Access to other university libraries

​Access to other Western Cape university libraries

All registered students and staff of Stellenbosch University have access to the following university libraries in the Western Cape: Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. These four libraries form the Cape Library Consortium (CALICO).

The following provisions, abstracted from the Cape Library Consortium (CALICO) Reciprocal Access and Borrowing Agreement, apply: 

  • Access to CALICO libraries will be by means of staff and student card, although specific institutions may issue additional library access cards where access is controlled electronically.

  • CALICO users will abide by the rules of the institution they are visiting.

  • CALICO users must receive training in the use of the electronic catalogue at their home library (the institution they are registered with).

  • Access to the electronic catalogue of all CALICO libraries is available at your home library.

  • Excluded from the agreement at the University of Cape Town are the Built Environment Library, Bolus Herbarium Library, Hiddingh Hall Library, Institute for Child Health Library and the Music Library.

  • Excluded from the agreement at the University of Stellenbosch is the Bellville Park Campus Information Centre (USBI).

Borrowing from other Western Cape university libraries

Registered honours, master’s and doctoral students and staff of Stellenbosch University may complete attached form  to request a referral letter to present at the other Western Cape university libraries mentioned above in order to apply for borrowing membership. Please return the completed form via e-mail or via fax to +27 21 808 3723. For enquiries, phone +27 21 808 4883. Circulation staff will complete the Details of Referring Library section on the form and return the form to you to take along to the other CALICO library.

The following provisions abstracted from the Cape Library Consortium (CALICO) Reciprocal Access and Borrowing Agreement, apply:

  • CALICO borrowers will abide by the rules of the institutions they are borrowing from.

    CALICO borrowers must apply for and obtain a referral letter from their home library before applying for borrowing membership at a CALICO library.

  • Home libraries may refuse to issue a referral letter to a CALICO borrower should they not be prepared to take responsibility for that person’s borrowing due to past delinquencies or behaviour, in which case no application for borrowing membership at CALICO libraries will be possible.

  • Membership will have to be re-applied for at the start of each academic year.

  • All borrowed items must be returned to the CALICO library from which they were borrowed.

  • Excluded from the agreement at the University of Cape Town are the Built Environment Library, Bolus Herbarium Library, Hiddingh Hall Library, Institute for Child Health Library and the Music Library.

  • Excluded from the agreement at the University of Stellenbosch is the Bellville Park Campus Information Centre (USBI).

Borrowing from university libraries in other parts of South Africa 

Stellenbosch University staff and registered masters and doctoral students may complete and submit the electronic form to request a referral letter to present at another university library elsewhere in South Africa. These are, amongst others, the libraries of UNISA and the Universities of Pretoria, Johannesburg, the Witwatersrand, Free State, KwaZulu Natal and Rhodes University.

The following provisions, abstracted from the  Memorandum of Understanding of the Committee for Higher Education Librarians of South Africa (CHELSA) apply:

  • Each university library is individually responsible for, and will be expected to provide, core library and information services to all its users from undergraduate to research.

  • Each university library must provide fully for the needs of its own undergraduate as well as pre-masters students.

  • The parties agree to make their libraries available to registered masters and doctoral students; in terms of the conditions specified.

  • The parties further agree to make their libraries available to one another for use by academic and research staff; in terms of the conditions specified.

  • The above does not preclude individual agreements between member libraries.

  • The institutions will deal with occasional visitors in terms of their established policies.