Do you want to organize an introduction to the Jan Palach Library for yourself, your students, or colleagues through a guided tour with an introduction to basic services?
Let us know at kjp@ff.cuni.cz, and we will prepare a tour together.
In summer (July–September), opening hours are usually adjusted. The library is closed on all public holidays.
The library is situated on three colour-coded floors
🔴🟠🟡 On the first basement floor (red), you can find a self-service cloakroom, the reception, the library’s loan desk, the red study room, and the red study room collection, the fiction & comics section (orange), the relax collection (yellow, under the stairs to the blue study room), the PC Lab with self-service printing, copying and scanning, the team study room, sanitary facilities and vending machines with refreshments.
🔵 On the ground floor (blue), an open shelves selection of magazines, the blue study room collection within the study room, and a gallery with study places are located.
🟢 On the first above-ground floor (green), you will find the green study room collection within the study room and a relaxation zone.
In the library, you will find six open shelves sections of books, which are color-coded for easier orientation:
🔴 red study room open shelves (entrance from the red study room, first basement floor) – general guide, librarianship, journalism, philology;
🔵 blue study room open shelves (in the blue study room, ground floor) – philosophy, psychology, sociology, andragogy, pedagogy, ethnology, art, film science, theater science;
🟢 green study room open shelves (in the green study room, first floor above ground) – archival science, auxiliary sciences historical, economic and social history, history, geography;
🟠 fiction & comics section open shelves – orange (entrance via the stairs in the computer study room) – fiction, correspondence, memoirs, biographies;
🟡relax literature open shelves – yellow (built-in library under the stairs in the red study room) – non-profile literature, relaxation literature, self-help, DIY, comics and more;
⚪ journals section open shelves – white (gallery on the ground floor) – selected sets of bound issues of journals and current issues of most journals that the library subscribes to.
Every book in the open shelves sections has a call number on the spine. This consists of the prefix CS, common to all books and documents. Then follows the number of the thematic group to which the book belongs by its theme and focus. The number is followed by the first three letters of the author’s name or other book originators. If the book does not have an author listed, it is the first three letters of the title. If the book is multipart, the letters are followed by the part number. If the book is on the shelf more than once, the first copy is not distinguished; the others are marked with letters in alphabetical order.
Call numbers in the open shelves of the fiction and relax & comics sections do not have a numerical thematic distinction, but only prefixes CS BEL (fiction), CS KOR (correspondence), CS BIO (biography), and CS PAM (memoirs), CS COM (comics), CS RLX (relax), followed by the first three letters of the author’s name.
Journals are marked with the prefix CS ČAS and an abbreviation from the title.
Above the call number, you can sometimes find the following:
pink dot: the book is intended exclusively for in-house study; you do not need to report the study of these books to the service at the loan desk;
green dot: the book has the status of a study loan; you can borrow it automatically for three months;
no dot: the book has the status of a regular loan, and the loan period is one month, with the possibility of an extension for another two months.
To store your luggage and outerwear, you can use the self-service cloakroom, which you will find to the left of the entrance to the library (barrier-free, opposite the lift). Only a limited number of lockers are currently available. If you are carrying luggage and don’t have a CU card, use the roller shutter cloakroom with assistance from the reception or loan desk staff. You can keep your valuables in the safe at the reception and your personal belongings in the boxes in the tables in the study rooms.
Wheelchair users can reach the ground floor of the main building through the side barrier-free entrance from the arch next to the Staroměstská metro station exit. To enter, you must present a registered CU card or ring the security bell; the door opens and closes automatically. To enter the library, you must call the lift on the left side of the main staircase (the right one is unsuitable for entrance to the library) and go down to floor -1, where you can go directly to the library premises. Storage lockers can be found opposite the lift This service is temporarily unavailable. A separate lift in the library connects the red study room open shelves collection, and the blue and green study room. A wheelchair-accessible toilet is available in the sanitary facilities in the red study room (floor -1).
Blind or visually impaired readers can call the library reception staff from the CU FA reception (tel. +420 221 619 338) near the main entrance; library staff will take you to the library and be available as needed during your visit to the library.
