This article, the first of two parts, is an update of one which appeared in the IFLA journal in 2007 (Stilwell 2007a). Progress since 2007 is mapped in terms of the fit between the library and information services available and the national transformation agenda. It reviews information policy and describes information sources, systems and services in South Africa as part of the wider national information system. It stops short of describing the situation pertaining to school libraries, archives, record centres and museums, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), embassies, commercial database industry and indigenous knowledge which are covered in Part II. The sectors concerned with the dissemination of information and information technology are also described in Part II, as well as the library and information education and training sector and the organised profession. This overview is based on literature retrieved from the available, mostly electronic, databases.
