E-media (e-books, databases and the like)

Within the campus network, you can access licensed e-books, e-journals or databases.

• you can use one of the computers in the Computer Rooms (CIP pools) on campus
• you can use the WiFi "eduroam" on campus
• outside the university, you can use VPN
• outside the university, you can log in at the publisher's website using your Computer Center account (Shibboleth)

To get logged in to the campus network, please report to the information desk in the Information Center of the Central Library. Please bring your library card and an USB stick to save the PDFs.

Opening hours Information desk

How we protect you from data tracking

Authentication technologies used by the University Library for licensed resources do not pass on any personal data to publishers. In addition to the IP address, the University Library of Regensburg uses the login service Shibboleth. Shibboleth offers users the possibilty to check which data is transmitted to service providers. As a rule, the library rejects license models from publishers or agencies that aim at identifying users or use corresponding technologies.

How you can protect yourself from data tracking

In addition to our authentication methods (IP address, Shibboleth), numerous publishers offer personal accounts e.g. to save reading settings and search histories. We recommend not to use these functions if possible, to make privacy settings and to carefully read the providers' data protection declarations. In principle, most of the licensed scientific information provided by the library can be accessed without personal accounts with the publishers. To protect yourself from conventional data tracking technologies for websites, we recommend to use corresponding functions of your browser (e.g. Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection) and follow the tips provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Search for your topic in the Regensburg catalog plus www.regensburger-katalog.de using the basic search. Filters are displayed on the left side of the hit list. Use the filter "document type" an choose "E-Book" to get all e-books of the Regensburg libraries displayed. E-books with the notice "Access: campus license for University of Regensburg (also via VPN / Shibboleth)" are accessible within the campus network. Ebooks without a license notice are freely available on the internet.

The filter "ebooks open access" displays e-books that you can download free of charge even even if you are not within the campus network.

The filter "ebooks of university" only displays e-books that can be downloaded within the campus network.

You can download an e-book by clicking on the full text button.

Many of the textbooks that you can find in the textbook collection are also available as e-books. Simply search the Regensburg Catalog plus for the desired textbook and use the filter on the left titled "e-book". You can download the e-book by clicking on the full text button. Please note that you have to be logged into the university network via VPN .

If you miss a particular e-book, you are welcome to send us an aquisition request (form only available in German). We will then immediately check whether we can provide the textbook for you in electronic form.

E-books are mostly offered in PDF format and are identical to the print version of the book, so you can quote from it without any problems.

E-books with the notice "Access: campus license for University of Regensburg (also via VPN / Shibboleth)" are accessible within the campus network.
To get logged in the campus network, please report to the information desk in the Information Center of the Central Library. Please bring your library card and an USB stick to save the PDFs.

Opening hours

In the Regensburg catalog plus, the filter 'ebooks (open access)' only displays e-books that you can download free of charge even outside the campus network.

Please also note the information on BASE and Google Scholar below.

If you cannot access an e-book please check the following:

• Do you find the notice "Access: campus license for University of Regensburg (also via VPN / Shibboleth)"? Ebooks that have been licensed by another library can only be used there.
• Within the Campus network your IP address is displayed in green at the bottom of the Regensburg Catalog plus. If the IP address is red, please log in to the Campus network via the WiFi eduroam or via VPN.
• If you still do not have access to a particular e-book, please contact your subject specialist or the Information.

The Electronic Journals Library EZB is a service for the effective use of scientific full text journals on the internet. You can find all electronic journals licensed by the University Library, but also a large number of scientific journals that are freely available on the internet.

Using the traffic light symbol system you can immediately see whether you can use the journal online free of charge (green), whether you can use the journal free of charge within the campus network via VPN (yellow) or whether you cannot access the journal (red).

Within the Electronic Journals library (EZB), journals are sorted by subject. Click on your subject and uncheck the red traffic light symbol to see all free and licensed journals for your subject. Also uncheck the yellow traffic light symbol if you do not have access to the campus network and thus to the licensed journals.

If you are interested in a specific journal article, you can search for the title of the journal in the EZB. A search for the journal article itself is not possible.

Use the journals marked in green in the EZB, which are freely accessible on the internet.

To use yellow marked journals, please report to the information desk in the Information Center of the Central Library to get logged in the campus network. Please bring your library card and an USB stick to save the PDFs.
Opening hours information desk

Academic databases collect comprehensive information on a specific topic or subject. Depending on the database, you will find books from international collections, scientific journal articles, statistics, legal texts and much more. Often the literature is directly accessible in full text. Some databases are created by libraries and research institutions and are freely accessible. Others are produced by companies and are subject to charges. The University Library of Regensburg has licenced over 500 databases for you.

Via the database information system DBIS , offered in both German and English interfaces, you can find all academic databases available at the University of Regensburg.

The databases are sorted by subjects.

If you click on a database listed in DBIS, you will get further information about the content and specifics on how to use the respective database.

Databases marked in green are freely available on the net - you do not have to be logged in to use them. Databases marked in yellow are licensed for members of the University of Regensburg. The database details page explains how to gain access. Usually you have to be on site or via VPN in the university network or you can log in via Shibboleth.

To determine which databases exist, you can also learn about the red databases that are not available at the University of Regensburg and find out at which institutions they are accessible to walk-in users.

In DBIS, select a database that matches your subject. Then search the database for your topic. You cannot search for your topic in DBIS itself.

In the DBIS subject list you will find the UBR database collection for pupils. This collection consists of mainly German-language and license-free databases.

Use the databases marked in green, which are freely accessible on the internet.

To use yellow marked databases, please report to the information desk in the Information Center of the Central Library to get logged in the campus network. Please bring your library card and an USB stick to save the PDFs.
Opening hours information desk

Google will provide you with millions of search results on your topic. Very few of these search results meet scientific standards. Every hit in Google should therefore be checked for credibility. Cite sources only if these criteria are met:

• Currency: The information is current
• Reliability: author backs up statements with quotations (clear indication of sources).
• Authority / Audience: Author comes from the scientific community and addresses the scientific community.
• Purpose / Point of View: Author is interested in the scientific result and not primarily in click numbers or advertising revenue. Text, headlines and images are factual and are for information purposes only.

BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is one of the world's largest search engines for academic web documents - journals, repositories, digital collections, etc.   

The sources have been individually checked for their scholarly quality by the staff of the Bielefeld University Library. About 60% of the documents indexed in BASE are freely accessible.

For more information on how to use BASE, please refer to the Base help pages.

Google Scholar lists only scientific publications compared to the "normal" Google and is currently the world's largest academic search engine.

Websites of scientific publishers and professional societies, universities as well as PowerPoint presentations, books digitized for Google Books and book excerpts are evaluated.

Both free documents that are freely available on the Internet and paid-for offers are displayed. If you want to be able to see if the University Library Regensburg offers access to paid content, you can link Google Scholar with the University Library Regensburg. Please note that you have to be logged in at the University of Regensburg to use licenced content.

To link Google Scholar to the University Library Regensburg, simply open Google Scholar, click on the menu on the left (symbolized by three horizontal lines), go to settings and then "library links". Enter "Regensburg" as the search term and tick the box next to the search result for "Universitaetsbibliothek Regensburg - Volltext UB Regensburg".