Questions about the limited lending services (Covid-19 measures)

• The opening times and terms of use of the university library may change depending on the situation and location and are communicated on the UB website and on notices on site.
• Due to COVID-19, there may be restrictions in opening times at individual locations , mandatory documentation for users on site (e.g. through seat reservation) and even the closure of reading rooms and / or other areas of use.

• The COVID-19 hygiene and behavior rules apply to the use of the libraries as well as the COVID-19 rules for university operations in the winter semester 2020/21.
• Whether reading areas or workplaces can be used can vary depending on the situation and location; due to the required minimum distance, not all seats are available.
• Protective masks must be worn in all library areas. This includes all seats in the reading areas.
• Please keep a safe distance from other library users. If you have been assigned a seat by the online reservation system or by library staff, use only this specific seat.
• To enable contact tracing, the names and contact information of all library patrons must be collected, either through seat reservations, or guest cards, or lists. The collected information will be deleted after the required period of time has expired.
• At the main library (large reading room, catalog room, old book reading room, textbook collection) and the special libraries (FB) for Art History, East European History and Slavonic Studies, Law, Romance Studies and Sports Science, seat reservations are currently being piloted. The reading areas can only be used with a ticket booked online in advance. An expansion to further libraries is planned.
• As long as nothing to the contrary is announced on the UB website or through notices on site, you are permitted to fetch books from open access areas and stacks and to browse on the shelves. Please note: Maintain the 1-metre safety distance and stay on site as briefly as possible to protect everyone involved.
• If further measures are necessary, users may only come to the library upon request (i.e. with a seat reservation or after receiving a letter of readiness and / or reminder). Such a change will be announced in good time on the University Library website and by notices on site.

• Borrowing and returning are possible as long as the respective location is open. Borrowing operations will be maintained for as long as possible. If operations are closed, information will be provided on the UB website .
• Whether open access holdings can be pre-ordered online (which does not apply in normal operation), or whether they have to be ordered in advance (collection by employees, no access for users) depends on the respective library . If a pre-order is required, please read carefully all information on collection / use in the provisioning email.
• Interlibrary loan has been maintained for a long time. The service also depends on the possibilities of the partner libraries.
• A contactless return of books is possible during the opening times of the main building. You can use the return box to return books to the porter of the main building of the University of Vienna (Universitätsring 1).
• You can instruct or authorize someone you trust to collect the books. A collection authorization is required for this. Both a completed form and a handwritten authorization are accepted; a photo of the authorization on the mobile phone is also sufficient. The person picking up must show an official photo ID.
• Employees of the University of Vienna can send reminded books by post to the following address:
  Iniversität Wien
  Hauptbibliothek Entlehnung
  Universitätsring 1
  1010 Wien
  
  The University Library offers two options for reimbursing postage costs:
  • Send the scanned receipt, your home address and your bank details with the password "Book return by post" to verwaltung.ub@univie.ac.at.
  • Employees with SAP access can apply for a refund directly by specifying the cost center 401150 under QFlow II "Refunding material costs".
  • A return is also possible by internal mail.

The University Library offers its users numerous services that do not make the trip to the library necessary:

• Everything that can be procured electronically is purchased - as far as possible and economically.
• The historical book inventory and course literature are scanned, depending on free capacities, even when the building is closed. You can find more information on this under the question "Can I have printed literature from the university library scanned?"
• Until further notice, all books will be automatically extended by the respective loan period three days before the end of the period, provided that no one has made a note and the number of overdue works has not been exceeded (10 for employees and affiliates, 1 for all other users Plant).

• Use of e-resources: As a member of the University of Vienna, you have access to the licensed electronic media at any time, regardless of location. Please use u: access (VPN is no longer active for remote access). In this way you can research in u: search and access the extensive portfolio of e-resources.
• In addition to the licensed e-resources, the university library offers a wide range of free e-resources that can also be found via u: search. That means additional access to more than 66,100 free e-journals and almost 356,000 e-books. You can also find free resources in Phaidra , the repository of the University of Vienna.
• Information on other electronic publications temporarily available for the University of Vienna .
• Information on specific research options can be found on the websites of the departmental libraries and general information on the services of the university library can be obtained from ubw: helpdek .
• The purchase of literature or e-books is being pushed further (see "non-existent literature") and document delivery (see below) is available.
• The research support services of the university library offer a further offer

• Please send purchase suggestions as usual to the service e-mail address of the respective departmental library or use the purchase suggestions form .
• If you need electronic literature for research and teaching that is not yet in the portfolio of the university library, please contact your departmental library or contact the e-resources team: ebooks.ub@univie.ac.at.
• The University Library endeavors to license required literature where possible and economically. Interlibrary loan has been maintained for as long as possible. The service also depends on the possibilities of the partner libraries.

• Until further notice, we are offering digitisation services for urgently needed literature to members of the University of Vienna. Please use the following forms:
  • Order form digitization for students (in German)
  • Order form digitization for teachers and researchers (in German).
  
  For books from the special libraries, please send the form to the service e-mail address of the respective special library.
  Scanning requests for the Main Library should be sent to digitisation.ub@univie.ac.at
• Users who are not members of the University of Vienna can order digital copies for a fee either via the E-Books on Demand (EOD) service or via the forms on the University Library's website .

We would like to point out that textbooks (explicitly labelled as textbooks, "Introduction to..." or "Lehrbücher" by publishers), or even parts of these, may not be digitised for copyright reasons. Due to our limited capacity, no complete books and only a limited number of books per person can be digitised.

Please note that digitisation requests for literature needed for teaching purposes are processed with priority.

Currently, nobody is obliged to come to the library in order to receive or extend a library card.