Loans

Library card

If you wish to borrow materials from the library, you will need a library card, which can be obtained at the circulation desk.

  • WU students
    must present their student ID card

  • Faculty members
    must provide written confirmation of employment from their department

  • Other readers residing in Austria
    must present their police registration (Meldezettel) and an official photo ID
    library card valid for one year: € 15
    library card valid for one month: € 5

  • Other users
    must present their police registration (Meldezettel) and an official photo ID and will have to pay a deposit of € 220. They get the deposit back when returning the library card
    library card valid for one year: € 15
    library card valid for one month: € 5


With your library card, you will be issued a four-digit PIN code (day and month of user's date of birth). Please change your password after your first log in. The bar code (beginning with $J...) and the PIN code are required in order to log in to the online catalog.

Open shelf and textbook collection

Materials from the open shelf collection and the textbook collection may be taken directly from the shelves and checked out at the self service check out on the ground floor. To find the circulation desk, please see the Library floor plan.

Open shelf collection

Loan period: 1 week

Materials can be renewed for a total loan period of up to 5 weeks, but only if materials have not been reserved by another reader.

Renewing materials online in your library account 


A maximum of 5 materials can be borrowed at one time. Materials on loan can be reserved online.

Reservation period: Materials will be held for you for a maximum of 3 business days (including the day they were ordered).

Textbook collection

For WU students only.
The loan period is 6 weeks, no renewals are possible.
A maximum of 5 materials can be borrowed at one time.

Closed stacks

Materials from the closed stacks must be ordered using the WU online catalog.

These materials can be collected and checked out at the circulation desk on the ground floor.

Loan period: 4 weeks
Materials can be renewed for a total loan period of up to 4 months, but only if materials have not been reserved by another reader.
Renewing materials online in your library account

Orders placed before 2:00pm will be available for pick up the same day approximately an hour later. Orders that come in later than 2:00 pm can be picked up on the next business day after 9:00am. (PLEASE NOTE: Orders placed later than Friday 2:00pm cannot be picked up until Monday!)


Reservation period: Materials will be held for you for a maximum of 5 business days (including the day they were ordered).

A maximum of 8 materials can be reserved or held at one time, 10 materials can be borrowed at one time (13 for WU students).

Ordering materials online

1) Open the WU online catalog page and log in. To do this, you will need to have your library card to hand.

2) Search for the desired title.

3) In the result list, click “global holdings”, or if in the full-title view, choose “WU Wien Main Library”.

4) The order form is available under “request” (visible only to logged-in users).

5) If a date is shown in the column marked “due date”, then the book is currently on loan. At this point you can choose to reserve the book and will be notified by email as soon as it is available for pick-up.

6) Reservations are listed under “request” in your user account. The status of reserved materials changes to  “On hold” as soon as the book is available for pick-up at the circulation desk.

For further information, please see WU online catalog help

Overdue fines & liability

To help avoid overdue fines, you will be sent a reminder by email 3 days before expiration of your loan period. If the materials still are not returned on time, the first overdue notice will be sent out by email on the first business day after expiration of the loan period. The second overdue notice is sent one week later by email, and the third overdue notice one week after that by registered mail.

The overdue fine amounts to € 2.00 per notice, plus € 0.20 per book and day that the materials are overdue.

If overdue fines are not paid in the time specified, or if the replacement costs for the materials and administrative costs are not paid, the matter will be placed in the hands of the university's legal representative (Finanzprokurator). The user will lose all borrowing privileges until the matter is settled.

By signing the materials' data sheet, borrowers assume liability for them. In the event of loss or damage, a replacement book must be provided or the replacement costs reimbursed to the Library.

Materials borrowed from the WU Library are exclusively for the borrower's own use. They may not be passed on to third parties.