Using the collections
Lesesaal Altes Buch (Rare Books Reading Room) | Digitized works | Facsimile editions | Exhibition loans | Historic holdings in the decentral libraries
Using the Lesesaal Altes Buch (Rare Books Reading Room)
The historic collections of the University Library are available for scholarly and academic teaching purposes. All physical items belonging to the rare book collections must be used in the Lesesaal Altes Buch (Rare Books Reading Room) in the Zentralbibliothek (Main Library).
To use a work from these collections, please submit a request a few days before you require the item. You will find contact details in the service column on the right. Your request will be fulfilled within 1-2 days.
Use of these materials is governed by the guidelines on the use of historic holdings and archive materials:
Historic Collections Certificate of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) (71 kB) (in German)
Bavarian Archive Law (in German)
How to search for historic material
Digitized works
Selected works from the historic collection are available in printed facsimile editions. They are indexed in the following bibliography:
- Outstanding manuscripts, incunabula, early printed works (project Keimelion) (in German)
- LMU-portal (Ludovico Maximilianea) (in German)
- Münchener Altbestände und Graphische Sammlung (MALTE) (Munich collections of rare books and prints)
- Digital collections of the University Library of the LMU Munich (in German)
top
Facsimile editions
Selected works from the historic collection are available in printed facsimile editions. They are indexed in the following bibliography:
Index of facsimile editions in the historic collections top
Exhibition loans
The University Library is willing to make prints and manuscripts from its historic collections available for use in exhibitions. Please take careful note of the loan conditions.
Conditions governing the loan of materials from the Bavarian State Libraries for exhibition purpose (90 kB) (in German)
Historic holdings in the decentral libraries
The decentral libraries also house extensive collections of historic material. Around 70,000 volumes published between 1501 and 1900 are held in libraries outside the Zentralbibliothek, the main emphasis falling on 19th century works. Most are indexed in the online catalogue.
Please ask the holding library for more information on local conditions of use.
