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About us

The University Library is a bridge thrown between the Academy and the general public. It is a place of information, work, and communication for researchers, students, teachers, and everybody interested in art and science, covering a range of varied tasks, including, among others: the establishment, operation, and development of analog and digital infrastructures and services for the advancement of education, science, art, and culture in close cooperation with national and international archival, library, information, and museum institutions as well as other interest groups; the support of teaching, research, study, and administration as well as the Academy’s art collections; the collection, storage, indexing, and, wherever possible, barrier-free provision and communication of analog and digital data, information, and cultural heritage; the provision of literature to faculty, staff and students as well as the interested public; the conveyance of information, digital and publishing literacy, as well as the establishment of a platform for the purpose of knowledge transfer and education on art and culture.

Upcoming Events

  • A Disciplining of the Gaze

    A book presentation and panel discussion on the history of conservation training at the Academy as part of the Academy Library’s event series Wer A… sagt.

    Book presentation and Panel discussion held in German

    Schillerplatz/ University Library (Reading room, M7)

    University Library

    Detail oft he book cover of "A Disciplining of the Gaze" by Sigrid Eyb-Green. It features a detailed drawing with fine blue and red lines on a beige background. A yellow vertical strip with the Letter P publisher logo is visible on the left side. The subtitle reads: "Conservation Training at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the 20th Century".
  • Robert Vanis – back of a book

    In back of a book, Robert Vanis will replace the spines of selected historical books in the reading room with mirrors, photographs, facsimiles, photographic paper, and glass. The work reflects on representation and (in)accessibility, as well as the materiality and transience of knowledge. A project realised as part of Foto Wien 2025 at the Academy Library.

    Exhibition

    Schillerplatz/ University Library (Reading room, M7)

    University Library

    The color photograph in landscape format shows a section of a bookshelf with historical holdings, designed by Theophil von Hansen for the reading room of the Academy Library. Some books have been removed, and their place between the spines is taken by a portrait-format color photograph with a cloudy sky.
  • Goose Quill, Squiggle, Ink Blot – Reading and Writing Kurrent Script

    A three-unit Kurrent workshop of the University Archives with Ulrike Hirhager as part of the Academy Library’s WissensWert event series

    Free course held in German

    Schillerplatz/ University Library (Reading room, M7)

    University Library

    Top left: Matriculation register from the holdings of the university archive of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, 1754–1769/72; top right: Kurrent alphabet; bottom left: Kurrent memory cards; bottom right: Practice sheet, quill with steel nib, glass inkwell