Eberswalde City Library

Are you considering becoming a member of the city library, but are worried about the costs and conditions? Don't worry: a personal visit to our counter is enough and doesn't take long. To register, all you need is a valid identity card or passport and a registration certificate; you also need to fill in our Registration form or bring it printed out and filled in with you. The city library is also open to "non-Eberswalders".

If you wish, we can show you around the library premises, but there is no waiting period: you will receive your library card immediately and can get started.

• Free of charge Registration and renewal of the library card from 7 years (or school entry) up to and including 17 years.
• Registration by parent or legal guardian.
• Immediate Borrowing possible.
• Free use of our Game consoles on site.
• Quick registration at our counter.
• Immediate Borrowing possible.
• Activation for our Online offer.
• Detailed Guidance with explanations.

Children from 7 years (or from school entry) are registered by a parent or legal guardian; we also require the valid identity card (or passport and registration certificate) of the parent or legal guardian as well as their signature on the registration form. A copy of both sides of the ID will also be accepted. The child does not have to be actively present at the time of enrolment. Please note that only media from the children's area can be borrowed on a children's card; in special cases from the adult area (such as school materials), please contact us personally.

For adolescents from 14 to 17 years the same procedure is followed in the youth centre, with the exception that most media from the youth and adult areas can also be borrowed here.

The annual fee is:

Books, audio books and CDs can be borrowed for 4 weeks and renewed twice for the same period. Board and electronic games can only be renewed once for the same loan period; magazines cannot be renewed. DVDs and Blu-Rays can be borrowed for 1 week and renewed twice.

You can have the loan period of borrowed media extended if there are no pre-orders. You can extend the loan period yourself at the self-checkout desks or from home via the online catalogue. You can find the online catalogue here.

Of course, you can also renew your media in writing, in person or by telephone.

Extensions can be made by telephone on: 03334/64-420.

Magazines are excluded from deadline extensions.

From the first day of overdue fees of €1.00 per medium per week will be charged.

Children and young people up to the age of 17 are charged €0.25 per medium per week.

As soon as a written reminder has to be sent, additional reminder fees of €5.00 per week will be charged.

In the event of severe damage (severe water damage, torn or painted pages, etc.), you are obliged to purchase a replacement of the medium in question. In addition, a processing fee of €5.00 will be charged.

Why should we only share books? The Eberswalde City Library is exploring this question and expanding its collection beyond the classic idea: technology and science, toys and sports equipment, music - to name just a few areas. Are you travelling with friends and need something to do in the park? Why not borrow a football or badminton set, boules balls or even the classic game of skittles from us? Or would you like to learn to play music, preferably holding an instrument in your hand? Visit us and borrow a ukulele or a kalimba, or a professional xylophone for young and old. All these "things" can be borrowed at no extra cost, the only requirement is membership of our city library.

A brief overview:

• Badminton set
• Bluetooth speakers (to connect for music playback)
• Boules set
• Discman (CD player)
• Energy saving device
• Football
• Audio pens (Booki, TING, tiptoi)
• Hasbro Howler
• Kalimba
• Skittles
• Pocket microscope
• Tolino
• Tonieboxes and Tonie figures
• Ukulele
• Match four game in XXL format
• Waboba (ball game)
• Viking chess
• Xylophone

The reading series "Picture book journey in the city library" serves to promote the language and media skills of daycare centre children and to familiarise them with the children's library for the first time.

Make an appointment for a special reading session in the children's library, on special topics if you wish: Seasons, knights, feelings...

The offer is primarily aimed at day-care centre groups with pre-school children, but children aged between 3 and 6 with their parents or guardians are also very welcome.

A picture book cinema, Kamishibai storytelling theatre or a reading session with our volunteer readers would be possible.

This series of events is free of charge and usually takes place every Tuesday from 9.30 a.m. for 30 - 45 minutes. Day-care centre groups and children accompanied by an adult are cordially invited to attend.

Registration is required, the time can be arranged individually.

In our "German as a foreign language" department there are numerous learning materials at levels A - C. From course books, picture dictionaries and word cards to magazines, everything you need to learn is represented, and since 2021 the stock has been expanded to include books in easy language, these stories are perfect for better understanding and acquiring the German language.

Users with visual impairments can use the services of the German Centre for Accessible Reading (abbr: dzb read) is available. By registering free of charge, you can choose from over 60,000 media, including Braille books and sheet music in Braille as well as audio books in DAISY format. DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) is a format that is used for CDs that can be played with a DAISY player. With this device, users can easily skip from chapter to chapter, call up specific pages directly or even record notes.

Further information on the read dzb and the registration and borrowing procedure can be obtained at any time from the Eberswalde City Library.

We offer parents, grandparents and educators the opportunity to participate in our "Parent-child library" selected media on all areas of family life:

• from pregnancy and birth preparation through to the
• Naming up to
• a balanced diet and
• legal, psychological and health aspects.

Library users can also access a large selection of books for creative and playful activities with children and get suggestions and ideas for celebrations, whether children's birthday parties or themed parties, invitations and gifts.

The loan receipt hangs on the fridge, the deadline is saved in your mobile phone - and yet it can happen that you forget to visit the library. We offer a free e-mail reminder service so that you don't have to worry so much and can still renew your loan on time. Two or three days before your next due date (or earlier if it is a public holiday), we will remind you that your loan(s) are due soon. If you would like to use this service, simply contact us directly.

Important: The reminder e-mail is none automatic renewal - please do this yourself via our OPACby telephone or on site.

Media that we do not stock in the City Library can be ordered from other libraries via the German interlibrary loan system. This service - Interlibrary loan called - is subject to a fee and requires a active Membership with us is a prerequisite. The cost is €3.00 per title ordered (payable in advance), shipping costs will be added on collection.
Please place your order in person at the City Library. Precise details, especially for specialised literature (title, specific edition, etc.), are particularly important for us. We will then contact you by telephone or e-mail as soon as your item has arrived and you can collect it.

Register and get started - sure, that's possible. But if you would like to find out a little more about our library, we are always happy to show you round the premises. Not only will we explain how our media are arranged and sorted, we will also show you the possibilities of a modern library, point out what we have to offer and answer your questions.

Individual tours are possible at any time, just contact us. For group tours with children, young people or adults (e.g. institutions, school classes etc.), please get in touch with the relevant contact person to arrange an appointment.

The Eberswalde City Library has recently joined the geocaching programme. You can find a letterbox version of the popular leisure hobby, which is centred around the town library, on official geocaching pages. After a series of small and large puzzles, new seekers and old hands can look forward to an entry and a small surprise. Information is also available directly from us in the city library.

The city library has a total of four computer workstations with Internet access and a connected printer. Registered users can search the Internet and print out black and white and colour documents free of charge for a maximum of 2 hours per day.

Of course, you can also connect to our in-house WLAN via laptop or mobile phone. The WLAN is freely available throughout the hotel.

Young people after the age of 14 must present a declaration of consent from a parent or legal guardian to use the Internet areas. Children up to the age of 14 will not be granted access without being accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Would you like to spend some time reading in the city library but have forgotten your reading glasses? No problem; you can take a pair of reading glasses from our glasses case at the user counter on presentation of your user card.

Would you like to listen to a CD while reading in the city library or try out one of our Nintendo DS games? No problem. We offer electronic devices for you to borrow from the library to work or simply relax.

We require your library card as a deposit to borrow all devices. The use of a 3DS system is limited to a maximum of two hours.

All devices are only can be borrowed within the library.

With the Barnim eLibrary, you can access a large and constantly growing stock of digital media completely free of charge after registering with our municipal library. On this separate website (available here) you can browse our online shelves, download books, magazines and more and then access your loans offline. In addition to the eBook readers provided for this purpose, our media can also be used at any time via app, i.e. on smartphones and tablets.

Answered quickly:

• The municipal libraries of Eberswalde, Bernau, Biesenthal, Joachimsthal, Panketal and Wandlitz are participating in the Onleihe Barnim programme. No matter where you have a user card issued: The Onleihe Barnim is the same everywhere and can be used free of charge.
• Unfortunately, devices from Amazon (such as the Kindle eBook reader) are not compatible with our eLibrary.
• The digital inventory is not to be equated with the one we have in our library.

Actionbound is a quiz for smartphones that can be played alone or in a larger group, with numerous puzzles and questions about the city library as well as smaller tasks. It is completely free to use, all you need is the Actionbound app on smartphones with Android and IOS operating systems. The Eberswalde City Library uses Actionbound to offer guided tours with research training for young schoolchildren.

Antolin is an innovative online portal for promoting reading in grades 1 to 10. Primary schools in particular incorporate Antolin into their curriculum and work intensively with the programme. Antolin also offers a wide range of quizzes on children's and young adult books that pupils can answer online.

Does your school work with the Antolin reading promotion programme? We have the books! We have many books that are listed on Antolin in our stock. The books in question are labelled with an Antolin sticker; in our Online catalogue you can find our stock of Antolin books under "Other" on the homepage. Or simply enter the word directly into the search bar.

You can find more information about Antolin here!

Once a month, usually on the last Thursday, the "picture book cinema" takes place in the city library for our little visitors. All children between the ages of 3 and 6 are invited to take a new look at favourite picture books or discover others for the first time. As the pictures are projected onto a screen, all children can marvel at the pictures while the reading continues. Admission is free.

The next picture book cinema dates can be found in the Calendar of events.

(The event will be held in German - please contact us in advance for a bilingual reading)

You can also organise a parents' evening or similar educational events in our library. We introduce ourselves as a cultural institution of the city of Eberswalde and inform about our offers and possibilities.

Please discuss possible dates with the library management.

We have books, CDs, DVDs and games in English and for learning English for children from kindergarten age. The range extends from English-language children's stories to direct learning aids. Other languages can also be discovered in our library, from Arabic to French and Persian.

For teenagers and adults, we offer learning aids, language course books (also with CDs) and fiction in various languages. You will find the language section in the first room of our youth library.

The Grolltroll has been living in the Eberswalde City Library since 2019. This is a Anger boxwhich consists of the book "Der Grolltroll", a complementary CD and the cuddly toy of the same name, whose facial expression can be flexibly changed. The grudge troll is very well suited to familiarising children with feelings and emotions.

Although we have several books with and about him, the Grolltroll himself is unique - and therefore only available once in our stock. Simply contact us if you need one; if the Grolltroll is currently on the road, we can of course reserve the set for you!

A box made of light-coloured wood. Two hinged doors that slowly open. The first image of a story appears on the black-framed stage. The storyteller begins to tell the story frame by frame. Anyone who has experienced the narrative theatre will understand the magic that emanates from this medium. Originally from Japan, the Kamishibai has now also found its place here in Germany and delights children with its stories. It has its place wherever people have something to tell each other.

Take a look at our Calendar of events to make sure you don't miss the next Kamishibai theatre!
You can also borrow the small stage model and various stories for it from the library. Just get in touch with us.

We offer you a comprehensive introduction to the rooms and stock of the city library. Please contact us in good time so that a suitable date can be found and we can fulfil your wishes regarding topic and event.

• General library tour for all class levels with library quiz and rally.
• Research and tips for writing specialised papers.
• Thematic events on request.
• Reading sessions with books, "Kamishibai" book theatre or picture book cinema.

We lend books and games for the interactive reading pens TING, BOOKii and tiptoi. The pens enhance the reading and playing experience with real sounds and professionally presented explanations. You can find media designed for this in our Online catalogue. Simply enter the respective pen name in the search field; the books/games as such are represented in the children's library.

The devices can be borrowed - in a box with accessories and instructions - for four weeks. Please note that TING/BOOKii and tiptoi are two separate providers that can only be used with their respective own publications function.

We offer educational institutions - such as daycare centres and schools - reading backpacks. This allows your institution to borrow media of all kinds free of charge and for an extended period of 8 weeks. You have the option of either coming to the library with the children yourself and packing your "rucksack", or you can tell us the topic of your choice and we will put together a selection for you. Please ask at the library for the co-operation agreement. You will find the application form here.

We offer learning aids for every grade level in the children's and youth library. In the youth library, there is also a large stock of school aids and non-fiction up to A-levels. The various places and seating areas invite you to study together in an undisturbed atmosphere.

We offer you and your school class the opportunity to hold a lesson on our premises; we support you with specialised information sources and, if necessary, Internet PCs including printers. We can also organise information events for parents or school classes, just contact us for a suitable date.

Are you an organiser (school, event, etc.) looking for a suitable setting for your reading competition? At the Eberswalde City Library, we can provide you with the space and, if required, support you - in addition to the general selection of literature - as a jury member. Please contact us for a relaxed discussion of dates and organisation.