Libraries online – read books and dive into another world

Reading not surfing

Are you spending a lot of time at your computer right now? Does this mean you’re surfing through a sea of data, fishing up bites of information every now and then, in order to find answers to your questions on the fly? You will find answers to almost all questions on the net, always, everywhere, and fast. Is it sometimes too much information at once? Then ease up a little, and start reading books. When you read novels, you can dive into different stories and other worlds, from time to time even believing that you’re actually there and forgetting the real world for a moment. If you read non-fiction or reference books, you are educating yourself, learning new things or deepening knowledge you already had. If you’re not so much of a bookworm or bibliophile, but like listening to stories, then find an exciting audiobook or take part in a live reading.

We have put together a list of services from all the libraries in Zug Canton during the corona pandemic. Additionally, a lot of readings are currently taking place online and you can join the virtual audience. Were you not able to join live from your screen? No problem! Most online readings are subsequently available online as audio or video files.

Zug Library
Many of Zug Library’s events have been cancelled, but new, virtual reader experiences have come into being instead. If you are the sort of person who likes having a real book in their hands, you can make use of Zug Library’s free delivery service. Digital services are available round the clock and free of charge. Benefit from a large selection of e-books, audiobooks, newspapers, magazines and films, not to mention the music-streaming service. You can find more information about the free digital services offered by Bibliothek Zug here.

Baar Municipal Library
The doors of Baar Municipal Library are currently closed, but all the books are still available. The Baar Library team will deliver books and other media direct to your door in the Baar municipal area. It’s very easy. You reserve the media in the online catalogue and they are delivered to your home free of charge on Tuesdays and Fridays. No internet? No problem! Simply call Baar Library (041 769 01 60) and place your order by phone. You can find out more about the home delivery service here.

Cham Municipal Library
Like Baar Library, Cham Library is also providing home delivery during the pandemic. This is restricted to the Cham municipal area and is free of charge. Make your reservations online where possible, but they will also be accepted by phone if necessary. You can find more information about Cham Library’s home delivery service here.

Steinhausen Municipal Library
This library continues to be there for you and will also deliver media you have ordered to your house, provided you live in the Steinhausen municipal area. You can find more information about Steinhausen Library’s home delivery service here. Digital media are also still available round the clock – use Steinhausen Library’s online catalogue.

Risch Municipal Library
Risch Municipality’s media home delivery service is available to people in Risch Municipality and upper secondary school students in Meierskappel Municipality. You can learn how ordering and delivery work here.

Hünenberg Municipal Library
Hünenberg Library’s telephone lines continue to be open Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 11:00. You can continue to reserve media on the library website and you will receive information on your delivery by e-mail. The library’s drop-off box is emptied regularly, so you can hand back materials you have borrowed there at any time. You can find more information on the Hünenberg Municipal Library website.

Walchwil School and Municipal Library
Walchwil School and Municipal Library will also remain closed due to the coronavirus. If you have any questions, you can email the library on . You can find all other information and the link to the online catalogue and the digital library directly on the Walchwil School and Municipal Library website.

Ägerital Municipal Library
Ägerital Library is providing reduced loans of media during the pandemic. If you live in Ägerital, you don’t need to do without the media services of your municipal library over the coming weeks. Learn more here.

Menzingen Municipal Library
This library is offering a “contactless” loan service during the pandemic and continues to accept returns via the returns boxes. You can learn how this works directly on the Menzingen Municipal Library website.

Neuheim School and Municipal Library
Although this library is currently closed too, you can continue to borrow media using the Online Catalogue.

The Public Documentation Centre: doku-zug.ch
Despite closed doors, doku-zug.ch is still there for you and will supply you with information and reading material. They offer postage-free distance learning and also provide free customised searches (for up to two hours). Even though physical contact is not currently possible, doku-zug.ch still runs its Wikipedia surgery. You can find an overview of doku-zug.ch services during the pandemic here.

Online readings

• “Viral – the online literature festival for quarantine” offers assorted live readings daily. You can keep yourself informed about the programme on the “Viral – the online literature festival for quarantine” Facebook page.

• “Live Readings” – a literary anti-corona programme run by Literaturhaus Salzburg provides approximately 20 readings by Austrian writers reading from their new books every day. You can find the readings programme on the Literaturhaus Salzburg Facebook page.

• “Stories for staying at home” the platform Tapastories is publishing a new short story and a new audiobook by best-selling authors every day during the corona pandemic.

• “Reading with Martin Suter” will make a change in your daily routine. On his website, Martin Suter has made all texts available free of charge for two months.

• Audience-free corona readings are currently taking place in Vienna’s bookshops. The discussions are put online every two to three days. You can find the corona readings videos on the Vienna bookshops’ YouTube channel.

• “Li-Be during the corona pandemic” has been launched by Literaturhaus Berlin. The complete programme for the 250th anniversary of the poet Hölderlin’s birth was published online and more interviews will be made available as audio- and video-files.

• The Swiss author Thomas Meyer reads aloud in his kitchen every evening at 20:00. You can also listen to him on Twitter.

• Screen break with the Basel Cartoon Museum. Readings from the office-in-bed, comics tips and previews of the new exhibition.

• • Everyday life in “Oberwiesli” are daily new short episodes from the everyday life of the fictitious, typically Swiss residential area “Oberwiesli” during the corona pandemic. These comics are being posted online by illustrator Samuel Schumacher as a digital alternative to the cancelled Fumetto comics festival.