University of Vienna

Founded in 1365, the University of Vienna is one of the oldest and largest universities in Europe. With around 85,200 students, 10,700 employees and 187 degree programmes, it covers a broad spectrum of natural sciences, life sciences, humanities and cultural studies. The University of Vienna is well connected internationally and has an international impact with innovative research, research-led teaching and numerous events and (inter)national conferences.

The Vienna University Library is the largest university library in Austria and the oldest university library in the German-speaking world. It collects information media from all academic disciplines taught at the University of Vienna and acts as a bibliographic centre for the university. In addition, it holds the mandatory copy right for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland.

The oldest book in the collection is an encyclopaedic edition of the ‘Historia naturalis’ by Pliny the Elder (1469). As part of its open access strategy, the library promotes the digital archiving and publication of research data and supports free access to scientific information on the internet.