Barrier-free Access for Users with Special Needs

Barrier-free Access to the Library Buildings

Access to the Central Library and to the Departmental Libraries is barrier-free. The TU Dortmund has had tiles with a specific surface texture installed on many footpaths on campus to help blind and visually impaired students find their way around campus.

• Access to the Central Library from the Mensa bridge

  The automatic sliding door is always unlocked during opening hours. The entrance is accessible from the Mensa bridge, which is accessible from the parking lots or from the S-Bahn stop. From the S-Bahn-stop you can use the way on the right side to Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts which sweeps up to the Mensa Bridge.

• Access to the Staff Entrance of the Central Library

  There are two disabled parking spaces situated in driveway 22 ("Einfahrt 22") on the Southwest side of the building. Here you can use the staff entrance. From the S-Bahn-stop take the way on the left.

  • Between 8.30 a.m. and 1 p.m., a member of staff can let you in.
  • Outside business hours, you can get in if you ask at first for the conditions at the lending services during opening hours.
     

• Access to the Departmental Libraries

  TU Dortmund has designed all buildings to be barrier-free. Please ask our staff at the Departmental Libraries for possible exceptions.

Facilities

The Central Library has a wheelchair accessible lift. There is a wheelchair accessible toilet on the ground floor. In driveway 22 ("Einfahrt 22"), which is accessible from Vogelpothsweg, there are disabled parking spaces.

Services for Users with Special Needs

• Severely impaired users may apply for a special user status so that they can borrow books for extended loan periods.
• Users with physical or visual impairments may email us lists of books they would like to borrow. We will fetch the books for you and you can collect them the next day at the service centre. If you are only looking for a single book, we can get it for you immediately.
• Our subject librarians offer specialised research for students with disabilities.
• For blind and visually impaired users, there is the Service for the Blind and Visually Impaired (SfBS) which offers:
  • literature search and conversion service,
  • the Sehkon catalog, a nationwide catalog for the visually impaired,
  • electronic full texts for the blind and visually impaired.
• Our service for the blind and visually impaired (SfBS) is co-operating with DoBuS, a service provided by the Zentrum für HochschulBildung / Bereich Behinderung und Studium.

• Additionally, one of the catalog and database workstations on the ground floor of the Central Library is equipped with a large display and a keyboard with large letters for the visually impaired.
• For wheelchair users, there is an adjustable desk on the ground floor of the Central Library (near staircase E).
• On the second floor, there is a study room for disabled students (room 206).
• In the Emil-Figge-Bibliothek, there is a working room for students with disabilities - reservation:
  • by email: efbub.tu-dortmundde
  • by telephone: 0231/755-4070 (Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.)
  • or at the Emil-Figge-Bibliothek service desk (Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.