University Library / Alte Münze

The Alte Münze Library is primarily known as a place of study and research. The historical part of the building was not always used for this purpose. Formerly the seat of the State School for the Deaf, the building, built in the Neo-Renaissance style (1904/05, reconstruction 1949/1950), along with the adjacent new building from the 1980s, was only occupied by the university in 1986.

Previously, the university library was housed in a rented building on Heinrichstraße (in the Wüste district) – called "Green Heinrich" because of the color of the building. There was an additional location in the AVZ-building on the Westerberg. Since 2015, the departmental library for STEM subjects has been located in the Joint Library Building on the Westerberg.

While it is scarcely possible to guess at the number of homework assignments written in the library, the printed and digital holdings, which are usable at over 1,600 workstations at four locations and remotely, can be quantified: the university library is in possession of almost 1.7 million media units, around 700.000 eBooks, and more than 35.000 eJournals. Expanded over the years, the "Alte Münze" serves as a focal point for study and work for the humanities and, more recently, also for the social sciences.