This page contains answers to a selection of frequently asked questions.
The Zentralbibliothek Zürich is public and open to all persons and companies who have their place of residence or company headquarters in Switzerland or close to the border in neighbouring countries. Registration and many services are free of charge. Please note that SLSP libraries may only offer limited services depending on your place of residence.
Registration for private individuals is a two-step process:
Help with registration can be found at: https://registration.slsp.ch/help/
Companies register for an account via the registration platform.
Help with registration can be found at: https://registration.slsp.ch/help/
Send an email requesting the deletion of your user account to swisscovery@slsp.ch.
Follow the instructions at SWITCH edu-ID double registration.
Log into your SWITCH edu-ID account and change your personal details.
As soon as the book has arrived at the collection location you requested, you will be notified by email. The media will be available for you to collect for seven days.
Most media can be picked up directly from the shelves at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich. You can also reserve all media in advance in swisscovery.
Log in to swisscovery. In the ‘Pick-up at / delivery to a UB/ZB library’ section, copies can be reserved for collection from the library that owns them. Click ‘Borrow’ and confirm the reservation by clicking ‘Send order’.
Log in to swisscovery. Media can be ordered for borrowing via the courier service using the tile in the ‘Other delivery options throughout Switzerland’ section.
Select the collection location from the drop-down list to see the best available copy from the entire SLSP network. Any applicable fees and the estimated delivery time are shown. Confirm the delivery by clicking ‘Send order’.
Log in to swisscovery. Media can be ordered to your home address using the tile in the ‘Other delivery options throughout Switzerland’ section.
Select your private or business address as the collection location and click ‘Send order’.
You can order media from all SLSP libraries that participate in the SLSP courier service and return these media to us.
If the document is not reserved by another person, the system will renew it five times automatically.
You can see your loans in your swisscovery user account under ‘My loans’.
They are displayed by collection location. If something is open at a university or in a region, this is indicated by an icon (clipboard with tick) in the list.
All fees are paid via QR invoice, which SLSP AG sends via email after six to eight weeks.
If you have any questions about specific invoice items, please contact the library listed for the relevant item on the invoice.
Please send an email to swisscovery@slsp.ch with your contact details to receive a new invoice. Before you do so, please make sure that the invoice email sent by SLSP is not in your spam folder.
In this case, please complete our loss report.
We charge fines for media returned too late.
28-day loans
Callback, reminder: free of charge
7- and 14-day loans
Callback, reminder: free of charge
Log in to swisscovery. If the library owning the media offers a digitisation service, this can be seen in the ‘Pick-up at / delivery to a UB/ZB library’ section. A digitisation order can be placed by clicking ‘Digitisation’.
If the library owning the media does not offer a digitisation service, a digitisation order can be placed via the tile in the ‘Pick-up throughout Switzerland’ section. It can be triggered at the respective libraries via the ‘Digitisation’ button.
If neither of the two options is possible, digitisation can be triggered in the ‘Other delivery options throughout Switzerland’ section.
Enter the title, author and the page number you require and confirm the order by clicking ‘Send request’.
Only if the original is copyright-free. A maximum of 75% of works protected by copyright will be scanned.
There is a charge of CHF 5.00 per 50 pages. Different prices apply for special formats and stocks. The digitisation will be sent within 2 working days. Further information can be found here.
The Zentralbibliothek Zürich offers around 600 public, modern workstations in the centre of Zurich. Further information can be found under workstations & group rooms.
Information about accessibility can be found here.
Coats and bags can be taken into reading rooms P0 – P3. Please deposit larger suitcases in the free lockers in P-1. Note that separate rules apply to the special collections.
Multifunctional devices for copying and scanning are available on all floors and at various ZB locations. You need a copy card to use our devices. University of Zurich members can use their UZH Card for printing. All other users need to obtain a new copy card once. You can use these in the ZB Zürich and in the University of Zurich library.
If you are not studying at the University of Zurich, you can normally only use our licensed products within the ZB Zürich and the University of Zurich. An overview of all our licensed products can be found here.
You can access some items from home using your PURA/SLSKey login. An overview of the products available with PURA/SLSKey can be found here.
Our e-books are catalogued in swisscovery. They can also be found via the platforms of the e-book publishers. The rules for accessing full-text versions are the same as for databases and e-journals: full-text versions can be accessed from the workstations in our reading room, but only members of the University of Zurich can access them from home.
Most electronic media are not freely available via the internet and therefore cannot be opened outside the library. E-books and electronic journal articles can be read, printed out and downloaded to your own USB stick at the Zentralbibliothek’s public workstations. This applies to media where the Zentralbibliothek is listed as the location (UZH-ZB Online). For example, where the location is given as ‘ETH-Bibliothek Online,’ you can only access the document from the ETH.
If you are not studying at the University of Zurich, you can normally only use our licensed products within the ZB Zürich and the University of Zurich. You can access some items from home using your PURA/SLSKey login.
If you are studying at the University of Zurich, you will have a UniAccess account. This will allow you to download the VPN software or configure the proxy server or EZProxy. With a VPN client, proxy server or EZProxy you have external access to the licensed products (specialist databases, electronic journals and books) of the University of Zurich and the Zentralbibliothek Zürich.
Information and installation instructions for VPN, proxy and EZProxy on PCs, notebooks and mobile phones can be found on the University of Zurich IT Services website.
swisscovery (without CDI)
This search space contains all data records in the SLSP network. The SLSP network comprises more than 470 academic libraries in Switzerland. In this search space you will find everything that is purchased, licensed and catalogued by the participating libraries. This search space is preset by default in both the simple and the advanced search.
swisscovery (with CDI)
This search space contains all data records in the SLSP network as well as the data of the Central Discovery Index (CDI). The CDI is an interdisciplinary directory and includes a growing number of external sources. Searching in this search space generates large numbers of hits, as both licensed and freely accessible databases and platforms are included. Articles, book chapters, studies and reviews are also found. This search space must be actively selected.
swisscovery plus (new from 14/11/2022)
This search space contains all data records in the swisscovery search space (with CDI) as well as the data from the Renouvaud catalogue (Réseau des bibliothèques vaudoises). This search space must be actively selected.
University Library Zurich and Zentralbibliothek Zürich (without CDI)
This search space comprises a subset of the swisscovery search space (without CDI). It includes documents and media purchased, licensed and catalogued by the University Library Zurich and Zentralbibliothek Zürich. This search space must be actively selected.
University Library Zurich and Zentralbibliothek Zürich (with CDI)
This search space comprises a subset of the swisscovery search space (with CDI). It includes data records from the University Library Zurich and Zentralbibliothek Zürich as well as data from the Central Discovery Index (CDI). The CDI is an interdisciplinary directory that includes a growing number of external sources. Searching in this search space generates large numbers of hits, as it includes databases and platforms licensed by the University Library Zurich and Zentralbibliothek Zürich as well as those that are freely accessible. Articles, book chapters, studies and reviews are also found. This search space must be actively selected.