At the Institute

In the building

Escape routes are marked by green signs. The main route leads through the windows (!) to the escape balcony and then to the staircase-door downwards.
Fire-extinguishers either with CO₂ or with H₂O are marked accordingly. Use the first in all technical rooms and the latter for all other areas. Make sure that you are familiar with how to use them and always ready to act in an emergency.
The electrical devices in your office or the group's kitchen should be plugged into a time switch.
All doors leading into the building are constantly controlled at night and weekends. An alert is generated if doors are kept open too long, forcing a member of the institute to come and check the situation personally. To avoid this expenditure, make sure not to keep outside doors open for more than 30 seconds!

Copy machines are located on each floor and operate with codes (see your group secretary). An operation manual in English can be found next to the machines.
For binding papers, please use a special thermal binding machine located on the 1st floor, room 115C. It is easy to handle.
Smoking is not allowed anywhere in our buildings. Even a small amount of smoke causes an alarm signal for which you can be fined (350 euros ). This is the fee for the fire brigade to come to the building, even if called in vain.
espresso, cappuccino, coffee, tea are served on the first floor from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m on workdays. This is a meeting point for MPI-INF employees and their guests. Please help yourself.
Beverages are supplied by each group, please enroll in a list. When payment is due, you will be contacted by the person on duty.
Usage of our library should be in accordance with the library rules. To search for books and journal collections, please use the online catalogue, which is connected to the Department of Computer Science, Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI) and Computerlinguistik (COLI). Further information on library services (e.g. access to databases and electronic journals, inter-library loan, etc..) can be found on the Library Homepage. If you have any questions, the library staff will be happy to help you!

Health insurance coverage: ifyou do not have health insurance coverage for Germany, local insurance companies are available. The contribution varies from agency to agency; students pay less. If you are health insured for Germany already, please sign a statement with Sarah Naujoks (Scherer). When seeing a doctor here in Germany, please ensure to have your health insurance card with you.
Train tickets with a value of less than 100 Euros should be purchased by yourself, all other exceeding this amount can be ordered by your secretary. A Bahncard, granting the most bargain on all train tickets can be purchased at the train station. The card has a validity period of one year, starting at the date of issue.
Allocation basis for the reimbursement of Bahncard costs: Prices of GKT-ticket and Bahncard are checked against each other and the costs for the Bahncard should be covered by the difference (should be equal or higher than the Bahncard price).
When traveling on business purpose, fill in special forms with your secretary in order to apply for a reimbursement of travel costs (example). When staying abroad, hotel prices do not always include costs for breakfast. This is also true for international hotel chains within Germany. In this case we cannot add it to the travel costs: Leave a note on the hotel bill, stating that the fee does not include the costs for breakfast.

The institute cars should be used for business purposes only and are available to all MPI-INF staff members. For reservations please see your group's secretary.

The Max-Planck-Gesellschaft has a corporate discount agreement with Europcar that allows us to rent cars at special discounts of up to 50 %. When ordering there, provide our customer and contract number (see your secretary of group).

United Parcel Service collects all express mail or express parcels between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on workdays. To prepare the delivery documents, forward your UPS-mailings and the recipient's full address and (!) phone/fax number to your secretariat in the morning. For further details please call the UPS toll-free number: 0800/88 26 630.
Stationery can be found in your secretary's room. If you notice that something is running low, please leave a message there.

German language classes for beginners and advanced learners are offered by our institute. They are free of charge (also for your spouse) and meet twice a week for 90 minutes. Classes start with every new university semester. If interested in taking part, please contact imprs@mpi-inf.mpg.de.

Human Resources/payroll department: For personnel matters please contact Heike Löx/Sarah-Scherer Naujoks.

Announcements of talks, etc. are listed on the web and the campus event calendar and are sent per email daily.
Yourincoming surface mail is stored in a basket labeled with your name and located in your secretary's office.

All outgoing surface mail should be put into the basket labeled ``Postausgang''. Please mail books, reprints, reports, documents, etc. with the imprint ``Drucksache zu ermässigter Gebühr'' which is literally ``Books at printed paper rate'' (stamps are with your secretary). This mail mustn't contain a letter. (Please decide if letters can be sent seperately by fax or email). For airmail please affix an airmail stamp to the envelope. Books and letters weighing more than 500g should be marked as ``Economy packet''. Please mark books and letters weighing more than 250g you want to sent by airmail as ``Premium packet'' (takes 2 - 3 days longer than an airmail letter).

The campus access system is operated by a so called Univesity Card, which also functions as a Mensa Card.

Protect your valuables by locking your office door even if you only leave the room for a few minutes. Please be aware that there have been cases of theft in the past. For reasons of security, several cameras have been installed at the institute building's entrances.

When commuting to the institute by bicycle, please note that there is a path along the main road "Meerwiesertalweg" for bicycles and pedestrians. Bikes for rent are offered at: Fahrradverleih Radlos, Nauwieserstr. 19, city center, phone: 37098

Of course we have only been able to give you brief information here. Please contact your group's secretary for further details.