University of Basel

University Library

The Kooperative Speicherbibliothek Schweiz in Büron (canton of Lucerne) is an institution jointly supported by large Swiss libraries for the conservation and controlled storage of holdings and for the efficient delivery of documents in original, copied or digital format.

The Kooperative Speicherbibliothek Schweiz association ensures the operation of the Kooperative Speicherbibliothek. The participating libraries are members of the association and share the running costs. The following are currently members of the association:

The building and its construction are supported by the Speicherbibliothek AG company, whose shareholders are the libraries (cantons, universities, foundations). The following are shareholders of the company:

  • Canton of Lucerne
  • University Library Basel
  • Zentralbibliothek Zürich

The stacks of the University Library Basel would only have had space for a few more years, due to steadily growing holdings and for other reasons, also due to the return of holdings from departmental or institute libraries. When the Zentral- und Hochschulbibliothek Luzern came up with the idea of a cooperative storage library for the same reasons, the University Library Basel decided to take part in this project together with other partners. This created space in our stacks for new acquisitions, which we would like to continue to make available to our users in attractive open stack shelving.

The storage library enables two types of holdings management: On the one hand, individual holdings of the institutions can be stored in external stacks; on the other hand, holdings are stored collectively. Collectively managed Swiss holdings result in great potential for saving space within the participating libraries. A considerable amount of storage space is saved, particularly through the outsourcing of journal holdings storage.  

There are numerous journals in the University Library Basel that are also available in other libraries. In order to use the space in the storage library efficiently, and to simplify the provision of documents, the surplus copies of participating libraries are discarded, with the exception of a single archive copy (deduplication). This copy is moved to the storage library. By merging the holdings, a journal archive is created that is far more complete than the previous local collections. The holdings are optimally protected and are available for scan or copy orders at any time.

A change in media type to e-journals is already well-established with academic journals, so it is often not necessary to resort to the printed version. Let our staff at the information centre advise you. In addition, the overlap in holdings between the libraries with respect to journals is particularly significant, resulting in a correspondingly large amount of space saved as a result of deduplication.  

There are numerous journals in the University Library that are also available in other participating libraries. In order to use the space in the storage library efficiently, and to simplify the provision of documents, the surplus identical copies of the participating libraries are discarded with the exception of a single archive copy – a so-called “deduplication”. This enables a massive space gain in the stacks of the individual libraries. It is ensured, that nothing is discarded that is not available in the storage library.  

By merging the holdings, a journal archive is created that is far more complete than the previous local collections.

From the University Main Library and the two branch libraries – University Medical Library and the University Economics and Business Library – approximately 9000 running metres equivalent to 260 000 journals issues were outsourced. In principle, journals from all subject areas are affected; however, the focus is on the natural sciences, technology, medicine, and economics and business.  

At irregular intervals, some of the journals from the departmental or institute libraries that are returned to the University Library Basel for archiving due to a shortage of space, are also sent to the storage library. Other journals are placed in the University Main Library.  

Old holdings from before 1900, Basiliensia, journals that are important for the academic culture at the University of Basel, and monographs are not moved to the storage library. These remain available on site.

Before you can consult the holdings in the reading room of the storage library, please contact the staff at the information centre of the University Main Library to make an appointment.

Verein Kooperative Speicherbibliothek Schweiz
Grabmattenstrasse 15
6233 Büron

From the Büron Dorf bus stop (Timetable SBB) 10 minutes by foot (Google Maps)

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