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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!
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Rare, precious, or fragile historical documents are available to you in an environment designed to assure their preservation.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 !
Books, articles or even book chapters from other libraries can be ordered via our interlibrary loan department. Please be advised that a fee will be charged for this service.
The document you are looking for is not in our collections? Order it and we will bring it to 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 not allowed to send scans of articles directly to a user. The same law also prohibits the scanning of entire books. And we do not send photocopies to your home.
Order a document
log in to Renouvaud, in the search toolbar click on All Resources Renouvaud plus to order swisscovery documents:
choose a pick-up location :
> Unithèque
> HEP Vaud
> Riponne
> Internef
delivered in 3 working days, can be borrowed for 28 days, cost CHF 8.-
Order an article
Important informations
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.
Use in the library
Use in the library
Want to read an e-book but don’t have a device? Borrow a reader!
Discover the world of computer coding and programming with one of our Thymio robots.
Borrow a cable from the BCUL’s Riponne site to connect the player to a tb. Use in the library,
Use in the library or borrow for 14 days.
USB port, for 33, 45 and 78 rpm records. Use in the library or borrow for 28 days.
Use in the library or borrow for 14 days.
Choice of 64 or 128 GB. Use in the library or borrow for 14 days.
A cutting-edge multi-function device that doubles as a pointer and mouse.
Use in the library
Use in the library
In addition to the charging terminal available in the free-access area. Use in the library.
Use in the library
Use in the library