Library

The ORI Library is a branch of the University of Botswana Library supporting research, teaching and learning in the Okavango delta region. Our resources cover a wide range of subject areas on the Okavango delta, wetlands and dry savannah systems.

Are you a researcher or policy maker? Do you need technical reports and government documents on the Okavango Delta for making policy decisions and planning? We have a rich array of resources addressing your needs. If you are a student you can access our core collection of multi-disciplinary print and online journals, books, dissertations, databases onsite or remotely. We also have rare books, San photographs and annotated maps of the Okavango delta from our unique collections of Peter Smith, Richard Bell and Hans Heinz to inspire your next project.

Visit our library for more information or to register and start enjoying our services and a wide range of resources in natural resources management.

Operating hours

  • The library is open Monday to Friday from 0800am - 1615pm
  • We are closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.

Collections

The Library provides access to over +20 000 scholarly full text electronic journals, online and Networked databases, E-books and print books. The core of information these resources is on areas of tourism, Climate change, livelihoods, ecosystem, water resources management as well as information about similar work in other countries. Research outputs from ORI researchers, newspapers and videos. The library also houses the Richard Bell, Peter Smith and Hans Heinz unique collections which comprise of annotated maps, memoires, books and San photographic slides.

Peter Alexander Smith: (1931-1999)

His collection includes books, annotated aerial maps, maps recording details of field trips, observations and local topographic maps of the delta area.

Dr Hans Joachim Heinz: (1917 – 2000)

Dr Heinz who was trained in parasitology came to Botswana in 1961 to study the biology of the San (Basarwa) in the Okwa Valley, Takatshwane and Bere settlements. His work, which is depicted mostly in photographic collection, focuses on documenting the culture and indigenous knowledge of the San in Okavango Delta and Gantsi region.

Dr Richard Bell

Dr Bell Worked as a wildlife biologist throughout Southern Africa for 30 years and was renowned for his knowledge of wildlife monitoring techniques. His collection of diaries is a result of his work in Botswana, Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Inter-library Loans (ILL)

ORI library provides access to information items which are not available on site or need the client to pay before viewing (on unsubscribed databases) by requesting such items through ILL from the main campus library. The items could be provided instantly if they are available or could be further requested from other libraries through the ILL REQUEST system.

Training

​​​​​​Mendeley and EndNote

Training in the referencing tools are offered by the library staff to individuals and groups. Mendeley is an open source academic software you can use to manage, share, read, annotate and cite your research work and network with like-minded scholars. EndNote has pretty much the same features as Mendeley but can only be used within the University of Botswana intranet.

Plagiarism detection

Plagiarism is a term used   to describe a practice that involves knowingly taking and using another person’s work and claiming it, directly or indirectly, as your own. It is one of a number of practices deemed by universities to constitute cheating, or a lack of academic integrity. The library offers plagiarism detection in researchers and students’ work through the use of Blackboard’s SafeAssign software.

Search strategies

Users have to be conversant with search tools to be able to retrieve relevant and reliable sources of their information needs as the Internet is overwhelmed with inaccurate information items. Internet resources have to be evaluated to determine their quality and relevance. The library teaches techniques which could be used to establish the quality of the search and the criteria used to evaluate the relevance of the retrieved materials. 

Links

In pursuit of academic excellence

GET IN TOUCH