Frequently Asked Questions

NUST students automatically become members on registration. NUST staff became Library members upon appointment.
University of Namibia (UNAM) staff and registered students can become members of the Library by completing a registration form available on the website or from the Circulation Desk on Level 3. Registered UNAM students have to pay a refundable deposit.
Other persons from the community and different institutions can become Library members on an individual basis by applying for and paying a non-refundable annual fee, with the amount paid determining the membership category.

NUST undergraduate students may borrow a maximum of 6 items at a time, while NUST postgraduate students can borrow up to 10 items at a time.
NUST staff may borrow a maximum of 15 items at a time.
University of Namibia students and staff may borrow up to three items at a time. The number of items that can be borrowed by other Library members depends on the amount paid as an annual fee.
Distance educations students may be limited in the number of items borrowed at a time depending on the availability of copies in their Regional Centre and the usage by other students.

Library materials from the open/general collection can be borrowed for up to 14 days by NUST undergraduate students, 30 days by NUST postgraduate students and 60 days by NUST staff.
Videos from the multimedia lab can be borrowed for up to 7 days.
Prescribed materials from the study collection cannot be taken out of the Library. They must be used within the Library for two hours.
Items at the Regional Centres may only be borrowed by for 7 days by both students and staff members.
Note: All items borrowed (except those of the Regional Centres) can be renewed twice as long they are not overdue.

For more on membership go to Membership

Books from the open shelves on levels 3 and 4 can be borrowed and taken home.
Videos, CDs and DVDs can also be borrowed and taken home.

All library items borrowed (except those from Regional Centres) can be renewed twice. You can only renew items that are not due yet. There are three ways by which items can be renewed:
1. You can log in to My Library Account and renew your items.
2. You can email us at library@nust.na with a request to renew your items. Please send your email request in time and during library hours to ensure the items are renewed on time.
3. You can come in person to the library and ask, at the Circulation Desk on level 3, for your items to be renewed.

Reference materials are prepared for brief consultation i.e. for facts, descriptions, statistics etc., rather than for continuous reading. They should therefore, be available to users on demand and hence cannot be taken out of the Library.

Namibiana and UNESCO are very reference collections.
Reference materials are for “Library Use Only”, that is, they are non-circulating, as they are meant to be available to users on demand.

The Short Loan Collection has prescribed books and lecturer’s notes. Although students are encouraged to have their own prescribed books, the Library buys and places limited copies of these on short loan to help those who can not afford to purchase their own copies. So in order to help as many students as possible with these limited copies, they are kept separately in the Short Loan Collection on level 4, under the supervision of Library staff, and can only be used in the Library for two hours.  
Lecturers’ notes are additional to the notes taken by students in class, and by being housed in the Short Loan Collection they are made available to as many students as possible.

Periodical materials include magazines, journals, newspapers, or annual publications published at regular intervals. The cost of journal subscriptions does not allow the Library to have two copies of an issue; therefore the usage is limited to within the Library in order to allow them to be used by as many people as possible.

Yes, as a distance student you may borrow books from the Main Library, but you must return them before or on the due date.

No. Under no circumstance should you allow you friend to use your ID to borrow library materials. Borrowing materials means that you undertake the responsibility of taking care of them and making sure they are returned in good condition. In case of damage or loss, you will be liable to pay the replacement value of the item borrowed as it was taken using your student. Library staff cannot transfer the responsibility for replacement to your friend.

Unfortunately no.  The student ID/membership card contains all the information necessary to borrow materials.
Other forms of identification lack important information that the Library needs and will therefore not be accepted!

When you borrow material from the Library, you assume responsibility for its safe return. If you lose the material you will have to pay the replacement cost for it.
A fine will be charged according to the extent of the damage.
If the item is badly damaged, then a replacement fee equal to the market value of the item will be charged.

If you lose Library material, you must report the loss immediately to the Circulation Services Librarian, who will determine the replacement value of the book and advise on the method of payment.

The system used to lend books is set up according to the national calendar, and will automatically create the due date on the first open day after a public holiday.

The Multimedia Collection has educational digital and audio-visual resources, which are in CD, DVD, video, and audio cassette format.

There are “pin code” operated machines on:
Level 2 - Periodicals Section.
Level 3 - Eastern side.
Level 4 - Namibiana Room (South West corner).
There is a coin operated machine on the Level 4 - Next to the Study Collection.

An online printer is available in the Internet Café on level 2 of the Library.
Printers are also available in computer labs 3 and 5 on Level 4.

No, the Library does not provide stationery items to users.

Library staff and Library security guards can fine you for breaking Library rules.

There is no cashier in the Library as yet.
All payments must be done at the cashier’s office in the Administration Block.

Yes. Unauthorised removal of library items shall result in a strict disciplinary action and a large fine. Users should ensure that all library items in their possession are issued before they leave the library.

It is understandable that people need to be in contact with friends, family and businesses at all times, but the ringing of a cell phone and the ensuing loud telephone conversation disturbs other Library users.
The Library rule is therefore, that all cell phones must be on silent before you enter the Library.

Eating and drinking of liquids, other than water, in the Library is prohibited as food and drink may accidentally spill onto and damage books. Water may be brought into the library in a non-spil container.
Food may also leave a smell that attracts insects and pests which cause damage to books.
Crawling pests and insects give a bad impression of the Library.
The smell of food disturbs other users.

For security reasons, and because of limited study space, only Library registered members may access the Library.
The NUST Library has more than ten thousand customers, more than half of whom use the Library daily. It is therefore very difficult for the Library’s security guards to be expected to remember every student or outside user.
It must also be noted that it is not always the same security guards on duty in the Library every day. They often rotate.

There are millions of resources available worldwide and it is physically and financially impossible to acquire and house every possible resource.

All NUST staff, students, affiliated government libraries, and registered users may request items via ILL.

Books and copies of journal articles.

It depends on the type of material requested. Books usually take longer (up to 3 days locally), while journal articles are acquired more quickly.

NUST students can borrow 3 items at a time. 
NUST academic staff can borrow 10 items at a time.
Administrative staff can borrow 5 items at a time.

Books can usually be kept for about a month, depending on the loan period of the lending Library.
Copies of journal articles do not have to be returned.

As a rule, NUST students and staff are not charged a fee for using the ILL system. However, dependent on circumstances, if the providing library charges a fee, or courier costs are incurred, the user may be requested to pay to cover costs. Non-Government libraries who request materials from NUST library may be charged a fee.

You can return items to the Interlibrary Loans Officer who arranged the loan for you.

LIST classes are conducted by Faculty Librarians.
At the present time there are 6 Faculty Librarians.Each Faculty and the HP-GSB is represented by one to three Faculty Librarians.

Classes are arranged between the lecturer and the Faculty Librarian. Students can also arrange themselves in a group and ask their Faculty Librarian to conduct a training session with them.

LIST classes are offered to distance students during the vacation school. Classes are arranged in consultation with the Department of Satellite Campuses and Lifelong Learning Support.

Students are taught how to recognise their need for information, how to search for, locate, retrieve and evaluate information regardless of its source (Library shelf, periodical, electronic database, internet) or its format (print, audio-visual, electronic, online etc.) and how to cite.

When you are information literate, you have the skills that will help you through out your life and that will encourage lifelong learning. You will Know when you are in need of information, how to search for, locate, retrieve, evaluate, use and cite information.

Journals contain the most current academic information and electronic journals are easier to access and search, and you can locate them whereeverr you are.

A citation is a formal reference to a published or unpublished source that you consulted and obtained information from while writing your research paper or assignment A citation is information which helps to fully identify a publication.
A book citation usually includes the author, title, date, place of publication and publisher.
An article citation usually includes the author, title, date, name of journal, volume number, and issue number.

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Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves three purposes: It gives proper credit to the authors of the words or ideas that you incorporated into your paper. It allows those who are reading your work to locate your sources, in order to learn more about the ideas that you include in your paper. It helps to avoid plagiarism, which is a serious offence in academia.
It helps to show that you have done extensive research on the topic that you are writing about.

The Namibia University of Science and Technology’s recommended citation style is the APA (American Psychological Association) style.

Yes, printed guides are available from the Library Secretary or the Faculty Librarians at N$60 each.

To acquire the APA Citation Guide

1. Pay N$60 at the NUST Cashier or pay it into the NUST bank account, with APA and your student/staff number as reference.
2.  Submit the proof of payment to the Library Secretary or Faculty Librarian, who will then provide you with a printed copy.

Faculty Librarians assist students to find literature for their projects.
They also teach students how to cite properly..

This is the Library’s email service to assist you with your specific information needs. Faculty Librarians answer Faculty-specific questions and they forward your general queries to the responsible Library personnel.
However, before submitting your question, please check the Library homepage to see if the answer to your query is not already available there.

The ‘Ask a Librarian’ service is limited to the students, faculty and staff of the NUST and only questions specific to the NUST Library, its collections and policies will be answered.

We will try to answer your queries within 24 hours.

You can send an e-mail to facultylibrarian@nust.na.

Yes, but no Library is rich enough in terms of funding and materials to satisfy each and every user’s needs, hence, they rely on each other (through Interlibrary Loans) to ensure that the needs of their clientele are well met.
Please note that Library staff is there to assist you to find the information you need.

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E-resources are accessible through the Library’s website. They can either be accessed on-campus or off-campus. When accessing e-resources from off-campus, students should use their student domain username and password, while staff should use their staff computer login credentials.

Registered students can visit the Internet Café in the Library to assist with their student domain login details, while staff can request assistance from the DTBS Helpdesk, tel. 061-2072482.

Three Months.

Please go to the Library website.
Under “Research tab” please click on “Quick links”.
Scroll down the page and under the heading “Citation guide”, please click on “Links to Citation Guides”. Click on your preferred guide.

Online exam papers are accessible on the NUST library website:

Under resources tab on the drop down menu, Click Online Exam Papers
Click the relevant Faculty
Click on the PDF icon next to the relevant examination paper.

The Library receives past examination papers from the Examinations section.

These are made available online and they are accessible to anyone with Internet access.

Please go to the Library website.
Under “resources” tab on the drop down menu please click on “Faculty Portals.”
Click on the link “to go to a specific Faculty portal”
Go to the relevant School.
Go to the relevant department.

On the NUST website click on “LIBRARY” and select “Library Resources”. From the options on the right hand side either select “E-Resources on Campus” or “E-resources off Campus”. Browse through the alphabetical list of e-resources and read their descriptions to find an e-book database. Alphabetically go to P and click on ProQuest e-book central and in the search box enter your keywords.

Newspapers are not available on NUST website, however, would you want to access online newspapers, kindly visit that specific newspaper publisher’s website.

Yes, the Library is having digital Institutional Repository. It is located on the library website under resources and it is called “Ounongo”.

No, you can only photocopy 10% of a book, as regulated in the Copyright & Neighbouring Act of 1994.

No you are not permitted to photocopy the entire issue of a periodical item.

No, this would be going against the copyright law.

All material found on the Internet is copyright protected in varying degrees.
Copyright is free and automatic and comes into operation from the moment an item is created, even if this is not clearly stated.

Fair Use permits you to use parts of an item without having to seek the permission of the copyright holder.
Fair use permits the use of information/materials for research, private study, personal or private use, criticism or review of a work, reporting on a current event, and judicial proceedings or the report of judicial proceedings.

Yes, the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994.

Please go to the Library webpage.
Under “Search Tools”, please click on Subject Portals.
Scroll down the page until you find the heading “Copyright, Plagiarism, IP and Patent Issues.”
Click on the “Copyright & Neighbouring Rights Protection Act 6 of 1994 (Namibia).”

Yes, the Namibian Reproduction Rights Organisation (NAMRRO).

Input is obtained from our lecturers, as well as students, Library staff members and any user from the NUST Library.
Lecturers select resources from publisher's websites and catalogues, but also submit lists of prescribed textbooks and recommended readings.
The Acquisition Librarian, in co-operation with the Circulation Services Librarian, assesses the Library Collection on a constant basis to establish any information gaps or shortages.
All other users may make suggestions for the purchase of specific resources.

In general the Library buys 1 copy of each title with the exception of the following collections: -
Short Loan Collection (Main Library):  5 copies of all prescribed textbooks for the Faculty of Management Sciences; 3 copies of all prescribed textbooks for all other Faculties
Namibiana Collection (Level 4 of the Library): 2 copies for this collection plus 1 extra copy which is placed in the Open Shelf Collection.
Regional Centre Collections:
Ongwediva Regional Centre; Walvis Bay Regional Centre; Rundu Regional Centre: 2 copies of all prescribed textbooks for all Faculties.
Other Regional Centres: 1 copies of prescribed textbooks for all Faculties.

Send a request by email to acquisition@nust.na or library@nust.na or alternatively deposit it in the Suggestion Box in the Library.

As with books, input is obtained from lecturers about which printed journals they consider to be relevant for the courses offered at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.
The Online & Serials Librarian, in co-operation with lecturers and the Faculty and Research Support Librarians, make the final decision about which journal titles the Library will subscribe to.
Any other users may also make suggestions for specific journal titles through their respective Faculties, thier Faculty Librarians or through the Suggestion Box.

The Library subscribes to 41 printed and about 129397 electronic journal titles.

At the Periodical Section in the Library.
By e-mailing a request for a copy to library@nust.na

The Library makes its decision according to identified needs.

Anybody can donate material to the Library.
You donate by contacting the Acquisition Librarian at acquisitions@nust.na or by emailing library@nust.na 
The Acquisition Librarian acknowledges all donations by means of an official letter, sent to you either by ordinary mail or by e-mail.

Please note that once material is donated, it becomes the property of the NUST Library.
The Library reserves the right to donate on, material that is not relevant to the NUST curricula.
Material that the Library cannot use is distributed to other organisations, charities, libraries and schools in need.

The Library subscribes to most of the local newspapers, i.e. The Namibian, Windhoek Observer, Namibian Sun, New Era, Die Republikein.
It receives sporadic copies of the free tabloid “Informanté.”
The Library also subscribes to the South African newspaper, the Sunday Times.

Items relating to the NUST in newspapers, magazines, journals etc. are scanned and made available online. To access these, please go to the Library website. Under “Search Tools” please click on the heading “NUST in the News”.

The Library has a draft policy on theses. All students who complete post-graduate theses under the auspices of the NUST are expected to supply the Library with 1 copy only, in electronic format, as per SENEX resolution: SENEX-NUST/2020/85/04.
The bound copy will be made available as a reference item through the Theses Collection (Level 2 of the Library).
The electronic copy will be made accessible through the Institutional Repository.

No, the Library does not keep copies of student projects.

To the computer labs on level 4.
The Internet Café on Level 2.

No, currently there is no time-limit to your use of a computer.

No, currently internet services are free of charge.

No, these computers are for accessing e-Resources only.

These are training labs, used mainly for Library and Information Skills Training.

Library Assistants at the services points are well equipped to respond to your general queries.
However if the information needed is beyond their knowledge they may refer users to a Librarian.

All Library Staff can help users with searching the online catalogue.

Library Assistants on levels 3 and 4 are responsible for helping users to find books on the shelves.

In-depth information and teaching about e-resources is provided by Faculty Librarians.
However all Library staff can provide the basic assistance on how to access e-resources.

Faculty Librarians.

These are departmental libraries for academic staff use only.

No, DRC books are for academic staff use only.

No, lecturers are not permitted to lend DRC books to students.

Since students are not permitted to borrow DRC books, you will be sent for a disciplinary hearing as it will be assumed that you accessed the book illegally.
If a lecturer lent you the book, he/she is subject to a fine.

Yes, Distance Centres have libraries.
The size of a Distance Centre Library depends on the number of NUST students registered there.

They are run by the Regional Co-ordinator in charge of the specific Centre.

Yes, students registered at the Namibia University of Science and Technology may borrow books from the Distance Centres.

Students based in Windhoek are encouraged to make use of the large range of information sources in the Main Library of the Namibia University of Science and Technology, and not to access the limited resources at the Distance Centres.
Students based in the Regions however, may access the collection at the Main Library in Windhoek. However, they are encouraged to do this through the Regional Co-ordinator of their Distance Centre.

Please go to the Library website.
Under “Resources”, please click on “Newspapers.”
Click on the newspaper of your choice.