MZUZU UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

AN INDUSTRIAL ATTACHMENT REPORT AT CHANCELLOR COLLEGE LIBRARY

BY

BERNADETTE MANDOLOMA (BLIS/18/17)

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

MZUZU UNIVERSITY

© MAY, 2022
DEDICATION
The internee would like to dedicate this work Grace Nyirenda.

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Table of Contents
DEDICATION................................................................................................................................................2
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................................................4
1.0 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................6
1.1 About University of Malawi..................................................................................................................6
1.1.1 University of Malawi Library......................................................................................................7
1.1.3 Library Membership and borrowing..........................................................................................7
1.1.4 Library Rules...............................................................................................................................7
1.1.5 Offences.....................................................................................................................................8
1.1.6 Penalties.....................................................................................................................................8
2.0 General and Specific Objectives...........................................................................................................8
2.1 General Objectives................................................................................................................................8
2.1.2 Specific Objectives.........................................................................................................................9
2.3 Duration of Work Placement................................................................................................................9
2.4 Structure of the Department and Sections..........................................................................................9
2.4.1 Week One (14th- 18th April, 2021) Issue Counter.......................................................................9
2.4.2 Week two (21st-25th April 2022) Reserve counter....................................................................11
2.4.3 Week three (28th March- 1st April) Periodicals.........................................................................12
2.4.4 Week Four (4th- 8th April 2022) Malawiana/Special Collections..............................................13
2.4.5 Week four (11th-15th April, 2022) Acquisition Section.............................................................14
2.4.6 Week five and six (18th- 29thApril, 2022) Cataloguing section................................................15
2.4.7 Week seven (2nd-6th March 2022) Security...............................................................................17
3.0 General technology used....................................................................................................................18
4.0 Conditions of Service..........................................................................................................................18
5.0 Challenges...........................................................................................................................................18
6.0 conclusion...........................................................................................................................................20

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ID: Identity Card
IFLA: International Federation of Library Association and Institution
IR: Institutional Repository
LIS: Library and Information Science

LCC: Library of Congress Catalogue

LS: Library Solution

MALICO: Malawi Library and Information Consortium

OPAC: Online Public Access Catalogue

UN: United Nation

UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

UNIMA: University of Malawi

SAS: Software as a Service

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Hierarchy of UNIMA Library

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
Industrial attachments are part and parcel of every library and information science student to
undergo as part of the fulfilment for the award of the degree in Library and Information Science
(LIS). Industrial attachments are incorporated in the LIS curriculum to help expose students to
demand and challenges of the work place, gain practical experience, work ethics, acquire self-
reliance skills and ultimately contribute to local industry. The core reason behind the placement
of industrial attachments to students is to allow them to integrate classroom theories and real-
world experience.
This report is therefore written to inform the department about the internship at University of
Malawi which was scheduled from 14th March 2022 to 6th May 2022. The report is written to
explain possible information about the operations, tasks, and the scope of work that the intern
was assigned and required to do during the entire internship period at UNIMA Library.

1.1 About University of Malawi

University of Malawi is found in Malawi, a small country in Southern Africa that shares borders
with Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. University of Malawi was once named Chancellor
College of Malawi (CHANCO) and was one of the constituent colleges of the University of
Malawi, constituting of The Malawi Polytechnic, Kamuzu College of Nursing, Bunda College of
Agriculture and College of Medicine. The idea that Malawi should have a University was first
conceived soon after the country got its independence in 1964. In October 1964, the University
of Malawi was founded under the University of Malawi (Provisional Council) Act which was
later replaced by the University of Malawi Act of 1974. The University opened its doors in 1965.
CHANCO is the main campus and largest constituent of the University of Malawi with over 400
members of staff and over 3000 students. The college has five faculties: Humanities, Science,
Law, Social Science, and Education that offer various degrees at both undergraduate and
graduate levels. In addition, the University of Malawi has Research Centres namely Centre for
Social Research; Centre for Language Studies; Centre for Educational Research and Training;
Gender Studies Unit; College of Medicine Research Centre; Nursing, Midwifery and Health
Sciences Research Centre; Management Development Centre; Continuing Education Centre;

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Water Sanitation, Health and Technology Development Centre; Transport Technology Transfer
Centre; and Commercial Technical Services Centre.
1.1.1 University of Malawi Library
University of Malawi Library was opened on 6th October 1965. The library has made great
strides over the years growing in both collections and infrastructure. The growth has seen it
moving from a 9, 000 square feet building in 1969 with a seating capacity of only 150 students at
the old Chichiri Campus in Blantyre to the present three-story building with 770 reader places at
the present Chirunga Campus in Zomba. The collection has also grown tremendously. In 1969,
the book stock at the old Chichiri Campus comprised only 42, 121 volumes but had by 2008 shot
up to 280, 000. Other collections held by the library include 1, 027 microfilms, 7, 754 slides, 2,
269 microfiche, 170 tapes (cassettes, reel to reel and video), a few gramophone records, and 50
CD ROM's. The library currently subscribes to 39 e-journals through the Malawi Library
Consortium (MALICO), 54 print journals from its resources, and receives 15-20. The library
normally acquires the materials through donations (Solicited and unsolicited), purchases and
subscriptions.
1.1.3 Library Membership and borrowing
Below is a list of members who are eligible to borrow library books:

a) All registered students of UNIMA Commissionaires

b) All senior staff and their spouses of UNIMA.
c) Non-members of the UNIMA who make an application to the College Librarian.
d) Authorized borrowers are allowed to borrow as follows:
a. Academic and administrative: 20 books either from general collection or
reserve.
b. Students: 8 books from general collection and 2 books from reserve
section.
c. External Users: 5 books from general collection only.
d. Reference books may not be removed from the library
1.1.4 Library Rules
The library has a couple of rules some of which are as follows;
a) Always Present an ID when entering the library
b) Always have bags checked before and after use of the library at the entrance

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 c) Observe UNIMA Covid-19 protocols.
d) Use of headsets at the counter is prohibited
e) Hats are not allowed to be worn in the library
f) Silence should be observed in the library at all times.
g) Group discussion is only permitted at Chikanda section
h) Food items and drinks are not allowed
i) Booking a reading space is not allowed.
j) Do not use faulty electrical cables.
k) Do not move furniture around.
1.1.5 Offences
Below are some of the offences in the library;

a) Mutilating, marking and disfiguring library material.

b) Making noise in the library or acting in a manner that disturbs other library users.
c) Failure to return borrowed material on due dates.
d) Loss of borrowed material.
1.1.6 Penalties
There are many penalties that follow for any misconduct of the library materials, among them
are;
a) Payment of overdue fines.
b) Payment for the full cost of replacing the items, including handling charges.
c) Appearing at the college disciplinary committee.
d) Possible dismissal from the university
e) Withdraw of library membership.

2.0 General and Specific Objectives

The LIS internship helps provide an opportunity for students to apply the theoretical to the actual
work environment so as to obtain a vision of the library beyond the classroom. The following are
the general and specific objectives of the entire Industrial Attachment exercise.

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2.1 General Objectives
The main objective of this activity was for the intern to put into practice the various theories,
skills and knowledge acquired through the learning process and to have real industrial world
experience in readiness for lifelong contribution to the profession through employment.

2.1.2 Specific Objectives

 To Prepare LIS students with experience of professional assessment thus knowledge and
competence, ability to work with colleagues and mandate in the accomplishment of given
task.
 To Provide LIS students with an opportunity to work with experienced librarians and
participate in the everyday decision-making and problem-solving process.
 To enable LIS students to explore their interest in the field of librarianship.
 To familiarise the student with the basic fundamental and important policies of an
academic librarianship.

2.3 Duration of Work Placement

The internee started her internship programme with University of Malawi Library on 14 th March,
2022 and finished on 6th May, 2022. The intern worked for five days per week, which is from
Monday to Friday (08:00 AM -4:00 PM). Furthermore, the intern was arriving at half past seven
every morning to shelve books to aid easy retrieval.

2.4 Structure of the Department and Sections

The library is structured hierarchically starting with the college librarian on top of the
management followed by ICT officer, Reader’s service librarian, Technical services librarian,
Acquisition librarian, Special collection librarians, Library assistants and Security personnel.
University of Malawi library has seven sections, these includes; Acquisition section, Cataloguing
section, Issue counter, Reserve counter, Malawiana /Special collections section, Periodicals
section and Security section.
2.4.1 Week One (14th- 18th April, 2021) Issue Counter
The intern spent one week in this section which companies and circulate books and other
materials that are in the open shelves. The Issue counter uses a system called Library Solution
Circulation system to check in and out library materials or to check long overdue or lost

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materials and renewal of materials. Students use their respective IDs to borrow books on this
section but they may also use pockets lending books and other materials when the system is
down. In addition to that, the section hosts study carrels keys for postgraduate students. Students
are allowed to borrow a maximum of eight books for a period of four weeks. In this section,
borrower’s pockets are created and also the handling payment of fines. After the books have
been removed from the shelves by users they are collected and placed at the sorting shelf which
makes it easy to locate all unsorted books and sort them back in the shelves using the LC. This
section decides on what new materials should be sent to reserve collection based on the
usefulness and high demands placed on the materials and also based on recommendations made
by lecturers and that will remain at open shelves. The section is entitled to charge k200 per hour
as overdue fine for reserve material, k200 per day for open shelve material and k300 per lost
pocket.

The internee performed the following duties:

a) check in and out library materials or to check long overdue or lost materials and renewal
of materials using LSCS
b) User assistance involving the interaction with users who came on the counter,
Conducting check out related processes such as stamping the return date of the just
checked out materials in the date label, removing the book cards from book pockets and
putting them into the readers’ backup pockets.
c) Conducting check in related processes such as cancelling the return date in the date label
for the just checked in materials, removing the book card from readers’ backup pockets
and putting them back into the book pockets.
d) Registering new users in the LS Circulation.
e) Adding new materials in the LS Circulation.
f) Administering the study carrels’ keys to postgraduate students whilst ensuring that they
fill in following information in study carrels register: name of the borrower; study carrel
key number; time out; time in; and their signatures.
g) Filing readers’ backup pockets alphabetically in trays alphabetically.
h) Wedding pockets of students who finished their studies.

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 i) Creation of pockets for new library users and replacing the lost pockets using the
template in the Microsoft Excel.
j) Processing the pockets by stamping the circle stamp information inside the pocket.
k) Writing the receipt note of overdue and pocket replacement fees to be paid at the
Secretary of the College Librarian.
l) Shelving books.

The following were technologies and materials were used in this section

a) Computers were used to operate Library Solution circulation system

b) Computers were used to access the OPAC.
c) Alphabet sorter.
d) Barcode reader
e) Backup readers’ pockets.
f) Trays for readers’ backup pockets

2.4.2 Week two (21st-25th April 2022) Reserve counter

The internee spent a week at the reserve counter which is the busiest section and houses books
that are mostly on high demand and needed by the users as the books are assigned by the
lecturers basing on the relevance to the programs being offered at the University. This section is
headed by the readers service librarian The collection on this counter is arranged alphabetically
with title or author as main entry. The users bring their pocket and respective ID which they use
to borrow or book a maximum of two books for two hours within the library from 8:00am to
4:30pm and for overnight from 4:30 pm and returned before 11:00 am, the following day. The
books cards are put inside the reader’s pockets. The users fill in booking slips by providing the
registration number The internee was tasked with interacting with users who came on the
counter, lending books and other materials to users. And shelving books. The book cards are
inserted in the readers’ pockets. The users fill in booking slips by providing their registration
number, author and title of the material, and the time the material is required. The books have no
pockets since they are only meant to be used inside and the book cards are prepared at the
counter not at the cataloguing section. The book cards for the current day and the overnight are

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filed alphabetically in different trays. The book cards with readers’ pockets for overnight beyond
11:00 am of the current day are sent to Issue counter where they charge overdue fines per hour
(Mk200). The materials with the exhausted date labels or no space to stamp the return date for
overnight are put new date labels. The date labels for reserve materials are different from date
labels for materials available at open shelves. The intern performed the following duties

a) User assistance involving interaction with users who came on the counter.
b) Lending books and other materials to users.
c) Alphabetical filing of book cards with readers’ pockets in the circulation tray.
d) Handling bookings.
e) Sending the overdue book cards with readers’ pockets to Issue counter.
f) Preparing book cards for new materials
g) Shelving books.

The following were the Technology and materials used:

a) Computers were used to access the OPAC.

b) Trays for arranging book cards in the readers’ pockets
c) Booking slips
d) Reserve materials’ date labels

2.4.3 Week three (28th March- 1st April) Periodicals

The internee spent a week in this section headed by the Technical Service Librarian. The section
houses newspapers, magazines and journals. Newspapers in this section are issued daily. The
daily times, the nation and the Malawi news are some of the main newspapers available in this
section. Every day, the library receives six newspapers; three Nation papers and three Times
papers. When the newspapers are delivered at the Porters lodge, they are collected and stamped
on each page. Two newspapers (one Nation and one Times) are sent to the office of the secretary
of the College Librarian pinned with a circulation slip of senior staff on each paper. These two
papers are meant for the College Librarian and the Heads of sections only. Two other
newspapers are left at the desk found on the reading space meant to be used by students only.
The remaining two papers are left at the counter of the section to be used by all other library
staff. All materials including the newspapers are meant to be used within the library but may be
taken out upon special arrangements. In this case, the user is required to fill a form that shall

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grant permission to take out the material from the library. When a borrower comes to borrow a
material, they fill information such as date, the name of the borrower and registration number,
time taken out and time taken in, and the signature on the circulation form. The circulation forms
are used to come up with statistics on what materials are most used. It is also on this section that
users may also be referred to the electronic journals that the college subscribes to through
MALICO. Students access these e-journals through computers or their phones connected to the
library network. For easy searching of electronic journals, the intern needed to be familiar with
the internet advanced searching skills which include: Beta searching, proximity searching and
wild card. The section is also tasked with making monthly bounds of newspapers. The Intern
perfumed the following duties

a) User assistance involving interaction with users who came on the counter.
b) Lending journals, magazines and newspapers to users.
c) Daily collection of newspapers from Porters Lodge.
d) Stamping of new delivered newspaper.
e) Daily shelving of newspapers.
f) Orderly arrangements of pages of newspapers.

The following Technology and materials were used:

a) Computers were used to access electronic journals.

b) Computers were used to access the OPAC.
c) Every day’s circulation forms.
d) External use forms.

2.4.4 Week Four (4th- 8th April 2022) Malawiana/Special Collections

The internee spent a week in this section this, headed by the Special collection librarian. This
section houses library materials such as books, bound newspapers, magazines, parliament
gazette, dissertation and past papers. The library materials are mostly by Malawian authors,
materials about Malawi or donations from UN, UNESCO, other international organisations and
individuals. Most books and magazines are arranged using the LCCN and a few according to
donors. All book related materials have a prefix of MAL above the class mark. Newspapers are
arranged by author and year while dissertations are given numbers. The dissertations have class
mark consisting the MAL for Malawiana collection, THE for thesis, the thesis number, the first

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three letters of author and the year of publication. The section has indexes database that is used
to help user know dissertations available in the section. Users are required to present an ID and
mainly use library pocket and library materials are borrowed out for a period of two hours. The
materials have book cards same as book cards for reserve materials and also the user can borrow
maximum of two materials since each user has two pockets only. The filing in the tray is also
same as the book cards inside readers’ pockets are placed alphabetically. There is an exception
for the material to be used outside the library where the borrower is a special needs student and
also when the materials are to be used in a classroom. These exceptions require the written
permission from Special Collection Librarian so that the security personnel allow the user to take
out the material. The intern performed the following duties:

g) User assistance involving interaction with users who came on the counter.
h) Lending past papers and bound newspapers to users.
i) Alphabetical filing of book pockets with readers’ pockets in the tray.
j) Stamping of Malawiana new collections.
k) Shelving Malawiana collection.
l) Data entry of new Malawiana materials.
m) Indexing new submitted thesis and adding the indexes into the thesis
database.
n) Preparing book cards for new materials.

The following Technology and materials were used:

a) Computers were used to access dissertation indexes.

b) Computers were used to access the OPAC.
c) Computers were used to create indexes and add them into the indexes
database.
d) Trays

2.4.5 Week four (11th-15th April, 2022) Acquisition Section

Acquisition Librarian is the head of the acquisition section. This is the first section that deals
with all new and unprocessed information materials such as books, journals and students’
dissertations. The internee spent one week in this section which is also responsible for ordering

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books as requested by faculty members. The section also deals with the publishers who provide
the publishers catalogues that help the library to know what the publishers has. A desiderata list
is made which is sent to the publishers to purchase the required books. Some books are donated
to the library by well-wishers such as the Book Aid International. When books have arrived, they
are stamped with three different stamps for easy identification and ownership. The first two
stamps (circle and rectangle stamps) indicate the ownership of the book (University of Malawi).
The circle stamp is stamped inside the book on the title page, while the rectangle stamp is
stamped several times on different pages inside the book. The third stamp is the square stamp
(accession stamp) and it is stamped on the copyright page. The books are also assigned an
accession number that is stamped on the book card, date label, square stamp and on record slip.
The accession number stamped on the record slips is a record stored at the acquisition section as
evidence of each book processed. The books are then sent to the cataloguing section for further
processing the returned to the acquisition section for verification and the books details are
recorded in Microsoft Excel. The intern perfumed the following duties;

a) Stamping new information books

b) Filing all the record slips.
c) Assigning accession numbers.
d) Data entry of information on new books in Microsoft Excel.

The following technologies and materials were used:

a) Computers were used to enter data in Microsoft Excel.

b) Stamps (Circle, Rectangular and Square)
c) Accessioning machine
d) Record suggestion slips
e) Book pockets
f) Date labels

2.4.6 Week five and six (18th- 29thApril, 2022) Cataloguing section
Also known as the technical section, this section is works hand in hand with the acquisition
section in the processing of books and headed by the technical service Librarian. The intern spent
two weeks in this section, the section books are catalogued to make it easy for users to easy

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retrieve the required information from the library. This involves mostly copy catalogue using
Library of Congress website then giving each information material a barcode code and adding
the book to the Library Solution (LS) software with other details such as the name of author (if
available), title, accession number, number of copies and indication where the material will be
found whether on the reserve counter, issue counter, periodicals or special collections. The book
is later assigned a book card and the class mark is placed on the spine of the book for easy
shelving. It is also essential to note that for cataloguing to be effective the books must be
shelved, this helps the catalogue to be perfectly reflected in the shelves. The books are then sent
to the Acquisition Section for further verification. The intern perfumed the following duties:

a) Searching local database for available books.

b) Assigning barcodes to each book.
c) Data entry of barcode number and call number in the LS.
d) Protecting the barcodes using barcodes protectors.
e) Writing the class marks in the bottom segment of a square stamp.
f) Adding the 049 field in the MARC 21 record copied from Library of
Congress into LS which holds information such as item information,
source information and shelving information.
g) Data entry of collection code e.g. General collection, Law collection and
Malawian collection for library materials in the LS database.
h) Adding the prefix for reference books and special collection books e.g.
MAL for Malawiana and REF for reference.
i) Data entry of barcode number, call number, condition of the material and
copy number for materials with more than one copy in the LS.
j) Creation of book cards using Microsoft Publisher
k) Creation of class marks using Microsoft Word.
l) Spine labelling.
m) Crosschecking books for quality control.
n) Reprocessing erroneous books.

The following Technology and materials were used:

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 a) Computers were used to access the LS to search for or add bibliographic
details of books.
b) Computers were used to access other database for copy cataloguing via the
internet.
c) Computers were used to create book cards and class marks.
d) Barcode
e) Barcode protectors

2.4.7 Week seven (2nd-6th March 2022) Security

The intern spent a week in this section headed by Readers Service Librarian. The section ensures
that the library is used by the authorised users only where students show their respective IDs
when entering. The external users are given the numbers to be used when entering the library.
The section checks for faulty electronic appliances, computer and phone chargers. The faulty
items are left at the entrance and taken by their owners when they are leaving the library. The
section prevents the user from entering the library with their hats on. The section also checks
materials to ensure that the library materials leave the library with the authorisation features such
as the correct return date on the date labels and written permissions from the heads of the section
for the materials meant to be used within the library. The security personnel conduct library
patrols to ensure that there are no rules being broken by users. The library users found wearing
hats and using faulty items are charged fines. The section also checks the bags to ensure they
only contain water and all other food and drinks are left at the entrance. This section also is
mandated to make sure that every library staff and cleaning personnel write a name and time for
entering the library in the time book. Apart from managing the library entrance, the section also
manages the security of the ICT and Resource room lab one and the Special needs lab. The
personnel on duty checks the equipment available in the labs at the beginning of every shift and
write the report in the situation book. They also check what electronics are brought by users into
the lab and write them in the occurrence book so that when the user wants to leave the lab, one
will only go out with what he/she had brought in. the intern perfumed the following duties:

a) Checking bags for faulty electronic appliances and authorisation features

on the books.

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 b) Conducting the library patrols.
c) Checking the situation of the labs at the beginning of the shift.
d) Managing the time book, occurrence book and situation book.
e) Recording what users have brought to the lab in the occurrence book.
f) Keeping users’ food and drinks at the entrance’s lockers.
g) Escorting the guests of library staff to their offices upon their approval.

The following materials were used

a) Time book
b) Occurrence book
c) Situation book

3.0 General technology used

University of Malawi Library is a hybrid library which uses the Library Solution automated
system and library pockets. The Library Solution (LS) is a proprietary software that was
developed by the International Federation of Library Association and Institution (IFLA) which
handles most of the processing of the library. It has several interfaces that allows it to be used in
different section of the library. For example, the interface of LS in the cataloguing section is
different with that of the issue counter though it is the same software. The library uses cloud
computing to access the software as a service (SAS). The library also uses the greenstone
software for digitisation though current the digitising machine is now faulty.

4.0 Conditions of Service

Below were the conditions of service within CHANCO library. Both conditions under which the
intern worked for and those which were not appropriate to the intern.

a) The intern was expected to dress decently, in office attire during the working hours from
Monday to Friday.
b) The intern was not an employee of University of Malawi Library and as such the
university was not obliged to pay for any of the services that he/she rendered during the
entire internship period.
c) The intern was supposed to report at the workplace by 7:30am for shelving.

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 d) The intern was supervised by the assigned library assistant and that he was to report to
the authorities on the conduct of the intern.

5.0 Challenges
In any organisation challenges are inevitable and they affect the institution as a whole and the
employees too. Therefore, the intern observed some challenges faced by the library and
challenges faced the intern himself in the library. Firstly, the intern observed the following
challenges the library face;

a) The library is not conducive for users with mobility problems as it only has stairs to
be used from one floor to the other, does not have ramps and the elevator is faulty.
b) Some essential library materials were severely damaged or some pages mutilated
making them unusable.
c) A lot of old outdated books and journals on the reserve counter section and
periodicals section respectively.
d) The OPAC bibliographic records are out of date hence does not give a true reflection
of the library collection.
e) The LS system failed to clear overdue balances of some students who already paid
their fines. This made them fail to access their examinations results from their
student’s portal.
f) The college does not currently have an institutional repository this means that users
have to wait for a particular hardcopy to be accessed one at the time which if it is
accessible in the institutional repository, it may be accessed by multiple users at the
same time.
g) The library faces a challenge in accessing past papers. That is, the library has to make
request for the papers which takes time. This affect the students at large as they only
access old past papers.
h) The digitisation process of dissertations and past papers was stops as the digitisation
machine had an electrical fault.

Secondly, the intern faced the following challenges;

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a) The library staff were working in shifts, this was a challenge to the internee as he
meet different staff members whom some would not properly explain what happens
in a particular section.
b) The library had low patronage since the students were going on holiday from 8 th of
April 2022, thus making duration in some section not effective. For example, when
the internee was on the counters, she barely met users as they did not come in the
library.
c) Some books with different title published by Kachele series had similar ISBN
numbers, this was a challenge to the internee as the system recorded the different
books as though they were similar.
d) Blackouts was a challenge to the internee mostly at the cataloguing section. Though
the college has a generator but all the unsaved work was lost as the computers
shutdown and the generator turned on. This meant one had to switch on the computer
and start all over, working on the unsaved work.

For effective delivery of services to its library patrons, it is required of UNIMA library
management to endorse the following recommendations;

a) The library has to update its OPAC records to match with the current collection.
b) The library should purchase gloves, dustcoats and masks for the acquisitions section
as they deal with old and dusty materials often.
c) The library should consider employing more personnel in the acquisitions department
d) The library must work on having an IR.
e) The library must lease with the faculties in order for them to be submitting the past
papers in a timely manner.
f) The library should try to use other library operation software that can has few system
failures.
g) The library should buy or rent a digitising machine or service to increase its digital
content.
h) The implementation of surveillance cameras to capture students who are found
damaging or mutilating books.

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6.0 conclusion
In a nutshell, the entire internship period the intern has learnt many lessons and has accumulated
a remarkable experience through the application of the various Library and Information Science
(LIS) knowledge and theories into practical aspects when executing his duties at University of
Malawi library. The report has detailed the institutional background and its library rules and
regulations, the various sections of the library, technologies used, conditions of service,
challenges and recommendations

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