The winter of 2004-2005 was a slow period, due in part to the minimal heating in our current storage facility (!). However, Owen White has taken the opportunity to catch up on the official documentation required of Canadian registered charities, a task nearing completion in early June.

In May, during a working visit to a nearby district, Graham Wilson took advantage of an opportunity to visit one client of the AGID CANADA Book and Journal Donation Project. With 6,000 full-time and 4,000 external and part-time students, fast-growing Mekelle University lies in the capital city of Tigrai province, northern Ethiopia. The city, and the two campuses of Ethiopia's second-largest university, are pleasantly situated in the highland region west of the Great Rift Valley. The photograph (courtesy of Dr. Stephen Batiuk, University of Toronto) shows Graham Wilson presenting books to Mekonnen Tadesse Mekonnen, Head, Library & Documentation, Mekelle University. The university library is a pleasant learning environment, with a lively atmosphere. It has numerous textbooks but, as yet, few reference works on Earth sciences.

The 33 boxes currently set aside for Mekelle contain series of ten scientific journals, plus a good collection of IGC (International Geological Congress) volumes and many good books. It is worth noting, as an example of a collection prepared gradually for a specific client by AGID CANADA, both the span of the journal runs (see table, below) and the nature of some of the books.

The books cover many topics, most notably: economic geology; petrology; hot springs and geothermal energy; sedimentology; structural geology; plate tectonics; and Canadian regional geology. There are numerous geological reports on metallic ores, evaporites and other industrial minerals. Publications are mostly from well- respected North American series, such as monographs of the GSC (Geological Survey of Canada), OGS (Ontario Geological Survey), and USGS (United States Geological Survey). Most of the journal runs are near- complete, apart from Economic Geology, 1969-1974 and the later years of the Bull.AAPG.

The power of analogy remains strong in geology, most especially in the field. As such, the thousands of journal articles and books in this collection should serve as a valuable resource for current and future students.

As mentioned in previous bulletins, the AGID CANADA Project still requires assistance, both as cash donations and as physical assistance with shipping / transport, to enable the last shipments to be made before the end of 2005. All donations are income-tax deductible within Canada. For details, please contact Owen White, address below.