Women’s University in Africa Library
Library Services
Overview
Reference Service
The Enquiries Desk is the clients’ first pot of call for various issues on Library products and services. The desk handles general to specific clients’ requests and is also a good referral point to various enquiries – ranging from; the catalogue, location of books on shelves, clients’ induction, comprehensive literature searches and online searching of electronic resources subscribed by the library.
Client Orientation Service
General orientation is given to all first year students during the Orientation Week and to new members of staff by arrangement. Specific orientation to groups on Library services and products is also offered by arrangement. Individual and, or group guided tours usually forms the backbone of Library orientation activities.
Information Literacy Skills Service
The Library from time to time also holds Information Literacy Skills training workshops to train clients. Information Literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information for academic purposes. Information Literacy is increasingly becoming important in the contemporary environment due to technological change and proliferating information resources.
Research Services
The Libraries offer a range of research services to support clients throughout the knowledge life-cycle. These include Information Access and Retrieval Service, Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI), Current Awareness (CAS), Information Literacy Skills (ILS) and Computing Services. Under Computing Services, the Library provides computers dedicated for academic research purpose, which includes searching the OPAC (Catalogue), Institutional Repository, the Internet for Academic purposes and Past Examination Papers database. Printing facility is available from the Enquiries Desk at a minimum cost, for ACADEMIC work searched from Library computer workstations. To ensure equity sharing of the computer resources, the Library computers are controlled by a Time Control System. Please ask for assistance from the Enquiries Desk. Additionally the Library has personal laptop plug-in points with power, hardwired network points and wireless signal.
Circulation Service
The Library offers circulation services, which facilitate physical access to the Library collection for outside the Library use and in some cases within the Library (closed/ special collections). There are different borrowing privileges for Students and Staff. Books in the library’s catalogue that are not immediately available in the library may be reserved by filling in a Request Card at the Circulation desk.
Inter-Library Loan Service
Reading materials that are not available in the library may be obtained from other libraries through this service, which is primarily intended for Academic/Research staff. In some cases a small fee is charged for the service. Inter-Library Loan requests enquiries can be made at the Enquiries Desk in the library.
We offer photocopying and printing services
Photocopying Services
A photocopier is available in the library. A small fee is levied for the service. All photocopying is subject to the Copyright Act of Zimbabwe.
