With more than three million volumes of printed books and journals as well as extensive historical holdings, the Freiburg University Library is one of the most important research libraries in Germany. In addition, it offers access to almost 51,000 subscribed electronic journals and more than one million e-books. 

The new University Library lives up to this claim. It offers 1700 modern workspaces, and patrons can check out and return media without the help of a librarian using a wireless data-transfer system (RFID). Conference rooms are separated from spaces for individual work: The south part of the first four floors, with views to the Vosges, the Black Forest, and the old town, accommodates reading rooms with 1200 individual workspaces and 230,000 volumes. The north part, which looks out on the Platz der Alten Synagoge, includes 500 spaces for group work, a room for exhibitions and events, seminar rooms, and a cafeteria.

Another 700,000 volumes are freely accessible in the open stacks on the first underground floor, and where cars used to park there are now parking spaces for 400 bicycles. The closed stacks on the second and third underground floors provide space for an additional 3.5 million volumes. Another special feature is the University Library’s new Media Center, which brings together the cross-media student editorial team uniCross, including uni.tv, the university radio station echoFM 88.4, and the online editorial staff in a single building for the first time ever. Occupying 800 meters of space on the third floor, the Media Center includes two radio studios and a television studio. The fifth floor, where most of the library’s employees work, has an open office landscape that promotes exchange, while at the same time providing possibilities for concentrated work and private meetings.