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The academic library is the intellectual hub of the institution it serves. As an effective instrument for the improvement of educational standards it should make its presence felt and exert its influence on the academic community by reorganising library facilities and improving its services. Over the years, academic libraries in Sierra Leone have been gradually losing recognition of their role and this is raising concern in academic circles. This article examines the role of these institutions at the University of Sierra Leone.

Democracy assumes that people have access to facts and opinions from a wide range of sources. Democratic decision making, be it at a local or national level, depends on equality of access to information. Sierra Leone has only recently had her democracy restored and professional librarians with their skills can play a vital role in providing such access and thus aid the development of an informed society, if this hard‐won system of government is to be maintained.

Information is a resource for development. It is vital for every aspect of our personal and working lives. Libraries have traditionally been among the foremost repositories in the dissemination of information. But the ways in which they fulfil these roles are rapidly altered by modern technologies. African university libraries are gradually embracing these new technologies as an opportunity to extend their information services to their clientele and even beyond. Experience has shown that the various levels of investment by African university libraries in information and communication technologies are inconsistent. This article examines the application of current information and communication technologies in African academic libraries and their implications in academia.

To argue for the development and implementation of a national library and information policy in Sierra Leone.

The paper is an opinion piece discussing the current situation in the country and proposing a new model.

That Sierra Leone would greatly benefit from a national policy that could aid development in the post‐war period.

The paper offers a model for the implementation of a national policy.

The paper is the first paper to argue for a national policy for Sierra Leone.

This paper aims to, invariably, critically look at primary records, their origins, categorization, uses and what the future holds for them, amid changing times. From the cradle of civilization, people have been using varied ways to record, store and distribute information. Years back, people kept their records on such materials as wax, papyrus, leather, clay, parchment, paper and wood. But recent technological developments have brought about different formats which in turn have influenced the choice of materials and methods used to write and circulate information.

This is a viewpoint paper on primary documents in library and information service institutions. The paper critically looks at the different types of primary documents, how they are collected, the challenges involved and their future amid changing technological times. Relevant literature was consulted, including the Internet.

The findings are that the future of primary documents will remain bleak if librarians, curators, records managers and archivists do not give serious thought to primary documents regardless of the fact that they are germane in library and information science.

This is a viewpoint paper on primary documents. Relevant information was drawn from varied readings in library and information service institutions as well as from the Internet.

Discusses the development of local history collections within libraries in Sierra Leone.

The article is a reflective viewpoint.

That there is a growing interest in local history collections in libraries in Sierra Leone, and that more formal structures should be put in place to safeguard these materials for the future.

Proposes some ways forward for ensuring the long term viability of local collections in Sierra Leone.

The article is the first on the topic of local history collections in Sierra Leone's libraries, and should be of interest to librarians around the world who have an interest in local history librarianship.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of oral traditions and the role of libraries in ensuring they are preserved in societies.

Offers a review of the literature and a wider discussion on oral traditions and the role of libraries in preserving them, with specific relation to Sierra Leone.

Measures should be taken to resuscitate this knowledge of oral cultures. As libraries are repositories of knowledge there is every reason for librarians to play a leading role in this direction.

Of interest to librarians dealing with oral cultures or interested in the topic.

The paper discusses a unique topic with specific reference to a developing country.

The study investigates the impact of inflation on the variability of relative prices in the context of Lebanon.

Unlike the traditional method, which relies on the variance of cross-sectional price changes measured at specific points in time to gauge the variability in relative prices, we employ a more appropriate approach. Under this approach, we capture the dispersion in relative prices by estimating how widely (or closely) a set of commodity prices drift apart over a span of time, offering a more comprehensive assessment. Firstly, we employ Johansen’s cointegration test on rolling subsamples to determine the number of statistically significant cointegrating vectors among the prices of 12 major commodity groups. Under this approach, an increase in the number of significant cointegrating vectors indicates a reduction in relative price variability, while a decrease suggests the opposite. Subsequently, we employ ordinary least squares regression to analyze how the fluctuations in inflation affect the variability in relative prices. The sample period ranges from December 2007 to April 2021.

The empirical results indicate that there exists a certain threshold inflation rate corresponding to which the variability in relative prices is minimized. More importantly, consistent with the theoretical predictions, the results suggest that it is not inflation per se, but the deviation of inflation from the 3% threshold level in either direction that causes higher dispersion in relative prices.

The empirical findings from this study have crucial implications for the operation of monetary and fiscal policy. In particular, these findings suggest that stabilizing long-term inflation around a certain threshold rate will not only help to anchor inflation expectations effectively but will also minimize the welfare costs associated with inflation.

Given the rising inflationary pressure in the recent past and its welfare costs, the study assumes crucial importance in understating how fluctuations in inflation distort the relative price structure and eventually cause resource misallocations and economic inefficiency.