Return your library books safely to the dropboxes on the Sidgwick Site. You may also return books when you collect books through our Click & Collect service.
For items at the African Studies Library, there is a Click & Collect service available to University of Cambridge staff and students.
This service will be operating on the days that staff members are working from the Alison Richard Building - please bear with us during the lockdown period whilst we have restricted access to our physical collections.
As a University of Cambridge student or member of staff, you can place requests for chapters or journal articles (within copyright) to be scanned. Due to current working restrictions and the volume of enquiries, we would appreciate it if you could place requests for scans of books that are available solely at the African Studies Library. If items are also held at the UL, please use the UL Scan & Deliver service, as they have dedicated teams of staff to assist you with your request.
The African Studies Library supports the research and teaching needs of the African Studies MPhil course, and supports the rest of the University in the Undergraduate and Postgraduate study of Africa. Our particular focus is on Africa south of the Sahara.
We are open with loan privileges to all Cambridge University members.
The African Studies Library is situated on the third floor of the Alison Richard Building, within the Centre of African Studies.
What do we have in our library?
Over 20,000 books
MCS terminal - access your DS account, files, software, and applications
DVD collection of films and documentaries on Africa
African languages material
Study skills material
Electronic legal deposit terminal
A fetching service for a large archive that includes: pamphlets, official publications, personal papers, newspapers, maps, slides, microfiches, microfilms, and photographs
Microfilm reader
Lockers
Extended access to the Library for PhD students with a research focus on Africa on application (this service is currently on hold due to COVID-19)
| TERM |
09:00-17:00 Monday to Friday |
| VACATION |
The Library is sadly closed for the foreseeable future. |
| CLOSED |
The Library is sadly closed for the foreseeable future.
Please email afrlib@hermes.cam.ac.uk or js454@cam.ac.uk, if you need help accessing print or online resources. |
Please check here before making your journey!
Open shelf material can be borrowed by all user groups, and will automatically renew if they have not been requested.
Loan periods are set as follows for open shelf material:
| Undergraduates | 7 Days | 8 Books |
| Graduates | 28 Days | 10 Books |
| Staff | 28 Days | 20 Books |
| Visiting Scholars | 14 Days | 10 Books |
The following materials cannot be renewed and have shorter loan periods:
| DVD & Video | 7 DAYS |
| Overnight Loans |
24 Hours Only If borrowing on a Friday, overnight loans will be due Monday. |
How to manage your borrowing account
Please see the following LibGuide for advice on your account, fines, borrowing policies, and vacation loans across the Cambridge Libraries: http://libguides.cam.ac.uk/borrowing/home
Vacation Borrowing
N.B. We don't operate an end of term recall, or set vacation borrowing.
Overnight loans remain as 24 Hours Only ; please ask us if there is a title that you are interested in borrowing.
There are many other collections in Cambridge that hold relevant material to African Studies. Please check for opening hours and borrowing rights.
Below are some links to various African Studies Centres in the UK and elsewhere. If you are interested in these institutions, we may be able to arrange for you to visit and consult their collections.
Book recommendations welcome
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CamGuides is an open resource, and there's no need for any formal University of Cambridge affiliation to use the sites.
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