Compulsory work placements and library internship

Are you a student wishing to gain experience in a scientific library as part of a compulsory work placement or library internship? Find out more about your options here.

We only offer compulsory work placements and library internships. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer school work experience, voluntary work placements or information internships.

Compulsory work placements for students on Bachelor's or Master's degree courses

We offer work placements for

• library and information science programmes at Bachelor's or Master's level
• Library Computer Science, Informatics, Digital Humanities, Cultural Sciences, Museum Studies and Provenance Research Provenance Research (only at our site in Leipzig)

We can only offer a limited number of places for students of other subjects.

Internships for trainees at other libraries

Would you like to undertake an internship at a different library as part of your library traineeship? An internship at the German National Library offers you the opportunity to familiarise yourself with Germany's biggest archival library.

Trainees as media and information service specialists

Are you training as a specialist in media and information services and looking for a compulsory work placement at another library?

Your pathway to us – Application documents and deadlines

All application documents must reach us by e-mail no later than three months and no sooner than nine months before the desired date.

A full set of documents contains:

• a cover letter with the following information
  • a detailed description of your study programme / of the apprenticeship profession
  • a detailed description of the work placement (e.g. a link to your university's current student work placement regulations)
  • the time required (start/end and duration)
  • main areas of interest during the placement
• CV in table format
• a certificate of enrolment for students/proof of training or employment for placements in the context of traineeships or internships
• confirmation of your compulsory work placement (demonstrated for example by work placement regulations, study handbook, confirmation from the examination authority etc.)

Contact

Legal internship

At our location in Frankfurt am Main, we offer internships for legal trainees:

• in the administrative sector
• as an elective in the area of government and administration

Contact

Justiziariat (office of corporate counsel)
justiziariat@dnb.de
Phone +49 69 1525-2003

There are no fixed application deadlines for work placements and legal internships for trainee lawyers. Please contact us before submitting your application – six months in advance in the case of practical semesters – to find out whether we will be offering work placements during the period required.

Please submit your application, preferably by e-mail, together with your CV, copies of your most recent references and internships, and information on your special interests.

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Adickesallee 1
60322 Frankfurt am Main
zentralverwaltung@dnb.de

Federal voluntary service in the cultural sector

If you want to make good use of the time before you begin your studies but don’t yet know which career path you want to follow, a period of federal voluntary service in the cultural sector is the perfect choice for you.

The German National Library offers a wide range of opportunities to find out what working in the cultural sector is like. Every year, we offer one position (39 hours a week) at the German Museum of Books and Writing in Leipzig for federal volunteers who wish to work in the cultural sector; placements are offered in public relations or museum education.

If you would like to make use of this opportunity, please send your application to National application portal for voluntary service (only available in German). The volunteer period begins on 1 September and ends on 31 August of the following year.

Contact

Please contact the central office of the federal voluntary service for culture if you have any questions about the service and how to apply.
bewerbung@freiwilligendienste-kultur-bildung.de

Sina Wieland, federal voluntary service

Photo: LKJ Sachsen

„What appears on the outside to be "just" a library with a museum conceals so many different areas of work on the inside. I could never have imagined its scope when I first started. My voluntary civil service year here has made it all possible – a look behind the scenes and the opportunity to be a small part of it. […] But besides coming into contact with visitors, I also enjoy working in the office. My work there includes taking photos of specific objects and doing organisational tasks at the computer. And the errands I occasionally run in the building to collect materials, posters or similar make a pleasant change.“

To the blog post (only available in German)

Roberta Keding, federal voluntary service

Photo: Roberta Keding

„I wanted to find out what it's like to work in a cultural institution where there's really a lot going on. But also where a lot of different people come together and there are a lot of different subject areas. [...]. I'm still not sure what I want to do after this year. It's great, therefore, to gain insight into so many different areas. I've already been involved in cataloguing, exhibition preparation, public relations and museum education. From highly creative handicrafts to enormous Excel spreadsheets containing complex sequences of numbers. I think that's very rare.“

To the blog post (only available in German)