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Reading rooms/Working places
Current note: Registration required
| The number of available working places has been reduced due to the currently mandatory hygiene and distancing rules. Therefore, prior registration is required for every visit to the reading rooms. Further information and registration for a reading room access authorisation |
The reading rooms at a glance
Opening hours of the reading rooms
The most important data on the reading rooms
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds a collection of more than ten million books. The great majority of the books are stored in the stacks of the main building in the Ludwigstrasse and the modern book repository in Garching.
Approximately 240,000 volumes and the unbound issues of 18,000 current periodicals are directly accessible for the library users in a total of six reading rooms. Other items have to be ordered via the OPACplus first.
| General Reading Room | 1st floor | 573 working places (currently reduced) | 80,000 volumes (open-shelf volumes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Periodicals Reading Room | Basement floor | 101 working places (currently reduced) | 12,500 freely accessible periodicals and newspapers |
| Aventinus Reading Room | 2nd floor | 71 working places (currently reduced) | 23,000 volumes (open-shelf volumes) |
| East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room | 3rd floor | 47 working places (currently reduced) | 50,000 volumes (open-shelf volumes) |
| Reading Room for Music/Maps/Images | 1st floor | 28 working places (currently reduced) | 10,000 volumes (open-shelf volumes) |
| Reading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books | 1st floor | 71 working places (currently reduced) | 49,800 volumes (open-shelf volumes) |
Loan of media to the reading rooms
Literature which cannot be found in the open-access collection of a reading room can be looked up in the library's catalogue (OPACplus). Frequently such literature can be ordered for home loan – depending on the age, state of conservation and value of a book –, and always for consultation in one of the reading rooms. Ordered materials can usually be collected after two working days.
An order for the General Reading Room or for the Aventinus Reading Room will be booked directly, i.e. the book is already registered in your name as a loan. It is at your disposal until the end of the loan period in the self-collection area of the General Reading Room and accordingly of the Aventinus Reading Room. Please note that works which have not been collected for use – in the other reading rooms – within 10 days counting from the order date can be returned to the stacks.
Lounge and break-time places
Opening hours of the Plaza
| Monday – Friday | 8:00 – 19:00 |
Plaza – Lounge and break-time area on the ground floor
The Plaza is reopened as a lounge area for reading and taking a break.
Please observe the regulations for visiting the Plaza put in force due to the Corona pandemic:
- Access is granted exclusively to such users who have a valid reservation for the General Reading Room, the Periodicals Reading Room or any one of the research reading rooms – for the period in question.
- A maximum of 35 persons may be present in the area of the Plaza at the same time.
The counting of persons present takes place automatically.
Please make sure to observe the traffic-light display on the info screen at the entrance to the Plaza. When the maximum number of visitors has been reached and the traffic lights are red, no further persons may enter the area of the Plaza until the display changes. - Like in the overall library, face masks must be worn in the area of the Plaza.
Face masks may be taken off only once you have taken a seat. - In order to comply with the mandatory safety distance of at least 1.5 m, only the seats cleared accordingly may be used. It is prohibited to gather in groups or to rearrange and shift the furniture.
- It is allowed to consume food and beverages brought along by you.
WLAN
In the reading rooms and at the workplaces several different types of WLAN (WiFi) access are available to choose from.
For registered users of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek with valid reader pass:
WLAN of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB-1)
For students and staff members of the Munich universities and colleges and scholars on a business trip with an eduroam account:
WLAN of the Münchner Wissenschaftsnetz (lrz, eduroam)
In almost all user areas of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Bavarian WLAN is accessible for everybody – free of charge, open and unrestricted.
BayernWLAN (@BayernWLAN)