Contact us
You can contact the Library for assistance through our online reference service, Ask a Librarian ,and via Twitter and Facebook. Faculty Librarians can be emailed or called directly for information services and research support. As far as possible library telephone numbers have been forwarded to staff's cell phone numbers.
Access to e-resources (electronic databases, journals and library catalogue)
Access to e-resources will be available remotely as always. Clients will be prompted to sign in with their campus username and password. If they experience any problems with their passwords, they can consult this library guide and/or contact IT for assistance.
Problems experienced with electronic databases and journals can be reported to the Manager: E-Resources.
Renewing books
The Library's catalogue (Primo) and clients' library records will be available remotely. The due date of library books due during the lockdown period will be changed to 17 April 2020. Thereafter, books may be renewed online to further extend their loan period if users are not able to return them immediately.
This guide can be consulted to see which free e-resources were made available by publishers.
Interlibrary loans
Researchers and students will be able to continue to request articles via Interlibrary Loans.
Please use the following contact details or complete the ILL request form on the library website. We will do our very best to locate it and forward it to you.
Stellenbosch University Library
Bellville Park Campus Library
Medicine and Health Sciences Library
Music Library
Engineering and Forestry Library
Theology Library
Short loans
Short loans will unfortunately not be available. Please search the Library's catalogue for an electronic version of the book. You are also welcome to consult the COVID-19 Resources: Freely available e-resources guide to see which other free e-resources are available or contact your faculty librarian.
Open Access Publication Fund applications
This service will continue as usual, subject to the availability of funds, and any enquiries can be directed to the Manager: E-Resources.
Online assistance by Faculty Librarians
Contact Faculty Librarians by e-mail for reference service or any other assistance. They will also be able to have one-on-one meetings with clients by means of Skype or Microsoft Teams should more in-depth assistance be needed. Assistance will include all services such as bibliometric services, book orders, training material on SUNLearn for students, etc.
Enquiries could also be directed via Ask a Librarian and the Library Guides can be consulted for assistance for specific departments or information on research support.
Research support services
The following arrangements are in place for all research support services:
For any Research Data Management queries, information on data management plans or uploading of data to SUNScholarData, please visit the RDM webpage, SUNScholarData LibGuide, or contact the Manager: Research Data Services or rdm@sun.ac.za.
For all research queries related to Special Collections (Africana, Rare Books and Manuscript Collections), please contact the Head: Special Collections or alternatively make use of our 24-hour online reference service, Ask a Librarian.
For assistance in accessing items in SUNScholar, such as theses and dissertations or research articles, please contact scholar@sun.ac.za.
For assistance in terms of self-archiving your research output in SUNScholar, please contact the Digital Scholarship Librarian.
For assistance with journal management on SUNJournals, please contact the Digital Scholarship Librarian.
The Manager: Research Impact Services will be able to assist with generic research support such as advanced bibliometric services, unique author identification with ORCID, advice on publishing and how to increase your impact as a researcher.
For assistance with general research support, such as referencing and reference managers, and the formatting of theses and dissertations, you can contact the Head: Research Commons.
#SmartResearcher Workshops
Scheduled Library workshops are continuing in the form of online webinars (by means of Adobe Connect or Microsoft Teams) or recordings where a webinar is not possible. Clients may continue to register for these workshops and relevant staff will distribute information on how to connect to the webinars.
Off-campus document delivery
Library staff will be at home with no access to printed books and journals. Our off-campus document delivery service is therefore suspended.
Returning books
No books have to be returned during the lockdown period.
