Services

We offer a wide range of services to assist you. Our team helps users with their research, plans exhibitions, shows visitors rare collector's items and much more besides. Explore the fascinating world of our library.

Borrowing from the Zentralbibliothek Zürich

You can borrow more than 6 million media free of charge from the Zentralbibliothek Zürich. Welcome to a world of knowledge!

Requesting items from our holdings

If you are interested in a book or a volume of a periodical that is in our closed stacks or one of our external stores, or want copies from books or m...

Using e-media

Are you interested in using electronic media? We’ll help you find your way through the e-media jungle.

Advice services at the Zentralbibliothek

Looking for literature but don’t know where to find it? Drop by or make an appointment. We will be happy to offer you free assistance with your resear...

Education and training

Are you interested in studying library science? Then you are in the right place!

Training courses and guided tours

Zentralbibliothek Zürich training courses and guided tours offer an insight into the multifaceted resources of one of Switzerland’s biggest libraries....

Search tips

Are you looking for literature to help with a lecture, thesis or further education course, but do not know how to go about it? This page offers some a...

Open Acess

By 2024, all research publications in Switzerland are supposed to be available via open access – What is open access, how can I find open access publi...

Rules for using our holdings

From DVDs, e-books and magazines to old and valuable maps – and much more besides – we have a vast array of media and different rules for using them....

Fees

The Zentralbibliothek Zürich offers many basic services free of charge: library cards, media borrowing, locker rental and use of workspaces in the rea...

Gifts

If you would like to donate books or other media to the Zentralbibliothek, we will be delighted to hear from you! Unfortunately we cannot accept every...

The e-rara and e-manuscripta platforms

Would you like to view old manuscripts up close or browse through rare books from the comfort of your own home? You can do all of this and more via th...

The ZBcollections archive portal

ZBcollections allows you to search through the Zentralbibliothek’s Special Collections online. It includes manuscripts, sheet music, prints and drawin...

Workspaces

The Zentralbibliothek Zürich offers around 600 public workspaces with modern equipment in the centre of Zurich.

The Zentralbibliothek Zürich Digitisation Centre (DigiZ)

The Zentralbibliothek Zürich Digitisation Centre is a centre of competence for retrodigitisation in Switzerland. It plays a key role in cooperative di...

Research and digitisation

The ZB supports external research projects and realises its own digitisation projects. For these purposes, we develop metadata and produce high-qualit...

PhD theses, habilitations and master’s theses from UZH

We collect and archive the following academic qualification theses from the University of Zurich: • PhD theses and habilitations from all faculties...

Tell us what you think!

What is your experience of using the ZB? What are we doing well and what could we do better?

Suggest an acquisition

Is there a book, DVD or periodical you think should be in the ZB?

Special services from the Special Collections

Our Special Collections include a wide variety of valuable objects, and we have a range of tailor-made services to match. Contact us to find out more.

Interlibrary loans and document mailing

If you are looking for specific literature that you have not found in our catalogue, we will be happy to order books and copies for you from elsewhere...

eBooks on Demand (EOD)

EOD allows you to order complete, high-quality digital copies of out-of-copyright books (published between 1500 and 1900) held by the Zentralbibliothe...

Escape Game

«Schnebelhorners Vermächtnis» is an escape game for 3-5 people. Currently, we are offering this service exclusively in German.

The Zentralbibliothek bistro

If you are running low on energy and in need of refreshment – or have simply done enough studying for one day drop by the Zentralbibliothek bistro for...