You always need your library card (as a card or as a digital ID) to pass through the entrance system in the foyer. You can borrow books with it, use our reading room and internet workstations to work and have access to the parent-child room.

First listeners at the University of Cologne

Please use the digital library card.

All others

All persons who have a German residence can obtain a library card.
Please fill in our online registration form.
Immediately after registering online, you can pick up your library card at our "Registration & Interlibrary loans return counter" on the ground floor in the Main Library.
Further information about collecting your library card >>

An annual fee is charged for certain user groups.
Our fees and prices >>

The eduroam WLAN network provides wireless access to the University of Cologne network. The eduroam WLAN can also be used by:

•  Students and employees of the University of Cologne
• Students and scientists of another university participating in eduroam

Eduroam, an international initiative of universities, enables students and scientists to use WLAN easily and free of charge at all participating universities worldwide.

The login (authentication) to the WLAN is done for

• Students of the University of Cologne: student account + "... @uni-koeln.de" + password
• Students and scientists of another eduroam participating university: user ID/unique ID/university account + password of the home university.

Further information:

• eduroam: WLAN at the University of Cologne
• eduroam participating universities worldwide
• User accounts of the RRZK
• RRZK-Helpdesk

For all those who do not have access via eduroam, we offer internet access via:

•  the internet workstations on the 1st floor in the main department
• 2 internet workstations in the curative education reading room and 1 internet workstation in the stacks of the Humanities Department

• Students of the University of Cologne can access our e-media both within the university network and from outside via VPN. You need a student account and the free additional software VPN-Client.
• All tips on our e-media and databases >>

From the summer semester of 2025, our study spaces can be reserved via the anny booking portal. Workstations in the reading rooms on the 1st or 2nd floor, in the internet room or in the group study room – everything can be booked in advance.

All information about anny seat reservations.

•     Tour of the UCL: a guided tour of the UCL from the coffee bar on the ground floor to the journal display on the 2nd floor - 45 min.
• Introduction to using the library - 60 min.
• For those in a hurry: the Quickguides - whether Cologne University Catalogue, databases or e-journals - well informed in 30 minutes.

You can find these and other courses in our extensive range of courses >>

The UCL is the largest library in NRW. Accordingly, the building is also very large and may seem a little confusing on your first visit. To help you find your way around right from the start, we have linked our site plans and the various locations of our books here.

Site plans of the UCL >>

Locations of our books in the library >>