On the status of construction work ***Update***

On May 2, 2022, the University Library at the Vaihingen location will reopen at its usual hours:

Unfortunately, the roof and toilet renovations have taken an unseemly long time to complete. This was due not only to the exceptional economic situation in the construction industry, which made it very difficult to recruit qualified tradesmen to carry out the work at short notice, but also to the need to remove harmful substances. In particular, some of the drywall installed in the 1970s proved to contain asbestos and therefore had to be removed at great expense by specialist companies.

What could not be improved is the poor ventilation situation in Vaihingen. Due to the originally different dedication of the premises (originally the Mensa and offices were located here) and the age of the building, no optimal ventilation adapted to the current use as a library with its high numbers of users can be ensured in order to reduce the concentration of corona viruses to a minimum.

Intensive air particle measurement by the University's Institute of Building Energetics, Thermotechnology and Energy Storage (IGTE) has shown that there is an increased risk of infection when workstations are largely fully occupied and there is a correspondingly long exposure time (period of time during which a person is exposed to an elevated virus concentration) in individual areas of the library. This can be greatly reduced by wearing an FFP2 mask at all times.

We have therefore decided, in consultation with university management, to make FFP2 masks mandatory for all visitors to the library during their entire stay on our premises. This regulation is covered by the university's domiciliary rights and is justified by the infection risks in the library rooms, which have been proven by the substance dispersion measurements. The alternative would be a continued closure of the reading rooms, which is not in the interest of the students and teachers of the university.

We therefore ask for your understanding that we carry out irregular checks to ensure compliance with the mask obligation and sanction violations of the mask obligation with a house ban if necessary. In order to ensure the mask obligation, we would like to point out that eating in the library rooms is prohibited. However, in view of the inadequate climatic situation, we still allow the consumption of non-alcoholic transparent drinks.

We are making efforts to further improve the ventilation situation in Vaihingen by pressing ahead with selective measures on the ventilation system and taking additional measures to clean the air. Large-format ventilation units equipped with jet nozzles to achieve significantly improved air circulation in critical areas are currently being procured. Unfortunately, the Learning Center will have to remain closed until these units are procured.

The current work on the roof drainage and on the toilets in the city center unfortunately means that we will not be able to offer regular use here until further notice, but will have to remain in limited lending operation. This work is expected to be completed in October 2022, so that - should the pandemic situation allow it - we will be able to offer largely regular user operations here again from the coming winter semester.

Until then, however, the lending desk will initially move into the foyer for about three months from mid-May 2022 for the most complex construction phase, as the PC pool area on the 1st floor will have to be scaffolded in order to renovate the roof drainage lines there.

However, there will again be construction-related restrictions here next year due to the renewal of the lighting and the data cabling in the publicly accessible areas, but these will only be selective and can be clearly limited in time, so that we are currently only assuming minor disruptions here.

Due to the ongoing construction work, the usability of the holdings in the Stadtmitte remains limited to the previous scope. This means that all holdings located in the city center must be ordered via the online catalog and - if you are located in the city center - can be picked up after 30 minutes. Orders to the other location will still not be available for pickup until the next day.

However, we will extend the service hours in the Stadtmitte area in the afternoon hours, which means that the following times will apply in the Stadtmitte from May 2, 2022:

Due to the still extensive reclamation of collections in all library areas, we will need the early morning hours to clear construction areas or return book collections once construction is complete.

Thank you for your understanding

Your UB Team