Booking a working place in a reading room

In case you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via our online inquiry service.
Online inquiry service

► General Reading Room

► Periodicals Reading Room

Reservation of dates

A reservation is required for each visit to a reading room.
Reservations can be made for maximally 3 dates at a time and at the most 7 days in advance. The number of possible reservations applies to the General Reading Room and the Periodicals Reading Room together.

Please note that reservations for the two time slots from 8:00 – 16:00 and from 16:15 – 24:00 must be made separately and are valid separately. Visitors without reservations for the second time slot must please leave the General Reading Room or the Periodicals Reading Room at 16:00. An announcement will be made in advance as a reminder.

Required documents

For making a reservation, you need your reader pass or user number and your e-mail address.

Reservations are only permitted with your own personal user number. In case you do not yet have a reader pass, please go to the registration office (Anmeldestelle) on the ground floor of the library. It is still also possible to avail yourself of the simplified registration process. In case you wish to use the preliminary simplified registration procedure (online), please make sure to collect your reader pass from the registration office prior to your visit to the reading room. Your reader pass is required at the admission control points to the reading rooms for checking whether you have a valid registration.
Registration on site | Opening hours |
Preliminary simplified registration (with place of residence in Germany) |
Registration form for work and study visits (if resident abroad)

Reservation confirmation

You will receive a reservation confirmation from us by e-mail.

No Internet/no e-mail address?

In the event that you do not use an Internet access or an e-mail address, you can contact the information service on the ground floor or call the telephone inquiry service (+49 89 28638-2322) to make reservations.

Visit to the reading room

Please always present your reader pass when visiting a reading room. It is checked on the basis of the reader pass whether visitors have a valid reading-room reservation. Copies of the reader pass (in digital or paper form) are not accepted.

If possible, please avoid arriving during the times of strong visitor traffic (usually around the time of opening in the morning and at the start of the second booking time slot at 16:15, so that long waiting times and queues can be avoided.

Cancelling a booking

Please cancel your booking in case you cannot make use of a reservation. The working place can then be used by other interested users. This can be done in various ways:

• using the associated link in the confirmation e-mail,
• using the cancel button in the booking calendar,
• or using your list of reservations which can be checked after logging into the reservation website.

Cancelling your booking after your visit still makes sense in cases where the booked time slot has not yet expired and you no longer require the place in the reading room.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is committed to the scholarly use of its extensive and unique book collections. In the General Reading Room particular booking conditions and an extra allotment of working places is available for correspondingly qualified scholars whose research is based on these book collections. In addition to being a registered user of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, making use of these conditions is subject to presenting credible evidence of your current scholarly work and to having a university diploma or master degree of a university or similar qualification. Undergraduate or bachelor degrees are not admitted. The authorisation to use the preferential booking conditions is granted for a limited period of time, which can be extended where required.

For further information and for obtaining an authorisation to use please contact our staff at the service desk 1 in the marble hall (1st floor), preferably by e-mail to:
lesesaalleihe@bsb-muenchen.de

Part of the working places in the General Reading Room can also be reserved as needed by using the app "BSB Reading Room Reservation", which is available for Android and iOS. The app can be used for individually selecting both the working place and the time and duration of your stay on the desired date. Up to five simultaneous reservations are possible in advance (reservations made via the app or via the booking calendar are added up). On site, you can then check in and check out using your smart phone and also keep your desk in the reading room reserved by using a break function.
Further information about the app "BSB Reading Room Reservation"

In case you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

• Aventinus Reading Room
  lesesaalleihe@bsb-muenchen.de
• Reading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books
  handschriften@bsb-muenchen.de
• Reading Room Music/ Maps/ Images
  lesesaal.mkb@bsb-muenchen.de
• East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room
  ostlesesaal@bsb-muenchen.de

► Aventinus Reading Room

► Reading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books

► Reading Room Music/Maps/Images

► East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room

Entitled group of persons

The research reading rooms are primarily intended for researchers whose academic work is in the respective subject areas represented there, in particular for working with literature and media which can be ordered only for provision in the respective research reading room and/or can be used exclusively there.
Please order the desired media in advance via the OPACplus in each case.

Part of the working places in the research reading rooms can be booked freely (by the exception of the Reading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books). Special allotments are available for booking for scholarly work. Eligible users are asked to contact our service staff in the respective reading rooms, preferably by sending an e-mail. Providing suitable evidence is required for the use of these booking allotments. Authorisations are granted for a limited period of time, which can be extended where required.

Reservation of dates

A reservation is required for each visit to a reading room.
The reservation is valid for the entire day in each case.

Required documents

For making a reservation, you need your reader pass or user number and your e-mail address.

Reservations are only permitted with your own personal user number. In case you wish to use the preliminary simplified registration procedure (online), please make sure to collect your reader pass from the registration office prior to your visit to the reading room. Your reader pass is required at the admission control points to the reading rooms for checking whether you have a valid registration.
Registration on site | Opening hours |
Preliminary simplified registration (with place of residence in Germany) |
Registration form for work and study visits (if resident abroad)

Researchers from abroad without registered place of residence in Germany are kindly asked to contact the reading room attending to their research visit.

Reservation confirmation

You will receive a reservation confirmation from us by e-mail.

No Internet/no e-mail address?

In the event that you do not use an Internet access or an e-mail address, you can contact the information service on the ground floor or call the telephone inquiry service (+49 89 28638-2322) to make reservations.

Visit to the reading room

Please always present your reader pass when visiting a reading room. It is checked on the basis of the reader pass whether visitors have a valid reading-room reservation. Copies of the reader pass (in digital or paper form) are not accepted.

Researchers who have registered for a work and study visit and who do not have a reader pass are required to present an official identification document and documentation of their e-mail correspondence with the reading room in question.

Cancelling a booking

Please cancel your booking in case you cannot make use of a reservation. The working place can then be used by other interested users. This can be done in various ways:

• using the associated link in the confirmation e-mail,
• using the cancel button in the booking calendar,
• or using your list of reservations which can be checked after logging into the reservation website.

Cancelling your booking after your visit still makes sense in cases where the booked time slot has not yet expired and you no longer require the place in the reading room.