Borrowing

Loan periods

As a rule, media can be borrowed for four weeks. Two extensions for a further four weeks each are possible, subject to reservation. Bound journals can only be borrowed for two weeks. So-called presence inventory (”Präsenzbestand”) can only be borrowed for a short period in exceptional cases (e.g. for exams). These are encyclopedias or other important reference works that should always be available in the library. The books are marked accordingly.

Extension and reminders

Before a loan period ends, you will receive an automatically generated e-mail from the library as a reminder. This is an additional service. Please make sure that we have a current e-mail address from you. However, failure to receive the e-mail will not result in any legal claims. Each library user is responsible for ensuring that the loan period is observed. If you have any questions, the library team will be happy to help you. If a loan period is exceeded, you will be charged the following reminder fees:

  • 1st reminder: 7,50 Euro
  • 2nd reminder: 10,00 Euro
  • 3rd reminder: 20,00 Euro + 3,45 Euro postage fee
  • 4th reminder: 30,00 Euro + 3,45 Euro postage + compensation (price of the missing book)

Please note that the fees will be added up. The reminder letters are sent by post. From the third reminder onwards, the proceedings will be handed over to the Bavarian State Higher Revenue Office (Bayerische Staatsoberkasse). Please contact us immediately to save yourself any inconvenience.

Interlibrary loan

No matter what topic you are looking for literature: No one is left empty-handed with us. As a user of our university library, you have the opportunity to search not only our holdings, but also those of numerous other libraries in Germany.

When you have found what you are looking for, you can easily order the desired book via the OPAC. Please have a look at our step-by-step instructions for interlibrary loan of books!
If you have any further problems or simply cannot find what you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact us. The library team will be happy to help!

Essays or articles from magazines, newspapers and books are also no problem. There is also an explanation of the individual steps for ordering articles.

However, you can NOT order the following via interlibrary loan:

  • Literature that is available in our university library but cannot be borrowed or is currently on loan (No reservation possible? Ask the library staff).
  • Literature that can be purchased in bookstores for a price of less than 15 Euro
  • DIN standards, VDI and VDE guidelines and loose-leaf editions (e.g. Schönfelder)
  • Precious literature (old stocks of other libraries)
  • E-books licensed by another university

Very important: When ordering an interlibrary loan, you cannot extend the loan period yourself via the OPAC. The lending library determines the loan period, which we of course adhere to. In most cases, this is four weeks and two conditional extensions.

When your interlibrary loan order arrives, you will be automatically notified by e-mail. We will keep the book for you for ten days. If you do not pick it up within that time, it will be returned to the home library.

Lending for external users

You would like to use the libraries of the OTH as an external user? Of course, no problem!

You can find all information for external users, for example about free library card issuance, here: Notes for external users.

Inventory

The Amberg-Weiden University Library offers

  •     Books (print and digital)
  •     CD-Roms, DVDs
  •     150 current print journals and over 8,000 e-journals
  •     (Supra-)regional daily newspapers
  •     Electronic databases

In order to make a targeted search on the shelf and in the library catalog possible, it is necessary to sort the holdings thematically. We adhere to the Regensburg Union Classification ( Regensburger Verbundklassifikation) at both locations. The shelf number of a book in the library tells you which shelf it is on, which can look like this, for example:

40/QV 584 D673(3)

or also like this:

10/QV 584 D673(3)

But the shelfmark is not only the guide to the exact location of the book in the library, it also provides a lot of other valuable information. Here is a quick overview of the most important ones:

  •     Location: look at the first digit of the shelfmark. This tells you in which branch you will find the title. In short: 1 = Amberg University Library, 4 = Weiden University Library, 9 = Amberg Provincial Library
  •     Subject / topic: the system location in the given examples is QV 584. This tells you to which subject the book belongs. To be looked up in the RVK.
  •     Edition: The number in parentheses indicates which edition it is.