Terms of use

”Allgemeine Benutzungsordnung der Bayerischen Staatlichen Bibliotheken (ABOB)” from 18.08.1993

The use of the OTH libraries Amberg and Weiden is basically governed by the ABOB (GVBl. p. 635), which you can view on this page as a convenience translation.
For legal puposes, only the German version applies. You can read the German version here.

For users of the 24-hour library, there are supplementary regulations regarding the behavior in the library rooms, which will be communicated to you in the course of the respective library training. By signing a document during this training, you agree and undertake to comply with these regulations.

Internet access in the OTH library is exclusively for scientific purposes, in particular the use of our electronically provided documents and databases as well as scientific research. Electronic full texts are available after login on the user or service PCs. For off-campus access, you must install the VPN client.

”Allgemeine Benutzungsordnung der Bayerischen Staatlichen Bibliotheken (ABOB)” from 18.08.1993 (please note: this is a convenience translation, for legal purposes, only the German version applies):

On the basis of § 1 of the Ordinance on the Establishment of State Authorities (Verordnung über die Einrichtung der staatlichen Behörden ) and Article 32, Paragraph 5, Sentence 6 of the Bavarian Higher Education Act (Bayerischen Hochschulgesetz) and Article 25, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, No. 1 of the Cost Act (Kostengesetz), the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Science and the Arts issues the following ordinance as far as necessary in agreement with the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance:

Section I: General
Section II: General regulations for use
Section III: Use outside the library
Section IV: Use in Reading Rooms
Section V: Interlibrary Loan
Section VI: Manuscripts and Other Special Collections
Section VII: Final Provisions

Section I: General
§ 1 Scope of application
(1) This Regulation shall apply to the use of the Bavarian State Library in Munich, the regional state libraries in Amberg, Ansbach, Aschaffenburg, Bamberg, Coburg, Dillingen, Neuburg a.d. Donau, Passau and Regensburg, the libraries of the universities and universities of applied sciences of the Free State of Bavaria, the library of the Central Institute for Art History in Munich and the Bavarian Army Library in Ingolstadt (Bavarian State Libraries).
(2) The libraries may make special arrangements for use within the framework of administrative assistance.

§ 2 Tasks
(1) ¹The Bavarian State Libraries, as public libraries, serve academic purposes as well as professional work and further education. ²The libraries of the universities, as central institutions within the meaning of the Bavarian Higher Education Act, focus on the tasks of research, teaching and study.
(2) The tasks of the libraries shall include
1. to make the items referred to in paragraph 3 available for use on their premises and to lend them for use outside the library,
2. to procure items from other libraries which are not available at their premises,
3. to make, enable or arrange for reproductions from their own items and items received from external libraries,
4. to provide information on the basis of their catalogs and items or to mediate from databases,
5. to carry out public relations work, in particular by means of exhibitions or guided tours.
(3) Items are in particular books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, graphics, maps, music, microforms, audiovisual materials and electronic data carriers.

§ 3 Data Protection
The Bavarian State Libraries are entitled to collect and process personal data insofar as this is necessary for the lawful fulfillment of their tasks.

Section II: General regulations for use
§ 4 Persons entitled to use the library
Natural persons and legal entities are allowed to use the library, provided that they use it for one of the purposes specified in § 2 para. 1.

§ 5 Application for Use and Admission
(1) Admission to use the library must be applied for in person at the library.
(2) Applicants must state their surname, first name, date of birth, occupation, nationality and address and present a valid identity card or passport; the library may also accept other official identity documents with a photograph as proof of identity. Applicants must notify the library in writing without delay of any change in their details.
(3) Admission shall be granted on a regular basis by issuing a user card. Admission may be limited in time and may depend on the provision of a security. It shall be refused if the applicant does not guarantee compliance with the regulations for use.
(4) The user's pass must be signed by hand. ²Legal persons, authorities, companies, institutes and chairs shall deposit up to three signatures of authorized representatives who are authorized to sign for the library. The loss of the library card must be reported immediately. Users are liable to the library for any damage caused by misuse of the user card, unless they can prove that they are not at fault.
(5) For the use of items in the library, the presentation of an official identity card with a photograph and an entry in the user book may be required.
(6) The members of a university shall be deemed to be admitted to their university library and shall receive a user's card if required. ²University libraries may accept the student card or the service card of their university as a user card.
(7) As a rule, only persons who are at least 18 years old are admitted to use the Bavarian State Library.

§ 6 Controls, lost property, domiciliary rights
(1) The library is entitled to install control devices and to carry out controls, in particular to check objects brought into the library.
(2) Objects found in the libraries or taken from lockers which have not been cleared in due time shall be dealt with in accordance with Section 978 of the German Civil Code.
(3) The heads of the libraries shall exercise domiciliary rights; they may entrust other library staff with the exercise of domiciliary rights. ²Article 23 (6) of the Bavarian Higher Education Act shall apply to the university libraries.

§ 7 Conduct in the Library
(1) The users shall behave in such a way that no other person's justified claims are impaired and that the library operation is not hindered and that items, catalogs, facilities, equipment etc. do not suffer any damage. The users are obliged to observe the library's instructions.
(2) The use of technical equipment such as typewriters, computers or dictaphones in the reading rooms requires special permission from the library. The permission can only be granted if the use of the devices does not disturb the orderly flow of the use of the library.

§ 8 Duty of care and compensation for damages
(1) ¹The users shall handle the items with care and protect them from damage. ²Damage shall also be deemed to include entries of any kind, such as the marking out and correction of errors, as well as the bending of pages, plates and maps.
(2) ¹Upon receipt of a item, the users shall inspect its condition and report any existing damage without delay. ²If they fail to do so, it shall be assumed that they have received the item in undamaged condition.
(3) ¹The users shall pay compensation for lost or damaged items, even if they are not at fault. ²Article 85, paragraph 1, sentence 2 of the Bavarian Civil Service Law (rt. 85 Abs. 1 Satz 2 Bayerisches Beamtengesetz) remains unaffected. ³The library shall determine the type of compensation at its reasonable discretion. In particular, it may demand that users restore the item to its former condition, procure at their expense a replacement copy, another item of equal value, or a reproduction, or set an appropriate monetary compensation; in addition, it may seek compensation for any loss in value not compensated for by these measures.

§ 9 Reproductions
(1) ¹The users may make copies or have copies made in accordance with the following paragraphs, provided that it is ensured that the items are not damaged. ²The users shall be solely responsible for the observance of copyright, personal rights and other rights.
(2) Reproductions from manuscripts and other special collections (Section 24, paragraph 1, sentence 1) as well as older, valuable or fragile items may only be made by the library or with its consent. The library determines the type of reproduction. It may refuse or limit duplication for reasons of conservation. Furthermore, duplications of complexes of the special collections are only permitted for scientific work projects.
(3) If the library itself makes the reproduction, it shall retain the rights arising therefrom; the original recordings shall remain its property.
(4) A reproduction for commercial purposes (e.g. reprints, facsimile editions, postcards) or on a larger scale requires a special agreement which also determines the consideration. ²The right of reproduction and use may not be transferred to third parties without the permission of the library.

§ 10 Information resources, advisory services
(1) The library's information resources, in particular public catalogs, bibliographies and reference items as well as library advice and information services are available to users.
(2) Consultation of service catalogs and internal reference works may be permitted in justified cases.
(3) ¹Information resources and aids for their use shall be handled with care and may not be altered. ²The removal of catalog cards is prohibited. Microfiches are to be filed again after use.
(4) ¹The library shall process inquiries within the scope of its possibilities, insofar as they relate to its items and the users are unable to carry out the necessary investigations themselves. ²The preparation of bibliographies and the estimation of the value of books, manuscripts and other items are not the task of the libraries.

§ 11 Exhibitions, Film and Television Recordings
The lending of items for exhibitions or their use for film and television recordings requires a special agreement which must take into account the preservation and security of the items and may provide for a fee.

§ 12 User Fees and Expenses
(1) No fees or expenses shall be charged for the use of the Bavarian State Libraries, except in the cases mentioned in paragraphs 2 to 4.
(2) ¹For the production of reproductions, fees shall be charged in accordance with the customary local commercial rates; the fees are shown in a list kept by the library. ²Fees and expenses are not charged for copies of up to 20 pages of the original if they are made in accordance with the loan regulations and reciprocity is guaranteed; a fee of € 1.50 per order is charged by the library placing the order for the delivery of such copies.
(3) Special expenses of the libraries (e.g. for value insurance, fees for express shipments), which have been arranged by the users, are to be reimbursed by the users.
(4) ¹For the provision of information by means of external databases, fees shall be charged which, for members of a state university and agencies of the Free State of Bavaria, shall consist of the host costs and the ancillary costs (management and other overhead costs). ²For other users, personnel costs are also included in the fees as a lump sum. ³The fees can be found in a list kept by the library.
(5) For official acts of the libraries (e.g. requesting the return of borrowed items, ordering or determining compensation for damages), costs are charged in accordance with the Cost Law (Kostengesetz) and the List of Costs (Art. 1 Para. 1, Art. 6, 8 and 13 Cost Law/ Art. 1 Abs. 1, Art. 6, 8 und 13 Kostengesetz).

Section III: Use outside the library
§ 13 Borrowing
(1) ¹The loan of items for use outside the library regularly requires that the users prove that they are resident in the Federal Republic of Germany. ²Items available at libraries of the place of residence should be borrowed there.
(2) The users shall receive the items personally. If they have the items collected by authorized persons, these must prove their authorization and confirm receipt on the loan slip upon request. The library is entitled, but not obliged, to hand over the items to any person who shows the corresponding user card.
(3) Borrowable items from open access holdings shall be taken from the shelves by the users themselves and presented at the circulation desk.
(4) The order form, which is marked with an issue mark, serves as proof that the item has been issued (loan slip). ²In the case of automated loan booking, the machine recording of the loan transaction shall be considered as proof of delivery. Users shall be liable for the return of the item from the time of issue, even if they are not at fault; Section 8 (3) sentences 2 to 4 shall apply accordingly.
(5) If items provided by the library are not collected within ten days of receipt of the order, the order shall be deemed to have been taken back. ²The library may destroy the order forms.
(6) A maximum of 20 items shall be lent to one person.
(7) The library may establish an immediate lending service and make special provisions for it, in particular shorten the period of provision (paragraph 5, sentence 1).
(8) Items of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek shall only be lent to students if it is proven that the items are not available in the university library.

§ 14 Ordering
(1) ¹For each item that is to be borrowed without automated loan accounting, a pre-printed order form must be completed and signed by the user. ²Order forms from legal entities, authorities, companies, institutions or chairs must bear the official or company stamp and the signature of an authorized signatory (§ 5 para. 4 sentence 2). ³The library may return illegible, incomplete or otherwise defective order forms without processing them.
(2) The users must sign the order forms themselves if the signatures of the desired items can be determined in an accessible catalog.
(3) In the case of automated loan booking, the users themselves shall determine whether the desired item is available and can be loaned. ²The library may provide simplified order forms.
(4) If more than ten items are ordered, the library may distribute the fulfillment over several days or return part of the order slips.
(5) If an ordered item is not available, on loan, or unavailable for other reasons, the order form will be held for return for ten days with a corresponding note.

§ 15 Restrictions on borrowing
(1) ¹The following items are generally excluded from lending and can therefore only be used on the premises of the library:
1. reference collections,
2. items published more than 100 years ago,
3. endangered items and those requiring special care,
4. valuable items or items that are difficult to replace.
²Loan may be authorized in particularly justified cases.
(2) ¹The lending of individual groups of holdings (e.g. school, youth and children's books, travel guides as well as items imparting elementary or purely practical knowledge) and of compulsory items may be made dependent on proof of the scientific or professional purpose pursued by their consultation. ²Very popular items may be temporarily excluded from loan.
(3) The Bavarian State Library may restrict the use of compulsory items to the reading rooms.

§ 16 Loan period
(1) ¹The loan period is one month, for periodicals two weeks. ²The library may make other arrangements. ³It may, in justified cases, reclaim a item before the expiry of the loan period. Items that are no longer needed should be returned before the loan period expires.
(2) ¹The loan period may be extended upon written request by a maximum of two times, each time by one month, in the case of periodicals by two weeks, subject to revocation. ²The library may permit another form of application. ³The request for extension must also include the call numbers of the items and, if applicable, the user number. The loan period is considered extended if the library does not explicitly reject the request. The library may require the submission of a new order form and the item before extending the loan period.
(3) ¹An extension of the loan period is not permitted if the item has been registered (§ 17). ²In the case of a reservation, an extension may be revoked.
(4) ¹As a rule, permanent loans are not permitted. ²In the universities, reference collections may be set up on a small scale for university teachers and full-time scientific staff. ³Their holdings shall be made available to other users upon request.

§ 17 Reservations
(1) ¹Items on loan may be reserved for loan. ²The library is not obliged to accept more than one reservation for a book.
(2) Information about the customer or borrower may only be given with their consent.

§ 18 Return
(1) ¹The borrowed item must be returned to the responsible circulation desk without being requested to do so, at the latest on the day the loan period expires. ²Users are obliged to return the item without delay, even before the expiry of the loan period, if the library reclaims the item. ³In the event of absence or other hindrance, they must ensure that the borrowed items are returned in good time. The library may draw attention to the return date in a suitable manner. A receipt may be requested for each item returned.
(2) ¹If, by way of exception, borrowed items are returned by mail, the item must be sent as a package. ²The name, address and user number as well as a list of contents of the consignment must be enclosed. ³If the user wishes a receipt, a self-addressed envelope with sufficient postage must be enclosed.
(3) ¹If borrowed items are not returned in time, the library shall demand the return of the items at the user's expense, indicating that the loan period has expired. ²The library shall repeat the request for return with costs.
(4) ¹If measures according to paragraph 3 are unsuccessful, the library shall issue a new, chargeable request to the users to return the borrowed items within a certain period of time against proof of delivery. ²It shall combine this request with the notice that in the event of failure to return the items within the specified period it will initiate administrative proceedings for the return of the items or consider them to have been lost and claim damages in accordance with Section 8 (3); the library shall threaten to exclude the user from further use of the library.
(5) ¹After expiry of the time limit set in accordance with paragraph 4, sentence 1, without result, the library shall issue a notice, subject to costs, which shall be declared immediately enforceable and which shall order the return of the borrowed items. ²If the enforcement is unsuccessful, the users shall be obliged to pay damages in accordance with § 8, paragraph 3.
(6) If an administrative procedure according to paragraph 5, sentence 1, seems inexpedient or does not promise success, the library shall be entitled, after expiration of the period according to paragraph 4, sentence 1, to consider the borrowed items as lost and to claim damages according to § 8, paragraph 3.
(7) Requests for the return of books and notices pursuant to paragraphs 3 to 6 shall be deemed to have been received if they are addressed to the last address communicated by the users.
(8) As long as the users do not comply with a request for the return of books, do not pay fixed damages or do not pay costs owed, the library shall refuse the lending of books and the extension of the loan period.

Section IV: Use in Reading Rooms
§ 19 Reading room holdings
(1) The reference holdings of the reading rooms may in principle only be used in the rooms provided for this purpose.
(2) ¹In university libraries, the reading rooms may be used to hold semester collections, for which the library shall issue special conditions of use. ²Items borrowed from other libraries may only be placed in the reading rooms if the lending library has given its consent.

§ 20 Ordering
(1) ¹All unrestrictedly usable items placed in the stacks may be ordered for use in a reading room. ²They must be returned daily, unless they are used in specially marked places. ³The library may limit the total number of items provided for one person.
(2) ¹For items requiring special protection and special collections, use may be restricted to special reading rooms or special areas of the reading rooms. ²The use of a item worthy of special protection shall remain recorded.
(3) Section 13 (2) to (7), Sections 14 and 17 shall apply accordingly to the ordering, use, reservation and liability.
(4) ¹A item ordered from the stacks for use in the reading room may be borrowed for use outside the library, unless otherwise provided for in § 13, para. 8 or § 15. ²The loan period (§ 16) begins with the provision in the reading room.

§ 21 Period of use
(1) ¹Items provided in the reading room are available for one month, periodicals for two weeks. ²The period may be extended if no other order or reservation has been made.
(2) If items made available in the reading room are not used for ten days, the use may be considered as completed.

Section V: Interlibrary Loan
§22 Borrowing from outside
(1) ¹Items which are neither available at the library itself nor at any other publicly accessible library in the locality may be borrowed from foreign libraries through the intermediary of the library in accordance with the provisions of the Bavarian, German and International Interlibrary Loan Regulations (interlibrary loan). ²Interlibrary loan orders which would circumvent the restrictions or fees applicable to borrowing are not permitted.
(2) ¹As a rule, interlibrary loan orders must be submitted in person. ²Orders and related requests, such as for extensions or exceptions, shall be routed through the referring library. Requests for extension of time limits shall be limited to exceptional cases.
(3) These regulations also apply to items on loan; the instructions of the lending library must be observed.

§ 23 Outward Lending
¹For external use, items shall be sent in accordance with the provisions of the Bavarian, German and International Interlibrary Loan Regulations. ²In view of lending restrictions, the library may attach conditions to the loan or refuse it altogether. ³It is also entitled to supply copies in place of the original, insofar as this is permissible under copyright law.

Section VI: Manuscripts and Other Special Collections
§ 24 Use
(1) ¹For the use of manuscripts and other items which are particularly worthy of protection due to their age, value or condition (special collections), the library may, above all for reasons of conservation, impose additional restrictions on use and exclude individual items from use. ²The library may present copies instead of the original.
(2) ¹Before granting permission for use, the library may also request information on the purpose of use and, in the case of students, the opinion of a university lecturer. ²As a rule, only one item is issued to a person at a time. ³Use is only permitted within the library at the designated places. In exceptional cases, an item may also be sent out in accordance with § 23.

§ 25 Publications
(1) ¹The publication of manuscripts and other special collections or parts thereof shall be permitted only with the prior consent of the library if a pictorial reproduction is to be made. ²The library owning the manuscript and the call number shall be indicated in each publication.
(2) Publications resulting from the use of manuscripts and other special collections, including articles in collected items, shall be made available to the library in one copy free of charge, without prejudice to the right to a deposit copy; the deposit may be waived.
(3) The above paragraphs shall apply accordingly if the library has provided the users with copies instead of the originals.

Section VII: Final Provisions
§ 26 Exclusion from use
(1) ¹Anyone who repeatedly or seriously violates the library regulations or the library's instructions may be excluded from using the library for a limited or unlimited period of time, partially or completely. ²The same applies if the use of the library has become unreasonable for other reasons. ³The regulations of the Bavarian Higher Education Act apply to members of the universities.
(2) In the case of particularly serious violations, the library is entitled to notify other libraries of the exclusion and the reasons for it.

§ 27 Special regulations of the universities
¹The state universities may, with the approval of the State Ministry for Education, Culture, Science and the Arts, regulate the use of university libraries in a supplementary manner (Art. 32 Para. 3 Sentence 1 Bavarian Higher Education Act). ²They may deviate from § 5 para. 3, 4, sentence 2, para. 6, §10 para. 2, 4, § 13 para. 5, 6, § 14 para. 4, § 15 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 1, § 16 para. 1 sentences 1 and 2, para. 2 sentence 1, para. 4, § 18 para. 1 sentence 5, § 19 para. 1 and § 21.

§ 28 Entry into force, expiry
(1) This regulation shall enter into force on October 1, 1993.
(2) At the same time, the General Regulations for the Use of the Bavarian State Libraries (ABOB) of November 30, 1966 (BayRS 2240-3-K) shall cease to be in force.

Munich, August 18, 1993
Bavarian State Ministry for Education, Cultural Affairs, Science and the Arts
Hans Z e h e t m a i r , Minister of State