The Documentation Unit (DU), also known as the library, is as old as the Centre for Social Research itself. It has a collection of over 12000 items which includes a collection of ‘Malawiana’ books, journals, reports and documents.  The documents in the DU are a culmination of the various research projects carried out by CSR team of researchers as well as other research partners. Some documents are donated by other libraries through inter-library co-operation.

The DU also stocks a number of Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) theses. It also stocks past issues of both daily and weekend newspapers. Bound newspapers date back from January 2013.

The DU’s clientele includes researchers, academics, graduate and postgraduate students and the general public. Consultation is free.

The DU uses Koha in its operations. The DU migrated from the card catalogue to Koha in order to provide an efficient service to its clientele.

The DU operates from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.