According to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, every person has the right to access information in order to apply it for his own needs.

The Department of Library Services (i.e. the UP library) supports the principle of man being an autonomous person who is dependent on information to make meaningful decisions. As such man uses and adapts information.

The following values apply:

The freedom to obtain information which implies the free flow of and free access to information. It also implies that the Department of Library Services undertakes to contribute to the accessibility of information by supporting value added processes such as the identification, organization and preservation of information, regardless of the form in which the information may appear. This gives the user the opportunity to make his choices from all the information at his disposal.

The Department of Library Services acknowledges:

• The academic and intellectual freedom of the individual which means that there is no censorship
• That the privacy of the individual will be respected
• That the confidentiality with regard to personal information will be maintained
• That the clients will be bona fide students or researchers of the University of Pretoria
• That other clients can include formal partner institutions of the University of Pretoria

The Department of Library Services and clients also acknowledge our social responsibility towards the community which implies that we will, to the best of our ability and with the resources available to us, make information accessible and preserve documents. This is vested in the value of communicability which accentuates mutual respect and caring for each other. This implies that each one of us is involved in the welfare of another and will not be the cause, by either damaging or alienating information, that information is not available.

The other role player, the client, is expected to undertake the following when making use of the services and facilities of the Department of Library Services:

• Services and facilities will not be abused
• Good relations and understanding will be maintained with fellow users
• Refrain from making noise
• Honesty and transparency in communication with personnel and fellow users will be maintained
• When transgressing the prescribed code of conduct, the transgressor will be subjected to the monitoring channels created for transgressors