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Research Skills: Using the Unisa Library Homepage

A step-by-step approach to ensure that you possess the key skills required to find, retrieve and evaluate information on your research topic.

Introduction

The Unisa Library's homepage contains resources pertaining to research.

Important links on the Library homepage

The library catalogue describes all the Library’s resources and this includes books, journal articles, theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, reports and other material available in print, film, audio or digital formats. You can use the Catalogue to search for items, request article and books, and to view and renew your material. The library catalogue is also available as an APP on Google Play and the App Store.

The Unisa Library subscribes to many valuable electronic subject databases  which all registered students and staff can access. They contain bibliographic references to academic, peer-reviewed journal articles, theses, books, chapters in books and conference papers. Many of the databases also contain full-text articles which can be viewed, printed and downloaded but because they are commercially produced, some of the material may not be available in the library

The Unisa e-Journal Finder is used to identify if a particular journal is available in full text in one of the databases to which the library subscribes. Searches may be done  by journal title or subject.

The library does not subscribe to every electronic journal and therefore may not have the journal you are seeking. In this case, you should use the Article Requests link via the library catalogue to request the item you need.

The Unisa Institutional Repository contains the research output of Unisa.

Workstation Settings

In order to search the electronic information resources and the library’s catalogue, off-campus users need to

  • install the recommended hardware, software and Internet connections,
  • download the required free software, eg. Adobe Reader and RealPlayer, and
  • possibly change some settings on their computers.

Please consult the following LibGuide: Library Technology Support

The solutions we recommend might involve changing some of the security settings on your computer. Please note that the configuration of individual computers and/or Internet browsers may affect their ability to transfer and display information correctly.

It is entirely up to you whether you prefer to save these changes once you have finished searching the Library's information resources.

Off campus access

You will need to register a myUnisa password in order to use any of the library’s online request services and to gain access to its electronic resources. This will enable you to

  • View or print electronic course material
  • Request library material
  • View and renew your library material
  • Read the library’s e-books and e-journals

 You will be prompted to provide your myUnisa password and student number whenever you want to access any of the library’s services or resources.
 

UNABLE TO SIGN IN?

Please use the following contact details if you have any problems or queries about your myUnisa password.