The HKB Media Library combines the holdings of four divisions: Design and Fine Arts, Conservation and Restoration, Research and the Y Institute.
1.7.–1.9.2026
Mo and We
9am–12pm and 1pm–5pm
Without BFHcard, access is only possible at the main entrance.
As of the end of June 2026, the HKB Media Library offers a new, improved listening station for the Swiss National Sound Archives. The Sonic Chair, a deep upholstered chair with integrated loudspeakers, provides an immersive listening environment, where users can sit in comfort and listen to high-quality playback of audio recordings from the National Sound Archives.
Come by the HKB Media Library and immerse yourself in the auditory cultural heritage of Switzerland.
The HKB Media Library combines the holdings of four divisions: Design and Fine Arts, Conservation and Restoration, Research and the Y Institute.
Media can be returned outside opening hours via the return box. The return box is in front of the media library and is emptied daily at 9am. Borrowed media items that are dropped off later than 9am will only be registered as returned as of the following working day.
Are you looking for information on a specific topic? Do you need help with your research? Please get in touch!
The Swiss National Sound Archives is the Swiss audio recordings archive. It was established in 1987 and has belonged to the Swiss National Library in Bern since 2016. Its mission is to collect and document sound recordings related to the history and culture of Switzerland. These include recordings of classical music, rock, jazz, folk music, audio books, oral narratives, theater pieces, and interviews.
To provide ease of access to these collections, the Swiss National Sound Archives operates a network of listening stations. These listening stations are located at partner institutions such as conservatories, libraries, archives, and universities. The HKB Media Library owns one such listening station and offers a Sonic Chair for its use, a deep upholstered chair with integrated loudspeakers for a one-of-a-kind listening experience. In the Sonic Chair, users can listen in comfort to all available digitalized audio files from the National Sound Archives.
The HKB Media Library owns around 100 valuable, rare publications.
Their classmark is RARA. They are not available for loan. Rarities can only be used for reference on site or borrowed for short-term use in internal classes.
You can use BFH swisscovery to search our rarities.
The Swiss artist, curator and publisher Johannes Gachnang (1939-2005) published 74 books under the “Gachnang & Springer” label. A complete set of this publication output was acquired by the HKB Mediothek in the spring of 2024.
The books are available exclusively for use on site and are kept in a furnishing specially designed for them, entitled “Ganz Gachnang” (Complete Gachnang). This furnishing was created by the Bernese artist Christian Grogg (b. 1963).
The HKB Media Library collects the diploma theses of HKB students.
Projects in the field of Conservation and Restoration are integrated into the holdings of the HKB Media Library. BFH swisscovery lists them under their title and author’s name.
Projects completed in the Division of Design and Fine Arts are collected in the Media Library. They can only be viewed on site.
Starting with the animated film ‘Wallace & Gromit’ for a HKB student's thesis and all the ‘James Bond’ films available at the time for a design module, the HKB film library has now grown to over 4,000 films.
We collect films in DVD and Blu-ray formats, including old and new film classics, contemporary films from around the world, national and international competition films, artist films, documentaries, animated films and much more.
Individual titles can be found, ordered and borrowed in swisscovery. In addition, 10 playback devices are available in the HKB Media Library.
The first points of contact for students and staff are the liaison librarians Maria Eisenächer and Susan Mengis.
