Although the African Studies Library has not yet reopened, the main University Library can support you with their new zero contact services!
Return your library books (including African Studies books) safely to dropboxes, and the UL, please check for hours of this service.
For borrowable items at the UL, there is a new Click & Collect service available to University of Cambridge staff and students.
As a University of Cambridge student or member of staff, you can now place requests for chapters or journal articles (within copyright) to be scanned from the UL's modern collections.
Book recommendations welcome
It is advisable to contact us with as much notice as possible during the COVID-19 period so that we can see how we can best help you.
Please email us: afrlib@hermes.cam.ac.uk with your enquiry.
Or click to complete an online fetching form, providing as much information as possible on the items that you have found as being held in the library.
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 30,000 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.
CamGuides is designed to help students prepare for their studies in Cambridge, regardless of their subject or college. It focuses on some of the academic and information practices and skills that students commonly engage in, or require, for their degrees.
CamGuides is an open resource, and there's no need for any formal University of Cambridge affiliation to use the sites.
