Functions and services
The Vienna University Library primarily supports the members of the University of Vienna by providing high-quality academic resources and up-to-date information to support research, teaching and studies. As a place offering free access to knowledge and information, it is also open to the general public.
Anyone, including persons without a library card, may use the literature in the reading rooms. A library card is required to borrow books and other media. As a 'digital library', the Vienna University Library offers direct access via its website to numerous electronic resources such as e-books and e-journals, online catalogues and databases.
History
The fate of the Vienna University Library has been closely linked to that of the University of Vienna ever since its foundation on 12 March 1365 by Duke [Rudolf IV]. The foundation deed provided for a “publica libraria”, where the books left behind by deceased university members – including numerous valuable [manuscripts] and [incunabula] – were to be collected. Thanks to numerous bequests, this collection subsequently grew considerably and formed the foundation of the old “Libreye”, which was located on the site of today’s Universitätsplatz. The holdings of the individual faculty libraries and the "Herzogskolleg" (Duke's College) were added to the collection.
Due to the Turkish Wars and the plague epidemics, the standing of the University of Vienna – and consequently that of its Library – declined sharply in the 16th and 17th centuries. Eventually, the Jesuit monastery library took over the duties of the university library, whose remaining holdings – 2,787 items – were incorporated into the Court Library in 1756.
The Library was re-established under Maria Theresa. Following the dissolution of the Jesuit Order (1773), the new Academic Library was opened in 1777, drawing on the Order’s book collections and a large number of duplicates from the then Court Library (now the Austrian National Library). The initial collection comprised around 45,000 books and was soon to be considerably expanded during Joseph II’s dissolution of the monasteries. Unlike its predecessors, the new library was now open to the general public.
From 1827 to 1829, the Library was housed in the neoclassical extension (Postgasse 9) to the Akademisches Kolleg (academic college), where it remained until 1884. In that year, the Main Library, with some 300,000 volumes, moved to the new Main Building on Ringstrasse, designed by architect Heinrich von Ferstel, offering storage space for around 500,000 volumes. However, with an annual increase of up to 30,000 volumes, the available space was soon exhausted. The book storage facilities had to be expanded time and again.
20th century
During the Second World War, the book collection was moved to bomb-proof rooms in Lower Austria; many books were lost or damaged due to transport, poor storage and other war-related complications. By 1951, the reconstruction of the bomb-damaged university building on Ringstrasse was essentially complete, and a raised floor was installed in the reading room to create space for additional library stacks.
In the 1960s, individual rooms were provided to the Vienna University Library in the New Institute Building (NIG), but this gain in space was actually a setback, since the NIG was originally intended to be a dedicated library building.
When, in 1998, the stacks were so full that there was no longer any space for new books, the University rented the premises of the former Niederösterreichische Landesbibliothek (Lower Austrian Provincial Library) at Teinfaltstrasse 8 and around 300,000 books were moved there.
Over the years, entire collections were incorporated into the library holdings, such as that of the Austrian Central Library for Physics in 2004.
The collection of the Main Library was moved to a new book deposit in the 21st district of Vienna, which has been in operation since February 2025. From January 2025 until presumably 2027, the Main Library is being renovated.
Institutional structure
Since the reign of Maria Theresa, the Vienna University Library and, consequently, its management have been directly subordinate to the Federal Minister. This changed in 2000, when the Vienna University Library has become subject to the supervision of the Rectorate of the University of Vienna rather than the Ministry.
When the 2002 Universities Act entered into force (in January 2004), the Main Library was merged with the University of Vienna Archive and the 33 special libraries (formed from former faculty, subject and department libraries) to become the “Vienna University Library and Archive Services”.
