User regulations of Royal Danish Library

Regulations for private users.

Paragraph marks on paper — Photo: Colourbox

§1. Legislation

These regulations are laid down in accordance with section 35 of The Danish Act Regarding Library Services No. 914 of 20/08/2008.

Royal Danish Library is a public library with collections and facilities that can be used by anyone, provided they respect applicable regulations and otherwise follow the instructions given by library staff.

§2. Scope

These regulations apply to private users of Royal Danish Library as the National Library of Denmark and as university library for the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Aarhus University (AU), Roskilde University (RUC) and the IT University of Copenhagen (ITU).

For use of library's physical amenities (reading rooms etc.) and other types of use, we refer to separate regulations and service declarations for the facilities referred to: Regulations

Special rules apply to Copenhagen University Library’s departmental libraries - these can be found on the library website.

§3. Registration

You register as a user via the library’s website. To register, you need to have a valid email address.

If you are exempt from Digital Post, please refer to separate regulations.

Conditions for registration

To register as a user at the library you need to:

Be 18 years of age and legally competent
Have permanent residence in Denmark or Greenland, or
Be a Danish citizen with permanent residence abroad, or
Be enrolled as a student at or be an employee with University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Roskilde University or the IT University of Copenhagen

Library card

Users with a Danish civil registration number can use their health insurance card to borrow materials. Legally competent users without a Danish civil registration number can have a reading room library card issued.

§4. Withdrawal

Royal Danish Library has an automatic procedure for deleting inactive users.

Failure to use library services for one year will automatically result in a notice per email regarding imminent deletion. If the user remains inactive, the account is deleted one month after the notice.

If you want your account deleted, please use our entry point for user enquiries, Ask the library.

All loans and pending issues must be settled before deleting a user.

§5. Use of Royal Danish Library’s physical collections

Requests/collection

Material for home loans must either be requested/reserved in the library system or found on the shelves at the service points.
The user receives an e-mail when the requested/reserved material is ready for collection at the user's desired collection point.
The user can authorise another person to pick up their requested material.
A forwarded pick-up message is considered a power of attorney and an indication that the recipient of the message may pick up the material.
The proxy holder must bring their own identification
Note that materials ordered for the Research Reading Room cannot be used via a power of attorney.

Loans/renewals/returns

The loan period is usually one month, unless otherwise stated.
Loans can be renewed if the material has not been reserved by another user.
The maximum loan period is usually six months. Loans can be renewed an infinite number of times within the maximum loan period.
Return of material can happen at all service points at Royal Danish Library.
Borrowed material is the responsibility of the user until it has been registered as returned. This also applies to borrowed materials that the user has given another power of attorney to pick up.
A receipt of return is issued on return. The receipt is the user's documentation that the material has been returned.

Interlibrary loans

Material obtained from Danish or foreign libraries are subject to these regulations and may also be subject to rules specified by the library referred to.
Loans from other libraries may be subject to a charge. Prices for interlibrary loans vary and are shown on the applicable price list.
There may be individual cases where it is not possible to make an interlibrary loan via the Royal Danish Library.

Fees and compensation

We will charge users a recall fee for exceeding the loan period.

The applicable rates are shown under Loan periods and fees.

If borrowed material is not returned or has been lost, there will be a claim for compensation.

The user is blocked if there are amounts due of DKK 200 or more.

The applicable compensation rates are shown under Loan periods and fees.

Other factors than the above may apply.

§6. Use of Royal Danish Library’s electronic resources

The library's agreements concerning digital material have varying license terms. Users are obligated to inform themselves about the conditions of access and use regarding the digital material before using the material. Information regarding conditions of access and use is found at the access point of the digital material.

General rules are:

Fair use of printing and downloading (articles, e-book chapters, etc.) for personal use is allowed.
Direct links to articles and e-book chapters are allowed.
Articles and e-books can be quoted.
Commercial use of content is not allowed.
Systematically printing and downloading large quantities of content is prohibited – see §11.
Sharing of content with others is not allowed (please note, that other rules for sharing may apply, if you are an educator or researcher).
Non-copyrighted material may be used freely. The user is responsible for clarifying intellectual property rights before use.

All traffic in connection with access from home is recorded by the data provider and the library. If the library or data provider detects improper use of resources, access will be terminated for the user in question – see §11, subsection 2.

§7. Communication

Communication regarding use of the library's services, including service information like pick-up information and recall notices, is generally sent by email.

Users are responsible for ensuring that the registered email address is valid at all times.

§8. Processing of personal information

Royal Danish Library processes personal information according to the applicable rules on protection of personal data. See: Royal Danish Library’s Privacy and Personal Data Protection Policy.

§9. Enforcement of the library’s right of ownership

Royal Danish Library retains ownership of borrowed materials, including materials that have been lost, damaged or not returned, regardless of whether compensation has been paid. In the event that a lost material is retrieved, it must be returned to the library.

§10. Personal search

Pursuant to the 'Danish Act on certain measures to prevent thefts from Royal Danish Library (Act No. 246 of 8 June 1978, as amended)', a personal search procedure has been introduced, which users of the library are required to accept.

§11 Restriction and exclusion

We reserve the right to restrict or block user access on the suspicion of improper or excessive use of library services.

In the event that improper use results in financial loss, penalties, or claims of compensation against Royal Danish Library, the library reserves the right to make similar claims against the user in question.

Violating regulations or failure to comply with borrowing rules may result in user accounts being blocked or the exclusion of users.

§12. Complaints

Complaints regarding the use of the Royal Danish Library is addressed to the library's management and sent to kb@kb.dk or sent to Royal Danish Library, Søren Kierkegaards Plads 1, 1221 Copenhagen K. You will receive a receipt for reception of the complaint. The Royal Danish Library then processes the complaint as quickly as possible, taking into account the content of the complaint.

Complaints about the Royal Danish Library's decisions, including decisions on appeals, can be submitted to the Ministry of Culture at e-mail: kum@kum.dk or sent to the Ministry of Culture, Nybrogade 2, 1203 Copenhagen K. In some cases, it will appear from the appeals instructions in the decision that the Royal Danish Library forwards the complaint to the Ministry of Culture.