Our Services for HU Scientists and Academics

Supplying information to researchers and teachers at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is one of our vital tasks. We would like to present some key information for our scientists and academics here.


Library Card for HU Scientists and Academics

As a scientist or academic at HU, you will receive an orange user card. To register, you first need to activate your library user account via an "Opt-In form" (German only). This only works within the HU net.

Please also present your identity card or passport with proof of residence at one of our service desks. In case you are not registered in the central address file of HU (ZIS), please provide your working contract. You will then receive your orange library user card.

Professors can be issued primary and deputy library cards. This enables them to authorise people to borrow items on their behalf. However, they remain responsible for all loans.

The Following Loan Periods Apply for HU Scientists and Academics

• Standard loan: 56 days, can be extended to 182 days
• Short-term loan: 28 days, can be extended to 182 days
• Day loan: max. 28 days
• Items from the textbook collection: 56 days, can be extended to 182 days
• Lending limit: 100 items

Shorter loan periods apply in the Law School Library.

If you exceed the loan period, you will have to pay late fees.

Inter-Library Loan and Document Supply

You will find free offers for the delivery of media and essays. Information on conditions and ordering can be found here.

You can order literature that is not available at the Humboldt University Library online via interlibrary loan. The lending limit is 150 orders.
An alternative to interlibrary loan is the commercial document delivery service subito. Please register with us in advance to use the service. You then place the order directly on the subito website: Subito for members of HU

We also offer an internal scan service for use in digital teaching. The scans are made from our print stock and transmitted electronically.

HU Homezone Rules in the Grimm-Zentrum

Floors 1-5 in the Grimm-Zentrum contain reading room spaces that are reserved for HU students and staff from 8 am to 7 pm. Please leave your orange library card clearly visible on the table, and use the break disk if you wish to step away from your work station.

Access to Electronic Resources for HU Scientists and Academics

As a member of HU, you have access to our electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, databases, etc.) through your library account or HU account. You can also use a VPN to connect to the HU network from home and access the electronic media it provides.

Personal and Course Reserve Materials

The library can also use funds from fundraising or third parties to purchase materials for the library collection that you can keep for an extended period of time. However, the university retains ownership of these items. They are part of the University Library collection and can be searched for in the catalogue. Please list a contact person in case another user is interested in the item. Personal reserve materials should not amount to more than 100 volumes. Please contact your subject consultant if you are interested in building a reserve of personal materials.

We would be happy to set up course reserve materials at your request and make them available to your students at a central location. In the branch libraries, please contact the library staff in good time to find out about the procedure they use. At the Grimm-Zentrum, please send the relevant list of literature to semesterapparat-gz@ub.hu-berlin.de by 15 March (for the summer semester) or 15 September (for the winter semester). Further information about course reserve materials at the Grimm-Zentrum is available here.

Funds from Fundraising or Third Parties

Items financed using funds from fundraising or third parties are purchased and processed at the library location where your department is based. It is up to you to decide whether the items purchased should be considered in your personal reserve materials or made available in the relevant library.

Electronic Publishing

The e-doc server enables HU members to publish their scientific work on an open access platform.

Open Access and Scientific Publishing

On our pages in the Research and Publishing section, you will find extensive information on open access, free access to scientific literature, including its implementation variants, funding options and special conditions, legal aspects such as open licences, Humboldt-Universität's open access policy, as well as our consultation services and much more.

Furthermore, we advise you on all other aspects of scientific publishing, specifically also on affiliation statements (how to indicate Humboldt-Universität in publications) and the ORCID iD. You will also find information on how to recognise and protect yourself from predatory publishing.

With Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP), an open access publisher in an academically operated infrastructure is in operation since 2022. The services for members of Humboldt-Universität include the publishing of books, the publication of book series and journals, as well as consultancy on topics related to academic publishing and open access.

Research Data

Together with the Computer and Media Service and the Research Service Centre, the university library participates in the Research Data Management initiative. This initiative serves as the first point of contact and support for researchers at Humboldt-Universität regarding all aspects of research data. For this purpose, it operates a website on research data management.

Digitisation Orders ‘eod – e-books on demand’

We are happy to create digital reproductions of works that are no longer copyrighted and make them available to you as e-books via our eod service. This service is subject to a fee. For digitisation orders, please contact ub.digitalisierung@ub.hu-berlin.de.

Contact and Help

If you have any questions, suggestions or poblems with our services, please contact:
info@ub.hu-berlin.de