Borrowing & delivery services

Borrowing is possible for members of the University of Tübingen, it is done via the employee or student ID (chip card).
Persons who do not have such an ID card but still need to borrow from us (in particular lecturers without permanent employment status at the university, guest lecturers, doctoral students or exam candidates without enrollment / employment contract) can apply to the ZDV for a university card and then request its activation for borrowing from the BBB library management, providing proof of their status. In conjunction with a ZDV login ID, the card is then also a library card.
Before borrowing items for the first time, you will need to log in to your library account with your ZDV login.
When returning borrowed books from our reading room, they must be put back in their place on the shelf by the borrower - but only after presenting them at the info desk for re-booking!
If you urgently need an item that has been borrowed by another person, you can send us an e-mail; we may then try to contact the person who is currently borrowing the item.

Borrowing for lecturers

Items can be borrowed at the entrance desk using your employee ID card (chip card).
Up to 50 items can be borrowed at the same time.
The basic loan period for teaching staff is 4 weeks. In your online library account, where you can view and manage your loans, these can be extended up to a total of 12 weeks.
Reminders of return deadlines (4 days before expiry) and, if applicable, delay notifications (at weekly intervals) are automatically sent to you by our system by e-mail. After a fourth notification, you may be blocked for further borrowing.
If an item is urgently required by another party, we may contact you personally.
Student assistants, secretaries or guest lecturers can be instructed by regular teaching staff to borrow items on their account. The circulation desk at the University Library can issue special cards for this purpose (in case you don't already have such a card for borrowing at the University Library).
For special cases with longer loan periods (e.g. for a project such as an exhibition), please contact us!

Borrowing for students

Items can be borrowed and returned at the info desk at the entrance using your student ID (chip card).
Up to 5 items can be borrowed at the same time.
For enrolled students, it is now possible to borrow items flexibly over the weekend. This means that media can be borrowed on Thursday at the earliest and returned by Monday, or by Tuesday if borrowed between Friday and Sunday. If the library is exceptionally closed on the regular return date - for example due to a public holiday - the deadline will be postponed accordingly.
In the special case of dictionaries required for exams, short-term loans for one day are also possible on other days of the week.
Please note any special regulations announced on our home page, especially at the turn of the year or during the "summer break".
Our system will automatically send reminders about return deadlines and overdue notifications to your university e-mail address.
In accordance with the university's statutes on library fees, a fee of €3 per item and opening day will be charged for late returns.
An exception are books from the stacks, which can be borrowed for 4 weeks and have a different fee regulation according to the statutes:
- if the loan period is exceeded by up to 7 calendar days: €1.50,
- if the loan period is exceeded by 8 to 14 calendar days: a further €5,
- if the loan period is exceeded by 15 to 21 calendar days: a further €10,
- if the loan period is exceeded by more than 21 calendar days: a further €10;
in each case per item.
Please note that these are not reminder fees, but overdue fees! I.e. that these fees are incurred regardless of whether a reminder letter is sent, by simply exceeding the deadline.
The fees are automatically recorded by the system and must be paid in cash at the circulation desk.
If fees are outstanding, no further borrowing is possible.
Fees can only be waived in the event of illness on presentation of a medical certificate.

Borrowing from the stacks

Most of the BBB's holdings are freely accessible in the reading room.
However, a small part of our collection is stored in the basement - mainly less frequently used books and journals, as well as multiple copies.
Please use our e-mail form to order items from the stacks, indicating the exact bibliographic data, in particular the shelfmark.
You will receive an e-mail when you can collect the ordered medium from the circulation desk; also, if for some reason it is not available.
Please return the book at the circulation desk before the loan period expires.

Restrictions and alternatives

Journals (bound and unbound), bibliographies, biographical reference works, encyclopaedias, atlases and other large formats cannot be borrowed.
As an alternative to borrowing and especially for shorter texts or individual articles / chapters, the reproduction facilities in the BBB can be used (copying and scanning room).
Teaching staff can also use our scanning service for articles from journals.
The central University Library also has extensive collections in the BBB disciplines, with longer loan periods.

Interlibrary loan and document delivery

Literature that is not available in Tübingen libraries can be obtained from libraries in Germany and abroad via the University Library's interlibrary loan service.
The international delivery service Subito offers the opportunity to order literature directly from a library of your choice for a fee and have it delivered to an address you specify.
As an employee of the University, you can use the Tübingen Article Service (TAD): Articles from the University Library's journals will be sent to you electronically free of charge.