Register
Register for free !
Accueil / Borrowing and reading
Register for free !
If you are under the age of 14, please contact us to request an exemption.
General conditions for registration and borrowing (document in french)
If you do not have any kind of library card, please complete the pre-registration form. To obtain your library card, go to one of the BCUL desks with a valid identity document (Swiss identity card, Swiss passport, Swiss driving licence or residence permit valid for a minimum of 3 months).
Log in to your user account to:
If you have forgotten your password, ask to update it (document in french) or go to one of our desks.
Our collections contain both rare and valuable documents and current digital resources!
Due to the relocation of our collections, the consultation of archives and heritage objects is unavailable since March 1st 2024. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to us.
Alongside the thousands of works that are freely accessible at our various locations, we have a collection of cultural heritage documents that are available only in the reading room at the Unithèque site.
Rare, precious, or fragile historical documents are available to you in an environment designed to assure their preservation.
Documents available in the reading room
To access these documents you do not have to be registered with the library, but your are requested to fill in – a registration form for the reading room at your first visit( yearly renewal).
Requesting a document prior to 1850, a rare book or a map: once you have found the document in Renouvaud, log into your user account, and click on the “Request” button.
Don’t have an account? Write to BCUL here for books from 1850 and before ou here for rare and precious books as well as ancient maps
Write to BCUL here for requesting a manuscript or UNIL dissertation.
Write to BCUL here for requesting an item from the Iconographic collection.
Depending on the type of document, it can take between 1 hour and 2 working days to prepare your order. Reading restrictions apply to certain documents because of their conservation conditions. An authorization may also be required, particularly for archival material.
To use the reading room you need to book a time slot. Once your order is prepared, we will send you an e-mail to confirm your time slot.
Further information about conditions and copying fees for documents available in the reading room.
Full conditions of access and restrictions on use of our digital resources.
Borrow, reserve and renew !
You can borrow up to 30 documents at a time. There are special conditions for UNIL professors, researchers and PhD students.
Loan period
Renewals
Returns
A fine of CHF 0.20 per working day for each document is payable from the first day of delay on any late returns. Any costs incurred as a result of damage or loss of a document, including administrative expenses, will be payable by the user in full. For any transactions involving a third party, please complete the proxy form (document in french).
The following documents must also be returned to one of our locations:
If the document is available free access, you can find it yourself and borrow it. If the document is available from the stacks, at another site or has already been borrowed, log in to Renouvaud and click on “Request”. As soon as the document is available, you will receive an email inviting you to collect it from your chosen location.
Get a book from another library or BCUL delivered to you !
The document you are looking for is not in our collections? Order it and we will obtain it for you from another library outside the Renouvaud network as soon as possible.
You can also request journal articles or book chapters. Due to copyright law, we are prohibited from sending scanned articles directly to individuals. This same law also prohibits the digitization of entire books. We do not send photocopies to private addresses.
Order a document
Log in to Renouvaud, click on All Renouvaud resources plus in the search bar to order documents from swisscovery:
Choose a pick-up location:
Note that BIHM is displayed by default in the drop-down menu Managing library for ILL. Please choose a BCUL site to order your ILL.
Delivered in 3 working days, loanable for 28 days, extendable from the Renouvaud account
Cost: CHF 5 (Unil students*) or CHF 8 (other users) per item
* Unil students’ ILL requests cost less because part of the fee is covered by their university. Therefore, a Renouvaud plus order will cost them CHF 5 if picked up at BCUL sites.
If the document is not in Renouvaud plus, from Renouvaud, click on ILL Form and fill out the form by checking Book in Reference type.
Order an article
From Renouvaud, click on ILL Form and fill out the form by checking Article in Reference type.
Important information:
Access online help: 6. ILL – Interlibrary Loan (at the bottom of the page).
To have a book from the BCU Lausanne collections sent to your home, once you have found the document in Renouvaud, log in, click on the “Request” button and and select “Postal delivery: home address” or “Postal delivery: work address”. The item will be sent to you by post for a fee of CHF 13 per volume
Before you use the loans by post service,
Delivery
Returns
Payment
these must be paid using the payment slip sent separately.
Is it difficult for you to travel? The “Livres à vous” service offers you free home delivery. A volunteer will bring your items to your home and return them for you.
People with reduced mobility living in the Greater Lausanne area
Read digitally and lighten your bag! Choose from 12’000 ebooks of all styles: literature, detective novels, biographies, history, humanities and social sciences, etc.
Access eLecturesHave you forgotten to bring a USB stick with you? Have you always dreamt of programming a robot? We have a number of other items available to lend.