The central goal of the ZILS Library is to provide access to learning information and facilitate creation of new knowledge through acquisition, organization and dissemination of knowledge resources and providing for value added services. The strategic use of information technology provides ZILS with an opportunity to provide for our patrons with unlimited resources and services while initiating and adjusting to new circumstances. From its website at https://www.zils.ac.zw/lib/, the library offers access to the following e-resources
These e-resources which are available 24×7, allow multiple concurrent users, are more current than their print counterparts, support distance education, reach to remote and under-served areas and have no constraint of time and location besides saving library space. These sources can be searched, browsed and interlinked with other publications and databases, downloaded and saved in different formats for future use.
Membership is restricted to registered students with valid Institute I.D cards, staff and approved membership(External users)
The ZILS Library is committed to providing all members of the institute community with the best possible access to library materials and services and will make every effort, within the limits of available resources, to meet the library needs of those who have disabilities. However prior contact with the Librarian is encouraged when assistance is anticipated.
The number of resources available via the web is increasing at a rapid rate. It can be difficult to keep track of this ever increasing range of information and indeed to measure the quality of the web resources. The DLC provides online access to scholarly journals and other e-legal resources, through individual and package subscriptions, open source to both current and in many cases back issues. Many e-legal resources can be accessed from home or other off-campus locations using your ZILS network username and password via the Library website at https://www.zils.ac.zw/lib/ Access to digital content is provided in ways that are simply not possible in the traditional environment
The Library has created a detailed website https://www.zils.ac.zw/lib/ to help you make the most of your use of the worldwide web. The Library website provides a comprehensive gateway to a wide range of resources. On the Library website, a number of options are offered:
ZILS eLibrary are our own collection of Electronic Texts. A number of core texts are made available to students.
The ZILS Digital Library Centre offers the institutional online catalogue and that of collections of other prominent legal libraries and selected partners in Africa and the World. In this way researchers are assisted in accesing online resources from other countries.
You can use the catalogue from any of the computers in the Library, from any PC or Laptop with access to the Institute wide network.
Librarians are now being challenged to create new learning tools, and to no longer accept passive learning, but to encourage teaching that actively involves students in the learning process. This engagement demands a high level of information literacy on the part of the students. The Digital Library Centre positions ZILS to support the new outcomes-based pedagogy through Computer Assisted Legal Information Literacy. In the digital library, reference and instruction librarians collaborate with the Institute and information technologists to integrate legal information literacy and active learning into the student curriculum. Teaching and learning through the digital library significantly impacts the quality of education at ZILS and our success in preparing a citizenry equipped for lifelong learning in the digital world.
Under CALIL ZILS also organizes intensive programmes for orientation of new students, in the beginning of each academic year. The librarian regularly addresses the new entrants and explains to them the important role a library plays in higher education, in legal research and technology. Students are introduced to the facilities, rules, resources (print and electronic), and services of the library. Training sessions are also organized whenever a new product or service is introduced.
The library offers a number of current awareness services to inform and alert its users. A weekly/fortnightly list of recent additions of books, pamphlets, reports and faculty publications added to the collection is put on the library website. It displays important information of interest appearing in journals, newspapers, newsletters and other sources. The library also displays announcements of forthcoming conferences and international events, and list of articles of general interest scanned from the current issues of journals received
ZILS library maintains several list services (mailing lists) to cater for different communities of users, e.g. lecturers, students etc. These lists aim to broadcast a message to a large number of people within the institute or beyond the boundaries of the institute. The library makes good use of all these list services to communicate with the users particularly when a new e-resource is introduced or a service is launched. It is an extremely important medium to market library resources and services.
ZILS library also has several news groups which can be subscribed to by users depending upon their area of work and interest. The library has created a newsgroup where information about latest happenings as well as new services and sources is posted for wider dissemination. It also allows subscribers (users) to post their suggestions/feedback. All posting on this newsgroup are regularly monitored by the librarian to take follow up action. The library shall be soon launching a “Library Blog” to widely broadcast new developments and resources so that users can subscribe and access the relevant information quickly.
The library uses its website optimally to provide appropriate instructions so that users are able to use various resources and services effectively. A link to FAQs attempts to answer general queries that users normally ask. The other web-based-instruction provided is the Virtual Reference Desk/ Ask your Librarian. All our users as well as others can ask any question related to the library using the link “Ask your Librarian” through our website. This link serves as a virtual reference desk.
The library organizes training sessions and workshops for the users whenever a new product database or service is introduced. These programmes include presentations, demonstrations and exhibitions, and are organized at the institute level as well as at departmental level depending on the relevance and need. Collaboration with other libraries -Zimbabwe Law Libraries
Library partnerships are an important asset to any academic establishment. As a result ZILS library currently works with local law libraries, Zimbabwe Law Libraries Consortium (ZILLCO) to provide for increased access to information. As an active member of the Zimbabwe Law Libraries Consortium (ZILLCO), ZILS library realizes that the consortium approach is extremely beneficial as it allows leveraging collective strength of member libraries to negotiate for better deals with the publishers and database producers. The participating libraries have also been extending their collaboration to organize and undertake several programmes for mutual benefits including cross-sharing of their resources using the platform of the consortium.
ZILS library is also desirous to have future collaboration with regional and international digital libraries. To this end, the possibility for partnerships in the field of scholarly publishing clearly exists