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Using the Library
The libraries are available as study spaces and as sources of information and resources for your studies and research. You can locate books and other items by browsing the collection or searching the catalogue. When using the catalogue it is useful to know the title, author or subject of the book you are looking for. You can search the online catalogue via the computers in the library, or by using the card catalogue. Ask the library staff to show you how to search .
The library is organised using the Dewey Decimal System, which puts books of a similar subject matter together. When you search the catalogue, the call number tells you which collection the item is found in, the Dewey Decimal number indicates the subject, and the three letters indicate the first three letters of the author’s surname.
For example, if you were looking for: A simplified dictionary of modern Samoan, the catalogue record would tell you to find the book at the following location: SAM 499.403 ALL. SAM tells us the book is found in the Samoan collection. 449.403 is the Dewey Decimal number, which tells us all Samoan dictionaries will be found together at 449.403, and ALL is the first three letters of the author’s surname.
REF= Reference collection
RES= Reserve collection [located behind desk]
GEN [or nothing] = General Non Fiction
LAW = Law collection
PAC = Pacific collection
SAM = Samoan collection
F= Fiction collection
JNF= Junior Non Fiction
Who may use the library?
All staff and students of NUS (from hillside and ocean-side) may borrow from both libraries using their ID card.
Members of the public, lawyers and external researchers are welcome to use material within the libraries and request information from staff. If members of the public, researchers, or members of the legal community wish to borrow items, they must pay an annual subscription fee of $60 per annum.
School students may use the libraries after school hours, but must ask permission from staff.
Library Tours
Orientation tours are conducted at the start of each year for all new students. Tours at other times of the year can be arranged by making a request with the University Librarian.
Library Catalogue
The NUS libraries have two catalogues, a manual card catalogue, and an online catalogue.
Genie Library Management Software for the Online Public: Access Catalogue
Library Rules
The National University of Samoa Library Rules are published annually in the NUS Calendar:
- Fines will be charged for books and other items returned after the due date.
- No one may speak loudly in the formal reading and study area of the libraries.
- In the computer, catalogue and reference areas, quiet conversation is permitted for the purpose of seeking assistance or consulting the catalogues.
- No person shall create any unnecessary noise or disturbance, or behave in a disorderly or improper manner in the libraries.
- No person shall deliberately or carelessly mutilate, deface or misplace any library material or equipment.
- No person shall sing loudly, joke, or consume food, chewing gums or bring bottles of water or cans of drinks in the libraries.
- Except with the prior authorisation of the University Librarian, no person shall distribute or post any notices in the libraries.
- No person shall bring into the library any school bags. Please leave your bag behind the counter with the staff when you enter the library.
- All persons shall, when requested by a library staff member, present for inspection their folders and belongings when they leave the library.
- Failure to conform with the above rules will result in the loss of a person’s borrowing rights, at the discretion of the University Librarian.
