Annual maintenance work will take place again this summer, which is why the reading rooms at the Heldenplatz location and in all collections will be closed from Friday, July 25, to Tuesday, August 5, 2025.
Due to the shutdown of the ordering system, no media orders can be accepted from Thursday, July 24, 2025, 4 p.m. to Tuesday, August 5, 2025, 4 p.m. The regular opening hours will then apply again from Wednesday, August 6, 2025.
The study room of the Albertina is closed from July 15 to August 15. During this time (except July 25 to August 5), media ordered from the Albertina collection will be transported twice a week (Monday and Thursday) to the reading rooms of the National Library on Heldenplatz and can be used there.
Starting August 1, 2025, the State Hall will open at 9 a.m.
Due to an event, the State Hall will be closed on August 4, 2025.
The total stock of 500,000 prints from the collection of manuscripts and old prints is divided into several large groups and is partly kept in the State Hall:
The shelfmarks characterize the individual collection groups and provide information about the conditions of use (view list of site keys):
MAG – works bearing this suffix are housed in the collection's own magazine stacks, e.g. 89913-A ALT MAG
PRUNK – works kept in the State Hall of the Austrian National Library, e.g. 40.M.13 ALT PRUNK
AUG – recent secondary literature located in the Augustine Reading Room and in the collection's own repositories, e.g. 1875855-C ALT AUG
INK– Incunabula (cradle prints), i.e. printed works from the beginning of printing until 1500, e.g. Ink 23.G.49 ALT INK. Find more information about this special collection here.
CP – Cimelia Palatinae, Cimelia ("treasures") of the court library, which were placed in the Camera Praefecti because of their peculiarities, e. g. CP.1.C.9 ALT CP
RARA– works that are special in terms of their historical significance or elaborate book layout, e.g. 307691-B ALT RARA
LUX - "Luxury editions", artists' books and collectable editions from 1850, including many historical children's books, e.g. B. 2032994-D ALT LUX. Find more information about this special stock here.
EINB – Bookbinding collection, a small exemplary stock of objects with particularly beautifully or interestingly designed bindings, e.g.20.Z.34 ALT EINB
FLU – Ephemera like historic flyers, pamphlets, broadsheets and various official printed material, e.g., F 017191-E ALT FLUG.
The bibliographic indexing of the pamphlets has not been completed. The already indexed holdings can be searched in our Catalogue QuickSearch, using search terms such as Flugblatt, Flugschrift and Einblattdruck. Find more information about this special collection here.
EROT – Erotica, erotic writings in the broadest sense without a time limit, e.g. 310236-B ALT EROT
SIN – Sinica,the library's historical holdings of Chinese books, e.g. Sin 354-B ALT SIN. Find more information about this special collection here.
JAP – Japonica, the library's historical holdings of Japanese books, e.g. Jap. 232-C ALT JAP. Find more information about this special collection here.
Other significant collections without special call number suffixes are:
Children's and Youth Literature - find more information here.
Historical newspapers and magazines can be accessed via the online catalog. Many of them are also already available in digital form via ANNO (Austrian newspapers and journals).
Historical prints in Hebrew script / Historical prints in Arabic script - find more information here.