Your Loans & Account

You can find your library user number on the back of your library card below the barcode. You need it to login into the UB Catalogue to order books or access your account. You can find an overview on library passwords here.

The default password for students is the date of birth in six digits (DDMMYY; e.g. 031093, when born on 3rd October 1993).
The default password for university staff and external users consists of the last six digits of the library user number.

We would advise you to change the default password. You can change your password in your library account under "My details" and "User details".

If you forgot your password, please use the function "Forgot password?" in the catalogue, or contact the information team via e-mail auskunft.ub@uni-bayreuth.de or phone 0921/55-3420.

With a valid library card you can borrow and order media. You can check locations and loan periods of media using the UB Catalogue:

• "available" (open stacks):
  You can find these items in the freely accessible collections of the library. Please fetch the item from the shelf yourself. Note down the shelfmark to find the item in question. You can loan the item using the self-checkout devices or at the circulation desk.
• “available for order” (closed stacks):
  Please order these items using the UB Catalogue to be picked up at the Main Library or one of the departmental libraries. Items you ordered from the closed stacks will automatically appear as “ready for pick-up” in your library account. If you order media from the closed stacks of the Main Library for pick-up at the Main Library, the media will be ready for pick-up in around 120 minutes. If you order media for pick-up in the departmental libraries, they will be ready for pick-up in around 2 business days. Please keep in mind that media ordered on Fridays might only be ready for pick-up on Mondays.
• “not available for loan” (reference collection):
  These items cannot be borrowed, but can be used inside the library. Alternatively, you can make photocopies or scan pages of these items.
• “on loan”:
  You can reserve items that are on loan free of charge using the UB Catalogue. You will be notified once the item in question is ready for pick-up.
• “on loan (no reservation possible)”:
  These are mostly items located on a lecturer’s reserve collection. Media on lecturers’ reserve collections are displayed in the UB Catalogue, but cannot be ordered, reserved or borrowed. Please contact the chair/institution in question directly (for information click “signpost” in the UB Catalogue).

Borrowing Media

You can return borrowed items in the Main Library and in all departmental libraries. You do not need a library card to return items.

You cannot return items at the self-checkout device. You can return media at the circulation desk or, in the Main Library, using the smart return shelf.

If you want to return media outside of the library’s opening hours, please use the letterbox in front of the main entrance of the Main Library. Please pack your media safely. If you are dropping off returns at another location on campus, please pack them into an envelope and write your name, the library name and ‘Returns’ on it.

Return Shelf (Main Library)

The return shelf registers the items placed on it using their RFID-tags, reads the media numbers and transmits them to the library system in order to process the return. The returns are displayed on the shelf’s screen. It may take a moment for all returns to be listed.

Tips and Further Information:

• It is possible to return multiple items at once.
• Please ensure that all the items are complete (including any inserts, such as CDs or DVDs) before returning them.
• There is no receipt when returning items through the return shelf. If you require a receipt, please return the items at the circulation desk and ask for a receipt. It is not possible to issue a return receipt retrospectively.
• You can loan items that have been returned through the return shelf immediately, if they are not reserved for somebody else, or an interlibrary loan item.
• Items without RFID-tags cannot be returned through the return shelf. Please return these at the circulation desk.
• Please return damaged items at the circulation desk.
• The return shelf is not a cloakroom. Therefore, jackets and bags must not be left there – also because any media inside the bags will otherwise be immediately recorded as returned by the device as well.

For returning media in the Departmental Library LEG (location Kulmbach) during unstaffed hours, we offer you a grey return box. Please note that the returning of media via the return box will only be processed on the next business day (Monday through Friday, except for public holidays). When time sensitive returns are involved, for example in order to avoid being charged reminder fees in case of late returns, please contact the library staff instead. The return box is accessible during the building’s opening hours.

Renewals of loan periods must be done by yourself using the UB Catalogue. Renewals cannot be done via telephone or e-mail. All renewals are only valid until withdrawal. Once another user requests a book whose loan period you already extended, you will be asked to return said book.

Items that are currently on loan can be reserved using the UB Catalogue. You will be notified once the item is ready for pick-up.

Chargeable Book Mailing Service

If you are not near Bayreuth, students of Bayreuth University can have up to seven items from the holdings of Bayreuth University Library at a time sent to their home via a chargeable book mailing service via DHL. This is possible within Germany.

To do this, write down all the media you want in the form "Order form for the chargeable mailing of library books" (only available in German).

You can also request interlibrary loans that have already been ordered. All media marked as "available for order" in the UB Catalogue (for example media from the closed stacks ("Magazin") must be ordered in advance via the UB Catalogue of Bayreuth University Library to the personal library account. Please select the Main Library as the pick-up location.

This service does not apply to books from the reference collection (e.g. location 31 or books in course reserve collections).

Please note that you can only use this service if you already have a valid Campus-Card from the University of Bayreuth.

Returning Media by Mail

You can return media by mail. Please send them to the following address:

Universitätsbibliothek Bayreuth
Ausleihe
Universitätsstr. 30
95447 Bayreuth

Returns are only processed and your library account is only cleared of returned media, once the media arrive at Bayreuth University Library. Please check your library account a few days after posting the media for if your returns have been processed.

We repeatedly encounter problems with the provider Hermes. Some shipments to us are not delivered for no comprehensible reason and are returned to the sender.

As a complimentary service, you receive e-mail notifications from us, e.g. when your loan period is about to expire or when you can pick-up ordered media.

For this service, you have to have a valid e-mail address connected to your library account (see UB-Catalogue – my details – user details – user data).

If you do not receive such e-mails from the library even though your library account is connected to a valid e-mail address, firewall restrictions of your e-mail provider might be the cause.

This service is therefore provided without warranty. It does not relieve you of the responsibility of checking your loan periods yourself.

Stating Your E-Mail Address in Your User Data

Please state your e-mail address (max. 2) under “My details” and “User details” in your library account (UB Catalogue). Feel free to contact us, if you need any help. There you can also check whether the stated e-mail address is still correct and/or correct it if necessary.

For students who are newly enrolled at the university and students whose library accounts were temporarily blocked due to late renewals of enrolment the university e-mail address (stmail.uni-bayreuth.de) is automatically connected to your library account.

E-Mails That Cannot Be Delivered

Invalid e-mail addresses will be deleted from user details without further notice!

E-mails that cannot be delivered because the mailbox quota has been reached will not be resent.

Please check regularly that the e-mail address on file is still correct and ensure that you can be contacted via that address.

If you have found interesting results in the UB Catalogue which you would like to save for later, select and add them to a list.

Select a list in the upper left corner of the full record of an interesting title and click on “Save”. Alternatively select the relevant titles in your list of search results, select your list and click “Save”. Log into the catalogue to name lists and to save them permanently.

Choose the tab “My list” to create new lists and revise them, e.g. delete titles. It is also possible to export individual lists, print or send them via e-mail, same as you can do with a list of results.

For reasons of data privacy, we do not store your library account history. Please use these lists to save interesting titles.

The normal usage of the University Library is free of charge (admission, borrowing, reservations, etc.) but certain special services will require a fee to be paid (e.g. interlibrary loan for certain user groups, overdue reminders, scan services). These special services and the corresponding costs can be found in our list of library fees.

On how to pay these fees via the library card and its general usage please see the information sheet about the library fee system.

If you have questions concerning your fees, please contact us (telephone: 0921 / 55 – 6166, e-mail: mahnung.ub@uni-bayreuth.de)

Using books leaves marks on them. Please handle them with care. In case library media has been damaged, please inform our staff at the circulation desk when returning it, and read this information sheet.

If you lose any of our media, please report it immediately at the circulation desk of the corresponding departmental library.

Please do not highlight, underline or write comments in the books. Pencils are no exception.