Our services for HU first semester students

Your library card / library account

As an HU student, you do not normally need to register. Your HU-Berlin Campus Card is also your library card. The Admissions Office passes on your address data to us at the beginning of the semester. Nevertheless, you should bring your identity card or passport with certificate of residence with you at the first borrowing if we do not have your current data.

Charité members have the status of HU members in the University Library, but must register before using the library for the first time.

        HU-Berlin Campus Card with user number

To use the library's electronic resources, please always log in to the public computer workstations with your HU account or log in to the HU Network. Please also log in to the Primus search portal with your HU account to view your personal borrowing conditions.
 

Login procedure in Primus

You log in to Primus as follows:

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There you can log in with your usual HU account, which you also use to log in to Moodle and Agnes.

If you should ever forget your password for your HU account, you can set a new one on the CMS pages.

At the self loan machines, you log in with your user number (HUHS barcode on your Campus Card) and a four-digit PIN number. You assign this PIN yourself in your Primus user account (in Primus click on your name in the upper right corner > "My account" > "Profile/Password/PIN" > "Change PIN/Password").

Internet access at the HU and access to the campus network

At the public computer workstations, you have full Internet access after logging in with your HU account and also access to online resources licensed by the University Library.

Humboldt-Universität participates in the eduroam initiative. Please contact the Computer and Media Service for information about the WLAN at Humboldt-Universität as well as for information about the setup assistance.

As a member of the HU, you can also log into the HU network from home via VPN and thus access the electronic media from there.

Literature research

You can find our electronic and print stocks in the Primus search portal. We have arranged further search accesses such as regional and national catalogues and databases for you. If you have any questions regarding literature research, please do not hesitate to contact our service and information desks on site. Please refer to the location pages for information on the respective opening hours.

Subject Librarians

Our subject librarians will be glad to provide you with specialist information. Please also note any webinar offers on the respective subject pages (to be found under "Training").

Studying On-Site

Locations of the University Library

The University Library has 12 different locations. Most of them are located in Berlin-Mitte. Please refer to the respective location pages for information on the terms of use applicable there.

Single working places

Working places are available at all locations, including computer workstations with Internet access.

To increase the chances for HU members to find a working place, we had to set up the HU home zone and the control break disk regulation at Grimm-Zentrum.

Please also note our special offers for disabled persons and for parents accompanied by their children.

Group working places

Many locations offer rooms for group work. Find out about the applicable reservation conditions on site.

Cloakrooms

Bring a padlock (diameter 5-6 mm) with you when you visit the library. Jackets and bags (including laptop bags) may not be taken into the inner areas. Only at a few locations, there are some additional lockers that can be used with the Campus Card.

Eating and drinking

Eating is not allowed in the library. Water may only be carried in transparent bottles. The cafeterias and refectories of the Studierendenwerk are available for food and drinks.

Print, Copy, Scan

At all locations, Ricoh equipment is available for printing, scanning and copying. Payment is made using the Campus Card.

Borrowing and return

The following borrowing periods apply to HU students:

• Standard loan: 28 days, renewable to 84 days
• Short-term loan: 7 days, renewable to 21 days
• Day loan: 1 day (i.e. to next working day), not renewable
• Holdings from the textbook collection: 28 days, renewable to 84 days
• Borrowing limit: 100 media

You can reserve borrowed media and order magazine stocks in Primus (after prior login).

If possible, please use the self loan and return machines for borrowing and returning media.

If you need a medium that we do not have in stock, you can order it via interlibrary loan or suggest it for purchase.

Textbook collection

Books from the textbook collection may only be borrowed by HU members. As a student you can borrow the books for 4 weeks. If there are no reservations, you can renew the loan period up to 84 days.

Reference management software and software licenses

Humboldt-Universität offers campus licenses for Citavi and EndNote.

In addition, the CMS offers further licensed software programs for HU students. An overview can be found on the CMS software service page.

Please also note our webinar offer for Citavi and Endnote.

Webinars and self-study offers

In order to use the University Library effectively, we recommend that you attend our webinars. Here you will become research experts and learn how to find, organize and process your literature.

Please also note any subject-specific webinars. They will be announced in the "Training" section on the respective subject pages.

Especially for new students, we offer the webinar "Rund um die Bib für Erstsemester" ("Library Orientation for New Students"). Via Zoom you can get an introduction to library use and you can ask all questions about the library.

Please note that the webinars are generally held in German. If you wish a webinar in English (groups only), please contact fuehrungen@ub.hu-berlin.de.

On your own initiative, you can use the Actionbound-App to go on an exploratory tour through the Grimm Zentrum and the Branch Library of Natural Sciences. Simply download the free Actionbound-App from the App-Store and go to the respective location. There you will find displays and notices with the QR code for the Actionbound tour. The tours are in German.

Library Video Tutorials (mostly in German)

Moodle course "Fit für die Recherche" ("Fit for research", in German)

Roter Faden: Präsentieren ("Guide to giving presentations", UTB publishing house, only in German): enter the voucher code RoFa2020 to download

Citavi: 5 Professional tips for first semester students

The University Library in times of Corona

Unfortunately, there is no normal operation at the moment. Please inform yourself about our current conditions during the Corona pandemic.

Contact

For further detailed questions you can use our A-Z.