Frequently Asked Questions

The ASC library has information about all African countries but the emphasis is on Africa south of the Sahara.

The collection focuses on socioeconomic, political and constitutional developments. There is also a wide selection of books devoted to anthropology, sociology, law, religion, philosophy, linguistics, literature, art, women's studies, education and history.

Most of the books and materials are either in English or French but publications in other western languages, for example Dutch, German and Portuguese, are also available, as are materials in Afrikaans. The library is trying to add to the collection as many publications as possible that have been published in Africa itself.

Freely accessible online information about Africa can be found at Connecting-Africa and via free, Africa related, e-journals. Wikipedia features various articles on African topics.

Yes, access to the ASC library catalogue is freely available to everyone. Choose Library - Catalogue search - English or Nederlands

If you want to link to the ASC catalogue from your website, you can use the following web address:
http://opc4-ascl.pica.nl/DB=3/LNG=EN/

The books are not arranged by subject or geographical region. When they first come in, they are given the next number available and are placed on the shelves in numerical order, not by subject. The book's shelf number can be found in the title description in the catalogue.

Yes, the catalogue includes the titles of approximately 80,000 articles (often incl. abstracts). If you wish to restrict your search in the ASC catalogue to articles only, choose the tab "Advanced" in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. A search form will appear. Select "Articles" in the section "material selection" at the bottom of the screen. When you have completed the rest of the form, click on "search".

You can search the catalogue in a number of different ways by selecting a search option from the drop-down menu above the search field. Besides the well-known way of searching with "word(s) from the title" or the author's name, you can also search in the ASC catalogue with "words from [the] abstract". Most books and articles have an abstract. By selecting "all words" you get to search in all fields - a bit like searching with Google.

If you are looking for titles on a specific subject, use the option "ASC subject heading (containing)" or "ASC subject heading (exact)" together with terms from the African Studies Thesaurus. You can consult the Thesaurus by clicking on the tab "Thesaurus" in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. The option "ASC subject heading (containing)" searches for all subject headings containing the term you have entered, e.g. if you have typed in "women" you will retrieve titles with the subject heading "women" as well as titles with the subject heading "women's work", "women's rights", "elderly women", etc. The option "ASC subject heading (exact)", on the other hand, retrieves only titles with the exact subject heading "women". This option is preferable for precise searching and retrieval.

No, the books and journals are on open shelves in the library and you can select your own materials.

Yes, it is possible to print a list of books or to download them onto a USB-stick in the library. You can also put together your own list of titles and send it by email.

To put together a list: http://opc4-ascl.pica.nl

• click on the title that you want to include on the list;
• click on the symbol "save info" at the left-hand side of the page;
• click on "myshelf" at the bottom of the page;
• click on "shortlist" to choose another title and click again on "save info" and "myshelf";
• when you have a list of titles, click on "my shelf" at the top of the page;
• click on the symbol "save info" at the left-hand side of the page;
• fill in your email address and click on "email".

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During the academic year (September - June) the library has extra opening hours on Monday evenings until 8 p.m.

Yes, this is definitely possible. If it is a book that fits into the ASC's collection then the library will consider purchasing it. You can give suggestions to the staff at the information desk, or contact them by email: asccollect@ascleiden.nl. We welcome suggestions but cannot guarantee that we will be able to honor all of them.

Yes. We have on paper recent volumes of Die Burger, Mail & Guardian, The Zimbabwean and L'Opinion. Back files (as of 1970, 1995, 2005 and 1969 respectively) are available on microfiche. Also available on microfiche: Star (1972-1999), SA Times (1995-2008), Republikein (1977-1998) and microfiches of several volumes of 40 other newspapers.