About the University Library

The Potsdam University Library was founded in 1991 and is the largest academic library in the state of Brandenburg. It is one of the medium-sized university libraries in Germany.

As a central service facility, it provides researchers, teachers and students at the University of Potsdam with academic literature and other information resources. Members of other research and educational institutions as well as interested parties from the region also use the holdings of the three departmental libraries at Neues Palais, Babelsberg/Griebnitzsee and the Information, Communication and Media Center (IKMZ) in Golm. The University Library includes the University Archive, also founded in 1991, which is a public archive that preserves the records of the University of Potsdam and its predecessor institutions.

A place of learning and teaching

The University Library offers a total of approximately 1000 workstations in the three departmental libraries; the offer is complemented by group study rooms and carrels. A wide range of library courses and advisory services are available to support library users with searching literature and using the library. We also offer courses in information literacy as part of the curriculum.

Holdings

The University Library is divided into three locations according to the faculties: The humanities holdings are mainly located on the campus at Neues Palais, while the law, economics and social sciences can be found in Babelsberg/Griebnitzsee, and the humanities and natural sciences literature in the IKMZ in Golm.

In total, the collection comprises around 1.3 million volumes, 106 000 electronic journals, 600 databases and around 1 million e-books. Around 40,000 registered users make a total of around 200 000 loans per year and access the online services more than 2.7 million times.

The University Library has integrated the holdings of several predecessor institutions and has special collections, such as valuable Judaica and Hebraica collections. Together with the Selma Stern Centre for Jewish Studies/Zentrum für Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg and the Cooperative Union Catalog/Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (KOBV), it operates the Judaica Portal.

Open Access

Potsdam University Library is one of the pioneers in the field of Open Access. In 2006, the University of Potsdam passed a corresponding resolution and signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access ten years later. According to the university bibliography, the proportion of Open Access journal articles by members of the University of Potsdam was over 75% in 2022.

The University Library is working with partners in and beyond the Berlin/Brandenburg region to improve the framework conditions for free access to scientific publications and information and is currently involved in the DFG project Transform2Open.

In 1998, the Potsdam University Press/Universitätsverlag Potsdam was founded at the University Library, where academic literature by university members is published both online in Open Access and in printed form. With a broad service portfolio and more than 600 available publications and around 40 new publications per year, Universitätsverlag Potsdam has established itself as the central point of contact for academic publishing at the University of Potsdam and has increased the visibility of the university's own research

Research Data Management

Together with the data center of the University of Potsdam (ZIM), the University Library is developing the infrastructure for Research Rata Management (RDM) at the University of Potsdam. An RDM policy and recommendations were drawn up under the leadership of the University Library and adopted by the University Senate in 2019. The University of Potsdam is also active and well networked regionally and nationally with current Research Rata Management projects.

Memberships and publications

The Potsdam University Library is part of the Common Library Network/Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund (GBV), it is also a member of the Cooperative Library Network/Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (KOBV) and the Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium e.V. The Potsdam University Press is an active member of the AG Universitätsverlage.

Moreover, the University Library is represented in the following specialist committees and associations:

Numerous specialist articles by members of the University Libraryon various topics such as as library and librarianship, digitization, Open Access and Research Data Management have been published.

Projects

The University Library is currently carrying out several externally funded projects in the areas of Research Data Management and Open Access and has successfully completed several Judaica projects and a provenance research project.