Academic library

A University Library ( UB acronym ) is a library that is associated with a university as a central service facility. In contrast to the specialist libraries of the individual faculties or departments that focus on literature of their respective field, which stocks a university library include basic literature on all subjects, even if they are not taught at the university. The specialization in the Institute libraries corresponds to the level of the university library, the establishment of special special collections that tie thematically to one or more of the taught at the university subjects and in which the UB tried every publication that appears to the collection area around the world, to its stock take.

The Harvard University Library is at 16.8 million books the largest university library in the world.

The main task

The task of the UB consists primarily to enable teachers and students to be able to inform as broadly as possible over both the current state of knowledge of a discipline as well as the historical development of this knowledge. It supplies both the students and the professors and their assistants mainly with literature, but also with other works.

Organizational structure

A UB is divided into several departments. So there is often a textbook collection in which only frequently requested ( default ) books are present per title in numerous copies (Season copies), which are often recommended in the lectures, while in the main collection of the library is usually only one copy a book is purchased, in favor of a greater width of the stock.

In addition, has a UB over a mostly comprehensive magazine portfolio, which is often provided in a special journal reading room, in the current books and vintages can be found by journals.

Sometimes a consultant is also affiliated the University Archives in which their records and other documents, the university kept that provide information about the history of the university. The archive is not connected to the lending operation. But his stocks are used, upon request, through scientific studies.

In addition to the inventory management and the organization of the lending operation, a UB has usually also a workshop, to be conducted in the bookbinding work. This applies to regular binding of journal issues to volume issues, but occasionally also the production of solid bindings for paperback books or paperbacks to give these books sufficient mechanical stability. In some UBs highly specialized restoration workshops also are located, whose mission is to rescue heavily vernutzte or harmed by acid corrosion Books from destruction.

Reading rooms allow users direct access to the existing library inventory. The reference books a UB, often old and valuable specimens, should be consulted usually only there. Placed directly in the reading room are fundamental works, especially reference books and bibliographies.

In addition, in a university library also create your own work is possible. Especially for this purpose, many UBs their users called carrels are available. In these cabins can read their own scientific work, such as dissertations, edited undisturbed.

Inventory logistics and use

An important difference between the UB and the branch libraries located in the inventory logistics: While special libraries almost always offer their entire stocks in the open access area, this applies to the holdings of university libraries only in a very limited way. In many divisions up large parts of the stocks are kept in a magazine that is inaccessible to the public. The reason for this type of storage is in the crowd and the space requirements of the managed stocks: UB's old and traditional universities are holding stocks of several million units, which can only be managed using modern logistic concepts efficiently. With direct access to the data by the user is one such management is not compatible, although some UBs make at least parts of their magazines available to users.

The carried over the magazine stocks can therefore be obtained only through the various catalogs and opened up for loan or insight. The actual access to the magazine stocks is then made by the UB staff and ready to set the requested title with a delay of typically a few hours to a day at the lending agency for collection. There they can be collected upon presentation of certificates issued by the UB-UB card and borrowed for a limited period home or used in the reading rooms.

Recent university libraries have in addition to the textbook collections over partially extensive freehand stocks which are systematically arranged. Books that do not exist in its own portfolio, can be requested by users of UB via interlibrary loan. Many university libraries provide parts of their collections digitally available on the Internet.

For students of the university, the usage is usually free of charge, for other users is often a fee is charged.

Rare Books

Many university libraries keep special collections that differ because of the material, age, origin or the specific content from the normal library collection. These include valuable books (so-called relics ), eg medieval splendor manuscripts and book or culturally and historically outstanding prints or single sheets. Access to such works is strictly limited. A home loan is generally excluded, the use (if any) permitted only on reserved spaces within the UB- building and can be bound to other obligations in order to protect the precious books from decay.