Accessibility

We want to make the stay at the Grimm-Zentrum as pleasant and uncomplicated as possible for all people with disabilities.

Do you have any suggestions, questions or reports of technical faults? Please do not hesitate to contact us:
ub.barrierefreiheit@ub.hu-berlin.de.

Access to the Grimm-Zentrum

Entrances
The main and side entrances at Planckstr. 16 each have a ramp and an automatic door.

Parking spaces
There are marked parking spaces for the handicapped at the Planckstr. 16 entrance.


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Lockers
In the foyer there are wheelchair-accessible lockers as well as lockers for blind people and people with visual impairments. Padlocks for these cloakrooms are available from security on the ground floor.

Lifts
All lifts in the building are equipped with voice output and tactile signs. The barrier-free lift on the east side of the building takes you from the ground floor to the 7th floor. The doors to the lift vestibule can be opened by pressing a button.
The lift on the western side of the ground floor is also barrier-free and takes you from the ground floor to the 5th floor.

Service areas
The information, loan and return counters and the areas for collecting reserved items and interlibrary loans are located on the ground floor. All three counters are equipped with induction loops to amplify the acoustic signals for hearing aids. The loan and return counters are height-adjustable and wheelchair-accessible.

Initial research area in the foyer
There is a wheelchair-accessible, height-adjustable research area near the main entrance. There is a limited option to increase the screen display using the key combination Ctrl +/-.

Toilets
Accessible toilets are available on the ground, second, third and fifth floors. The toilet on the second floor is height-adjustable and accessible from both sides. All barrier-free toilets are only accessible with a Euro key (German: Euroschlüssel).

Scanning
There are scanner rooms on floors 1-5, all of which are accessible by lift.

Grimm Café
The Grimm Café is located in the foyer of the Grimm-Zentrum. 

Work Booths for the Blind on the Second Floor

Work booth 2.01, on the second floor opposite the information counter, has a workstation for the blind. To use this booth, please ask site security for the key and leave a deposit. It is currently not necessary to reserve this work booth.

The following equipment is available:

  • keyboard with extra-large letters
  • braille keyboard with 80 characters from the Braille Index
  • Epson scanner with OCR software
  • braille printer - Everest V3
  • 19-inch monitor
  • speakers and headphones
  • Windows XP Service Pack 2 with automated standard login
  • Internet access (Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge are available as browsers)
  • screen content speech output (JAWS 8.0)
  • office programs (Word, Excel, Power Point 2007)
  • Image editing program (Photo Impact)
  • Acrobat Reader
  • FineReader Sprint 5.0
     

The work booth is equipped with a telephone for in-house calls. If you have any technical questions, please call the IT department staff (internal tel. 99354, from outside 030/2093-99354) or email them at ub.it-support@hu-berlin.de.

Work Booths for People with Visual and/or Physical Handicaps

Work booth 2.06 on the second floor has a PC workstation equipped with magnification software and other applications (but not software for the blind) designed for readers with visual and mobility handicaps.
To use this booth, please ask site security for the key and leave a deposit. It is currently not necessary to reserve this work booth.

Height-adjustable Worktables

The Grimm-Zentrum has electrically height-adjustable worktables (75 to 100 cm) for accessible use on the following floors:

On the ground floor:

  • right behind the information counter (table without microfiche reader)
  • a research workspace in the foyer
  • two worktables on the reading terrace

On the second floor:

  • the first table from the stairs on both reading terraces
  • a table in the corner of both areas A and B (table height 63 to 125 cm)
  • in the PC pool, room 2.306
  • in group rooms 2A and 2B

On the third floor:

  • the first table from the stairs on both reading terraces
  • in group work room 3A

On the sixth floor:

  • in the research reading room (near the counter)

The desks are easy to raise and lower: there is an extendable switch beneath the table edge which you simply pull forward and then press the relevant arrow key. 

Book Boxes

On the 2nd to 5th floors there are so-called ‘book boxes’. These enable you to store items from the open stacks for up to three days. Please note that book boxes are accessible to all, so do not leave any private belongings or books which are on loan to your account.

Five book boxes are reserved for people with disabilities on the 2nd floor and one each on the 3rd to 5th floors. These are labelled accordingly with a pictogram.

What to Do in the Event of a Fire

In the event of an emergency, wheelchair users visiting the Grimm-Zentrum unaccompanied should please move to the vestibule of fire service lift 4 (towards Geschwister-Scholl-Straße) on the relevant floor.

Blind and partially sighted individuals should immediately move from the corridors to the stairways, where they will receive any assistance they need.

People with hearing disabilities can obtain a device which offers a sensory alarm in the event of an emergency, available from the site security on the ground floor for the duration of their visit to the Grimm-Zentrum. 

All Information at a Glance: Flyer

Flyer on Grimm-Zentrum services for the handicapped: PDF
You can also obtain information flyers in Braille or printed for the partially sighted from the information, loan and return desks inside the Grimm-Zentrum.

Contact

Birgit Stumm
Head of User Services
phone: +49 30/2093-99327
mail: ub.barrierefreiheit@ub.hu-berlin.de