africa.