Media holdings
The Katalog plus lists all books and other media of the Siegen University Library. It also shows information on where an item is located and whether it is currently available.
You can order literature from areas that are not open to the public via the Katalog plus.
As soon as the ordered items are ready, we will send a notification with the pick-up location - alternatively, you can also look it up in your library account.
Media locations
The majority of our holdings are freely accessible on the shelves and can be viewed or borrowed directly.
The books and media are sorted by subjects, which are divided into different subject areas. A classification system helps to find literature easily. Subject classifications - combinations of three to four letters - show the subject to which the media belong.
In the main library and all branch libraries we display newly acquired books on a shelf at the entrance, before they are being added to their usual place in the holdings.
Via our lists of recent acquisitions we also offer online information on newly available titles for each subject.
Site plans in the individual departments and the labels on the shelves help you to quickly find the media you are looking for.
There is additional literature for all the subject classifications mentioned - not only in the open access areas, but also in
- the closed stacks (e.g. 02 to 09, 92/93, K, R, RZ),
- the media collection (e.g. 70/72, 74, 78, 80, 82/84),
- the textbook collections at all library locations (e.g. 71, 73, 75, 77, 81, 83/85)
- and the schoolbook collection (99).
The Katalog plus shows information on the location of the literature. If the book is in a closed area, it can be ordered directly - simply log in to the catalog and use the "order" function.
The following lists provide an overview of our media and help you to find your way around the library quickly.
Special locations
For various reasons (e.g. age, format or content), some media are in stacks that are not accessible to the public. But don't worry: via the Katalog plus you can easily order these media. Simply log in to the catalog, search for the desired title and click on the "order" button in the detailed view.
If necessary, please enter the desired year. We will send you a notification as soon as the ordered medium is ready for collection.
Audio-visual media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, videos or cassettes are not pubicly accessible in the library.
However, these media can be ordered easily via the Katalog plus - just log in to the catalog and use the "order" function after your search.
The media are usually available within 3 working days and we send a notification as soon as they can be collected. The media will then be available for pick-up for a maximum of 10 days.
In the branch libraries, the colleagues at the circulation desk are the right people to contact if you need media with a call number beginning with 74, 78, 80, 82 or 84.
The library provides many documents on microfilm (e.g. newspapers) and microfiche (e.g. biographical archives).
These media can be ordered via the Katalog plus. Simply log in to the catalog, search for the title, specify the desired year if necessary and click on "order". We will make the media available within 3 working days and send a notification as soon as they can be collected. Users can view the order status in their library account under "Orders". The media will then be available for collection for a maximum of 10 days.
The library has a special reader (reader-printer/film scanner) for the use of microfilms and microfiches, with which scans can be saved on your own USB stick.
The reader can be used after making an appointment.
Microfiches can also be viewed without making an appointment if no printouts are required. Our staff are the right people to contact for this.
For media available online, the Katalog plus provides a direct link to the full text.
Access to licensed electronic media is usually only possible from computers in the University of Siegen campus network or via VPN depending on the terms of the contract.
Teachers can create electronic course reserves (eSem) for a semester. These are digital collections of literature and media that contain printed and electronic materials and provide students with access to all relevant course content in one place.
In the Katalog plus, these media have the status "Semesterapparat" - it also states where the books can be found and who manages the course reserve. Books from course reserves can only be used on site in the library - they cannot be borrowed.
Special collections
In the Siegerland Collection the library collects literature about the Siegerland and the neighboring regions.
The University Library Siegen is a documentation center of the EU. This means that we offer access to official publications and lots of information about the European Union. These can be found in the Lower Castle Branch Library with the shelfmark 38 or 39.
The Katalog plus and the databases on the EU.
In 2007, the University of Siegen took over the library, comprising around 10,000 volumes, as well as other archive material from the estate of the German scholar Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Helmut Kreuzer and his wife Dr. Ingrid Kreuzer. The holdings of the Kreuzer Library are arranged as a collection in the library's stacks.
All books can be borrowed, with the exception of those particularly worthy of protection (dedication copies), which can only be used on site.
The books in the Kreuzer Collection bear the location designation 92 or 93 and are indexed according to the library's shelving system.
Publications on the Kreuzer Collection:
- Informationsdienst Wissenschaft from 4.8.2004
- Science Information Service of 5.12.2007
- Cross-section. Newspaper of the University of Siegen. Issue No. 4/July 2011, page 10
The archive of the Jung-Stilling Society, which is located in the Siegen University Library, contains research records, documents, images and books by and about the ophthalmologist and economist Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling (1740-1817) from the Siegerland region.
If you are interested, the archive can be viewed by prior appointment and under supervision.
The collection "Dietrich Böhler's interdisciplinary future library in memory of Hans Jonas" was handed over to the University of Siegen in 2017, more precisely to Prof. Bongardt from the Hans Jonas Center. Between 2023 and 2024, the collection was added to the University Library's holdings and can be found in the catalog under the system location HIR.
The collection contains books by and about Hans Jonas, philosophical classics and many publications on religion, economics, medicine, technology, philosophy of science, history and politics. Further information can be found on the website of the Hans Jonas Center.
Wilfried Kuhn (1923-2009) was Professor of Physics Didactics (1971-1991) at Justus Liebig University Giessen.
Prof. Dr. Oliver Schwarz (University of Siegen), who was able to conduct research at Wilfried Kuhn's institute during his research and teaching activities at the University of Giessen, has taken care of Prof. Kuhn's scientific estate and donated it to the University Library of Siegen.
The collection can be searched via the Katalog plus.
The Rosa Flieder Collection contains books and journals on the subject of homosexuality and literature. Part of the collection was acquired from other institutions, while other relevant literature was purchased with University Library funds at the initiative of the late Siegen-based specialist in Geman language studies Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Popp, who had established a research focus on this topic in Siegen.
The collection of literature on homosexuality, which is largely in German, comprises approximately 500 books (call number: 04ZZVD) and about 1,000 journal volumes (call number: 04ZZVC) dating from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. It is located in the stacks of the branch library Hölderlinstraße. The titles can be requested for use in the reading room.
According to the Rosa Flieder Collection, the core topics of the gay rights movement in the 1980s and 1990s were the emergence of the AIDS crisis, the repeal of Section 175 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), and a generally intensified public debate on equal rights.
The August-von-Platen-Library is part of the August von Platen Foundation, which was established by Univ.-Prof. (em.) Dr. Wolfgang Popp (†) and is administered by the University of Siegen. The foundation’s objectives are in keeping with the spirit of August Graf von Platen-Hallermünde (1796–1835). Platen was the first significant poet in modern German literary history to address homosexuality in his works without prejudice.
The August-von-Platen-Library is thematically aligned with the “Rosa Flieder” collection and comprises approximately 4,000 volumes, predominantly monographs. It consists of Prof. Popp’s private library and also includes a substantial amount of scholarly literature (German studies).
These holdings from the estate of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Popp were donated to the University Library.
In the main library on Adolf-Reichwein-Straße (AR), level 0, there is a small collection of classic and current children's and youth books - ideal for student teachers and anyone interested in children's and youth literature. New titles are regularly added to the collection. The books in the collection are freely accessible on the shelves and can be borrowed. The collection is divided into picture books (BSJ), children's books (BSK), youth books (BSL) and non-fiction books for children and young people (BSM).
eResources
An overview of all important electronic resources offered by the library.
The library offers a large selection of databases for various subject areas and interdisciplinary topics, which can be accessed via the menu item "eResources" in the Katalog plus.
Not only bibliographic databases are available, but also full-text databases, fact databases, subject bibliographies and reference works, which are sorted alphabetically within the subject classification; the offers marked as Top Resources are always at the top of the overview.
Offers marked in yellow are usually bound to the license conditions of the publishers and can only be used within the university network or via VPN, in some cases a login via Shibboleth is also possible.
eBooks accessible within the network of the University
An overview of ebook offers that are only available within the network of the University of Siegen or via VPN, sorted by publishers and ebook platforms.
You can finde these ebooks via the Katalog plus. As there is sometimes a certain time delay before they are added to the catalog, it is also worth searching the portals of the respective providers for specific electronic books.
Nationwide freely accessible eBooks
With the national licensing program, the German Research Foundation (DFG) enables nationwide access to extensive digital text collections.
Siegen University Library offers access to these products for the university.
Nationwide freely accessible eBooks for private individuals
The DFG also offers many packages to private individuals. After a quick registration process, the selected packages are available for access from home—without the need for a VPN.
The University Library provides OPUS Siegen (OPUS = Online Publication Service), the University Library provides a publication and document server on which electronic documents from the University of Siegen can be published, archived and researched.
All publications on OPUS Siegen are available worldwide without access restrictions (Open Access).
The Team Publication Support advises on all questions concerning
- the publication process in OPUS
- the publication and submission of deposit copies of dissertations and other theses
- document creation and formal requirements
Further information
- Open Access funding at Siegen University Library
- Open Access publication platforms
- e-Science Service (eSS) / FoDaSi (Research Data Repository of the University of Siegen)
- universi-Universitätsverlag Siegen
The Electronic Journals Library (EZB) contains electronic journals of all subjects and indicates the accessibility of full text articles. A traffic-light symbol will tell you which volumes are available at Siegen University Library. You have access to journals subscribed to by Siegen University Libray and to journals which are freely accessible. By clicking on the button "i" you will obtain important information on the accessibility of journals.
