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History: Books

Finding UKZN resources

UKZN Library no longer has its own independent catalogue, but is part of a world catalogue of libraries. The new library website opens up to the icatalogue. Type in key words. Once you get a results list, UKZN books and journal articles show up first. From the left hand column, refine your search by format eg books, theses etc

 

Academic / Course Reserves

Prescribed and recommended books in high demand are placed in the part of the library called Academic Reserves. A two hour loan period is available in order to provide access to as many people as possible. Material may not be removed from the library during the day. Currently material may not be borrowed overnight or for weekends. You may search to see what has been placed on academic reserves by clicking on the Course reserves button on the library page. You can search by course code, department, lecturer etc. There are course reserves options per campus so make sure you choose the right campus!

 Be warned! Late material is subject to heavy fines!

 

 

What if a book is not available in the library?

UKZN Library offers an Inter campus library loans and an  Inter-Library Loans (ILL) facility through which books can be borrowed from other UKZN campus libraries and libraries in the country if available. Most times there is no charge for borrowing a book. Copies of journal articles may also be requested and if it cannot be scanned and emailed there is a fee for this.

Set up a 'my library account' from the library webpage and you will be able to submit requests online via the catalogue.

ASK AT THE CIRCULATION DESK for assistance.

On the national system SABINET, the collection SACat indicates what books are in which library in the country.

Google Books Search

Google Book Search

Print and electronic books

 
UKZN Libraries have an extensive collection of print and electronic books. You may borrow print items from the library using your student / staff card and access electronic books via the Library webpage - they are included in the iCatalogue, there is a tab in the middle of the page and you can also access e books under 'Resources'.  Print books are arranged on the shelves in number order.
It is important to use the icatalogue, as your books could be shelved at a range of numbers in the library.

History collections: where are they in the library?

History books are given numbers according to the Dewey Decimal System - these shelf numbers keep related books together by subject on the shelves. You can follow the numbers like a street address to find a family of related books all together on the shelf. The main number for History in general is 900.

The following are broad subject areas for history:

        320   Political History

        330.9 Economic History

        337.7  Environmental History

        900 General History

        907.2 Historiography

        909  World History

        911 Historical atlases

        930 Ancient History

        940 European History 

        950 History of Asia and the Far East

        960 African History 

        968 South African History

        970 North American History

        980 South American History

        990 History of Australasia and other areas

New books

New books

Recommend new books to be ordered by sending the titles to subject librarians.

Useful reference works for History

 Reference books

These are books that are not loanable and may only be used in the library, for example, encyclopaedias and dictionaries. They are identified by the  letter 'R' preceding the dewey number on the spine.

Some online reference books

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica

Some key reference books in print in the UKZN libraries are:

eBooks

The library has a growing collection of electronic books. The iCatalogue will provide the URL where online access is available. Click on the link to be taken to the ebook.
 
Some examples of links to collections of electronic books are listed below:
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