Information on dealing with the coronavirus 2019-nCoV

Changes to the operation of reading rooms due to increasing COVID rates

As far as possible, we wish to keep the library's reading rooms available for members of the university despite the increasing rates of COVID. To do this, the university leadership has agreed the following precautionary measure. From April 6, 2021, the university will only allow one user per 40 square meters in the reading rooms instead of the previous one per 20 square meters. This decision is in line with the Bavarian Council of Ministers' regulation from March 23, 2021, meant for commerce in areas with COVID rates of over 100 after the Easter holidays (https://www.bayern.de/bericht-aus-der-kabinettssitzung-vom-23-maerz-2021/?seite=5062).

In addition, the university leadership has decided that as a basic principle all visitors need to wear an FFP2 mask for the duration of their stay in a reading room. Users needing literature from the library who are exempt from wearing such a mask by a medical certificate (see also § 1 Para. 2 Clause 2 of the Bavarian infection prevention regulations (BayIfSMV)) are asked to contact us at the following address in advance: benutzung.ub@ur.de.

To ensure that our literature is accessible, the University Library will resume the sending of reminders with late fees on April 12, 2021. The library users affected will receive a reminder by email shortly. Please return the items concerned as soon as possible to avoid fees or the suspension of your account.

Please check your account regularly to see the due dates of any books you have taken out.

The books loaned from the reading rooms can be returned there or in the contact-free lending section of the Central Library.

In addition, books can, of course, be returned by mail. Please send the books to the following address, enclosing a note with your name and user number.
Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg, Ausleihe
Universitätsstr. 31
93053 Regensburg

Starting March 15, 2021, the buildings on the university campus will be open from Monday to Friday between 06:00 and 22:00.

On Saturdays, the buildings Law and Economics, Multi-purpose Building, and PT Building will each be open from 08:00 to 22:00. The natural sciences buildings, the Central Library and Sport will be open from 08:00 to 20:00.

On Sundays, the buildings Law and Economics, Multi-purpose Building, and PT Building will each be open from 08:00 to 22:00. All other buildings will remain closed on Sundays.

In urgent cases, Maintenance Services can be contacted at all times via the telephone number 0941 943 3333.

Information on the opening hours of the businesses, cafeterias and refectory (Mensa) on the campus can be found on the following website: https://www.uni-regensburg.de/kontakt/oeffnungszeiten/index.html

It is urgently recommended that you adhere to the hygiene measures:

• Avoid shaking hands.
• Maintain good hand hygiene and wash your hands with sufficient soap and water.
• Adhere to coughing and sneezing etiquette (cough and sneeze in your elbow, not in your hand.)
• Use tissues only once and then dispose of them safely.
• Keep 1,5 meters distance to other people and especially avoid close contact with persons with respiratory infections.
• It is compulsory to wear a medical face mask or a mask of grade FFP2 on the whole campus including the car parks. In examinations, it is compulsory to wear a medical-grade mask or a mask of grade FFP2; for state examinations differing regulations may hold. Entry to the University Library's lending section or to the businesses on campus is only allowed when wearing a mask of grade FFP2.

Further information about common hygiene tips can be found here:
https://www.uni-regensburg.de/ur-international/coronavirus

Support for people in difficult situations

All persons for whom the restrictions on going out connected with the corona crisis present a danger, or for whom great economic, social and/or health insecurity threatens, can find an overview of the help available (by telephone or electronically) in the following PDF: Help available in difficult situations (PDF, in German)

Further sources of information

• https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/novel-coronavirus-china
• https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/en/press/2020/coronavirus.html
• https://www.rki.de/EN/Home/homepage_node.html
• Coronavirus telephone hotline: 09131/6808-5101

Written, in-person examns possible again

In connection with the upcoming examination period for the Winter Semester 2020/21, the University's Executive Board has decided not to extend the suspension of written, in-person exams beyond February 13, 2021, providing that no contrary regulations of overriding importance go into effect by then.

In order to ensure the best possible health protection for all, the hygiene and protection measures must continue to be observed and strictly followed at all times and everywhere on campus, as well as when arriving for in-person exams.

Effective immediately, the requirement to wear a medical face mask or a mask of grade FFP2 applies on all campus grounds, including parking lots. A medical face mask or a mask of grade FFP2 must be worn during the exams; for state examinations differing regulations may hold.

Regardless of the possibility of conducting in-person exams, all instructors are further encouraged to make use of alternative exam formats and to offer digital exams, for example:

• Switching to a remote open book examination (§ 7 of the General Examination Regulations) where this is possible;
• switching to an online examination in accordance with § 6 of the General Examination Regulations.

Decisions made and information on the date and format of the examinations will be published by the relevant teaching staff and chairs of the examination boards in due course.

Reintroduction of the free examination attempt

The amendment statute to the General Examination Regulations for the Winter Semester 2020/21 came into effect last week. The most important amendment concerns the reintroduction of the free examination attempt (see §9 paragraph 1). In contrast to the provision from the General Examination Regulations for the Summer Semester 2020, the free examination attempt has been restricted. The following two requirements must be fulfilled in order for a free examination attempt to be possible:

1. Validity of Content: It only applies to written exams.
2. Validity of Timeframe: It only applies to the exams taken between 20.01.2021 and 30.04.2021.

In all other instances, the provisions from the Summer Semester 2020 also apply now. Namely:

• Passed exams count;
• Examination attempts for the purpose of grade improvement are not possible;
• The free examination attempt applies neither to final theses nor to cases of cheating.

Rahmenprüfungsordnung für das Wintersemester 2020/21 (= General Examination Regulations for the Winter Semester 2020/21, German version only)

Starting March 15, 2021, the buildings on the university campus will be open from Monday to Friday between 06:00 and 22:00.

On Saturdays, the buildings Law and Economics, Multi-purpose Building, and PT Building will each be open from 08:00 to 22:00. The natural sciences buildings, the Central Library and Sport will be open from 08:00 to 20:00.

On Sundays, the buildings Law and Economics, Multi-purpose Building, and PT Building will each be open from 08:00 to 22:00. All other buildings will remain closed on Sundays.

In urgent cases, Maintenance Services can be contacted at all times via the telephone number 0941 943 3333.

It is compulsory to wear a medical-grade mask or a mask of grade FFP2 on the whole campus including the car parks. In examinations, it is compulsory to wear a medical-grade mask or a mask of grade FFP2; for state examinations differing regulations may hold. Entry to the University Library's lending section or to the businesses on campus is only allowed when wearing a mask of grade FFP2.

Currently, the university’s differing organizational units can still be contacted by telephone and email. This includes the Computer Center, the Language Center, the Registrar’s Office the student advice services, the International Office, examination offices, faculty management and offices of individual chairs. If you are unsure which email address to send your mail to, please use the general email address of the administration: registratur@ur.de

Registrar's Office

For questions on re-enrollment amongst other things, please find information and contact data on the webpage of the Registrar‘s Office.

Computer Center and CIP Pools

All CIP pools are closed. The information stand at the Computer Center is closed to the public. Questions from students regarding computer or IT support can still be submitted by email (support@rz.uni-regensburg.de) or telephone (0941 943-4444).

Service Point at the Language Center closed until further notice

For students: in urgent justified cases, certificates can be sent by post during this time. Please contact the Service Point by email at servicepoint.zsk@ur.de.

For students and staff: please note that lending out books or other media will not be possible until further notice.

University Archive closed

The University Archive is closed until further notice. In very urgent cases, please contact archiv@ur.de.

Family Service

Due to the current situation, the services offered by the Family Service are suspended until further notice.

Changes to the operation of reading rooms due to increasing COVID rates

As far as possible, we wish to keep the library's reading rooms available for members of the university despite the increasing rates of COVID. To do this, the university leadership has agreed the following precautionary measure. From April 6, 2021, the university will only allow one user per 40 square meters in the reading rooms instead of the previous one per 20 square meters. This decision is in line with the Bavarian Council of Ministers' regulation from March 23, 2021, meant for commerce in areas with COVID rates of over 100 after the Easter holidays (https://www.bayern.de/bericht-aus-der-kabinettssitzung-vom-23-maerz-2021/?seite=5062).

In addition, the university leadership has decided that as a basic principle all visitors need to wear an FFP2 mask for the duration of their stay in a reading room. Users needing literature from the library who are exempt from wearing such a mask by a medical certificate (see also § 1 Para. 2 Clause 2 of the Bavarian infection prevention regulations (BayIfSMV)) are asked to contact us at the following address in advance: benutzung.ub@ur.de.

Resumption of reminders with late fees

To ensure that our literature is accessible, the University Library will resume the sending of reminders with late fees on April 12, 2021. The library users affected will receive a reminder by email shortly. Please return the items concerned as soon as possible to avoid fees or the suspension of your account.

Please check your account regularly to see the due dates of any books you have taken out.

The books loaned from the reading rooms can be returned there or in the contact-free lending section of the Central Library.

In addition, books can, of course, be returned by mail. Please send the books to the following address, enclosing a note with your name and user number.
Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg, Ausleihe
Universitätsstr. 31
93053 Regensburg

Use of work spaces in the reading rooms

Only a limited number of work spaces are available for members of the university in each reading room. Please note the following rules for using the work spaces.

In accordance with the framework hygiene concept for universities, Universität Regensburg is required to collect and document all the contact data of all participants of in-person teaching activities, and all others spending time at UR, including the rooms of the University Library. For this reason, your library card is scanned every time you enter and leave the any reading room of the library. The user number, the times of entry and exit and the reading room are saved on the university's in-house servers.

From now on this also applies to rest periods: when exiting a reading room, please let the members of staff know if you are only going for a break or are leaving. Should you only be going for a break, your right to your work space is kept for 60 minutes. After being absent for 60 minutes, you will be automatically logged out of the system. Please note that the data is collected separately for each reading room.

You are obliged to cooperate with the collection of contact data. Please have your library card ready when leaving and entering a reading room.

Lending from the reading rooms

Members of the university can once again loan out books directly from the reading rooms from March 9, 2021, (for UR students, a maximum of 5 books for 14 days.)

The books loaned from the reading rooms can be returned there or in the contact-free lending section of the Central Library. The sending out of reminders, with the ensuing overdue fees, will restart in the coming weeks. Please return your books quickly so as to avoid fees.

Books from the special collection (Sonderbestand) with bookmarks starting 55 (indicating the Reclam collection in PT) can be ordered via the online catalog and are then collected from and returned to the contact-free counter in the Central Library.

Please keep to the hygiene rules

The reading rooms may only be accessed in accordance with the hygiene and safety rules (please see the notices displayed in the library):

• use the separated entrance and exit
• there is a maximum number of people allowed in the reading rooms at one time
• observe the distancing rules (1.5 meters)
• it is compulsory to wear a FFP2-grade mask (including at the work station)

Scanners are available in some reading rooms. We ask you to only scan individual chapters or pages (not whole books) and to keep your stay as short as possible. Please note that currently no USB sticks are available for loan.

Contact-free lending

The contact-free lending section remains open from Monday to Friday 10:00 to 18:00. Members of the university (including students) are able to loan out items from the storage and the textbook collection by using the contact-free lending option in the Central Library. If you are a member of the university, order items from storage and the textbook collection via Regensburger Katalog plus.

The contact-free lending section is open from Monday to Friday 10:00 to 18:00.

You will be informed as normal via email as soon as your media is ready for collection at the contact-free lending section. Please only come to the lending area when you have received the relevant email.

In accordance with current regulations, you are only allowed to come into the lending area when wearing an FFP2 mask. In addition, we ask you to take care to keep to the minimum distancing from other persons in the waiting area.

It also possible to return media (in the blue boxes in the lending area).

Orders from collections at the OTH are still not possible at present for members of the university. Picking up media from the OTH is also not possible for members of the university.

Until further notice all events have been prohibited. Please use the telephone conference options or the software zoom for meetings and conferences.

With the amendment of the corona virus vaccine regulations (Coronavirus-Impfverordnung) university employees are no longer included in the category of those working in childcare, social work with children, and teaching. They thus no longer have a higher priority for a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

Registering practicals which require special laboratories or work rooms at the university

Details of any practical lesson which requires special laboratories or work rooms must be sent to the email address praxisveranstaltung-corona@ur.de, with a hygiene and infection-protection concept enclosed. The details to be given include the number of participants, the supervisor(s), how long it will last on the day, and the time period set aside for it.

The concept to be attached will be sent to the task force set up by the university leadership. Should the person registering the practical not hear from the task force within one work-day of submitting the registration, then the practical can take place as planned. Universität Regensburg will send all hygiene and infection-protection concepts to the Regensburg public health department in accordance with the Ministry of Education and Research's requirements.

Please note that lectures, seminars, exercise classes or other teaching which accompanies the practicals cannot be carried out in the classroom. Only those practical teaching activities which require laboratories or work rooms at the university can take place in person.

The website of the Safety Division contains aids and best-practice suggestions, which should make it easier to create hygiene and infection-protection concepts.
As a member of the teaching staff, please note the President's letter from May 6, 2020, which was distributed via the dean's offices in the individual faculties.

Home office remains the recommended option

The current home-office regulations are extended until September 30, 2021. Working from home continues to be the preferred option.

The aim of the extension of home office was to significantly reduce the risk of infection on campus, and simultaneously so that should there be an infection, whole work-groups will not have to be sent into quarantine, risking the operations of the university. Both these aims still apply, as the virus is still circulating in the world and there is neither medicine nor vaccine. As long as this is the situation, home office will remain the preferred option. Indeed, the SARS-CoV-2 standards on health and safety from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs also stipulate that office work should be done in home office where possible. This will certainly be the case for the whole summer semester.

Should the course of the pandemic allow, initially a return from home office on a voluntary basis could be envisaged, in which work can be organized to avoid rooms having several persons in them or so that there is sufficient protective distancing. The continuation of such a return would remain dependent on the general development of the pandemic. This means, for example, that should there be a second wave of the infection, home office would be significantly extended once more.

Flexible hours of physical presence

University employees (including scientific staff, non-scientific staff, and trainees) can carry out their duties more flexibly until further notice, for example with more flexible physical presence, using offices alternately and with the further facilitation of home office. Users of the time-recording system ZI Web can record the start and end of their working hours via the web interface themselves, also when in home office. It is not necessary to register via the personnel departments. It is possible to take your work computer home to use for your work when in home office (except employees working in the central administration, who need to inform their direct supervisors of their needs).

Technical possibilities

The Computer Center has information on the technical possibilities of using home office (e.g. setting up a VPN) at https://www.uni-regensburg.de/rechenzentrum/aktuelles/it-corona/

Members of the university can use "UR Chat", Universität Regensburg's collaboration platform, for everyday teamwork in home office, short messages and exchanging files. You log in with your computer center account.

• Info: www.ur.de/rechenzentrum/it-services/messenger/ur-chat/
• To the platform: https://chat.ur.de

Purchase of hardware

The Computer Center notes that the purchase of larger IT equipment such as notebooks, PCs, tablets and monitors for work still has to take place through the IT purchasing department of the Computer Center. You can access the Computer Center Webshop at https://webshop.uni-regensburg.de/

Rules for members of staff who are pregnant following the lifting of the restrictions on going outside

All employees who were pregnant and could not work exclusively in home office were not allowed to work for the duration of the restrictions on going outside. As these restrictions were lifted on May 5, 2020, this prohibition is now, as a general rule, lifted. This means that as a basic principle employees who are pregnant can work once more on the university campus - subject to the normal regulations in place and the measures determined for health and safety at work (resulting from the risk assessment including efficacy checks).

In individual cases, it may still be necessary to prohibit working on campus should the risk assessment show that health and safety measures cannot guaranteed safety for such work on campus; and should working exclusively from home office not be possible.

It is necessary here to create a risk assessment for the work of the person who is pregnant or extend the current risk assessment to include the corona virus.

Supervisors who are affected are asked to send on the results of their risk assessments. When you need assistance here, please contact the Safety administration division.

Child care while working in research and teaching

Due to the cancellation of normal child care in daycare centers and schools, many parents at UR have the challenge of trying to care for their children at home while they simultaneously have tasks to complete in their studies or in research and teaching. The university's women's representative and the coordinating office of equal opportunities, equality and inclusion have created a document with suggestions and help for parents who are studying, researching and/or teaching:

PDF document "Kinderbetreuung und Studium bzw. Arbeit in Forschung und Lehre"

Home office/Release from duties for child care

On the basis of the decisions made by the Bavarian government on April 16, 2020, the regulations governing employees whose children need to be cared for continue to apply without change. This means, in particular, that leave is not limited to 10 days so long as schools and daycare are closed either completely or for whole year-groups.

Insofar as it is compatible with the smooth running of the services and is necessary for the care of children, public servants and other public employees are granted home office and, should this not be possible, released from their duties (under full pay) for the time the schools and other child care facilities are closed.

There is no fixed age limit of the child. Nevertheless, the release from duties only applies if it is shown that child care is needed. This is particularly the case for children over the age of 14. An employee can only be released from duties when no child care can be ensured despite exhausting all other possibilities. It is, however, not necessary to ask persons over 60 years of age to take on child care.

Employees are asked to inform their supervisors, should they need to care for their children. Upon returning to work, the release should be marked on the holiday card with an official declaration of the need for and extent of the need for child care.
No release for child care can be granted during the school holidays. It is necessary to use vacation, flexible working time or special leave.

Supporting dependents in need of care

Home office, remote work and subsidiary leave are also granted when this is for providing support for a dependent in need of care, should this be necessary and the support cannot be arranged in any other way. The need for support must be demonstrated. This is particularly the case when the dependent cannot be cared for at home. Employees are asked to inform their supervisors. Upon returning to work, the release should be marked on the holiday card with an official declaration of the need for and extent of the need for care.