How can I borrow items?
Borrowing media
You can borrow media at the service desk on the ground floor or the self-checkout counters.
The loan period is 28 calendar days. You will receive an email as a reminder two days before the loan period ends. This is a service provided without legal entitlement – the timely return or renewal is the user's responsibility. Please see the terms of user regulations (German only) for more information.
You can find an overview of all your borrowed items in your user account.
Campus delivery service
The university library offers staff and students of the OVGU the service of scanning articles or book chapters for academic use and sending them via email. A valid membership is required for this service.
Digitized documents are made available in accordance with the German Copyright Act (UrhG, in particular Section 60c). Permitted materials include excerpts from monographs or edited volumes, individual articles from academic journals, and individual illustrations. Usage is strictly limited to academic purposes; distribution to third parties is not allowed.
Please submit requests informally by email to lieferdienste@ovgu.de.
When making your request, please provide the author, title, year of publication and page numbers; including the shelfmark and subject classification is also helpful.
The requested scans will be sent in PDF format exclusively to your OVGU email address.
Charges and fees
If the loan period is exceeded, a reminder including a fee will be issued by email or mail. A total of three reminder stages are possible. The reminder fees are cumulative.
- 1. reminder: 2 €
- 2. reminder: 5 €
- 3. reminder: 10 € (total of 17 €)
Upon the third reminder, the user account will be blocked. Fees can be paid at the service desk on the ground floor by debit card only.
Further information can be found in the user regulations (German only) and the list of charges.
Extending loan periods
You can extend your loans via your user account, in person at the service desk on the ground floor, by e-mail or phone by stating your user number.
Media that have not been reserved can be extended up to five times.
Interlibrary loan
Through interlibrary loan, you can request media that is not available in the collection of the university library Magdeburg. We can provide, among other things, printed monographs, copies of up to 10% of a monograph, and complete journal articles. Provision is made in accordance with the German Copyright Act (UrhG, in particular Section 60c). For employees and students of the OVGU, the service is free of charge; external users are charged €1.50 per requested title.
A valid library membership and an interlibrary loan account are required to place a request. This account can be set up at the circulation desk on the ground floor, Monday to Friday during service hours.
Requests are made via the Union Catalogue (GVK) using the “Loan Request” function for printed monographs or the “Copy Request” function for journal articles or parts of a work. The lending library sets the terms of use and loan periods. Extensions are not possible. If a request cannot be fulfilled, we will check availability through other interlibrary loan channels and inform you by email. Once the items are ready for collection, you will receive an email. The items will then be held for you at the circulation desk on the ground floor.
Your interlibrary loan account provides an overview of all your requests at any time.
Long-term loan (for OVGU employees only)
Employees of the OVGU may borrow physical media on a long-term loan basis for up to five years for business or academic purposes. These loans differ from the standard loan periods and conditions.
If required, please contact the subject specialist responsible for your department.
Ordering from the closed stacks
If a title in the library catalog is marked with the location “Closed Stacks”, you can request it for cellections at the service desk on the ground floor via the „request for pickup” button and confirming via your library account.
If the listing of a book does not display a request button or is listed as “Reading room only or photocopy”, use this web form to request it from the closed stacks.
Printed journals that are not located on the ground floor for direct viewing can also be requested from the closed stacks via this web form.
Requests received Monday to Friday during service hours will be available at the service desk on the ground floor within one hour of ordering. Media requested from the closed stacks will be held for collection at the service desk on the ground floor for a maximum of seven days.
Reserving borrowed media
If all copies of a book are on loan, you can reserve it via the “reserve” button and confirmation through your user account. You will receive an email as soon as the book is returned. The book will then be held for you at the service desk on the ground floor for a maximum of seven days.
You can find an overview of all your reserved books in your user account.