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University of Cape Town Libraries

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UCT Libraries
The Hub in Chancellor Oppenheimer Library
Map
33°57′27″S 18°27′37″E / 33.957571°S 18.460347°E / -33.957571; 18.460347
LocationRondebosch, Cape Town, South Africa
TypeAcademic library
Established1905
Branches7
Collection
Size1,2 million volumes, over 72,000 e-journals, over 28,500 print journals[1]
Other information
DirectorUjala Satgoor
WebsiteUCT Libraries

University of Cape Town Libraries (UCT Libraries) is the library system of the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa.

The library system holds roughly 1.2 million print volumes and over 100,500 print and online journal subscriptions. An Africana research collection can be found in the Special Collections Division and consists of numerous monographs, periodicals, ephemera and multimedia sources.[2]

UCT Libraries are specialists in subject areas including African Studies, Commerce, Centre for Higher Education Development, Engineering and the Built Environment, Government Publications, Health Sciences, Humanities, Law and Science.[3]

Libraries

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An aerial view of the Bolus Herbarium library in the Botany Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town

UCT Libraries comprises eight libraries located across various campuses of UCT. Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, also known as the "Main Library", is located in the centre of UCT's upper campus, serving the Science, Engineering, Commerce and Humanities faculties and the Centre for Higher Education Development. Branch libraries are found near to the faculties which they service.

History

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The founders of the South African College expressed the need for a college library for their students in 1829.[4] The establishment of the college library was made possible through donations from residents of Cape Town and prominent figures in the society of the time.

Professor W.S. Logeman, a multilingual philologist at the then South African College (SAC) was the founder of what became the University Library.[5] From 1905 to 1920, Logeman was appointed Honorary Librarian and became the first chairman of the University Library.[5][6] To commemorate his contribution in the founding of the university's library system, the Logeman Reading Room within the Hiddingh Hall Library was established in 1967.[5]

When Hiddingh Memorial Hall opened in 1911, the ground floor became the home of the College Library, the first purpose-built library of the South African College.[7][4] The Logeman Reading Room opened inside Hiddingh Hall Library in 1967 to commemorate Logeman's contribution to the founding of the university library.[4]

In April 2021 the Special Collections Library was destroyed by a wildfire[8] resulting in the loss of many of the 1,300 collections and over 85,000 books and other items held there.[8]

Repositories

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  • OpenUCT is the University of Cape Town's open access institutional repository. It houses scholarly outputs such as theses, dissertations, journal articles and other open educational resources. The platform was launched in 2014 and managed by UCT Libraries according to UCT's Open Access Policy.[9] The Libraries' Digital Library Services department is involved in a retrospective digitisation project of all UCT theses. The aim is that all UCT's Master's and Doctoral theses, dating back to 1929, will be available via OpenUCT.
  • ZivaHub is the University of Cape Town's institutional open access data repository. It houses scholarly outputs such as books, conference contributions, datasets, figures, journal contributions, media, online resources, posters, preprints, presentations, and software. The platform was launched in 2017 and is managed by UCT Libraries according to UCT's Open Access Policy[9] and UCT's Research Data Management Policy.[10] The Digital Library Services department (DLS),[11] together with the UCT-wide network of Data Stewards that it convenes,[12] actively curates the submissions to ZivaHub. The repository allows researchers to securely store and share research data supporting other scholarly outputs.[13] Ziva is a Shona word meaning "to know".
  • Ibali is the University of Cape Town's institutional showcasing repository for digital collections, hosted by UCT Libraries. Users are invited to explore an abundance of textual and audio-visual materials that reflect the diverse topics of UCT-based research. Ibali runs on a locally hosted Omeka S publishing server, in conjunction with locally installed iiif media and manifest servers. The name "Ibali" comes from the isiXhosa word for "story," encouraging users to experience many different stories while they explore the collections.

Manuscript Collections

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The Manuscripts and Archives Department collects primary source material of historical value for use by the academic community and other researchers. It was housed in the Jagger Reading Room of UCT Libraries which was destroyed by a wildfire on Sunday 18 April 2021. Since the Libraries are still assessing the damage and loss, the library holdings for Special Collections (African Studies Library, Government Publications, Rare Books and Manuscripts) may no longer be accurate.

Political Collections

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Literary Collections

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Architectural Collections

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UCT History Collections

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References

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  1. ^ "About UCT Libraries". UCT Libraries. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  2. ^ "About the Libraries | Libraries". www.lib.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
  3. ^ "UCT Fact sheets UCT Libraries" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  4. ^ a b c "The History of UCT Libraries · Our Story · Ibali". ibali.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  5. ^ a b c Phillips, Howard (1993). University of Cape Town 1918-1949: The Formative Years. Cape Town: UCT in association with the UCT Press. ISBN 9780799214994.
  6. ^ "History of UCT Libraries". University of Cape Town. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Centenary celebration of Hiddingh Hall library | Centre for Curating the Archive". www.cca.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  8. ^ a b Naidoo, Yasantha; Hyman, Aron (18 April 2021). "Two firefighters hospitalised as Cape Town heritage gems including Mostert Mill and UCT library gutted". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 2021-04-18.
  9. ^ a b "OpenUCT Initiative (2011 – 2014) | University of Cape Town". Centre for Higher Education Development. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  10. ^ "Research Data Management policy". Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  11. ^ "Digital Library Services". Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  12. ^ "Data Stewards". Digital Library Services. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
  13. ^ "ZivaHub | re3data.org". www.re3data.org. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
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