Use and service
Direct links: Loaning media
Search and order | BSB DISCOVER! |
Information overview | Loaning media |
Service opening hours and further information | Media collection, media return |
Do you need a library card? | Registration |
The majority of items belonging to the Asian collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is kept in stacks that are not directly accessible. To obtain books and media for home loan, these items need to be ordered using BSB DISCOVER!.
For this purpose you need a library card which can be requested in person at the library's registration office.
Ordered media are available for collection after 2 to 3 working days on average. Those for home lending can be collected in the book collection area on the ground floor.
Please note that there are also parts of the collection which cannot be ordered for home loan. Particularly valuable works or books particularly worth protecting, predominantly for reasons of conservation, for example, can be consulted in the reading rooms only.
Further services:
You cannot collect the ordered items from the library?
Delivery to your home by mail (service at a fee)
The desired literature is not available in Munich? You need a book (or other item) from the Asian collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, but you do not live in Munich?
Interlibrary loan (service at a fee)
Booking a working place
Prior reservation of a working place is required for every visit to the reading room.
Further information on booking a working place in a reading room
To the date selection for the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
Contact East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
Phone | +49 89 28638-2361 |
Online inquiry service | Online form |
Direct links: East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
Shelving system of the reference library | System |
Finding the reading room collection in the catalogue | BSB DISCOVER! |
East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
Reference library on Asia
The works from the reference library on Asia can be used immediately and without prior order. The reference library can be found at the back of the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room. The reference library on Asia (focusing on east Asia) encompasses general and special reference works in Asian languages, but also in German, English or French. The total of around 10,000 volumes is shelved in accordance with countries and partly in accordance with language groups, and within these, in accordance with subject-related subdivisions. The literature on Buddhology represents a subdivision of its own. A selection of the current, unbound original-language periodicals is available.
Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS)
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has been hosting a Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies since 2014. For the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek this means among other things that substantial amounts of Sinological research literature can now be obtained regularly free of charge from Taiwan via the National Central Library. The most recent titles are available in each case in a separate area of the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room, older titles are accommodated in the stacks. All titles are searchable in BSB DISCOVER!.
Finding the reading room collection in the catalogue
The Asian collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, including the reading room collection, can be searched in transcription in BSB DISCOVER!, the Japanese and Chinese titles being searchable also in the original scripts. The volumes can be recognized on the basis of the introductory part "Hbor" of the classification mark. Merely the collections in the Thai language have not yet been catalogued electronically; for these, an author and title catalogue is available in the reading room.
These works may be used exclusively in the reading room and cannot be obtained for home loan.
Reading room equipment
- 35 workplaces
- 5 Internet PCs
- WLAN
- Book scanner
- PC with DVD-ROM drive
- Microfiche, microfilm readers
- Earphones (available at the reading room counter)
Information counter in the reading room
If you have any questions, our library staff will be pleased to be of assistance during the opening hours.
Direct links: Reading room loan to the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
Search and order | BSB DISCOVER! |
Information overview | Loaning media |
Do you need a library card? | Registration |
Reading room loan to the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
Almost all items forming part of the collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek – with a number of exceptions, such as maps, sheet music or manuscripts – can be ordered for use in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room in BSB DISCOVER!.
Ordered items are made available in the corresponding provision shelves in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room after 2 to 3 working days. Your orders are immediately booked to your account as loaned. The books are thus made available for use for 4 weeks and the periodicals for 2 weeks.
After expiry of the loan term they are returned to the stacks. Please keep in mind to request an extension of the loan term in time, if required. When items are no longer needed, kindly take them to the return counter. Volumes ordered for consultation in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room cannot be taken home.
Library card
When you wish to read books or other media from the stacks of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room or another one of the reading rooms, you need a library card.
Digitization orders
The digitization and photographic reproductions service within the framework of the document delivery service "Altes Buch" ("older and rare printed works") of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek produces high-quality and reproducible scans. You can generate corresponding orders for reproductions with the aid of the programme ERaTo. Digitization orders from the department's collections can also be placed in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room or can be placed in writing.
Document delivery service "Altes Buch" (scope of services, prices, etc.)
Direct links: Reading rooms
Further information | Overview of reading rooms |
Searching reading room collections in the catalogue | BSB DISCOVER! |
Other reading rooms
Literature on Asia can also be found in the reference collections of the other reading rooms. These collections either treat special, particular aspects of Asia or are kept somewhat more general than the reference collection in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room.
- Literature on manuscripts, incunabula and early printed books from Asia can be found in the Reading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books.
(call number component "Hbh" in BSB DISCOVER!) - Literature on the topical focus of music or maps, atlases and images of Asia can be found in the reference collection of the Reading Room for Music/Maps/Images.
(call number component "Hbks" or "Hbm" in BSB DISCOVER!) - The most recent issues of academic journals from and about Asia, e.g. original-language periodicals from the subject area of sciences and medicine, and current Asian newspapers are available in the Periodicals Reading Room.
(call number component "Hbzs" in BSB DISCOVER!) - Further reference works on Asia and dictionaries of Asian languages are also available in the General Reading Room.
(call number component "Hbl" in BSB DISCOVER!)
With the library card, literature from the stacks can be ordered for consultation also in these reading rooms in BSB DISCOVER!. Please keep in mind that the reading rooms have different opening hours and equipment and that access is partly restricted.
Questions and answers – Asian collection
Online inquiry service | Online form |
In the library | East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room (3rd floor) |
Phone | +49 89 28638-2361 |
Service opening hours for information about the Asian collection
Monday – Friday | 09:00 – 17:00 In August from 12:30 without professional information service |
Do you have questions about the Asian collection or its use?
Do you encounter difficulties searching for literature from or about Asia?
We will be pleased to be of assistance.
However, please note that we do not compile literature lists or make translations and do not offer legal or medical consultation.
Online inquiry service
The online form ensures that your question is received by the correct contact person right away.
You will usually receive our response to technical questions within 5 working days.
Information counter in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
No matter if you call us on the telephone or come to the library: Our staff at the information counter in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room will be pleased to answer your questions.
FAQ
In case you have general questions about the use and the services of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, answers can be found at:
FAQ – Frequently asked questions
Direct links: Planning a study visit
Further information | Details on the procedure and registration forms |
Opening hours | Reading rooms |
In case you wish to use the Asian collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek within the framework of a brief visit or study visit, please take into account that in most cases books and journals cannot be consulted straight away. They need to be ordered a few days in advance using BSB DISCOVER!. If you do not have a library card yet, you should therefore inform us of your visit in writing one week before your arrival date at the latest. Please also note that the opening hours of the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room differ from those of the General Reading Room.
If you wish to work with the desired media in the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room, in order to use the extensive reference collection available there, please let us know in the section "Mitteilungen" (further remarks) of the form.
Direct links: Donating books
E-mail inquiry (about titles/ title lists) | ostasien@bsb-muenchen.de |
Collection verification | BSB DISCOVER! |
If you wish to donate books from Asia to the library, we kindly ask you to send us a title list by e-mail in advance, containing the following data:
- Author
- Title
- Place and year of publication
You can check in advance in BSB DISCOVER! whether the book already forms part of our collections.
We appreciate your understanding that we only accept such books which we do not own yet and which match our collection profile.
Within the framework of its cultural mission, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek also makes available exhibits for other exhibitions in Bavaria, Germany and abroad on an international level. Loans can be provided only for exhibitions with a cultural and academic purpose, but on principle not for exhibitions with a duration of more than three months, for displays of large quantities of material or for touring exhibitions.
Independently of the topic of the planned exhibition, please contact the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek for this purpose.