Bibliotheken Schaffhausen

Welcome to the Bibliotheken Schaffhausen
Browsing, learning, studying, and simply “being” without any commercial obligations or an admission fee: at the Kammgarn Library, 365 days a year—for 5,475 hours. Add to that the venerable City Library with its quiet reading room and treasures spanning 1,300 years.

About us
The Stadtbibliothek Schaffhausen (Schaffhausen Municipal Library) is the public library of Schaffhausen. It also serves as cantonal library (Kantonsbibliothek), collecting and preserving the Scaphusiana: documents about Schaffhausen, printed in Schaffhausen or written by people from Schaffhausen.

The historical collections of the municipal library go back to the library of the citizens (Bürgerbibliothek), founded in 1636, and the library of the Schaffhausen clergy, later called Ministerialbibliothek, of the 1540s. The library also holds an important collection of medieval codices and other manuscripts.

Known today as Bibliotheken Schaffhausen, the library is located in two buildings:
The
Stadtbibliothek am Münsterplatz
holds the historical collections as well as the public library collections until the 1980ies. The Scaphusiana are also preserved there.…Books with a publication date from 1900 are usually available for home loan. All materials are in closed stacks and have to be ordered in advance or at the counter. Some historical holdings are not accessible due to conservation reasons. The
Bibliothek Kammgarn
has newly opened in september 2026.

Its open stacks hold popular books for entertainment and study as well as well as DVDs and CDs. There is a large children’s and youth section as well. On top of that, there is a growing Digital Library with e-books in german, english, french and spanish as well as digital newspapers and encyclopaedias and streaming music and films.

The library is open for all residents of the region of Schaffhausen free of cost (there is no annual fee). A library card is required (Sign up
here
BISCH ONLINE
is the library’s online catalogue. All the media of the Agnesenschütte branch and about 50% of the media of Stadtbibliothek am Münsterplatz are registered there, as well as the holdings of the Gemeindebibliothek Neuhausen and the library of the Staatsarchiv Schaffhausen (cantonal archives).

Quick Access
New registration
My account
Reservations
Acquisition suggestion
Interlibrary
loan
Overdrive
The
Overdrive platform
contains over 7,000 English e-books and e-audios, as well as over 3,000 English magazines. You will also find Spanish and French e-books, e-audios and magazines.

E-Rara
E-Rara is the platform for digitised prints from Swiss libraries from the 15th to the 20th century with a
collection from the Schaffhausen Municipal Library
. This includes the famous first edition of Copernicus’ main work “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” and many more.

E-Codices
E-Codices has been digitising manuscripts from all parts of Switzerland since 2005. There are now 2,539 manuscripts on the platform. Of these,
53 titles
come from the Schaffhausen City Library. E-Periodica
The platform e-periodica offers access to numerous newspapers and magazines from Switzerland.

A full-text search allows a targeted search by title or individual words in the text.
https://www.e-periodica.ch
Dibiost
The media can be borrowed for three weeks. You need a login of the Schaffhausen libraries (or another participating library) and, depending on the reader, an app and the “Adobe Digital Edition”.

In dibiost, around 44,000 media are available for electronic borrowing. DIBIOST is the platform of the libraries of Eastern Switzerland for E-Media
Freegal
With Freegal Music+, the American provider Library Ideas offers over 18 million music titles for streaming or downloading.

There is also a wide range of audio books. More information about the music streaming portal freegal
Visit one of our locations
Stadtbibliothek
Opening hours
Monday 13.00 – 18.00
Tuesday to Friday 10.00 – 18.00
Saturday 10.00 – 16.00
Adress
Münsterplatz 1, 8200 Schaffhausen
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Bibliothek Kammgarn
Opening hours
Bibliothek 365
Monday – Sunday 06.00 – 21.00
Incl. holidays
Staffed hours
Monday – Friday 10.00 – 18.00
Saturday and Sunday 10.00 – 16.00
Adress
Baumgartenstrasse 23, 8200 Schaffhausen
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