Who are we?

The African Studies Library is situated within the Centre of African Studies at the University of Cambridge, and supports the research and teaching needs of the African Studies MPhil course. It also serves the rest of the University in the Undergraduate and Postgraduate study of Africa. Our collection's particular focus is Africa south of the Sahara. 

Who can borrow from us?

We are open with loan privileges to all Cambridge University students and members.

Where can you find us and how accessible is the space?

• The African Studies Library is situated on the third floor of the Alison Richard Building, within the Centre of African Studies.
• Access is step-free from street-level, and there is a lift available to reach the third floor.  Doors are wide, although heavy. Please get in touch if you need any assistance or adjustments ahead of visiting!
• There are disabled bathrooms on each floor, and gender-neutral bathrooms on the first to third floors of the building.
• There is a floorplan and directory further down the page.
• Please do email us at afr@lib.cam.ac.uk if you would like any more information or to schedule a tour!

What do we have in our library?

Take a quick virtual tour with us on our Instagram HERE.

Materials

• Over 20,000 books
• Current Periodicals and Journals from Africa
• DVD collection of films and documentaries on Africa
• African languages material
• Maps
• Study skills material

Services and Resources

• Electronic legal deposit terminal
• Microfilm reader
• A fetching service for a large archive that includes: pamphlets, official publications, personal papers, newspapers, maps, slides, microfiches, microfilms, and photographs
• Scan & delivery service: place requests for scans of chapters or journal articles that are not available electronically and are held solely at the African Studies Library. 
• Extended access to the Library for PhD students with a research focus on Africa (ask us in the Library).
• MCS (Managed Cluster Service) terminal - access your DS (Digital Services) account, files, software, and applications
  • MCS will migrate to the University Managed Desktop (UMD) service during the summer of 2023. Access to supporting services such as DS-FileStore and DS-Print are not affected by the MCS closure.

How do I navigate the Library?

The library's collection is undergoing re-classification from the Universal Decimal System to the Library of Congress system. Take a look at the floorplan below to help you navigate the Library ahead of your visit.

• Our stacks on the right (West facing wall) are mostly classified using the Universal Decimal System (UDS).
  • This means the class-marks all begin with '6' to indicate Africa, and then have sub-classifications based on country. A full list of the country classifications can be found in the Library.
• Our stacks on the left (East facing wall) are mostly classified using the Library of Congress System (LOC).
  • This means the class-marks begin with letters, indicating a particular thematic subject area. A full list of the subject classification codes can be found in the Library.

Take a look on iDiscover for any particular material you are seeking, and do send us an email at afr@lib.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about finding materials ahead of your visit.

African Studies Library Floorplan

Open Shelf Material can be Borrowed by all User Groups

Loan periods are as follows for open shelf material:

The following materials cannot be renewed and have shorter loan periods:

Please refer to the Borrowing from Cambridge Libraries LibGuide for advice on your account, fines, borrowing policies, and vacation loans across the Cambridge Libraries: 

Vacation Borrowing

We don't operate an end of term recall, or set vacation borrowing. 

Overnight loans remain as 24 hours only.

Please get in touch if you are interested in borrowing at afr@lib.cam.ac.uk.

Please return your borrowed materials to the African Studies Library:

• 9:00-17:00, Monday-Friday during term
• 9:30-17:00, Monday-Friday during vacation

Please use the self-issue desk to return your books, or place them in the box near the issue desk.

Click here for a full list of return options.

External visitors are more than welcome to use our resources!

Do contact us with as much notice as possible before your visit so we can help you save time.

Fill out our online fetching form, providing as much information as possible about the items that you have found as being held in the library.

If you have any other queries, please email us at afr@lib.cam.ac.uk.

Centre of African Studies Events

Click here to view our upcoming and past events.

Centre of African Studies Michaelmas Term Seminars 2023:

This year's theme is The International Politics of Armed Groups in Africa

The Centre's annual seminar series is back every Monday from 4-5:30pm in room S1 of the Alison Richard Building, starting October 16th. Click the PDF link below to find more information.

Matatu & Digital Benin

February 28th 2024

• Matatu (CRSid Login): publishing high quality articles on African literatures and societies. The journal continues to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue between literary and cultural studies, historiography, the social sciences, and cultural anthropology.

• Digital Benin (Open Access): shows Benin objects in one unique space accompanied by information that in certain cases had only partially been available to the public (i.e., internal museum data) or available in a dispersed form.

Several Databases Added and 1 Podcast

February 15th 2024

• Historical Papers Research Archive (Open Access): one of the most comprehensive public archives in Southern Africa, with over 3400 collections. We are the official repository of the South African Institute of Race Relations, and the Anglican Church in Southern Africa. Over and above we have in our custody collections which we received from trade unions, political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), women's organisations, church bodies, as well as records of political trials and the personal papers of individuals, many of which have shaped South Africa's past and present.

• Digital Innovation South Africa (Open Access): a freely accessible online scholarly resource focusing on the socio-political history of South Africa, particularly the struggle for freedom during the period  from 1950 to the first democratic elections in 1994, providing a wealth of material on this fascinating period of the country’s history.

• The Pan African Cinema Podcast: June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive - "In each episode we bring together the works and voices of filmmakers, artists and writers around a wide range of themes, debates and interests related to Pan African culture and identity."

• Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (Raven login): This collection focuses on the complex and varied liberation struggles in the region, with an emphasis on Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. It brings together materials from various archives and libraries throughout the world documenting colonial rule, dispersion of exiles, international intervention, and the worldwide networks that supported successive generations of resistance within the region.

• Transition (Raven login): is a unique forum for the freshest, most compelling ideas from and about the black world. Since its founding in Uganda in 1961, the magazine has kept apace of the rapid transformation of the African Diaspora and has remained a leading forum of intellectual debate. Transition is a publication of the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, edited by Alejandro de la Fuente and published three times annually.

World Religion Database

February 6th 2024

• The World Religion Database (WRD) contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world. It provides information from country censuses as well as best estimates for every religion to offer a definitive picture of religion and non-religion in the past, present, and future.

African Collections Futures Blog

January 22nd 2024

• Curated by Dr. Eva Namusoke, this blog reflects on the activities and findings of the African Collections Futures project. Broadly, the project seeks to develop a better sense of where Africa-related objects and materials are across the University of Cambridge, what kinds of engagements scholars, African research and heritage institutions, and African diaspora and communities of origin have with these objects, and what more can be done.

Digitised Newspaper Sources

January 8th 2024

• Daily Observer (Liberia) - Founded in 1981, the Daily Observer is Liberia’s best-known, independent, national newspaper. The Daily Observer is notable for its coverage of the modern history of Liberia—including the Liberian Civil War and through its current phase of development.

Dr. Winifred Brown Collection

November 8th 2023

This collection is now available for consultation at the African Studies Library! It explores Marriage & Divorce Law, and Activism with Orphans in Uganda c. 1960-2000. Read the full blog post here.

• The collection is made up of two boxes, and contains roughly 116 items.

• You may be interested in this collection if you are researching any of the following topics:

  • Marriage and divorce law in Uganda

  • Orphaned children in Uganda, particularly Sanyu Babies Home

  • Women’s rights in Uganda

  • Makerere University alumni by name c. 1972-1997

• Notable Documents in the Collection:

  • WB/U/1/10: Photocopy of “Report of the Commission on Marriage, Divorce and the Status of Women 1965” produced by the Ugandan Government - approx. 94 pages

  • WB/U/1/14: Letter addressed to Winifred from the First Lady, Janet K Museveni, regarding thanks for sending them a copy of her work and with reference to UWESO, the orphan charity Mrs. Museveni established - typewritten, 1 page, 28/09/1988

  • WB/U/2/8: Arise: a women’s developmental magazine published by ACFODE - published by Action for Development, Kampala (6 issues) - 1991-1993

Click the PDF collection aid below for more details.

Black British Voices

September 28th 2023

• Cambridge has co-published the largest survey to date of the opinions and attitudes of Black people in Britain, revealing a central split on the question of British pride.