Opening hours
Erste Campus, Building Section F
Monday – Thursday
10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Opening hours apply all-season, except statutory holidays and Christmas holidays.
ERSTE Foundation Library is the knowledge hive of ERSTE Foundation. It is a special library serving both the research needs of scientific communities and a general public looking for information and entertainment.
The library advances knowledge by building collections and providing open access to materials and information resources that support and reflect both ERSTE Foundation’s mission and the diversity of its projects. We want to be the place that people in the ERSTE Foundation communities and the public in general think of first when they need information on social innovation, cultural development, contemporary artistic interventions, and European discourses.
Search the Library
Search the library’s Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) to find books, magazines, journals, videos, DVDs, and individually catalogued electronic resources collected by ERSTE Foundation Library.
Catalogue records for print material will display their location in the library. Links embedded in the records for digital resources will give you free or institutional access to the full text or take you to the publishing institution. Ask the librarian for institutional access at ERSTE Foundation Library.
Collection Development
The ERSTE Foundation Library collection has been developed since 2007 to support the research requirements of the foundation’s staff and project partners, as well as the public in general. ERSTE Foundation Library presently holds about 12,000 items. The collection grows by an average of about 500 items per year through purchases, private donations, book exchange and contributions by ERSTE Foundation community members and project partners.
Latest Acquisitions
Collection description
The library’s holdings cover a wide range of subjects, focusing on the development of open societies, on contemporary socio-economic and cultural changes, and on political conditions and situations in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
The library houses comprehensive collections of research and information material on
– Contemporary art and media theory
– Conceptual art since 1960s
– Architecture and urbanism
– Cultural theory and policy
– Feminism, gender, and queer theory
– Minority and migration issues
– Information literacy
– New media and journalism
– Economic developments
– Political developments and wars
– Social change and care economy
– Social finance, banking and entrepreneurship
– Human ecology and climate change
– Financial literacy and personal finance
– NGO and project management
– Philanthropy
– European debates and integration
Collection guidelines
The criteria for acquiring material include specializations, formats, languages, geographical guidelines, and policies on collecting fictional texts.
Our main focus is on collecting actual material to support our primary goal and on providing access to information through online catalogues and search services. We therefore also collect appropriate indices to provide access to information about off-foundation collections, supporting knowledge development and information related to ERSTE Foundation’s mission, projects, and goals.
Formats
The main collection consists of monographic and serial publications. It includes monographs, exhibition catalogues, artist books, graphic novels, studies, surveys, journals, magazines, newspapers, back files, and annuals. Other formats collected include digital resources, maps, motion pictures, sound recordings, and video recordings.
Languages
The library’s major collection is in English and German, with materials in other languages collected from the publication activities of the foundation’s projects and communities.
Geographical guidelines
Based on the foundation’s focus, the library mainly collects information resources on Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern European countries. In particular, we cover the whole region of the so-called post-socialist countries, since historical and contemporary developments in these countries cannot be understood without their international relationships – be it in social, demographic, financial, cultural, or any other dimensions of political or everyday life.
Special collection of fictional texts
Because we consider fictional texts not just a resource for entertainment within the scope of language, national and gender performativity and identity, the library collects and maintains a collection made up of reading materials translated from their respective languages into German or English.
Special Collections
In addition to our main collection we provide comprehensive research collections and archives in the arts and financial literacy.
Kontakt Collection
The Kontakt artists’ monograph collection comprises publications by and about artists collected by Kontakt Collection. To get a list of these books, search the ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue.
More on Kontakt Collection
Economics and Financial Literacy Collection
This special collection comprises information resources on financial economics and financial literacy and displays the most recent publications on social banking and entrepreneurship, on money and other currencies like Bitcoins, on monetary policies, the financial crisis, investment strategies, sustainability, green finance and so on. The collection also includes educative treatments of personal finance not just for adults but for children and young adults, canonical readings in financial economics, bestsellers like Piketty’s “Capital in the 21st century” as well as biographies of persons in the corporate realm and the financial industry.
Get an overview of the Financial Literacy Collection at the ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue.
Gender Check Research Archive
The Gender Check Research Archive provides limited access to the materials researched and collected for the exhibition “Gender Check. Femininity and masculinity in the art of Eastern Europe”.
The collection includes texts and visual material from 24 countries:
Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.
More on Gender Check
Gateway to CSEE
Search engines, library collections, repositories and research institutions on Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
- International directory of librarians and library specialists in the Slavic and East European field
The directory is the most comprehensive list for linking to libraries collecting on CEE worldwide. - ABDOS – Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Bibliotheken und Dokumentationsstellen der Ost-, Ostmittel- und Südosteuropaforschung (ABDOS) e.V
ABDOS is an alliance of institutions and individuals dedicated to purchasing and collecting literature from and about Eastern, Eastern Central and South-Eastern Europe, and making it accessible to the public; it is, however, also open to anyone involved in research and lecturing on Eastern Europe. - CEU – Central European University (CEU Library)
CEU Library in Budapest and Vienna is an English-language university library in the fields of the social sciences and the humanities and a leading research and information centre in the region. - BSB – Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Osteuropa
The Department of Eastern Europe is the largest special department of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. It comprises information resources on Eastern Europe, East Central and South-Eastern Europe as well as Russia. - Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Osteuropa
The Eastern Europe Department of the Berlin State Library houses one of the world’s most important collections of Eastern European literature outside the region. - The British Library’s East European collection
The British Library’s East European collection acquires, as widely as possible, material of research value published in all Slavonic and East European languages covering subjects in the humanities and social sciences. - ViFaOst – Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Osteuropa
ViFaOst is an interdisciplinary portal that offers a wide range of information on the field of Eastern European studies to the academic community. - Verbundkatalog Östliches Europa
With approx. 1,000,000 media units (October 2015), the Verbundkatalog Östliches Europa documents the electronically accessible holdings of more than thirty libraries and cultural-science institutions in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. - IOS – Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung
The Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, IOS, researches economic and historical developments in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and boasts an extensive library. - GWZO – Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa
The Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe (GWZO) at the University of Leipzig is a research institute committed to international cooperation and multidisciplinary approaches. GWZO focuses on the comparative research into the history and culture of territories between the Baltic, the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea from the Early Middle Ages up to the present day. - wiiw – The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies is one of the principle centres for research on Central, East and Southeast Europe. The Library provides access to databases and studies on macroeconomic developments and structural change, international economics, labour markets and social issues, as well as on selected issues related to sectoral and regional economic developments. - IDM – Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa
The Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) addresses current questions regarding the Danube region, Central and South-Eastern Europe to enhance knowledge about the region and promote good neighbourly relations. - Specialized library with archive “Studii romani”
The specialized library with archive owns books, periodical publications (article and book series, journals, newspapers), audio and video materials, archive documents, field materials, as well as a museum fund.
Other major search engines and open access repositories
- Europeana
Multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections. - KVK – Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog
The KVK is a meta search engine for more than 500 million books, periodicals and other media stored in library and booksellers’ catalogues worldwide. - OBVSG – Österreichischer Verbundkatalog
Gateway for research in 80 Austrian libraries under the OBVSG umbrella including more than 10 million bibliographic entries. - EZB – Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek
EZB is one of the most comprehensive bibliographic databases on scientific online magazines. 58,000 are available in full text. - OpenDOAR
OpenDOAR is an authoritative directory of academic open access repositories. - SSOAR – Social Science Open Access Repository
SSOAR collects quality checked literature relevant to the social sciences. It also offers a publishing platform for academics.
Contact
ERSTE Foundation Library
Am Belvedere 1
1100 Vienna
Erste Campus, Building Section F
Monday – Thursday
10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Drop us a line or book a library tour
+43 50100 15461
library@erstestiftung.org
Ask our librarian
Jutta Braidt
Head of ERSTE Foundation Library
Opening hours apply all-season, except statutory holidays and Christmas holidays.
ERSTE Foundation Library is a special library that is open to the public. The library encourages Erste Group employees to request library instruction tailored to their occupation and/or their recreational needs.
The library has research and work stations for users. Materials from the open access library stakes can be borrowed with a library card. You are able to obtain a library card at the library desk or at the reception desk. Besides issuing your library card, our librarian will also assist in finding resources or recommend a good read.
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Learn more
Opening hours
Erste Campus, Building Section F
Monday – Thursday
10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Opening hours apply all-season, except statutory holidays and Christmas holidays.
Anyone may use the ERSTE Foundation Library collections in the library without a library card. You may search for information resources at our open-access collection on the premesis, read or study at the library’s study places – WiFi provided.
Circulation
Checking out materials requires a Library Card to be obtained at the library desk in ERSTE Foundation.
Library Card
Obtaining a Library Card at the main desk or at the reception desk of ERSTE Foundation Library requires a valid ID. The Library Card enables you to check out material for use outside the library. Once registered, you may borrow information material, update your email address online, place holds and recalls, and check on and renew your borrowed items.
Loan period
In general, ERSTE Foundation Library does not limit the number of items checked out. It is the cardholder’s responsibility to note the due dates for materials and to return or renew them by those dates.
The loan period runs for four weeks unless otherwise agreed on or renewed. Using your library ID to access your library online account, you can view the books checked out to you and when they are due. The ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue (OPAC) will indicate whether an item is on reserve, or has any other use restriction.
Reservations, renewals, holds and recalls
Reservations
In the ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue (OPAC), you can reserve books from all collections in general. We highly recommend using this option for items from the Economics and Financial Literacy Collection as access is limited during certain meetings and events. For detailed information on how to search the collection and make reservations, please refer to our guide here.
Renewals
You may renew in person or by calling the library at +43 50100 15461. You may also renew items for another four weeks by going online yourself in the ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue. Please get in contact with the library if you need the material checked out even longer.
Holds
Holds may be placed in person or in the ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue with a valid library card. The ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue will indicate whether an item is on reserve, or has any other use restriction.
Recalls
If you need an item that is checked out to another borrower, you may place a recall yourself online or in person at the library. As soon as the item has arrived, the library will notify you by email. You may also log into ERSTE Foundation Library online catalogue to check on the status of the item.
Returning materials
You should return ERSTE Foundation Library materials to the library desk at ERSTE Foundation during open hours, or to the library’s book drop at the self-check machine at ERSTE Foundation.
We do not encourage returns by mail, but if it is necessary, make sure that you mail the package to:
ERSTE Foundation Library
Am Belvedere 1
1100 Vienna
Austria
Self check-in, renewals and check-out
Holding a valid library card entitles you to (self)check from the collections of ERSTE Foundation Library.
You may also use the self-return option, returning your borrowed material. Just touch the Return button on the self-check machine, place the media you are going to return upon the plate and the system will automatically take back your borrowed items. Please put the returned media in the box labelled “book drop” next to the machine.
General library rules
Although we don’t charge overdue items, we rely on you to keep the borrowed material safe and clean and to return it when due.
Study places and research computer
ERSTE Foundation Library maintains a computer for public use in support of research and learning as well as study places with WiFi internet access for users at ERSTE Foundation.
Purchase requests
You may request media for purchase. Our librarian will decide upon acquiring the requested media in line with our collection development guidelines. Send a purchase request to the librarian.
Opening hours and address
ERSTE Foundation Library
Am Belvedere 1
1100 Vienna
Erste Campus, Building Section F
Monday – Thursday
10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Drop us a line or book a library tour
+43 50100 15461
library@erstestiftung.org
Ask our librarian
Jutta Braidt
Head of ERSTE Foundation Library
Opening hours apply all-season, except statutory holidays and Christmas holidays.
ERSTE Foundation Library is a special library that is open to the public. The library encourages Erste Group employees to request library instruction tailored to their occupation and/or their recreational needs.
The library has research and work stations for users. Materials from the open access library stakes can be borrowed with a library card. To obtain a library card at the library desk, please make sure that our librarian is available. Besides issuing your library card, she will also assist in finding resources or recommend a good read.
By loading the map, you agree to Google's privacy policy.
Learn more
- 01/19/2025
- Akademietheater, 1030 Vienna
- 11 : 00
