1.1. General remarks

When joining the library, users provide an email address to which a password reset request will be sent. Joining is free, as is viewing in our Reading Room and home loans. Joining gives access to the various services of the National Library of Luxembourg (Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg, BnL). Borrowing and accessing online resources is restricted to users over the age of 14 and resident in Luxembourg or its border regions. Any change of postal address or email address must immediately be notified to the BnL.

Users and visitors are strictly obliged to respect the instructions given by staff.

Users and visitors may not enter areas closed to the public.

Pets are not allowed either in the foyer or in the Reading Room, apart from service dogs. Additionally, entry is not allowed for persons wearing roller skates, roller blades or other equipment with wheels.

Silence is requested in the Reading Room.

Mobile phones should be in silent mode. Telephone booths are available in the Reading Room.

As the BnL is a heritage library where rare, unique and valuable documents can be consulted on site, the consumption of food and drinks is prohibited in the reading room, carrels, audio booths and music room. The consumption of food and drinks is permitted in the BnL’s Café and in the foyer. Water bottles are allowed in the Reading Room provided they are transparent and have a maximum capacity of 500 ml.

Using foul language or inappropriate behaviour is not permitted. Users of the library must not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs in the building. The consumption of alcohol is not allowed, other than in the BnL’s Café seating area.

Readers shall ensure a standard of personal hygiene that does not inconvenience other users.

It is not permitted to use the BnL, its services and its equipment for purposes other than those corresponding to its tasks and remits.

The BnL may withdraw the library card from any user who does not respect these lending rules. Such persons may be refused entry to the Reading Room.

In case of loss of the library card, a new one may be issued for a fee of EUR 5.

If a user wishes to withdraw their membership of the Library, the amounts available on their library card will be reimbursed upon written request.

Membership of the BnL may be withdrawn by the institution itself in the following cases: if the user’s personal data is to be deleted in the absence of renewal of the registration, which is valid for a period of two years, or if the user breaches the internal regulations. In these cases, the user will be notified of the amount currently credited to their library card. If no reimbursement request is received within 30 days, or if the user cannot be contacted due to out-of-date contact details, the amount credited to the library card will be used to fund the restoration of documents from the BnL’s collections.

1.2. Lockers

The lockers must be used. To access the Reading Room, users must first deposit their bag and coat in the lockers, along with any bulky objects, in particular including motorcycle helmets, umbrellas, computer cases, document wallets, trolleys, suitcases, musical instruments, prams or pushchairs (apart from carry-cots), and any very bulky clothing. The BnL reserves the right to implement more restrictive measures at any time, by simple decision of the management.

If there are not sufficient lockers available, an exception may be made to the above rules. For reasons of security, permission to have a bag in the Reading Room may be subject to the user opening the bag in question for inspection.

After the library is closed, the closed lockers are emptied. The BnL staff and security officers accept no liability if items are damaged or disappear when the lockers are emptied. Valuable items that are not reclaimed within two weeks will be transferred to the lost and found department of the Grand Duchy’s Police service.

Users are requested to keep a close watch on personal effects not deposited in the lockers (such as wallets, laptops, lecture notes and books, and the library card). The BnL accepts no liability in the event of theft.

1.3. Carrels, audio booths and music room

Eleven carrels, three audio booths and a music room are available for users. These workspaces are open during the opening hours for the Reading Room. They can be used, after booking, by anyone with a valid library card.

The carrels are spaces intended solely for group working. A single user is not permitted to use a carrel. The minimum number of people required to make a valid booking online is two people for the carrels accommodating two or four people, and three people for the six-person carrels. For safety reasons and in order to maintain pleasant ambient conditions, the maximum number of occupants is limited to the number of chairs and is displayed by the BnL inside the carrel.

Consulting free-to-access documents in the Reading Room and documents from the closed stacks is permitted, apart from documents from the Special Collections, which can only be viewed in the Dr Jean-Claude Loutsch Rare Books Reading Room. At the end of viewing, readers are requested to place the works on a trolley in the Reading Room.

The audio booths are spaces reserved for listening to language learning media and audio documents (music and audio books). The maximum number of occupants is limited to one person.

The music room is reserved for reading sheet music and performing it on the piano. The use of other musical instruments is not permitted. The maximum number of occupants is limited to two people.

Bookings for the workspaces are made online via the site booker.bnl.lu. A booking can be cancelled.

Reservations can be made for time periods of 30 minutes:

• For that day and up to 7 days in advance;
• For a maximum of 2 hours per day;
• For a maximum of 4 reservations per week.

In the event of being more than 15 minutes late, the BnL reserves the right to cancel the booking and to make the room available for other users.

The user who has booked the room is responsible for keeping the area in good order throughout the period of the booking. The user shall ensure respect for the space and for the equipment made available.

The BnL reserves the right for a member of the BnL staff or a member of the security firm engaged by the BnL to check on the interior of the rooms in use.

1.4. Parent-child room

A parent-child room on the 3rd floor allows readers with accompanying children to carry out ad-hoc research and to work at the BnL. The parents or accompanying adults are responsible for the behaviour, safety and supervision of their children while on the BnL premises.

Users can borrow up to 35 physical documents at a time. Printed documents as well as atlases and language teaching aids can be borrowed for 28 days; audio and audiovisual documents can be borrowed for 14 days. If the borrowed document is not reserved by another reader, the loan period is automatically extended. The user also has the possibility to extend the loan themselves via a-z.lu or at the loan desk for a maximum of 56 days or 28 days for short-term loans.

2.1. Reading Room

Reading documents that can be accessed directly in the Reading Room is free. You do not require a library card. Readers are requested not to replace the works on the shelves themselves, but to deposit them on one of the trolleys available in the Reading Room.

Documents, which are freely accessible in the Reading Room, cannot be reserved except if they are already on loan by another user.

It is forbidden to remove from the reading areas any document, of any kind, belonging to the library, apart from works recorded as a home loan at the loan desk or on the self-service loan machines. The user should present their personal library card when borrowing or returning documents. With some exceptions, no items are posted out.

Documents showing a red banner on their label are not available for home loan and must be viewed on-site.

2.2. Handling documents

Users are required to keep the documents entrusted to them safely. They must not underline any passages in the text or add any annotation, even in pencil, and must not use any substance or instrument capable of damaging the collections, such as bottled ink, glue, correcting fluid, or even adhesive tape or sticky notes to mark pages. They must not cut out or modify the documents, nor erase any information. They must not use sharp or cutting objects, such as knives, cutters or scissors. It is also forbidden to turn down the corners of or mark documents, or to subject them to folding or twisting.

2.3. Documents stored in closed stacks

Reading and home loans of documents stored in the closed stacks are reserved for people registered with the BnL. Users can reserve up to 20 documents online via www.a-z.lu. After reserving a work or works, there is a waiting period before the work(s) reserved can be collected from the loan desks. The waiting times can be checked on the BnL’s website.

Documents reserved online are held for one week at the loan desks; after that, they are returned to the shelves.

Microfilms can be viewed in a reserved area on the 3rd floor of the Reading Room. Luxembourgish newspapers and other documents that have been digitized by the BnL are no longer issued in a printed version and should be viewed online. They can be viewed remotely and on all the terminals available in the Reading Room.

All Luxembourgish or non-Luxembourgish works before 1900 are not available for home loan, and neither are single copies in the Luxembourgish Collection and all documents in the Special Collections.

The user has the option of reserving documents already loaned to another user. The user makes the reservations online, or can contact the loan desk. The request is retained in the queue until the reserved document is returned. The user is notified via e-mail when it becomes available, and the reserved documents are kept available at the loan desk for one week.

2.4. Documents from the Special Collections

Users wishing to view documents from the various Special Collections are requested to contact the department concerned to make an appointment for viewing. To view posters, interested persons are requested to first consult the website www.eluxemburgensia.lu, which provides access to a steadily-growing number of posters digitized by the BnL. To view posters in printed format, please allow for a waiting period of 10 working days.

The user should attend the Dr Jean-Claude Loutsch Rare Books Reading Room at the arranged time on the day agreed, and present a valid library card. The user is requested to notify the BnL in the event of being delayed or unable to attend.

Users should specify in their request the Collection(s)/document(s) they wish to view. The viewing is on-site. Home loans are not permitted. Users are requested to handle the documents with care, to ensure that their hands are clean, and to notify any possible damage to the document.

In addition to the rules for handling documents set out in Article 2.2, it is likewise forbidden:

• To rest elbows on the documents, or to use documents as a support or hand-rest;
• To place documents on the ground or on the knees;
• To remove any document, of whatsoever kind, from the reading rooms;
• To bring in objects or substances that could contaminate or damage the documents;
• To substitute, either wholly or in part, the documents made available, or to undertake repairs to damaged documents;
• To modify the sequence of sheets for documents that are not bound;

Viewing or use of certain Collections may be forbidden or subject to restrictions:

• Where respect for copyrights or personal data requires it;
• Where the state of conservation or of wear of the material requires it;
• Where there is a substitute document (document published on a paper or digital medium, facsimile, microform);
• Where, at the time of the request, the material in question is already in use for other purposes.

Contact details for the Special Collections:

• Manuscripts Collection: manuscrits@bnl.etat.lu
• Rare Books Collection: imprimes-rares@bnl.etat.lu
• Posters and Postcards Collection: affiches@bnl.etat.lu and cartes-postales@bnl.etat.lu
• Collection of Cards, Maps, Atlases and Views: cartographie@bnl.etat.lu
• Music Collection/Centre d’études et de documentation musicales (Cedom): cedom@bnl.etat.lu
• Iconography Collection: iconographie@bnl.etat.lu
• Collection of the History of Libraries and Books in Luxembourg: histoire-bibliotheque@bnl.etat.lu
• Ephemera Collection: ephemera@bnl.etat.lu

2.5. Documents not held at the BnL

To access documents belonging to other libraries in the bibnet.lu network, the user should visit the partner libraries (see conditions for library access on www.a-z.lu).

To obtain documents not available in libraries in the bibnet.lu network (but still on sale), the user can enter suggestions for acquisitions via the form provided for this at www.a-z.lu. Documents useful for research and liable to supplement the collections already established will be acquired by the BnL, subject to its financial constraints, and loaned to interested users. Where someone has suggested an acquisition, they will be notified when the order arrives.

To view documents that cannot be found in the Grand Duchy, researchers should contact the Interlibrary Loans department at the BnL. This department acts as intermediary in obtaining reproductions (photocopies of articles in periodicals) or in the loan of documents (out-of-print works, theses that are no longer available). Requests should be submitted via www.a-z.lu by filling in the appropriate form.

The BnL may withdraw the library card from any user who does not respect these lending rules. Such persons may be refused entry to the Reading Room.

If the documents are not returned on time, the user will be informed by email that their account is blocked automatically and that the user is prevented from using BnL services, such as taking out new loans, renewing current loans, placing new requests, using digital offerings and using the interlibrary loan service. The block is removed when the user returns the overdue documents. A reminder is sent twice within 14 days. A further reminder is sent three weeks after the scheduled return date. This will incur a non-refundable overdue fee of EUR 10 to be paid by bank transfer for which “Amende pour retard” followed by the library card number must be entered as the communication. A final reminder is sent 56 days after the scheduled return date. If the document is not returned by the 70th day after the scheduled return date, the Library will declare it as lost and invoice the user. The amount invoiced includes the cost of replacing the document and a non-refundable charge of EUR 25 for processing fees. Non-refundable overdue fees and the processing fees for replacing lost documents are added to the user’s account. A user will only be unblocked once the document has been returned and/or the overdue fee/processing fee/replacement fee has been paid.

The user will pay for any damage or loss of a document. Users must immediately notify any loss or theft of a document belonging to the BnL or lent by an overseas library via the international loan service. The BnL will issue an invoice to the user for a sum equivalent to the cost of replacing the document plus a fixed non-refundable charge of EUR 25 for the processing fees. 

4.1. Consulting the Internet at the BnL using a workstation or Wi-Fi

The BnL offers users with their library card free access to the Internet. It is strictly forbidden to reconfigure or to attempt to reconfigure the IT equipment provided by the BnL. Users are solely responsible for the use they make of the IT resources provided.

Users should not employ the State’s IT resources to download, upload, store, publish, disseminate or distribute data, documents, images, videos, or other files:

• That are violent, pornographic, paedophile, racist or Nazi in character, or that violate public morality, or are liable to jeopardise respect for the individual and his dignity, or to threaten protection of minors;
• That are defamatory and in a general manner unlawful;
• That jeopardise the resources of the State and, more particularly, the integrity and retention of information by the State;
• That jeopardise the internal and external reputation of the State.

The user undertakes not to access services offered on the Internet covering these subjects.

The user undertakes not to use the State’s IT resources for the purposes of harassment or issuing threats or insults, and more generally of infringing rights in force.

The user shall respect the legislation in force regarding intellectual property and copyrights. The user should therefore not download, upload, store, or transmit files containing elements protected by this legislation without having the necessary authorisations.

The user undertakes not to download, upload or transmit, knowingly, files containing viruses or corrupted data. Users should take the necessary precautions to avoid, as far as possible, the involuntary dissemination of such files from their computer.

The user should not falsify the source of elements contained in a file.

The user undertakes not to send, apart from for justified professional purposes, bulk messages or chain messages (messages received individually as part of a collective dissemination, with an invitation to forward them similarly en masse).

The user should make use of the State’s IT resources in a way that does not compromise access for other users.

Some of the activities set out above may constitute offences of a criminal nature.

4.2. a-z.lu search engine and eluxemburgensia.lu portal

The websites www.a-z.lu and www.eluxemburgensia.lu can be accessed remotely. For copyright reasons, certain documents on the eluxemburgensia portal, such as postcards and posters, are only displayed in actual size on the premises at the BnL.

4.3. Consulting the digital library via a-z.lu

Users with their BnL or university library card are able to access most of the digital resources under license from any computer connected to the Internet. Some resources can only be viewed from within the premises of the BnL or of the University of Luxembourg library.

The use of electronic resources is subject to the Luxembourgish legislation on copyright, as well as these rules. Unless otherwise stated, the contents can only be used for private, educational or scientific purposes. The systematic downloading and/or distribution of content to non-authorised third persons are prohibited.

4.4. Consulting the website webarchive.lu

The websites archived by the BnL at www.webarchive.lu can only be viewed on terminals in the Reading Room at the BnL.

The BnL makes copiers and scanners available to the public. By loading money onto the library card, the user can make copies and scans of pages. These copies and scans must not extend to the entirety of the document.

Unless otherwise stated, the documents reproduced may only be used under the limits and exceptions set out by the amended law of 18 April 2001 relating to copyrights, ancillary rights and databases.

Each publication of a reproduction of a document belonging to the BnL should cite its provenance, specifically “Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg”, followed by the name of the department from which the documents in question have been sourced, together with the reference number relating to it. The details of the publication should be advised to the BnL and a specimen copy should be deposited.

Joining the BnL is dependent on providing the following information and supporting documents: surname, first name, date of birth, address, e-mail address, and copy of an ID document or a digital signature. The BnL reserves the right to require provision of proof of residency and/or proof of enrolment at a secondary- or higher-education establishment approved by the State of Luxembourg.

This information (the “personal data”) is necessary to validate the registration and to open a personal reader account. A printed copy of the registration form is retained in the BnL archives. The registration period with the BnL is two years, unless extended. Twenty-four months after expiry of all the user’s enrolments with libraries in the bibnet.lu network, the personal data will be erased automatically. The loans history will be retained in an anonymised fashion for the statistical reporting to be given by the library. The personal data will be recorded in the “shared file of readers” of the integrated system for management of the network of Luxembourgish libraries bibnet.lu, which is jointly shared by the member libraries in the network. The list of member libraries can be viewed at www.bibnet.lu.

The username and password are common to all libraries in the bibnet.lu network where the user is registered or can join. The personal data is liable to be processed by a limited number of persons duly authorised and trained for the purposes set out below.

Personal data is gathered and processed for:

• Joining the BnL and updating the data on the reader account;
• Reservations for loans and for viewing documents at the library, and for reproduction of documents;
• Requests for international loans;
• Contacting the user for reservations, reminders and fines on loans;
• Use of IT tools provided by the BnL;
• Access to and viewing online resources provided for the user by the BnL;
• Preparation of anonymised statistics to improve the services offered by the BnL;
• Detection of frauds and abuses whilst using the digital resources provided for the user by the BnL;
• Managing requests under the right to access, to rectification, to object to processing and other rights in relation to personal data by the BnL;
• Subscribing to the BnL newsletter, managed with the assistance of the subcontractor Mailjet, Paris.

The Director of the BnL, under the authority of the Minister with Culture under their responsibilities, together with the other libraries in the bibnet.lu network, is the data controller under the EU’s GDPR Directive of 27 April 2016 (2016/679).

The user has a right of access to and a right of rectification of the personal data concerning him or her. Any modification to the personal data can be made directly at the reception desk at the BnL or online, via the reader account on the site www.a-z.lu.

The user has the right to unsubscribe from the newsletter via a link provided in each e-mail or by contacting the BnL. The retention period for the user’s e-mail address shall not exceed that of their subscription.

The user similarly has the right to withdraw their consent to inclusion of their personal data in the shared file of readers for the network bibnet.lu, to object to processing of their personal data, to request erasure of personal data, to request restriction of processing, and to request portability of the personal data relating to them.

The user also has the option to lodge a complaint, in the event of failure(s) to respect the applicable rules with regard to protection of personal data, to a supervisory body such as the Luxembourg Data Protection Commission (Commission nationale pour la protection des données, CNPD).

In certain cases envisaged under Directive (EU) 2016/679, the BnL can contest these rights. Deleting personal data causes the user to lose access to the loans service and to the IT services of the BnL.

For further information on the contents or the manner of exercising rights, or of exercising the said rights, the user can contact the BnL via e-mail to dpo@bnl.etat.lu or by writing to the following postal address:

Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg

Données Personnelles / Délégué à la protection des données

37D, avenue John F. Kennedy

L-1855 Luxembourg