Getting one's bearings
Who can be admitted to use the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek?
- All persons of legal age with a registered place of residence in Germany can fundamentally be admitted to use the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
- Persons of legal age without fixed abode in Germany (e.g. scholars spending a research period) can be admitted as users with limited rights of use, i.e. for media loan to a reading room. In addition, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek supports research periods in many ways. Please register with us at an early stage.
- Underage persons can be admitted as students starting at the age of 16.
What does it cost to use the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek?
The use of the library is free of charge in principle. Fees are charged only for using the interlibrary loan system, reminders and loss of media, as well as requested special services (photographic prints, copies, etc.).
What services does the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek provide? How can I use the library?
- Ordering books and other media for home loan or consultation in the reading rooms
Loaning media - Use of the open-shelf library collections, such as reference works, manuals, dictionaries, legal texts and bibliographies in the reading rooms
Overview of the reading rooms - Browsing the current issues of more than 18,000 journals in the Periodicals Reading Room
Periodicals Reading Room - Use of a free-of-charge Internet access for scholarly purposes
Use of the WLAN and Internet - Use of a multi-faceted collection of electronic media, such as e-books, electronic journals and online databases
Searching and finding - Using the interlibrary loan system
Interlibrary loan
The majority of the collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is kept in closed stacks, many of which are located outside of Munich.
Stacks
Accordingly, only the open-shelf collections in the reading rooms can be used directly. All other media need to be ordered in the online catalogue first. Ordered media are available after 2 to 3 working days on average.