For students

Contact and dates

Course registrations/appointments:
fuehrungen@bsb-muenchen.de

Introductory courses

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek offers special introductory courses for students of the senior years of grammar schools, upper vocational schools and specialised secondary schools. Both the history and the collection of the library are explained and the participants are given an overview of how to use the online catalogue and the electronic journals and databases. In a subsequent guided tour the most important places to go in the library are presented and explained (registration office, information counter, book collection area, General Reading Room and Periodicals Reading Room).

When registering for an introductory course kindly state the grade of the students, the number of participants (including teachers), if applicable the topic of the seminar and a possible auxiliary date.

Further information

As individuals teachers and students can avail themselves of the comprehensive service offer of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek for users at any time, without prior registration.

Introductory tours by third parties, e.g. teachers, tutors and lecturers, are not permitted.

Direct links

How can you find the required literature?
BSB DISCOVER!
Database Information System (DBIS)
Gateway Bayern
How do you obtain literature?
Registration
Reading rooms
Loaning media
Interlibrary loan
Who can you ask for assistance?
Online inquiry service
Tutorials

Information materials available for download

Research for assignments – Finding, evaluating and citing information
(PDF, 369 KB)  (in German)
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek from A – Z
(PDF, 224 KB)  (in German)
Literature search – Basic information
(PDF, 430 KB)  (in German)
Basic knowledge information literacy
(PDF, 129 KB)  (in German)

Basic information at a glance

What do you find in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek?

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) is a large universal library, whose collections amount to a good ten million books. The focus of the collections is on humanities. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek can provide you with a broad variety of books and media. However, please note that not all books can be borrowed for use at home and that the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek does not own any textbook collections either. Alternatively, you can also order the literature held by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek via your local library, using the interlibrary loan system.

How can you find the required literature?

The books and periodicals available in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek can be searched and ordered using BSB DISCOVER!. Via the Database Information System (DBIS) you can access a large number of databases on almost all subjects.

For ordering media from the collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and for using the electronic journals and the databases, you need to request admission as user of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and a reader pass.

The reference collections shelved in the reading rooms of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek provide you with basic and introductory literature on all subject areas (General Reading Room) and the latest issues of around 18,000 academic journals (Periodicals Reading Room).

How do you obtain literature?

For ordering literature and for using the Internet on the premises of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek a reader pass is required (minimum age required for registration as user: 16). Please note that all media ordered in BSB DISCOVER! are ready for collection only after 2 to 3 working days. Literature which is not available in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek or any other Munich library can be ordered using the interlibrary loan system.

What services can be used externally?

The majority of the services of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek can be used also externally from your place of residence. Here we have compiled an overview of these services for you.

Literature search and electronic documents

Most research services of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek are accessible also from home or from any desired PC with Internet connection. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek furthermore holds many electronic documents (journals, e-books, digitized old books), which can also be retrieved from home. For many of these service offers a valid reader pass is required. Some electronic services are available externally only provided that your registered place of residence is in the Munich metropolitan area (S-Bahn area).

Interlibrary loan and document delivery

In case you live outside Munich, you can use a variety of services to have documents delivered to a nearby library or to your home.

Interlibrary loan via a nearby city or municipal library: You can search the required media in our research portals or also Bavaria-wide or Germany-wide and then contact your local public library, providing them with the corresponding order data.

Online interlibrary loan via a nearby academic library: You can search the Gateway Bavaria and order the desired media via the SFX service offered there. For this purpose you need a valid reader pass of your local academic library. Orders can be placed using these registration data.

subito, the document delivery service of German libraries:
Regular orders are processed within 3 working days, express orders are processed within 24 hours.
subito delivers books and articles directly to your home.
subito is subject to charge and is more expensive than the normal interlibrary loan.

Who can you ask for assistance?

  • Information can be obtained in person at the three information counters on the ground floor, in the General Reading Room and the Periodicals Reading Room.
  • Furthermore, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek provides a telephone inquiry service (+49 89 28638-2322).
  • Inquiries can also be made online on our website, via the online inquiry service.
  • For detailed information on using the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek you can also watch our tutorials, which are accessible via our website.
  • For students of the senior years of grammar schools, upper vocational schools and specialised secondary schools the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek offers special introductory courses to the use of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. To register for such a course (after consultation with your teachers), please send an e-mail to fuehrungen@bsb-muenchen.de
  • Further information can be obtained also at the following telephone number: +49 89 28638-2322 or +49 89 28638-2774.

Information materials available for download

Detailed information about the library's collections in question and course contents

Other libraries in Munich
(PDF, 64 KB)  (in German)

Other libraries in Munich

In addition to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, there are some other libraries in Munich, whose collections you are also welcome to use. Some of them also offer special introductory courses for students.

Münchner Stadtbibliothek (Munich City Library)
Wissen Wie! – Recherchetraining
Zentralbibliothek Am Gasteig
Rosenheimer Strasse 5
81667 Munich

Universitätsbibliothek München (University Library Munich)
Training courses
Universitätsbibliothek München – Zentralbibliothek
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 Munich

Bibliothek der Technischen Universität München (Library of the Technical University Munich)
The TUM library for students
Technische Universität München – Teilbibliothek Stammgelände
Arcisstraße 21, 1. OG
80333 Munich

Bibliothek der Hochschule München (Library of the University of Applied Sciences Munich)
Bibliotheksführungen in der Zentralbibliothek
Bibliothek der Hochschule München – Zentralbibliothek
Lothstr. 13 d
80335 Munich

Bibliothek des Deutschen Museums (Library of the Deutsches Museum)
Guided tours of the library
Deutsches Museum – Bibliothek
Museumsinsel 1
80538 Munich

Universitätsbibliothek der Universität der Bundeswehr München (University Library of the University of the German Armed Forces Munich)
Offers for students
Universität der Bundeswehr München
Universitätsbibliothek
Werner-Heisenberg-Weg 39
85577 Neubiberg

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