User policies for the library of the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg
The scientific library of the museum is open to the public; book loan, however, is limited.
Loans are limited exclusively to museum staff as well as university teaching personnel and students majoring in ethnology. Furthermore, season-ticket holders for the museum and members of the “Verein Freunde des Völkerkunde Museums Hamburg e. V.” are entitled to loan books.
To arrange for loans, a user ID card is required. To receive a user ID card, a valid identity card (or a valid passport and certificate of legal residency) and if applicable, a valid student ID must be presented to the staff of the library. Students minoring in ethnology must show university documentation proving ethnology as a minor. The loan period for books is 14 days. The loan period is extendable (also by phone) for one loan period only, given that another user does not request the book. In general, magazines are excluded from loans.
The library allows loans of max. 5 titles. Excluded are books published before 1950, magazines, and books specifically marked. Furthermore, reference books, bibliographies, atlases and the entire inventory of lexicons and encyclopaedias are excluded from loans. Photocopies of press-clippings, published after 1950, are allowed, except in rare cases. Photocopies of parts of books and press-clippings published between 1900 and 1950 can be requested from the staff of the library for a fee.
If the loan period is exceeded, a reminder fee is due regardless whether a reminder had been sent or not. The fee amounts to 1.00 € per volume and per commenced week, max. 10.00 € per library ticket. Users exceeding the loan period and not returning the book despite of a reminder are excluded from using the library services. This also applies in cases of violation against the user policies.
Users must handle the books with care. If a volume is damaged, dirtied, written in or lost, the user is liable to pay compensation amounting to the reconstruction/replacement costs plus additional administration fees. The librarian must be notified of the pre-existing defects of a book. It is not permitted to pass loaned books onto third parties. In case of damage or loss of a book by third parties, the party that signed the library ticket is liable.
Attempted or committed theft is will result in the exclusion from library services. In particular cases, the foundation reserves the right to press criminal charges.
By the above named user policies all former regulations concerning the library of the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg are annulled.
