Since its establishment in 1959, UCLA’s James S. Coleman African Studies Center (ASC) has been dedicated to research and public understanding related to Africa. ASC is recognized as one of the preeminent institutions of its kind worldwide and has held major funding from the U.S. Department of Education since 1959. Its educational mission is especially vital in this age when the world’s peoples are coming closer and closer together while at the same time they are at risk of growing further and further apart.

The UCLA library system, one of the top five North American academic research libraries, possesses an exceptional African collection of over 175,000 volumes with special strengths in African government documents, maps, newspapers, manuscripts, and publications in African languages.