The United Nations Millennium declarations of 2002 set eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. The papers presented in this publication endeavour to address how libraries and information professionals in East, Central and Southern Africa seek to make themselves relevant to national development by asking themselves how libraries and information centres could contribute to the attainment of these MDGs.

Knowledge Management was the theme of the Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Library and Information Associations (SCECSAL XVII) in 2006. This selection of conference papers provides a cross-disciplinary approach to knowledge, information and development and how the three together can mould a new and more informed society. The challenge is to make our libraries more people-centered and Afro-centric, not simply serving the interests of the elite and paying little attention to the plight of the less well off. This needs to change, with libraries becoming more inclusive and serving the needs of all. These papers raise provocative questions, and provide an insight into the struggle of information services in this part of Africa to be part of an emerging information and knowledge society.