Information
Heldenplatz, Neue Burg, Mitteltor, 1010 Vienna
information@onb.ac.at
Opening Hours
Mo.-Sa. 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
- Who can use the Library?
- How do I get a library card?
- How do I extend an annual card?
- What can I find in the Austrian National Library?
- Where can I turn if I have questions?
- How do I look for a book, a newspaper, an article, etc.?
- Are online databases and electronic periodicals accessible?
- How do I get a book, a newspaper, a periodical, etc., to use?
- How many volumes can be ordered at the same time?
- Where, when, and how long can I use a work I have ordered?
- Can I research via internet, use a laptop in the Library?
- Can I make photcopies? Can I make printouts?
- Can books be taken home?
- The work I am looking for is not found in the Austrian National Library. Where can I get it from?
1. Who can use the Library?
Access is available to all persons who have reached 15 years of age. Using the Library is possible only when you have a valid ID with photo and a valid library card.
2. How do I get a library card?
Annual membership cards are available online at the Ticket Shop as well as at the service desks at Heldenplatz (Mon. to Fri., 9 a.m.-8.30 p.m.), Palais Mollard and Josefsplatz (Tues. to Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.). They can be renewed from 2nd January 2013 either online at the Ticket Shop or at the specified service desks.
As an alternative you may buy a one-day ticket for EUR 3. One-day tickets are available online at the Ticket Shop as well as at the Heldenplatz, Josefsplatz and Palais Mollard service desks.
Please note that the Ticket Shop is currently available in German only.
3. How do I extend an annual card?
Annual cards are extended only at the service desk at Heldenplatz, Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. till 8.30 p.m. 28 days before your annual card is due to expire you will receive an e-mail message about the approaching expiry.
4. What can I find in the Austrian National Library?
The Austrian National Library holds about 8 million objects, of which about 3.5 million are books, periodicals and newspapers. Other types of media are microfilms and microfiche, electronic documents and audiovisual media, as well as incunabula, manuscripts, autographs, maps, posthumous and lifetime estates, pictoral documents, maps, globes, graphics, music items, posters, ex libris, papyri, Esperanto and other planned-language materials.
On the basis of the Austrian Media Law the Austria National Library receives, the only library in the country to do so, a deposit copy of all publications appearing in Austria, including those from electronic offline media, and of doctoral theses approved by Austrian universities.
5. Where can I turn if I have questions?
Within the Library turn to the service desk of the Department you are in or to the central information desk (Informationsservices) in the utility area at the Heldenplatz (Monday-Friday 9 a.m-9 p.m.), which is near the book issuing area.
You can receive preliminary information by telephone, Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-9 p.m. at (+43 1) 534 10-444.
6. How do I look for a book, a newspaper, an article, etc.?
The catalogues give information on the holdings of the Library and give you the call number of a book needed to order it from the storeroom. Through the online portal QuickSearch you can search across all holdings in all the catalogues of the Austrian National Library.
7. Are online databases and electronic periodicals accessible?
The Austrian National Library offers about 3,500 databases of the most varied producers and of all specialist areas via the Database Infosystem (DBIS). About 43,000 electronic periodicals of all specialist areas are available through the Electronic Periodical Library (EZB).
8. How do I get a book, a newspaper, a periodical, etc., to use?
The major part of the holdings of the Austrian National Library is kept in stack and is therefore not freely accessible. Only after an order the volumes/objects are issued. Utilisation takes place in the reading rooms. You receive the works you ordered by handing over a valid ID with photo at the book issue area of the reading room, where they are waiting under your name.
Only the literature displayed in the reading rooms – especially reference books and the majority of the current, as yet unbound newspapers and periodicals – is freely accessible and does not have to be ordered.
9. How many volumes can be ordered at the same time?
In the reading rooms of the Departments a maximum of 5 volumes or collection objects, in the Modern Library (Heldenplatz precinct) a maximum of 10 volumes can be ordered for use at the same time.
10. Where, when, and how long can I use a work I have ordered?
As a rule the ordered works will be waiting for you after about 3 hours at the relevant book issue area. The last issue of orders for the reading rooms of the Modern Library at the Heldenplatz takes place from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m., on Saturday at 12 o’clock. All orders received after those times will be available from 10.30 a.m. on the next day of opening.
Ordered works are reserved for you for one week. Extensions of one more week after the last use are possible.
11. Can I research via internet, use a laptop in the Library?
Internet workplaces, laptop workplaces, and WLAN are available free of charge.
12. Can I make photcopies? Can I make printouts?
In the work areas photcopiers and a public scanner are available. If it is not possible for you yourself to copy or scan on conservation grounds, mostly you can request copies or scans. As well there is the possibility of printing pages.
13. Can books be taken home?
The Austrian National Library is a reference (non-lending) library, i.e., the holdings are made available for use in the reading rooms of the Library only. That is guarantees that the vast majority of the holdings are available at all times. Local loan is therefore permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
14. The work I am looking for is not found in the Austrian National Library. Where can I get it from?
Works that are not found in the Austrian National Library or in other Viennese libraries accessible to the public can be provided by the interlibrary loan service from other Austrian or European libraries.