Navigation and service

Ordering procedures and lending periods

All the media in our collection must be searched in the German National Library’s catalogue. The Library’s holdings can only be used with a valid library card.

Placing orders

The majority of our holdings are stored in the stacks and must be ordered through the catalogue by clicking on the link “Issue in...” and the button “Order”.

Order limit

You can order up to ten media. Online publications can be used directly at the reading room computers without ordering them in advance

Initial viewing

After you place your order, the media will be made available for you. During the service hours of the issue desk, you can view your ordered media on site as soon as they can be found in "My account" under the loans.

Lending period


You can use the media in our reading rooms for a period of 14 days from the order date. Borrowed works must be returned to the issues desk before you leave the library.

Renewing media

If the media have not been reserved, you can extend the lending period on two occasions by two weeks at a time through your “My Account” page in the catalogue.

Reserving media

Do you want to order a medium that is already being used by someone else? If so, you can reserve it. You will be notified by e-mail as soon as the medium is ready for your use.

Issue times and locations

The media will be available no later than the next working day (Monday – Friday). Orders received after 13.00 on a Friday will be available the following Monday. The media ordered will be ready for you as soon as they can be found in the catalogue under “My account” in the loans.

Print media, microforms

The issues desk is your point of contact for all the media you order. On presenting your library card, the publications will be handed over to you for use in the reading rooms.
In Leipzig, you are also welcome to use the reading rooms in the German Museum of Books and Writing and the German Music Archive. You can also have almost all the media in the German National Library’s collection placed at your disposal in these reading rooms.

Media on electronic data carriers (CD-ROMs, DVDs etc.)

We make these media available at specific computers in the reading rooms before the end of the processing period. If you have any questions, please contact the Multimedia/periodical reading room in Leipzig and the media issue in Frankfurt.

Online publications (e-papers, e-books, e-journals, digitised media)

These media can be accessed directly in the catalogue at the research workstations in the reading rooms. They do not have to be ordered in advance.

Reading room collections

You can take the media off the reading room shelves directly if you wish to work with them.

Further Information

Contact

Leipzig

Submit enquiry

Phone +49 341 2271-453

Frankfurt am Main

Submit enquiry

Phone +49 69 1525-2500

Last changes: 01.06.2022

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