Shortened opening hours and the self-service mode
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According to the ordinance on the operation of UW in the state of the epidemic, announced as of 20th March 2021 by the Rector of the University of Warsaw (the document published on 19th March 2021, changes § 17a included in Rector’s ordinance No. 217, issued on 29th September 2020) the University of Warsaw Library until further notice is operating in the following mode:
Opening hours
- Monday – Friday 12 noon – 9 pm.
- Saturday, Sunday – closed.
BUW is operating in a self-service mode. This means there are no employees in the Open Stacks area, except for the security guards.
The following services are closed: Circulation Desk, Interlibrary Loan, Information Desk, Registration Point, Main Reading Room, the reading rooms of Special Collections’ Departments and the Austrian Library.
To enter BUW the user’s library account has to be valid. The user is obliged to have their library card in a physical form with them in order to scan it on the readers at the entrance to the library.
The number of people simultaneously staying at the Library is limited to 300 people. The counter of places available in BUW is accessible via the Library’s website.
Library account and registration
From 15 March to 11 April, 2021 persons from the outside of the University of Warsaw will not be able to register to BUW and obtain a library card. Students, doctoral students and employees of the University of Warsaw can activate their library account remotely.
Requests and borrowing
Readers are able to borrow books from the Open Stacks and the Reference Collection by themselves using the SelfCheck stations on level 1. How do the selfchecks work at BUW?
Readers are able to order, reserve and borrow books as before.
Orders for books from the Closed Stacks to the Circulation Desk can be placed after logging in to the online catalog of UW libraries:
- you can log in using the library card number, ELS / ELD / ELP number (located under the barcode) and the password (watch our video on how to recover your password).
- Order processing:
- orders placed from Monday to Friday before 11 am – are completed on the same day,
- orders are placed from Monday to Thursday after 11 am – are completed the next day,
- orders placed on Friday after 11am, on Saturdays and Sundays – are completed on Monday.
Books ordered from the Closed Stacks and books that were reserved (items that were previously borrowed by another person) can be picked up from a special bookshelf established by the Circulation Desk, next to the SelfCheck stations on level 1. They can be checked-out using the SelfCheck stations. The books on the bookshelf are arranged by the library cards’ numbers.
Books reserved or ordered from the Closed Stacks can be picked up within 3 days from the date of receiving an e-mail informing that the book is ready for pick-up.
Items ordered to the Reading Room will remain there until further notice.
Due dates for returning keys to the individual study boths are extended until 12 May. If necessary, the keys can be returned to a specially labelled box at the security post (by the main entrance).
Due to the Main Reading Room and Information Desk being closed, issuing the keys to individual study booths is suspended.
Until further notice borrowing Kindle readers is suspended. Accessing doctoral theses ordered from the UW Repository to the Main Reading Room is not available.
Book returns
Books can be returned:
- to the return box located in front of the BUW main entrance,
- books from the return box are taken off the readers’ accounts between 8 am and 12 noon. Thus, the book returned to the return box, e.g. on Friday afternoon, will be removed from the reader’s account on Monday by 12.
- Note! Please do not return Kindle readers and books borrowed from faculty libraries into the return box!
Due dates for the return of Kindle readers from 31 March to 12 May have been extended to 12 May 2021. - Due dates for the return of Kindle readers already overdue before 15 March have not been extended.
In order to return books from faculty libraries, please contact the relevant library. BUW will not act as an intermediary in such cases.
- in SelfCheck stations on level 1, How do the selfchecks work at BUW?
- by returning them by post at your own expense to the address of BUW (ul. Dobra 56/66, 00-312 Warsaw) with the annotation ” Wypożyczalnia Miejscowa” (”Circulation Desk”). In such cases, the date of delivery to the Library is taken into account, not the date of shipment.
Attention! Returned books are not subject to quarantine.
Due dates for returning the keys to individual study booths have been extended until 12 May 2021. If necessary, the keys can be returned to a specially labelled box at the BUW security (at the main entrance).
Overdue items
Any borrower who fails to return an item or a Kindle reader on time will have their library account blocked.
Until you settle your obligations with the library, you won’t be able to borrow any more items, renew or reserve any other items.
Fines:
- PLN 0.40 for each day of failing to return an item in time since 1.02.2015,
- PLN 0.25 for each day of failing to return an item in time before 31.01.2015,
- PLN 1.00 for each day of failing to return a Kindle reader in time,
- PLN 5.00 for each day of failing to return a key to a self-service locker at the cloakroom
Please note! A fine is automatically charged for each day that elapses before the item is returned.
A fine for an overdue item, after returning the item, may be paid:
- to the selfchecks (level 1) (only by card) or
- by a money transfer to a bank account (only in case of books borrowed from BUW):
Uniwersytet Warszawski Bank Millennium S. A. – 69 11602202 0000 0000 6085 0087 (and in case of transfers from abroad: BIC/S.W.I.F.T.: BIGBPLPWXXX
IBAN: P L 6 9 1 1 6 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 6 0 8 5 0 08 7) with a title „Opłata za przetrzymanie książek z BUW” (“Fine for overdue BUW items”).
Please note! The information about your outstanding payments shall be removed from your library account after receiving the information about the payment (money transfer) made from the UW Bursar’s Office, which takes a few days.
Please note! Fines for overdue items borrowed from other UW faculty libraries are paid solely to the bank accounts given on the faculty websites!
Copying
- The usual rules of providing reprographic services are restored. These services should be ordered by online (reprobuw@uw.edu.pl) on the appropriate form. For more information, see: https://www.buw.uw.edu.pl/en/practical-information/services/
- Employees, doctoral students and students of the University of Warsaw can order free scans:
- If there are no overdue library (BUW) materials and with no fees charged by the University of Warsaw Library. Readers with accrued fees in faculty libraries can order scans in BUW;
- Only completed order form should be sent from an e-mail address existing in the domain uw.edu.pl to the address: informacja.buw@uw.edu.pl.
- One person may place maximum one order per week.
- All library materials, with the exception of non-scientific current magazines can be scanned.
- Up to 50 pages of original text (not scans) can be ordered. The scans will be saved to black and white TIFF files or PDF (no OCR).
- Orders will be processed in order of application.
- Due to the provisions of the GDPR, orders placed by persons using other than their personal data will not be processed.
Safety of BUW readers
- The readers staying in the area of the University of Warsaw Library are strictly obliged to wear protective masks, keep social distance and disinfect tables before using them.
- The number of people simultaneously staying at the Library can not exceed 300 people. The counter of places available in BUW is accessible via the Library’s website and by the entrance to the Library.
- Every person entering the Library has their body temperature measured using a non-contact thermometer. People with higher body temperature (above 37.5 °) and people who do not consent to have their temperature measured are not allowed to enter the Library.
Contact
Information about BUW services and collections is available from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 9 pm, via phone 48 22 55 25 181 or by e-mail: askalibrary.buw@uw.edu.pl
Any questions regarding library accounts should be sent directly to: reklamacje.buw@uw.edu.pl
Published: 14 March 2021